The New trainee AR FF part 9 pg 8 - Page 4

sorry for the long wait guys.. to make up for it I'm giving you this super long part.

Enjoy!!!!

Chapter 7 : I just gave up

Excuse me, a body farm?" I ask wearily as we continue on our hike.

"Yes. It's a controlled environment where we can measure the effects of body decomposition. They are placed in various climates thought the country to measure the corresponding effects on decomp. You know, like what kinds of different insects are attracted to different stages of decomp. That's one of the ways we tell how long a body has been there. Take maggots for instance, it takes 2 to 3 hours for flies to be attracted to a body, but the time it takes for them to hatch is dependent on the type of fly. So if we see maggots on a body, we know that's it's been there for at least 24 hours."

This isn't what I signed up for.

"I see." Was all I could squeak out. "So what are we doing here?" I ask as I keep my eyes on Riddhima in front of me. I don't want to see something horrible by accident.

"Scene run. Do you remember the basic order in which a scene is processed?" she said casually.

"Perimeter, photography, ground, trace, latent, and chemical." I repeated from the ungodly amount of reading she forced on me.

"Correct. I had the director set up a scene for us. You will complete all the steps necessary to process the scene."

Oh shit.

"You mean process a scene with a real dead body?" I asked shocked.

"It's not like we have fake dead bodies lying around for you to practice on. This one just came in this morning so I had them put clothes on it and set it up." She told me like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I had so many questions like "what would it look like?" and "what would it smell like?" I don't think Riddhima is inclined to answer them though, I suspect she's just doing this to scare me off.

"There it is." She points to a tree ahead. And then I see it. An old man looking type is lying on his side up against a tree. His back is to me so I can't see his face. He's got a white t-shirt and sweats on, he's not wearing shoes. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought he was just sleeping. Riddhima stops and puts down the bag she's been carrying. I follow suit with my eyes locked on the body.

"Hey loser" Riddhima snaps her fingers in front of my face "it's just a body. If you care, he died in a nursing home after a long struggle of Alzheimer's. His only son donated his body to science." She opened the bag I'd been carrying. I leaned over to help her.

"How'd you know that?" I asked her.

"The first time people see a dead body, being able to associate human characteristics to them makes it less of a mystery to them and as a result, they freak out less. So when I asked the director to set this up, I had him pull the file on it. I didn't want to have to deal with you freaking out." She said condescendingly. I thought about it and she was right. I did feel better when I knew something about this guy. Even if she did it for selfish reasons, it was better than not knowing anything.

"Okay, perimeter." She barked out, and I got to work. 50 feet around the body was considered the scene. I wasn't supposed to approach the body yet, just contain the scene, so I eyeballed it. I used the surrounding trees to put up the police line tape that was in one of the bags. "Remember, one pathway in, one pathway out. It reduces the probability of contamination and preserves a greater percentage of the scene." She indicated where I should set up the "bridge to the scene" as it was called in the book. Every direction she gave, I followed to the letter. When approaching the body, I checked for shoe or foot prints in the ground before proceeding myself.

"Photography" she barked out. Snapping on latex gloves, I took out the small camera from the small pack and started snapping photos as I went with a general lens. We were about 10 feet from the body when I say something in the dirt.

"Wait" I called out. She was walking behind me and stopped. I squatted down to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. "Shoe print" I inform her and look up to see her looking over my shoulder.

"What do we do for those?" she asked stoic. I switched the settings on the camera and pulled out a tape measure from a pocket in my suit. I laid the measure down for reference before getting three separate shots. After I put away the camera and tape measure, I reached around on my back side and pulled out a plaster cast bag. It wasn't actually plaster, but rather some pink gooey substance. It worked like an ice pack, the powder in the outside pouch was transformed into the plaster like substance when the inside pouch of fluid was ruptured. I cracked it and rolled it around till it was ready. All while still squatting.

"What are you forgetting?" she asked. My mind panicked for a second before I did remember. I produced a little 3 inch plastic square. If you poured the plaster directly onto the print, it could destroy it from the weight of the substance. You had to pour it from the bag, onto the plastic thing, very close to the impression itself. I did so then put a little red flag with the number "1" on is to mark where it was. I left it to set and continued towards the body, snapping pictures along the way.

I can do this, I can do this. I keep repeating in my head. I can't see any more shoe prints when I get next to the body. I'd thought there would be more here as whoever set this guy here, surely had to walk around to set the guy down. I'm trying not to look of think about the fact that I'm standing two feet away from a body. "Why don't I see anymore shoe prints?" I ask curious.

"The roots of the tree make the soil stronger."

Fair enough.

"Enough pictures" she calls out after I've taken what seems to be like 1000 photos. I think the batteries were just about dead anyway, and it must have a SIM card the size of an elephant. "What's next?" she barks.

"Trace" I reply shortly. I start at the top of the body, like the book said to. I have to take a sample of his hair to rule him out. I have to look at his head, there's no way around it. Once I actually take a look at it, it's not what I think it's going to be. It just looks like wax, and thankfully, no "guests" are in it yet. His hands are bound with duck tape and his clothes are ironically, some police academy sweats.

"Quit messing around and do it already." Riddhima snaps. I take a deep breath and pull a small paper envelope from my suit and a pair of tweezers. I get the sample, label the envelope, and pass it back to Riddhima. The point man gather's the evidence, and then the backup man stores it. I then have to look over all the clothing to see if I can find any trace hairs or fibers. I do find a black hair and being that this guy has white hair, I'm pretty sure it's not his. After a full hour going up and down into the squat position, my legs are on fire, I've looked over everything I can for trace evidence, collected the duct tape, and bagged the hands for possible DNA evidence.

"Took you long enough." She hissed as I finally stood up, finished with everything I could think I was supposed to do. "You'll have to move quicker on camera or you're going to look like a bumbling idiot."

