Till Human Voices Wake Us: Last Part: Page 175 - Page 22

Originally posted by: night13

As the saying goes.. put your money where your mouth is! 😆
Has 'cheese' become the prime suspect, I guess 'sharing-is-caring' no longer applies to this case! 😆

Chapter 8:

-- Sunday Evening, Geet's flat --

Maan had calmly called Mal and asked her to come and accompany Geet. Mal had come to the flat in record time to pick up Geet.

"Sasha?" It was the only word Maan said as soon as Mal walked in. Mal's face had lost its color.

"It slipped my mind", Mal said quietly.

"How can someone f**king forget their friend's murder? It's cold; even for you both", Maan hissed in anger. Geet looked tired and Mal just looked irritated.

"Look officer, there is too much going on around us. You announced that there was a stalker on loose and Anjali is just murdered. So we are very, very sorry for freaking out, scared, worried, emotionally hurt and trying to deal with everything that was going on and not to mention, Geet had to relive the two worst years of her life when you brought up stalker." She breathed heavily, her cheeks red.

"Malvika. This isn't about you or Geet. This is about Anjali." He threw the photo album on coffee table which opened on a page with a picture of Anjali smiling at the camera.

"Be there at the station at ten tomorrow morning. And this isn't a request." Maan said. "I am taking this with me", he said showing the vase. He walked out of the apartment without looking back.

He called David on his way to the station and told him about the vase. Knowing how David was anal about contaminating evidence, he bagged the vase in an evidence bag and handed it over to his contact in forensics. He had a feeling that the effort was going to be futile but he was going to go ahead and do it anyway. He also had made a call to Satya as soon as he had gotten out of the flat and asked him to pull up Sasha's case file. That was the first thing he wanted to tackle that evening before Anjali's parents came in. And meeting her parents wasn't something he was looking forward to.

It was always hard to break to the parents that their son or daughter was dead. No parent should ever suffer such heartache.

-- Monday Morning, Police Station --

Satya hovered outside Maan's cabin and rechecked all the documents that he had filed in the report. Maan was in one of his worse moods which made grown men almost cry. Maan was usually a very patient person when it came to work but it seemed as if the new case had baffled him enough to make him lose his guard and along with it Geet hadn't been very forthcoming in her interview. She hadn't disclosed two critical pieces of information which could change the outcome of the case.

Maan had called him from Geet's flat the previous evening and asked him to check on murder of a "Sasha Daniel". Maan had hung up even before he could ask him about the interview. It wasn't too difficult to get a hold of her case file. He had whistled when he had seen the first person on scene turned out to be one Geet Handa. Somehow Maan's anger seemed justified. He had left that file on Maan's table and had left the station to get the file on Geet's old stalker.

"Here is the file on that stalker sir ji. The file doesn't contain too many details but has the autopsy report, crime scene photos and few interview transcripts with the man's neighbors, doctor etc. It isn't much but it is something", Satya said handing over the file.

Like Satya had said, there wasn't much of a report made. It was flimsy and since his death was ruled out as a suicide, investigation had been sucked through loopholes and was closed within weeks. The man didn't have a family who could pursue the death further so the case fell apart very soon. With police being overworked to death, he couldn't fully blame them for not looking into it much deeper.

"Did you read this Satya?"

"I did sir ji." Satya knew what was coming.

"What do you think of it?"

"It's an open and shut case sir ji. The man lived alone in a small apartment complex near the shipping yard. There was a ship being decommissioned at that time which made the tenants ignore the gunshot and pass it off as something that was done to the ship."

"You think the killer knew about it?" Maan questioned. Satya didn't answer for moments. He paced the room. Maan didn't press for an answer and knew that it was Satya's way of collecting his thoughts and organizing it neatly. He still hadn't gotten a chance to look at the case file but knowing Satya's perception would aid him to understand it faster and also be the devil's advocate this time.

"There are small things which aren't adding up sir ji. For example, the man had leased out the apartment for three years. And guess when the man moved into this apartment?"

"He moved in when Geet came to the city for her job", Maan answered guessing it correctly. Satya nodded.

"Okay, so he had a stash of money when he came in and found himself a home and leased it out." Maan added not seeing anything wrong with it.

"But it doesn't make sense. Why would he rent a house so far from Geet's house? I took a drive from the apartment to Geet's old address this morning before coming here and it takes almost an hour for the commute. It would have been a nightmare to travel these routes before since there were no flyovers back then. If he had to stalk, then wouldn't he live somewhere much closer?"

"May be he didn't want to draw attention to himself being in five to ten mile radius of her. Anything else strikes odd other than this?"

"Here, get this. I am surprised why the police working on this case never pursued in this direction..."

"Satya..." Satya stopped his rant in middle when he heard Maan interrupting his annoyance over inefficient investigation. He sighed.

