~Chapter 6~

Shreya's bedroom:

Tarika sat beside her daughter and seeing her looking disturbed she asked

"What is the matter, Beta... you said you were ok... but something is bothering you, isn't it?"

"Mumma... you won't tell Papa?"

Tarika took a deep breath

"Depends... I can't hide much from your father."

Shreya looked away. Tarika cupped her face

"What is bothering you? You know your Papa loves you very much don't you?"

Shreya nodded and signed

"I do... but Papa gets angry and he might make a scene at school"

"I'll take care of that... tell me what's wrong?"

"You know Diya? When police came to investigate me, she... you know how she is right?"

"I do... what did she do this time?"

"Well, she said adopted children are mostly criminals... especially children of criminals... Mumma, I don't bother about her much nowadays, me and my friends stay away from her but you know it sometimes hurts"

Tarika rolled her hand into fist and took a deep breath to control herself. The girl was a bully, she had been bullying Shreya for sometime. Tarika had informed her teacher when Shreya had first told her but since she was from an affluent family, the teacher hadn't been able to do much. Tarika had wanted to officially take it up to the principal but Shreya hadn't wanted anyone at school to know. Slowly, she had found her own group of friends and things had gotten better. She knew teenagers can be cruel without really meaning anything but the unnecessary interrogation done by Inspector Zoya was what caused her daughter's unhappiness today. She decided that the Inspector needed a lesson. Calming herself, she looked at her daughter

"Beta you are the daughter of the most respected senior Inspector of CID. He is one of the most loyal, dedicated and honest inspector in the country. Don't let anybody convince you otherwise. Anybody saying anything different just means they are either plain stupid or a liar. You should be proud of yourself. Hold your chin up high. Give me a smile. That's more like it. You look exactly like your father, kind, loyal and honest."

"And I look like you too, don't I? Pretty and confident?"

Tarika smiled, her eyes watering a little. She hugged her tightly and kissed her on top of her head. She pushed her away a little and signed

"You look prettier than me. You are the most beautiful person in the whole wide world. Mumma loves you a lot and so does your Papa. You are the best thing to ever happen in our lives. Love you"

****

Abhijeet sat in his sofa deep in thoughts when a long hand with a steaming hot cup of coffee came in front of his face.

"Shreya is asleep... she is worried about us... but she is brave... she said she will be ok... but I am not going to leave that woman for unnecessarily interrupting my child's peaceful schoolday."

He looked up and took the cup with a smile.

"Thank you, Tarika... we won't let it happen again."

She nodded and made herself comfortable in the chair opposite to him with her cup, the cup he had gifted her long ago which she had left at his home before she had left. She looked at him deep in his thoughts,

"What is it, Abhijeet?"

"No... I was just..."

"Just what?"

"Sorry for everything... I...uh..."

"Yes?"

"We haven't talked... I mean really talked... after... uh... after... that night"

She felt her cheeks redden and her lips tremble as she remembered the feeling of his lips on hers.

"Yes..."

"I... uh... I am sorry..."

"Sorry?"

"Yes sorry for all the mistakes I have done. And no... I am not sorry for the kiss."

Her cheeks turned a shade of deep red as she mumbled

"You said it that day"

"I did... but you didn't respond..."

"I stayed... and I am back..."

"So am I forgiven?"

"Mmmm hmmmm.."

She looked away.

"What is it, Tarika? You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Mmmm I just wanted to say I am sorry that I never apologized..."

"Huh?"

"I have been thinking a lot over the past 3 days... and I believe I need to apologize for being rash too... You were going through a bad phase... I should have stayed... I... uh... I guess I gave up too soon"

"I guess we both gave up too soon... But the more I think, the more I believe if we had just talked, things wouldn't have gone this way."

She nodded, he reached out and held her hand in his and said

"I promise that it won't happen again... Promise me that you will never hesitate to tell me anything again. Promise me"

She looked into his pleading eyes and fell in love once again.

"Mmmm... I promise... if you promise never to have any secrets from me"

"Never"

He smiled at her, she grinned back her heart feeling much lighter. The sipped their coffee and she looked at him skeptically

"Ok... now that's done... What is it that you are hiding?"

He smiled knowingly and put his hand inside his pocket and took out the envelope he showed Daya earlier that day. She read it in silence and looked at him. He nodded in negative

"No, I don't remember writing this. I am not sure of the context too. I talked to Daya and he confirmed that I didn't write this to him."

"When did you get this?"

"It was under my newspaper yesterday morning"

"Mmmm... I'll do one thing, I'll try extracting the ink and testing the paper, maybe we can get the time period? Looks like you wrote this when you were young... the writing is more cleaner than it is now"

"I thought so too... Yes do it Tarika, I am desperate for answers, now... something is better than nothing..."