I roll my eyes at her at the stupidity of her comment. I was just glad I got through this without throwing up, and she's worried about how I'll look on camera. That's officially tomorrow's problem. I collect all the evidence flags and get the now set plaster cast of the shoe print and we head out. On the way back to the rig, Riddhima is silent, but something is off about her…I think she's planning something.

I was a little slower of a hiker than I was earlier today. I'll defiantly be slathering my legs in that oil tonight. We get back to the rig and she heads for the back doors. After throwing our bags in, she produces the case for my forensic equipment. "Put your stuff in here." She commands. I start to do so but notice her doing the same thing with another case. She finishes before I do and…oh god…starts to strip out of her jumpsuit.

"Strip." she commands the second I close my fully loaded case.

"Excuse me?" I question. The last thing I'm going to be going is getting undressed around Riddhima.

"You heard me loser, take off your suit." She says acidic.

"Why would you ask me that?" I hiss back.

"Because I need to process your suit and boots now take them off and put them in the bag." She picks up a bag and throws it at me.

"I didn't bring any extra clothes, you didn't tell me to." I say throwing the bag back at her.

"What the hell do you care?" she laughed at me "why would a guy like yourself care who sees you in various states of undress. Millions of women, and probably thousands of men have seen you in less than that. Now put your suit in the bag!"

Where the hell does she get off talking to anyone like this, let alone me?

" Riddhima, you don't know anything about me. You know for someone who looks at evidence all day, you sure are basing your opinion of me off of some pretty unreliable shit. Next time you want to try and break someone, at least get your facts straight. Here's what I know about you that's based on evidence. You're a sedative junkie that spends her days pill popping and pissing on the world in general. Take Inspector Gupta for instance, he's a nice guy and what does he get for a daughter? Satan. So you'll pardon me if I won't be your slave and forgive me for retaining the same shred of privacy a decent person would afford another human being." I spat at her, glared at her, staring her down. She wasn't glaring back.

There were tears brimming Satan's eyes.

"You're right, I'm sorry." She said quietly and her face was contrite.

What the hell just happened here?

She hopped up in the rig and started digging around. "Here" she said quietly sticking her hand out behind her, holding a pair of sweats. "It's all I could find." Riddhima wiggled herself out of the rig and stood facing me. "I'll just let you get to it." And she went to the other side of the car.

I don't understand…anything.

I quickly change out of the suit and put it in the bag but I don't have any other shoes. "I'm decent." I call out dressed in the sweats she gave me and my white tee. The sweats are a little small but not too bad. She returns to the back of the rig. "I don't have any other shoes." I tell her quietly. The dynamic between us has changed and I'm not quite sure what it is now. I think I almost prefer the hostility, at least then, I know what I'm up against.

She digs around in another bag and hands me a pair of black sneakers, and shrugs "It's all I have to offer."

I take them, remove my boots, put them in the bag and try to put on the shoes she gave me. "There too small, but I'll manage." my feet hang over the heels, but it's something.

"I need to get changed." She says quietly.

"Right." I acknowledge and go to sit in the passenger side of the rig. I hear the back doors close and the driver's side door open. Riddhima climbs in wearing the tank top, some jeans…and no shoes.

She gave me her only pair of shoes.

Well shit. Now I really don't know what to do.

The drive back to the lab is tense and quiet. She doesn't put music on and neither of us talks. I don't know what she's going to do with me. I think at the very least, Shashank won't let any harm come to me. Its past five, so all the staff would have gone home by now. I just need to get to my locker, get my real clothes back on, and get out of this mess. We pull up into the garage and she shuts off the car. She doesn't say anything, but rather just gets out and softly closes the door. I get out when I hear the back doors open and meet her back there to help with whatever is needed.

"You don't have to help, you can go." She almost whispers. Clearly I've rattled Riddhima. She's unloading the boxes of evidence from the scene onto a dolly that was by the parking bay.

"It's alright; I don't have any place I need to be." I reply and reach for one of the bags.

"Just. Go!" she suddenly yells, but it's not her normal acid bite of tone. It's frail, like a caged animal, fearful of its life.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." I say and start for the locker room. If there's one thing I know about a caged animal, is that when it feels like it can't get away, it'll turn on whatever is keeping it hostage. I change into my clothes, but I'm in a trance. I have no idea what just happened today, and I don't think I want it to ever happen again. I'm so used to letting shit roll off me, it was second nature when Riddhima started busting my chops but seeing her crack like that wasn't what I wanted, and it's kind of messing with my mind. I actually feel a little sick when I think of the look on her face after I yelled at her.

I drop by the office to pick up the oil I left there this morning, and Riddhima has her head down on her desk. I can see the ear buds in her ears, and the pill bottles open on her desk. I quietly get the oil from my desk and close the door before she knows I'm there. I head for the bath as soon as I'm in my door. I sit there and soak, thinking of what the hell just happened today. I've completely forgot about the fact that I processed a scene with a real dead guy in it, because all my brain power is being sucked into the vortex that is Riddhima.

"Muskaan" I say as she answers the phone.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"I messed up. I think broke Riddhima."

"What the hell do you mean? How could you break Satan?" she asked amazed. I told the whole story and she still didn't believe me. "Maybe she was just on lots of meds?"

"I didn't see her take any but you should have seen the look on her face. Then she gave me her only pair of shoes, why would she do that? I'm completely confused."

"I don't know, but it looks like you're going to lose the bet. You said Satan would attack you tomorrow and if you broke her, I think she just might crawl back to the vile hole she came from." Muskaan mused.

I knew that Muskaan didn't like Riddhima because she had been wretched to me, but hearing Muskaan insult her, even if she only did it because she cared about me, didn't sit well with me. "Hey, I'm gonna go now. I have to be up early tomorrow so have a good night and say hello to everyone for me." I say quietly.