"The man was a chronic insomniac. There is a statement from his doctor agreeing to that. The man took medications to get sleep and there was a cocktail of them prescribed by his doctor. Before shooting himself, he must have taken an entire bottle of sedatives because tox-screen results showed copious amount of Diazepam in his system."

"Valium overdose?"

"It is possible. Either that or he was a severe insomniac who needed that dosage to get decent sleep."

"Isn't impaired motor functions one of the symptoms?" Maan asked raising eyebrows. Satya sighed.

"Yes sir ji. It's uncanny but it looks almost like how Anjali was killed. With Anjali it was stabbing while in this case it was a single gunshot right through the temple." Satya said.

"And you don't think it's a coincidence, do you?"

Satya shook his head.

"Miss Geet and Miss Malvika are here to meet you sir", a senior inspector entered Maan's cabin and announced.

"Inspector Deshmukh, will you be conducting interviews at Anjali's workplace?" Maan asked getting up and gathering paperwork.

"Yes sir. I will also be visiting Miss Geet's workplace to officially validate her alibi."

"When you are at Anjali's workplace, ask them about her behavior for the last two months. Ask them if she was worried or happy or depressed. The same goes for Geet too. Also, talk to Mal's neighbors. Put few people on this one Deshmukh. I need transcripts of all interviews by evening." Maan ordered. The inspector saluted and left the room.

"What are you thinking sir ji?" Satya asked checking the recorder for battery.

"We are missing something Satya. Anjali was a private person and Geet doesn't know lot of things about Anjali's private life. She guesses that Anjali might have had a boyfriend and I kind of agree with her."

"But sir ji, that is not the beginning of the case. The beginning actually starts with Geet and her stalker." Satya said solemnly.

"I know Satya. Tomorrow, we visit her old college and the police there. No, we will start with Geet's parents. Where do they live?" Maan asked.

"You don't believe that the women are telling the truth? Oh and Geet's parents live in a town about a hundred kilometers north of her college. We should be able to make it." Satya said.

"They aren't telling us the entire story Satya. Before we go there, meet the police who handled the stalker's death in the evening when Anjali's parents are here."

"Are you going to show Geet the photo you found sir ji?"

"Not today. I have to know everything about Sasha and Anjali now Satya. Showing her the photo may spook her more." Satya only nodded and both the men walked to the interview room.

"Start talking", Maan said as soon as they entered the interview room switching on the recorder. The women didn't speak for handful of minutes. And then Geet started.

"We met Sasha after the stalker fiasco. We had changed apartments and Sasha joined in later. She was a vibrant woman who had artistic tastes. The three of us became good friends very soon."

"The days leading up to her murder, was there anything going on with her?" Maan asked.

"Sasha had a problem with her temper. She was a great person to hang out with and was a tolerant person as far as it wasn't work related. When it came to work, her patience died and tolerance level hit rock bottom. She wasn't well liked by her subordinates but no one complained because she was best in business."

"What went wrong?" Maan asked again.

"One day she completely lost control on her anger and verbally assaulted a young subordinate in front of half the firm. That girl was new to Sasha's firm and still hadn't gotten used to the grind. Sasha's anger was completely unleashed on that girl." Geet sighed and rubbed temples. No one spoke. Maan and Satya guessed what had gone wrong.

"The young girl had already enough problems going on in her life and Sasha's words had pushed her to the brink. The words had hit home and the insult wasn't something she could handle. She hung herself that night writing a note to her parents for being such a disappointment to everyone."

"Wasn't Sasha brought in by police for questioning?" Maan asked frowning? Any idiot could put two and two together and would have brought her for questioning.

"Sasha knew people", Geet said quietly. When she looked up, she could see Maan's knuckles turning white as he held the pen tightly in his hands. His clenched jaws tried to contain his anger but his eyes were wild with emotion. She suddenly felt small and insignificant in that room.

"A month later she planned the trip we took."

"Wait, why didn't you go with them?" Maan stopped Geet and asked Mal.

"It is not related to this investigation officer. It was my choice not to go." Mal replied stonily.

"Answer the question Miss Malvika", Maan's voice had a steely edge to it. Mal and Geet looked at each other. Geet nodded to go on.

"It's private and I want it off the records. Please." Mal literally begged. Maan looked at her for moments and then turned off the recorder.

"Couple of months before the trip I found that I was pregnant. I was horrified with my discovery but I was still okay with it after I talked about it with my boyfriend. We weren't still ready for moving in together or even get married, but arrival of baby had put everything on fast forward. That is why Geet had to move out of the apartment since my boyfriend decided to move in with me. Sasha had been living close to her workplace which was too far for Geet to move in with her. Sasha was the first to move out of the house after living together for almost three years. I cancelled my trip given my pregnancy and Anjali took my place. And I want to tell you this before you find out yourself officer. I was seven months pregnant when I lost my baby. In my depression I blamed everything on my boyfriend and one day he couldn't just live with me anymore. We broke up then." Mal dabbed her eyes with a tissue. Geet rubbed her back soothing the pain of loss of a child.