He clicked his tongue and shook his head trying to process everything. She saw him looking lost and remembered he used to look the same whenever a lot of things were going on in his mind at the same time. She walked towards him and sat beside him like she used to do. He took her left hand in his right one. Softly caressing her hand with his thumb, he began

"You know the sms I got on my burner to come earlier... I talked to Daya, it seems Ravi was the one who sent that message on the day that... uh... uh..."

"Freddy sir lost his life?"

"Yes"

She looked at him as he faced away understanding how difficult it would have been for him to relive it again today. She squeezed his hand and said

"It's not your fault..."

"How are you so sure, Tarika?"

"Had I not been sure, I wouldn't have been here today. Let it go Abhijeet, it's time. If you don't it's going to eat you... Freddy sir wouldn't have liked you to live like this. He wouldn't have put himself in the line of fire had he thought you would be living like this. What you should be doing right now is finding who did this and put him behind bars. Don't simply sit here and drown in guilt. It isn't going to help anyone. Neither you, nor me, nor Freddy sir."

He knew she was right... as always.

"Mmmm... you know, I don't believe Ravi was working alone... He isn't that good at planning... also he does things for money... he never had any motive... I'll ask Purvi to trace Ravi's digital footprint tomorrow. How is she? Today must have been hard because of that boyfriend of hers. On top of it the new inspector was so annoying."

"You remembered?"

"How can I forget?... uh... Tarika..."

He shut his eyes. She looked at his pained face

"What is it, Abhijeet?"

"That case was reopened 5 months back, I heard from my contacts at the headquarters... they are reinvestigating... she doesn't know..."

"What? But why?"

"New evidence turned up... and from whatever the new inspector Zoya was talking, I believe there is more to the story... Tarika, how do we protect her? If... you know... if... something... it would kill her."

She sat quietly for a while. Purvi was more than just her best friend, she was more like her little sister. The incident 4 years ago had almost killed her. It had taken so long for her to get back to normal. Softly she said

"Well, we will protect her. Just like always. Let's cross that bridge when we get to it."

"I am scared Tarika... Terrified truly... My mother, Tasha, Freddy... How many more? I can't..."

He looked down as his eyes burned with unshed tears. She looked at him and in front of her, she did not see the rough and tough senior Inspector Abhijeet nor the sharp shooter rather, in front of her was her man, broken, scarred yet beautiful and completely hers. She knew he would never be this in front of anyone else. This side of him was reserved for her alone. Breaking the silence, she said

"Abhijeet... look at me..."

He looked up and skowly she brought her trembling hand to his cheek. He shut his eyes and took in a deep breath soaking in the warmth of her touch.

"It's going to be okay... I know there's a storm looming but trust me... we are going to brave this together... Just like always..."

"You'll stay?"

She removed her hand from his cheek and took her cup in her hand and said

"Don't tell me you kept this cup safe all this time without knowing the answer..."

"I hoped."

"The don't lose hope now... And not just me... all of us are going to stay... Daya, Shreya, ACP sir, Purvi, Manisha Di, our daughter... everyone... we are going to get out of this together... I promise."

He smiled and wrapped his hand around her shoulder holding her close and whispered

"How is it that you make everything better?"

She smiled back and rested her head on his shoulder. They had a long night ahead of them to plan and think through things but right now, this moment, was just theirs.

****

1 week later:

Bureau:

Abhijeet was working with Daya on a hit and run case when Purvi entered his cabin. He looked up

"Yes, Purvi?"

"Sir... can... uh... we need to talk in private"

She gestured at the open cabin door. He nodded and she shut the door.

"Sir... I went through Ravi's call logs 3 years back and found a single number he had called multiple times over the course of the week Freddy sir died"

"And?"

"Sir... even I couldn't believe it... I rechecked it multiple times... the number traced back to Sachin."

Daya and Abhijeet looked at each other in disbelief.

"Sachin? But that's impossible..."

"Did you check Purvi? It couldn't have been him... You know how close he was with Freddy"

"Yes sir, that is why I checked so many times. I even double checked the sources... Here you can see for yourselves..."

Abhijeet took the papers from Purvi and scanned through the timelines she had highlighted. Daya peeped over and suddenly exclaimed

"Boss... this can't be..."

"Huh?"

"Remember the week Freddy was shot, Sachin was away on a secret mission to Ludhiana... It was drug bust. He didn't have his phone with him."

"Haan yes, yes... I remember ACP sir tried to contact him and his senior... right... Daya he had left the phone at headquarters... Purvi, that's what we need to check... The cctv footage of the locker room... Can we get it?"

"We don't have access, of course... but I can try hacking it."