"Alright, talk to you later." And she hung up.

I laid awake for an hour trying to understand why Riddhima could do kind things like give me oil that would help me, or her only pair of shoes, while at the same time hate everything that I'd worked for in my life, and my very existence.

The next morning I got into the office and didn't find Riddhima, but found a note telling me to go to chemical processing. "God?" I call out.

"In the back." A faint voice called back. I made my way through what must have been a dozen tables and sinks and found a row of doors that led into isolated rooms. I saw Riddhima dressed in a lab coat and black slacks in one of the rooms, with what looked like our jumpsuits and boots from yesterday.

"Close the door." She says in a normal tone. There is no bite but it's not weak and broken either. I do as she says, and find the only light in the room is from the small light in the ceiling. In the room I see a spray bottle of luminal. "You know yesterday was a test, correct?" I nodded. She picked up the bottle and started spraying her boots and suit. "What I didn't tell you is why I suggested the bridge to the scene where I did. I told you to put it where I did because, everywhere you weren't supposed to step or touch had been laced with pig's blood. If you touched anything or stepped anywhere you weren't supposed to, it's going to show up in a glowing green color when I kill the lights. I've prepped my suit so you can see what your suit was supposed to look like."

Ah, she's expecting me to fail.

She flipped the lights off and it was completely pitch black, then she flicked on a little fluorescent flashlight and didn't find anything glowing. She flipped the main lights on after about 10 seconds. "Now for yours." She sprayed my suit and boots and let it sit there for a minute. "Just so you know, everyone fails this test the first time." she said with a little chuckle. I still had a hard time believing it was Riddhima who was actually finding humor in a situation. She flipped off the lights, and turned on the flashlight.

Nothing.

Not even a speck of glowing anything.

"Impossible." She whispered. Riddhima got closer to the boots and again, found nothing. She flicks off the flashlight and turns on the overhead light, not saying anything but just looking at the boots.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"It means that you are cleared to be in the field with me on a very short leash. It means that your name is no longer loser, but rather probie. We start real cases on Monday." She says still looking at the boots.

Holy shit.

"I thought everyone failed the first time?" I ask amazed.

"There's only ever been one other to pass the first time." she says finally turning to face me.

"Who?" I ask still stunned.

"Me. Take the suits to the laundry and report back to the office." She says shortly but not mean. She leaves me to clean up. When I get back to the office there is a pile of stuff on my desk. I see the familiar forensics case, suit, and boots in my size. Riddhima comes in not long after me talking on her cell phone.

"I'll be there, how long will it take?" She barks to whoever is on the phone while walking to her desk. I sit at mine and start loading the suit with the contents of the case. "It's a new guy?" she says with dread, then abruptly hangs up and tosses the phone on her desk. She rubs her temples then opens the drawer containing her meds.

"What's up God?" I ask casually.

"Why do you care." She hisses back, still clearly pissed from the phone call.

"Natural curiosity." I respond, letting her harsh tone roll off my back. I still feel bad for making her tear up so I'm not going to let myself get spun up by her again. She takes two pill bottles from her pharmacy and opens them, quickly downing one of each of them.

"One of my cases got another trial because of defense lawyer incompetence and I have to go re-testify in a half an hour." She sounded more annoyed than livid.

"What case?" I ask curious.

"Standard issue guy kills his wife when she threatened to leave him. Guy tried to make it look like a robbery by trashing the place and hiding the jewelry in a big potted plant." She said less hostile than before.

"How'd you know the ransacking was staged and where he hid the jewelry?" I asked curious about this ability I'd heard so much about.

"The places where burglars normally look for valuables weren't even touched. He concentrated on things like furniture. People hide things in places they don't frequent much, you know, out of sight, out of mind? Anyway, his destruction was concentrated on furniture. Things like ripping sheets off beds, knifing the couches, tipping over the dining room table, dishes, everyday things he used. He went to them because they were more familiar and made a bigger mess. Someone who didn't live there would have destroyed everything equally. Not caring how big the mess was." She concluded.

"What about the jewelry he hid in the potted plant?"

"I found some dirt on the floor around the plant, but it was consistent with the pot having been bumped in the frenzy, but I didn't find any foot prints from the dirt. When I found a tiny speck by the door, I wondered how it would have gotten all the way over there if the pot had simply been bumped. It turned out that it was on his pants because he had been kneeling by the potted plant. If he was ransacking, why would he have been on his knees? So I checked in the dirt and found the jewelry. Only his prints were on the bag holding it. It showed that he tried to stage the scene to cover the crime, which made the charges against him more severe." She stands up and removes her lab coat. Underneath she is wearing a black tank top and a gun.

Oh god, Satan is armed?

Without another word, she puts on her suit jacket which completely conceals the gun.

"Do you normally carry a gun?" I blurt out, frightened that the whole time she's been training me; she had an actual gun on her. I don't like guns, they make me nervous.

"Yes" she says annoyed. "Do all Forensic scientists?" I'd seen them do it on TV but they got so many things wrong, I'd thought they got that wrong too.

"No."

"They why should you?"

" To hell with you." She hisses.

"Your entire profession glamorizes guns and you dare judge me. Hypocrite." She goes over to the book shelf, picks a book, and slams it down on my desk. "Read this, I'm going to the courthouse." She spits and storms out.

What the hell just happened?

I find myself asking that a lot around Riddhima. I pick up the book and see that it's a reference book of recipes to make forensic chemicals. Apparently, buying them premade is possible, just expensive. It makes more sense to buy the raw chemicals, and combine what you need. I read through it for a couple of hours before figuring out that she's just doing this to punish me and push the book away. I can always look up this stuff later if I need it. I don my hoodie and decide to head the courthouse. She won't see me and I'm curious about what it's like on the witness stand.