Maan sighed. He had thought that there was some grandeur reason for Geet moving out of Mal's place. He didn't expect it to be so...humane.

Maan switched on the recorder. He wasn't going to ask about that anymore to Mal.

"Did anything happen during the trip?" It was Satya who asked.

"Nothing really. We went on a four day trip to Phuket and just had good time."

"Is there any incident that stands out from the trip? Because looking at the timeline, Sasha died within two months of your return from that trip." Maan asked. The missing photos were bugging him.

"We had taken a package tour and we had to stick with the group. But Sasha and Anjali took their time in shopping for stuff to bring back home so we were kind of lost. "

"Where were you going?"

"We were going to a famous temple in Phuket which housed a piece of Buddha's bones. We realized that we were in a totally wrong neighborhood since we had misread the address and had gone to a different area altogether. There weren't many people around as that area mostly consisted of pearl farms and the workers were all inside the farms. We were asking for directions whenever we saw someone walking. We saw a woman and child walking in our direction about fifty feet away from us. But within few moments a car hit them and passed on without stopping. We didn't have a phone to call police nor did we know the language. Sasha and Anjali stayed with them while I ran around and somehow managed to get a worker to help us. It was a case of drunk driving as the car had crashed about ten kilometers away from where it had hit the woman and child first. After dealing with cops and the hospital staff, we left back for hotel. The woman's husband called us 'thut swrrkh' meaning 'Angels' for saving his family." Geet said and took a sip of water from the bottle.

"The next day we were taken to the temple even though it wasn't on the plan out of goodwill. It was an exclusive and a private tour for the three of us and we really had a blast. The pictures that are missing from Anjali's photo album or even my room for that matter are from that day. Here, take this. This USB has archive of the photos you are looking for. It also has photos from my room including the missing ones. I have also given you all the photos I or Anjali have taken in the last three months; just for your reference." Geet gave Maan the USB she said she would give him.

"Thank you. Does that vase have any significance for the three of you?" Geet looked troubled when Maan brought it up.

"It's very odd actually. I fell in love with the vase as soon as I saw it in a small shop that specialized wooden vases. The three of us decided to get it. The shopkeeper had gone inside to fetch two more vases but our tour guide hurried us. So we left without buying it. It's too creepy to think that there was someone watching us the whole time", Geet rubbed her eyes in desperation to stop tears that were pricking her eyes.

"I was totally freaked out when I saw that vase in Sasha's house on the day of her murder."

"She overdosed, correct?" Maan asked. Geet nodded.

"Did you know about her addiction?" Satya asked.

"We both did; Mal and I. She went for rehab and told us that she was clean. But she later slipped and told us that she was living in a farmhouse with an old boyfriend as she wanted to get away from the daily grind. Her addiction was one of the main reasons we had asked Sasha to move out of the house." Geet said wiping her tears.

"Did you notice anything strange once you were back from the trip?"

"She was more depressed than before. It could have been because the dead girl's parents had come in to the firm and had created a big ruckus. Mal asked her to stay with us for few weeks instead of staying alone in her house. But she vehemently refused. People talked about her and she slowly started losing control on anger. She killed herself the day she lost a major deal because of her own issues in dealing with people. The firm's reputation was notorious after the suicide and her continually losing clients for three months made her firm go down the spiral. I think losing that deal was a major stressor. We would have ruled her death as a suicide had that vase not been there." Geet said her voice turning hoarse at the end.

Satya looked at Maan. Geet had been subjected to too much of emotional stress for the past few days. Maybe it was time to cut some slack?

"I know that revisiting old memories can be painful. But it has to be done. We can continue this day after tomorrow, if you wish", Maan offered. Geet and Mal looked relieved.

"Thank you", they said gratefully and left the interrogation room as soon as Maan switched off the recorder.

"What are you thinking sir ji?" Satya asked when Maan sat unmoving for moments.

"There are too many coincidences in this case Satya. As per Sasha's case file, there was really an identical black vase found on the crime scene. In that vase too there was a photo of Sasha with her colleagues. 'Hot blooded bitch' was written on it in her own blood." Maan said.

"Hot blooded? That sounds like Sasha given her anger management issues. Would that mean Anjali was...?"

Maan and Satya looked at each other, wide eyed.

To be continued

Originally posted by: febinyusuff

Sookie,

This is getting more n more complicated..but I have a few Q's

1) When Maan told that she has a stalker.. why didn't she mention about her past?.
2) Sasha was mudered?.. I think it might be only 1.5 years since the murder.. How soon she can forget about that?. Why didn't she tell that to Maan?.