Abhijeet nodded and then thought of something and sighed. He looked at her and said softly

"Purvi... you do know it's against the rules... you might get caught..."

"I am smart enough to not get caught, sir."

Daya interrupted

"We need to do it in secret. I don't think we can trust anyone."

A knock at the door interrupted them. Through the glass doors, Abhijeet saw Tarika outside. He went and opened the door. As soon as she came in he shut the door. She raised her eyebrow and looked at hin questioningly. He shrugged his shoulders and said

"Can't trust anyone... what is it?"

"The ink I sent for testing came back... uh..."

"And?"

"It dates approximately 8 to 10 years befor you joined CID"

"8 to 10 years? Meaning I must have been in college"

"Yes..."

Abhijeet clicked his tongue frustrated

"Great... I have zero memory of that time"

Daya placed his hand on Abhijeet's shoulder

"Abhijeet... it's going to be fine. You..."

"How, Daya? How is it going to be ok? I don't remember anything and I have no clue what I was doing back then... Do you?"

"Well, we all know you were a straight A student and you cleared the police training academy with flying colors which led you to the CID training camp where you were again brilliant enough to be chosen for secret service"

"That's what is on paper, Daya. But do you really know how I was... What if I was a cheater? What if all those things I did wasn't really because of my useless brain?"

"Abhijeet don't overthink... whatever else you would have been, you couldn't have been a cheater. Remember what the doctor said, it was your memory that disappeared not your character. And I know very well what sort of person you are. Don't beat yourself up."

Abhijeet sighed and placed his head on his forehead where he felt a dull throbbing pain. Just thinking about his past hurt his head so bad. Looking at his unease, Tarika walked towards him and took his hand in hers

"Abhijeet, look at me... look here..."

He looked at her and she saw in his bloodshot eyes the turmoil he was going through. She squeezed his hand tightly

"Daya is right, Abhijeet. You are a loyal, hardworking, sincere, brilliant CID officer. That is what defines you... Your past is in the past... Let it go."

"How do I, Tarika? Its chasing me now... This letter, I know that shadow means something... If only..."

He suddenly stopped as he saw something. He gave a cynical laugh

"And there he goes again..."

Daya looked up and just in time saw ACP sir exiting the bureau

"ACP sir?"

"Yes, him... He is the only one who knows something but he refuses to talk to me. Heck, he doesn't even look at me nowadays. Have you ever seen him leave the bureau before telling me where he is going? Yet... see that's what he is doing now..."

Purvi said softly

"Sir, maybe he is busy... You know the new inspector wanted to check all our cases and..."

"He was never too busy for me before. He is hiding something. I know it's related to my past. I wonder if he trusts me now."

Daya butted in

"Abhijeet, you know you are the only one he trusts blindly"

Abhijeet sighed

"Yea yea... he... I know he is worried about me. He is just too stubborn to let me in. If only, he trsuts me enough to tell me the truth."

Daya clicked his tongue

"Let's talk about what we have now, Shreya has some contacts, I can try and trace your past friendships... maybe we can talk to people who studied with you and we might know something."

Purvi nodded and said

"Hmmm... sir, I can check the social media pages if any of the people who studied with you are active..."

Tarika, who hadn't left his hand throughout his venting, softly caressed his hand and said

"We will get to the bottom of this Abhijeet. Don't worry. Everything will be alright"

"Mmmm... alright, let's get back to work... here she comes... the one I can never trust... however much she tries to hover around me."

They looked up and saw Zoya knocking the door. Abhijeet nodded at her curtly and she entered in

"Good morning, sir. A case was reported at sector 47, zone 11. A fisherman was found with his throat slit in his boat. Shall we go?"

He said nothing but gestured everyone to move. He looked at Zoya and said in a professional tone

"What do we know about the victim, Inspector?"

"First responder was his best friend....."

As they moved forward and their voices faded, Tarika stood still deep in thoughts. She had remembered something. She quickly searched her pockets and fished out a piece of paper that had floated to her feet just as she was closing the door to her house. Recognizing the handwriting, she had immediately picked it up, just as she had been about to read it, she had got a call from Dr. Salunkhe and she had pushed the paper in her pocket and rushed to the lab. She clicked her tongue scolding herself mentally for forgetting about it. She opened the slip now and read it now. It had only two words written in the handwriting of the person she deeply loved

'Fiat Justitia'

She felt her stomach knot as fear crept up her heart. She knew enought latin to understand that it meant 'Let Justice be done'. She also knew that justice meant different things to different people. Years of being CID had taught her that justice didn't actually mean the right thing to many people. She took in a deep breath and resolved to protect him from whatever that was chasing him. This time, she wasn't going to let him go. Slowly, she walked towards the lab, to the one person who always protected her, her mentor... Dr. Salunkhe.

****