"Hey Inspector Gupta?" I poke my head in his office.

"Armaan, congratulations on passing. He says proudly from his desk. "What can I do for you?"

"Thank you. Riddhima is testifying today and I wanted to see what that's like. Where is the courthouse?" He smiles and stands up, grabbing his jacket "I'll take you." He volunteers. He drives us in an unmarked squad car. It must not be that unmarked because everyone drives the speed limit around him. It's aggravating to say the least. He asks about my test and I relayed the whole thing…well except where I almost made his daughter cry. It's easy to get through security with Shashank and we make it to the court room fairly quickly. We just take some empty seats in the back of the room. I see her on the stand but she looks different. She looks approachable and…nice?

"Why does she look so friendly?" I ask Shashank.

"So the jury can relate to her." He whispers back. I notice there are diagrams and pictures on posters with what looks like a drawing of a living room. She's clearly been here for awhile.

"So Miss Gupta, have you ever planted evidence to help the police make a case?" A lawyer asks and Shashank tenses.

"No" she answers nicely.

"Shit, it's a new lawyer that doesn't know." Shashank hisses almost frantic.

"Even though you had a personal relationship with the detective on this case? You're telling us you didn't falsify evidence to help him arrest the most convenient suspect?"

"Objection, argumentative." The other lawyer who I assume to be the Defence Attorney says.

"Overruled." The Judge says.

"Oh hell, here it comes." Shashank curses under his breath.

"I'm sorry Miss Gupta; you have to answer the question." The Judge says apologetically to Riddhima. She nods and looks at the defense lawyer…and Medusa is back.

"I never give the cops a free pass. I always make them work for it. If cops actually did their jobs right, my kids would still be alive."

………………………………………………………………………………….

Please comment

hey great one

OMFG ! oh damn. ! omgg ! yoo like damn ! OMG ! thid part was CRAZY ! aww armaan made her cry...and she aactually cried and gave him her shoes...ok im gonna skip to the last part haha....OMFG ! DAMN ! holy shyt ! yoo...u soo gotta update this soon...likee VERY VERY SOON ! i hate u for ending it here =[ hahaha ok noo but like ughh omgg i was like OH SHYT ! when i read the last part ! yo thanks for the PM and update SOOOON !

such an amazing FF... the concept is really interesting ...im already hooked

hi

as i am new here, just caught up with ur ff

and i love it.....

pls pm me

shreya

OMG seriously ..last part ..last was a SHOCKER!!!!!!!!!

Loved the whole ff...Ridz has 2 shades of her ....loved armaan ..Poor ridz is suffering a lot....
U NEED to update soon...i can t wait to read more...

ADD me to ur PM

Hey everyone thank you again for the lovely comments. Im sorry I hvnt been able to reply to each comment personally. I'll do that soon. Promise. Till then

Enjoy!!!

Chapter 8: Therapy Riddhima style

I never give the cops a free pass. I always make them work for it. If cops actually did their jobs right, my kids would still be alive."

Oh shit.

The whole courtroom is silent and Riddhima is still glaring at the Defense lawyer. "Do you have any further questions?" the judge asks the defense attorney.

"Let her go." Shashank whispers.

He just stammers and the clears his throat "No sir, I mean your honor."

The judge looks to the DA "Rebuttal?"

"No your honor." He says quietly, reflecting the mood of the court.

"Then we'll break for lunch. Miss Gupta you're excused with the courts thanks." The gavel hit the bench and Riddhima flew out of her seat.

"Don't let her get away." Shashank spoke quickly as he rose, trying to get through the mass of people to Riddhima, but she's too quick and exits out a side door. "Dammit" Shashank curses and turns around to go out the way we came. My body is following him, he seems to know where he's going, but my mind is still processing everything.

Riddhimaa had kids…and they're dead now…and she's not…where is the dad…I yelled at her and told her that Shashank didn't deserve her shit…oh god, what did I do?

We make it outside and around the side of the building but only in time to see her pull away on a crotch rocket. "I wish she'd stop riding that thing, she's going to get herself killed." He mutters then runs to the car we came in, and starts the drive back to the lab.

"Why aren't we following her?" I ask but he shushes me while he dials the phone.

"Shubhankar?" he says talking on his phone. "She was in court today; the defense lawyer didn't know and asked her the question. She's in the wind. I'm dropping off Armaan at the lab and I'll pick you up." He snaps his phone shut and is quiet.

"What the hell is going on?" I finally ask.

"Not now Armaan." He says politely but sternly. I don't speak for the rest of the ride; this is clearly a family emergency which he's having a hard time dealing with. We pull up to the curb outside the lab and I see Shubhankar standing there. I hop out; he nods to me, and then takes my place in Shashank's car. They drive away without another word and I head into the sanctuary of the office.

I'm lost here without her.

I look around this place and it looks completely different. I never noticed before that there are no pictures anywhere, only books, files, and other work items. I look in her desk and can't find one single picture or personal item. Her pill drawer suddenly has new meaning. After about a half an hour of snooping, I go to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I suppose I'll just go home for the day afterward, having not heard anything from Shashank or Riddhima. I'm standing in line when I see a man I don't know, come up to the guy in front of me.

"Hey Ishaan, CSW is in the ring." He says quickly and both of them immediately run out of the cafeteria. I follow them very quickly. They run into the gym facilities and over to the boxing ring. I push through the crowd to get a better look and nothing prepares me for what I see.

Riddhima is full out sparring with a huge guy, in a black tight top and black gym shorts. He throws a right hook, she blocks it which leaves him wide open. She takes the opportunity and spins a very well formed round house kick to his chest. He stumbles back, catching his breath before taking another lumbering swing at her. All the guys around me are cheering for him but it clear he's slowing down. The fight only lasts another three minutes before he taps out.

