Chapter Seven
"You should have been there, Ri! You would have loved it. I've never seen Rathod Sir like this. He looked just about ready to blow his fuse, and not just in anger if you know what I mean..."
"Ew, Shree. Too much information!" Riya's sentence was resonated by Chotu's disturbed expression.
Shree shook his head dismissively and continued to narrate the tale of Noor's interview, adding as much masala as possible without straying too far from the truth. "Guys, I'm telling you, that woman definitely got to Rathod Sir. The way she kept dismissing his authority...he'll be keeping a close watch on her."
"You weren't so casual during the interview yourself, Shreekant," Chotu reminded him with a smirk. "He became nervous the second the woman entered," he told Riya with a laugh. The pair shared a high five as Shree glared at them.
"Traitor," he shot at Riya. She shrugged nonchalantly and was about to reply when she heard footsteps behind her.
"Food, drinks, an adda of friends. I can hook up my iPod too if you guys want some music. It'd really get this party going." Rathod stared at each of their faces in turn, as if daring someone to reply, and Chotu decided to swallow back a joke about not being in the mood to listen to Vivaldi right now.
"Sorry, Sir," they muttered in unison.
"Disgusting." He walked away, taking long strides out of the door and re-entering a minute later with Arjun behind him.
"Team, we need to split up and get going. There's not much to go by as of now; we need to get as much information as possible. Riya, Raute, you will take the East side of the town. Sniff around, talk to shop keepers and locals, find out what ever you can about Roshni and Chandni Bar, especially that Noor girl. Chotu, Shree and I will take the West. We'll regroup at the field from last night and work out where to go from there. Oh and don't draw too much attention to yourselves. Am I clear? Right, let's go."
* * *
"Tauba tauba! I don't know anything about those girls!" Placing the bucket of water on one hip, she grabbed the end of her saree and hurried away from Riya, who sighed exhaustedly. They had been at this for over three hours now and the most they had discovered was that the second the words 'Chandni' and 'Bar' came up, everyone suddenly lost their memories, save for the important work that needed attending to that very instant.
"Anything?" Arjun asked as she approached him. Riya shook her head and he sighed. She was about to suggest that they head back when a pathetic mewling sound reached her ears. Raising an eyebrow in his direction, she saw Arjun look down at his stomach in embarrassment and then at her defiantly.
"What? Never seen a hungry person before?"
She raised her hands up in surrender but didn't bother to conceal her smirk. "I didn't say a word."
He glared defiantly before beginning to stalk off away from her.
"Sir?" she called out. "This way, come on." She began walking towards a row of shops before he could refuse and shaking his head, he finally followed her.
"Here?" he spluttered in surprise. She nodded at him and sat down on one of the cots.
"Here," she confirmed.
He looked around incredulously. They were at a dhaba, the farthest thing from the hygiene wonderlands at which she usually deigned to eat. He himself loved to eat at dhabas but Riya...well, wasn't she just full of surprises? He looked down to see her fervently ordering their food and quickly stopped the impressed smile that was threatening to form on his lips.
A few minutes later, a boy arrived with thaalis filled with chapatis, meat dishes and vegetable curries. They ate in comfortable silence, both too hungry and too tired for conversation.
Eyes closed, Riya was drinking her lassi with a satisfied smile when the word "Roshni" reached her ears.
"What about her?" She opened her eyes to find Arjun looking at her in surprise.
"What about who?"
"Roshni. You were saying..."
"I didn't say anything, Riya."
"Then who -" She stopped short when she heard the name being mentioned again, this time with the word 'Chandni' in the sentence. The voice was coming from behind her and she signalled to Arjun to keep quiet.
They listened intently, trying to locate the voice again and realised that it was coming from the table behind Riya. Snippets of the conversation confirmed that the men were indeed discussing Chandni Bar and Roshni's death.
Riya strained to listen further and her eyes widened as she heard the next words.
"This was just the beginning, boss. Dekhna, ek din sab ko khatam kar denge." ("Just watch, we'll finish all of them one day.")
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
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