"Is that all you've got Pranav you jerk!" she yells at him like the venomous creature I met on my first day here. While a couple of other guys helped the guy called Pranav out of the ring, she turns to the crowd. "Which one of you f**kers are next!"

I finally remember that Shashank and Shubhankar are out looking for her. I hop into the ring "Bella, Inspector Gupta and Shubhankar are looking for you." I plead with her.

"I don't want to be found." She says quietly so only I can hear.

"YEAH, ARMAAN MALIK!" The guys in the crowd shout out.

"Are you here to fight or fool around you spoiled idiot!" she grits out, Satan back in full swing.

"Riddhima, we should go find Inspector Gupta." I repeat…and then she punches me…hard. It doesn't take me down, but she's defiantly got some force behind it.

"What the hell Riddhima!" I yell back at her.

"Either you're here to fight or get the hell out of my way and let one of the other idiots in here, pick!"

"I'm not letting these guys go after you, not like this, you need Inspector Gupta." She is completely feral and I witness the animal I saw Meera trying to cage, out in full force.

"Then it's you. Too bad, I didn't want to destroy your pretty face." And she launched into a full assault. I block every single one she throws with ease, but I'm retreating in doing so.

"You think my face is pretty?" I ask back, thinking stupidly of myself. Out of all that, that's what I pick up on?

She ignores my comment and starts attacking me again. I simply block her attacks while sizing her up. It's easy to see that her style if mostly Jujitsu with Judo tendencies. She is a completely offensive fighter, and thinks nothing about defense. "Fight you loser!" she screams.

It's either me or someone else in here, and judging from the tenor of the crowd, they really want to take her down. I relent and give her what she wants. I launch a blitz against her but keep my force measured. She blocks most of them as we dance across the ring, but fails to block a punch to her solar plexus. She goes down with the wind knocked out of her.

"Riddhima stop this." I plead but she takes advantage of my distraction and swipes my legs out from under me.

When I hit the deck, she stands up. "Again" she hisses while recovering. I'm back on my feet quickly and she charges me. I don't give her another opportunity to corner me by launching another blitz on her while advancing. This time the punch she doesn't block lands on her face, and she goes down.

"Ooooo, YEAH!" the crowd cheers and I want to tell them to shut the hell up.

Bella stands up with blood coming out of her mouth. She spits more out and looks at me "Again!" she grits out. I can't do this to her, there has to be a way to get her to stop. This time when she charges me I get hold of an arm and spin her around, using her arm to make her stop. She bashes my nose with her head and tries to complete the assault with a round house kick, which I catch and force her to the ground with. I finally get her in a choke hold by lying on top of her. She needs to tap out or she's going to pass out but if I release her, I know she'll come after me again. Her struggles are getting weaker and weaker and just when I think she'll never give in, she goes limp.

I let her go immediately while she coughs and sputters. I take this opportunity to drag her to the edge of the ring by her foot. I hop over the ropes myself then drag her out under the bottom rope.

"I'm not done." she coughs out.

"Yes you are." I answer back firmly. She staggers to her feet and I start to lead her away from the mayhem when I get inundated with the crowd.

"It's about time someone took that beast down!" one guy says while shaking my shoulder. "How long have you been studying that stuff!" another man makes an attempt to congratulate me on my victory. I hardly see it as such. Riddhima gets further and further away from me before she is stopped by a man just a little shorter than me with dark brown hair and average build. They are clearly arguing but I can't hear what they're saying. I try to get out of the crowd but they don't notice that I'm basically trying to push them out of the way. Suddenly he pushes her back from him by her shoulders, she retaliates by thrusting out her foot into his knee…and it bends the wrong way.

His screams fill the air as he goes down.

Everyone turns towards the scream and I can finally get away from the crowd. Riddhima doesn't attack him again but while he's on the floor, she presses her foot into his throat. I finally get close enough to hear something.

"Am I strong enough now!" she yells at him pissed off as hell. I don't slow my pace when I get to her. I just put my hands on her arms, pull her off of the guy, and keep walking. Thankfully she doesn't fight me on this. We're almost to the door before I look at the poor sap that just had Riddhima break his knee. I see the other guys helping him up so he is officially tomorrow's problem.

When we out of the doors, I start guiding her to the sanctuary of our office. "Who the hell was that?" I question, exasperated at everything that has happened.

"That was my cheating Ex." She hisses out.

I suddenly don't think the guy on the floor is a poor sap anymore, and that I shouldn't have pulled her off of him.

I finally get her to the office and put her in her chair. I remember a pack of tissues and hand sanitizer I found while rummaging through her desk earlier and pull them out. I dab her split lip with it before applying some of the sanitizer. She winces but makes no other move. I look up to see her and find her looking back at me…puzzled.

"Tum yeh kyun kyun kar rahe ho?" she whispers tenderly, her adrenalin high having worn off.

"Because someone should, because I'm sorry I yelled at you. God Riddhima, I'm sorry about your kids, I" she jumped out of her seat like someone had lit a blow torch under her, and pressed herself up against the wall like a scared animal.

"Don't make me hear it don't make me hear it no no no no no!" she begged on the verge of hysteria with her hands in front of her like she was pleading with someone intent on causing her harm. Her feet were still trying to get away even though she was up against a wall. I tried to come closer trying to calm her down but she started mumbling incoherent phrases with complete agony in her eyes. I now understood the reason for the sedatives in the drawer. I pulled it open and grabbed two handfuls of bottles, pushing them toward her. She took them from me, sunk down to the floor, and quickly took some pills from two of the bottles. After swallowing them, she started rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her legs, her knees touching her chin, still muttering to herself with her eyes closed.

I had no clue what to do.

I picked up the phone on her desk and thankfully, one of the buttons on it was labeled "Dad Cell". He picked up on the first ring.

"Inspector Gupta." He answered flatly.

"Ummm, Shashank? This is Armaan. I'm here in Riddhima's office with her and I don't think she's okay."

"How long has she been muttering?" he asks clearly worried.

"Only about three minutes sir. I gave her the pills in her desk and she took some, was I supposed to do that?"

"It's fine, we'll be there in fifteen minutes. Stay with her, don't let her out of your sight."

They were here in ten. She just muttered the entire time I was waiting for them. I stood back as they tried to get close enough to help her.

"Riddhima?" Shashank asked while he and Jake approached her slowly. She opened eyes and slowly looked at them, the meds having kicked in.

"Mujhe mat bachao. Mujhe mar jaane do, I deserve it." She said sleepily. When I saw her eyes, I saw that red fire. The same as it was at the club that night.

Oh god. That was a look of desire, the desire to die.

That's why she picked a fight in the club with those guys that were invading her space, and why she went home to a complete stranger's house. She did it to taunt death. I am very grateful to whatever god is out there, that it was me that found her instead of some real threat that could have so easily ended her in her inebriated state.

"Armaan we'll take it from here." Shashank says while Shubhankar picks her up.

I followed them instinctively "I want to help." I protest.

"It's alright son, you did good. You didn't sign up for this. We'll take care of her, and I'll call you and let you know how she is doing." He said in a more authoritative voice.

"Please" I whisper wanting nothing more than to somehow help her. They don't wait for my answer before ushering me out of her office. Not knowing what else to do, I go home.

"Armaan? Did you lose the bet?" Muskaan laughed as she answered the phone.

"No M, I didn't and there are no words to describe how f**king far from funny it is." I chastise her.

"What do you mean?" Muskaan is serious very quickly.

"I mean I saw her on the witness stand today. The defense attorney asked her if she planted evidence and somehow it came out that she used to have children and they are dead because the cops didn't do their jobs right."

"Oh my god." Muskaan whispers.

"Yeah, and that's not even the half of it. She took off afterward and her Dad and friend went out looking for her. I found her in the police gym beating the shit out of a guy at least twice her size. I tried to talk to her and she came after me."

"Armaan, is she still alive?" Muskaan asked worried. It wasn't a secret that I'd been into martial arts for enough years to kill someone with it.

"Yes, but I busted her lip and almost made her pass out. Afterward I had to literally drag her out of the ring to get her to stop. Then her ex accosted her, and she broke his knee. When I finally got her back to the office, she completely flipped out. I gave her some meds to calm her down, and Shashank and Muskaan finally showed up to haul her off someplace. They wouldn't let me come with her." I finished my recount of what was probably the worst day of my life. I'd never hit a woman before, and even an opponent as good as Riddhima didn't dissuade my guilt, but after hearing the vile crass things the guys were saying about how glad they were that I'd put her down, the thought of any of them touching her pissed me off something awful.

"What happened to her kids?" Muskaan asked softly.

"I have no idea and I don't think anyone is going to tell me anytime soon. I think it's a pretty taboo topic."

"Couldn't you just Google search or something?"

Muskaan is brilliant.

"That's actually a really good idea. I'll call you when I find something."

"Alright, I'm going to tell the family everything. Do you want me to inform Mr.Chopra? If they're not holding up their end of the bargain, perhaps we can get you home."

"NO!" I shout immediately. I'm not sure why, but the thought of leaving Riddhima right now causes a shot of panic to run through my system.

"Ummm, ok. I guess I'll talk to you later." She says suspicious of my outburst.

"Good night" and I hang up.

After three hours on Google, pizza, and every conceivable variation of the name Riddhima Meera Gupta, I give up. All I can find is some forensic paper's she's written for journals. I finally head for the shower and wash off the grime of my battle with Riddhima. When I look in the mirror, I see that my lip is a little split as well. Nothing compared to what I did to her, but it's something. I spend the rest of the day numbing my mind on TV as it's hurting from the crazy day I've had. I keep checking my cell for messages or news from Shashank, I'm repeatedly disappointed. When it's an acceptable time for bed, I go to sleep with visions of Riddhimaa freaking out in my head.

I make it into the lab fairly early, hoping for news on Riddhima. I stop by Shashank's office but he's not in yet, it's the same story with Shubhankar. I head to the office. I open the door and am shocked as hell to see Riddhima sitting at her desk with ear buds in.

"Riddhima, oh god, are you alright? What are you doing here?" I say in a rush over to her. Her knuckles are red and slightly swollen while her lip doesn't look much better. Her clothes are once again black, but its track pants and a tee. She also has black framed rectangular glasses on, which I've never seen on her before. She takes out her ear buds slowly and stands up.

"Main theek hoon Armaan, please khud ko pareshan mat karo mere liye." She says softly. The sound of my name on her lips stirs things in me that I haven't felt since that night with her. "Ummm" she stammers and I realize that I'm staring at her and not saying anything.

"It's no trouble at all. I was worried about you, Inspector Gupta didn't call me." I say kindly in return. I know she's volatile and I've never seen this version of Riddhima before. She's soft more than anything.

"So, I don't really know how to do this so here." She picks up what looks like a tin foil wrapped rectangular prism. "Kal tumhe maarne ke liye sorry bola chahti hoon." She says and sits back down, facing away from me.

"What is it?" I ask while I'm unwrapping it. "Aloo ka parantha? You made me Aloo ka parantha?" I say surprised and smell it.

It smells wonderful.

I immediately take a big bite, not bothering to cut a piece like a civilized human.

"Mmmm, thank you." I say with my mouth full while relishing the taste. I haven't had anything homemade since I got here, with the exception of the occasional sandwich at home. "Main pichle do hafte se ghar ke saamne wale Mc Donald's se kaam chala raha hoon." I say while continuing in my mastication of her divine bread.

Riddhima giggled…and it was a magical sound.

"Anyway, we're on call today so we can't start any big projects but if you want to help me mix up some batches of solvent, you're more than welcome to join me.

"Sounds great." I say muffled, having taken another bite of the bread.

"Okay." She says with a more confidence and an actual smile. She stands up and motions me to follow her as opposed to her normal routine of just expecting me to follow. This new, almost normal like behavior is so strange and even more strange, I don't feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Leaving the parantha on my desk, we go to the chemical store room but just as we fill up our cart with what we'll need, her pager goes off. She picks it up and looks at the display.

"We're on" she says in a flat tone that she hasn't used all morning.

"I'll suit up and meet you at the rig?" I ask confirming that I'm still going. She nods and I head to the locker room…I'm remembering to bring the spare clothes and shoes this time.

I make it to the automotive area before Riddhima does and see Shubhankar.

"Shubhankar!" I call out over the noise while walking toward him.

"Hey Armaan, how's it going?" he says cautiously, like he doesn't know what to expect.

"I'm fine; Riddhima and I got called out so I'm just waiting for her." I say casually.

"Riddhima is on call today?" he says annoyed.

"That's what she said and I don't question what God says." I laugh a little at the end; thinking of when Riddhima paged me to her office.

"You know, you're alright Malik." Jake says slapping my arm, laughing a little himself. "Hey, me and Shashank are getting together tomorrow for a beer, wanna come?"

Oh hell yes, I might finally get some answers then.

"Where did you have in mind?"

"It's just a local bar, nothing like Mumbai but it's a police watering hole."

"Yeah, I'm trying to keep a low profile and last time I went out into public, some school girls chased me screaming that they wanted to marry me and have my baby, so I'll pass but thanks anyway." I said casually. Although I did want answers, I didn't want them that bad. I'd ask Riddhimaa herself before I let the baby momma patrol find me.

"Hey no worries, we'll just do it at Shashank's place instead."

YES!

"In that case I'd love to. What time?"

"How about you come over for the India vs NZ game? It starts at 4:30 and we can order pizza or something."

"Probie!" Riddhima yelled from a rig a couple of bays over. Both Shubhankar and I turned to see her. "We need to go!" she yelled but not hostilely.

"Gotta go, God is calling. Can you send me directions?" I call back to Shubhankar as I walk to meet Bella.

"Not a problem." He waves me off. I get to Riddhima and she sits in the driver's seat. I take my place beside her and toss my bag in the back. She doesn't immediately start the car but rather turns towards me.

"I have to ask, are you sure you want to do this? I mean I can get someone else to show you some chemical analysis stuff while I'm out or something, but there is some shit out there that you don't want in your head. So, this is your last chance to save yourself." She asks actually concerned.

"I'll be fine, just show me the ropes." I say. I didn't go through two weeks of hell only to crap out now.

"Alright" she says, and starts the car. She puts on a calming piano piece that I recognize as the Chopin Etudes.

"You know Chopin?" I ask surprised.

"You know Chopin?" she asks surprised back.

"Sure, I know lots of his pieces. I just didn't take you for a Chopin fan. I know you like St. Matthew the Passion, but that's a Bach thing."

"You know St. Matthew?" she asks even more surprised.

"There's a lot you don't know about me." I say casually. Not the least of which is that she was the best night of my life.

"Touch." She replies. The rest of the drive is silent until we pull up underneath a huge flyover.

"Where are we?" I ask.

"Underneath the DND. What a case to cut your teeth on. We have a body and the first officer on the scene said it looks like a beating. Last chance." She warns me.

"I'll be fine." I affirm again.

She opens the center console and hands me an ID badge. "Clip that to your collar. It won't be in your way there. I do so and she does the same to hers.

"Ok, here we go." And she opens her door. I follow her to the back and help get our stuff ready. She hands me a surgical hair cover and I laugh.

"What?" she asks a little annoyed.

"I was just thinking that this is one way to hide my hair. That's how I normally attempt to go out in public without getting hassled, wearing a hat. My hair is most noticeable feature."

"No it's not, your eyes are." She says simply while going about her work. Her comment shocks me. The thought that she has noticed my eyes actually makes me happy. She dons the same hair cover and hands me some eye protection. I snap some gloves on and we start towards the scene.

"Get behind me." She says when we get to the tape. I do so and she starts rolling her head from side to side. She shakes her shoulders then gets very still.

"What are you doing?" I ask quietly.

"I'm looking at the entire scene. Don't look at any one item in particular, look at everything at once, what do you see?" she says quietly. She's not timid, but rather teaching.

I do so and see nothing but chaos. There is garbage everywhere, a couple of ratty old cars, a dumpster a pile of cardboard, just shit everywhere. "I see chaos." I answer.

"Correct, and that tells us that we need to look for things that are in place, as opposed to out of place. Those are the things that wouldn't be here on their own. Let's go." She steps under the tape and holds it up for me. Slowly she proceeds to the lump of human, covered in brown clothes. He's lying on his stomach with his face towards me. I concentrate on minding my surroundings, rather than look at him. Riddhima is snapping pictures and putting down markers on either side of us, constructing the bridge to the scene.

"We probably won't find any shoe prints here, pavement isn't good for that, unless it's in blood." She informs me. I still look for them though. We get close to the body and she tells me to wait. She squats down to look at a piece of brown broken glass. Before I know it, she has photographed it, put a marker on it, and is on her way. We get to the body.

"Dispatch was wrong. They said it was a homeless on homeless killing. Another street guy didn't do this. He left the boots, those are pretty good shoes for a homeless guy. Another street guy would have taken them. After the ME gets here, we'll need to take those with us to rule out his shoe prints." I nod and she continues her work. Riddhima takes rule out samples and pictures. I just stand behind and watch her. Every now and then she stops and looks at everything like she did before.

"Paydirt. Come here probie." She says casually.

"What?" I ask her. She lays down a tape measure by a pile of broken brown glass.

"We might have our murder weapon here. Might even be able to raise some prints off of it." She says collecting the pieces into a paper envelope. She labels it and passes it back to me. "Take what you have so far and put it in the rig. Then get the guard officer to watch it. Come back afterward and mind where you walk." I comply immediately. I've been lucky so far as to not see the extent of the injuries on the body, and I don't want to start now. I get the attention of the officer and leave him to guard the evidence, but not before he tries to get an autograph.

Idiot.

I mean seriously, I'm here, helping to process the scene of a homeless guy that looks like he was beaten to death, and this cop is concerned about a piece of paper with a name scribbled on it? I'd rather hang out with Riddhima and the dead guy. The ME van pulls up as I return to Riddhima.

"The ME is here." I tell her while she sorts through a pile of trash. She nods her head in acknowledgment.

"I'm just about ready to release the scene to them." She says absentmindedly. She collects a few more things before calling the ME over.

"It's all yours. Make sure you get the clothing to trace." She snips. The ME gets the gurney out of the van and heads into the scene. We're still in the scene when the ME rolls the guy over onto a sheet of plastic.

"STOP!" Riddhima commands and they do so. She whips out her camera and starts taking more pictures. I look and can see what killed him. The back of his skull is pulverized. I quickly look away so I don't lose it. "Probie, give me a medium bag." She asks hastily. I do so, still not looking at the morbid injury. Underneath him, clutched in his hands, is an unopened bottle of whiskey.

This guy died defending a bottle of booze.

She collects it then instructs the ME to continue. We get back to the rig. "You don't need to change your suit here, but you'll probably want to change your shoes here." She then walks around to the other side of the rig, allowing me my privacy.

For shoes?

It didn't take long before the ME assistant comes over to me. "Dude, its Armaan Mallik! I hoped I'd get a chance to meet you. My name is Ritesh; it's nice to meet you." He picks my hand from my side, shaking it like he's meeting the Dalai Lama. "Hey, do you want to go party tonight, some of us are going out and I'm sure you could use some time away from CSW. She's a real piece." He laughs at his less than witty comment.

"Ritesh!" Riddhima hisses as she comes back "Leave him alone and do your job." He just looks at her and retreats like a coward.

"Let's go." she huffs out, and I gladly comply.

We get back to the lab and run the evidence to the evidence room. There are lots of forms to fill out but Riddhima glides through it. "Hey, go get changed, turn in your suit to laundry and meet me in chemical." She says normally. I do so but she beats me there.

She has the chemicals we put on the cart this morning to make solvents. "Hey." I call out as I approach her.

She smiles "Hey. Okay, the first thing I need to ask you is how you're doing with what you saw this morning."

I took a deep breath in and decide to be honest. "It was different than I thought. I tried to avoid looking at the guy but when the ME rolled him and I saw the head injury, I think that was really my tipping point when I really wanted to get out of there. It wasn't overwhelming like I thought it would be, just uncomfortable."

She just nodded her head "That's normal. Remember, at any time if you want out of this, just say the word."

"Thanks, I appreciate it, but I want to see this through." I offered. A small smile tugged at her lips.

"Very well. Now are you up for some remedial chemistry?" she giggled a little, motioning to the cart of chemicals.

"Yes God." I answered.

"Ummm, tumhe mujhe voh bulane ki zarurat nahi. You can call me by my name." She said nervously. While picking up a large glass flask.

"So main tumhe kya bulaun Riddhima Meera Gupta, Ridz, Ridzie, Meera?" I recited the many variations from my Google search. I heard her gasp and the flask shatter as it hit the floor. I looked at her and her eyes were closed, but her head was shaking "no" very minutely. Her breathing picked up.

"Kya hua? Riddhima?" I asked starting to get worried. She suddenly took in a deep breath, held it and opened her eyes.

"Oh my God" she croaked out on the verge of tears. "Voh tum the, mujhe yaad aa gaya."

Could this be happening?

"Tumhe kya yaad aa gaya?" I asked hastily.

"Sab kuch."

……………………………………………………………………………………..

I guess there will be a lot of questions regarding this chapter. I hope that you guys can understand why I made them speak in hindi as well as English. If you didn't get it just ask me I'll explain. I know this is again a cliffie but I will update today again hopefully so u guys wont have to wait that much. Thanks for reading. Do comment

Love

Sagarika

P.S. ME stands for medical examiner. I am writing this with the help of my forensics obsessed friend. If you don't understand something, remember all you have to do is ask

Originally posted by: AMMY12

Nice part frnd.
Thanx for the pm.

thank you so much for commenting

Originally posted by: x.sunayna.x

Hey!

Thanks for the PM :D

I'm hoping I'm still the first comment ! ( Nope im second :( )

Anyway, loved the update !

It all seems soooo realistic the way you describe everything ! I reckon you should get a job in forensics :)

I LOVE both Armaan and Riddhima's characters, and how Riddhima transitions between the Satan and the slightly more normal version !

I really really really want to know about the accident !

P.S if i were Armaan I'd be out of the body farm straight away !

Can't wait till the next part !

- Sunayna

hey sunayna
thanks for commenting
im glad you liked it
well the credit for all the details in this ff goes to my friend..he's the one helping me write all the forensics related stuff..otherwise im a novice in this field.
all i know is from watching cid and csi

sagarika

Originally posted by: ankitajain94

awesome

thnk for d pm

cont soon

thank you so much dear