Hello Ariyans...back with a new part...hope u will enjoy it as much as i did while writing it...pls read and post comments...
loved your comments for the prev part!!
as per ur wishes, I have done some magic and brought Rathod back for a while! 😉
Chapter 2B
"Team, we have a case"….Arjun came out saying this in true chief style grabbing the attention of all those present there……It brought Riya out of her tour to the past too……
Ek small time actress ke body mili hai…..usike ghar mein…..humein immediately wahaan jaana hoga…..
Ek minute Rawte, Rathod stopped him……"iss actress ka naam kya hai?? Kahi usska naam Beena toh nahi??
Rawte stopped short and turned sharply to Rathod hearing the name "tumhe kaise pathaa??"
Rathod replied clearing his head "ek intuition hi samajhlo…..main bhi ek small time actress Beena ke talaash mein hi yahaan aaya tha…..kahi dono ek hi toh nahi?"
Riya was quick to respond now…..she was already checking up the details on her tab…."Sir, mujhe laghta hai ke dono ek hi hain……dekhiye yeh usske photo hai"
Rathod confirmed that he had come in search of her……"haan yahi hai……Delhi mein dho din pehle, aise hi ek small time actress ki murder hui thi……aur wahaan se milaa hua clues iss Beena se judi hui thi……sab evidences yahi ishaara kar rahe teh ke Beena ne khoon kiya hai….ek information mili ke woh Mumbai se hai….isiliye usse dhoondne yahaan aaya tha…..bohat mysterious thi yeh ladki…..kisiko iss ke baare mein zyaadha kuch patha nahi tha!"
Riya: haan sir…..isske baare mein internet pe bhi zyaadha kuch information nahi hai……kuch saal pehle ek small scale magazine ne isske interview liya tha….for an article on upcoming actresses…..bas usi ke through mujhe yeh photo milaa!
All were impressed by the quick information Riya digged out which instantly linked the cases!
Arjun looked at Riya with pride and then voiced out a feeble "Good job Riya!"
Rathod was waiting for Arjun to say that……and Arjun didn't disappoint him….
Rathod: ab jab dono cases miley hua hai, main bhi aap sab ke saath chaltha hoom…..raaste mein uss pehle khoon ka details explain kartha hoom…..
Soon they were zooming towards the actress's house which were to the suburbs and was a good 1 hr drive from ETF office….
Rawte and Rathod sat in the front….while the other three took the back seats
Rathod: Uss pehle actress ka naam "Anamika" hai……aur usski laash bhi usske ghar pe mili thi……kisine usse chaakhu se maara tha…..murder weapon nahi milaa….par laash ke paas se ek rumaal milaa…..jissme "Beena" likhi thi…..jab Anamika ke family se pooch taach ki toh patha chala ke Beena usske kareebi dhost thi…….par haal hi mein dono ke beech ek badaa jagada hua tha jisski wajeh se Beena ne usse jaan se maarne ki dhamki bhi di thi…..ek premier party mein jagada hua tha…aur wahaan kahi saare log iss dhamki sune bhi….
Rawte: jagadey ka reason kya tha??
Riya: [in a lost voice] shaayad pyar!!
All turned to Riya's side while Arjun who was driving looked at her through the mirror…..She looked lost and her eyes aimlessly looked through the window…..
Rathod snapped out and then continued "haan…shaayad koyi boyfriend ka hi chakkhar tha….dono ek hi ladke se pyar karthe teh……"
Riya snapped out the next second and added when she sensed that her careless response had attracted attention of the entire team including her boss "aakhadon ke isaab se ladkiyaan especially close friends ke beech jagade ka reason koyi ladka hi hota hai!"
Shree and Chotu were amused by her statistics! Arjun understood that she added it as a cover up…..Rathod grinned and continued "Beena uss ladke ka ex GF thi……aur shaayad unka breakup ke baadh Anamika usski GF bann gayi……"
Shree: iss GF, BF ka chakkhar toh zadiyon se aisa hi chalthe jaa raha hai…..mujhe samajh nahi aatha aisa kya hai ke log marne maarne pe utthar aathe hai! Ek gaya toh dhoosra….iss mein kya hai?kyun yeh log wahi GF BF ka ziddh karthe hai?? [He grinned cheekily at nobody in specific]
Arjun and Riya voiced at the same time "itna aasaan nahi hai Shree!" It was just that Arjun's voice was heard out but Riya's comment faded away in a light whisper!
Riya's mind wandered back to their drive to Jaipur……
The case was to find the present maharaja of the famous royal family, Raja Vanraj Singh…He went missing while on his regular shikhar trip to the nearby jungle…it was his routine habit to camp at the jungle for 2-3 days…The family realized that he was in trouble only when he didn't return even after 5 days…..a detailed search of the forest was done and also local police began investigating the various possibilities….when nothing worked and it was almost 10 days and there was absolutely no news about him, the family used their influence and ultimately, department had to do something drastic to save their image….So ETF was called in!...
She was driving the SUV and he sat beside her…….it was rare that he gave her the keys but that day, she had managed to grab them before he set his eyes on it…..He had done his bit of convincing and even threatening to get back the keys but she didn't budge…..She wanted to show him that she could drive like any other team member did!
Rathod, Shree and Chotu were already in Jaipur….they had left by the morning flight and had started the preliminary investigation! Arjun and Riya were held up in some other case work and had to drive as there were no other flights to Jaipur that day!
It was a long way to go and Arjun was skeptical about Riya driving but she had given him absolutely no choices…..Riya always had an adamant inner wish of proving herself to him that she could do anything and everything…..and this was only to him and she herself was amused by her strange wish! Riya was driving casually but in a high speed…..Arjun was taken aback too…yeah of course, it was the highway and the roads were clear but she didn't seem to care about anything….she just zoomed and went on stomping on the accelerator and SUV seemed to fly past!
She could feel his gaze on her…..he was glancing at her frequently…..She was continuously trying to lock her stray lock of hair which fell over her face….it had escaped out of her tight braid and was disturbing her throughout……..He felt an urge to help her control her hair and lock it behind her ears but he held back with ultimate control…..he thought to himself "yeh ladki hair clip kyun nahi pehen lethi? Itni pareshani nahi hoti…."
Riya's mind voice: clip lagaana bhooli nahi hoom sir par jab se aapne usse waapas diya hai, tab se dil kartha hai ke usse bas sambhaal ke apne paas rakhloom……baalon mein lagaake kahi kho gayi tho? . Riya smiled at her own craziness…..and her smile didn't go unnoticed from him….
He was quick to catch it but he kept silent and thought to himself "tumaari paagalpann ki koyi haddh nahi hai Riya! Aur shayad yahi paagal pann ne mujhe…" he stopped thinking abruptly
Riya suddenly snapped out when her hair was immensely hindering her driving "Sir, ek help karenge, plz!"
Arjun snapped out too and looked to her side "haan bolo…kya main drive karoom?"
Riya: [cutting him] nahi….dashboard kholenge plz……[Arjun wondered what she wanted but opened it as she said…she pointed to something in there….it had her mobile, her wallet and many things which had to essentially be in her toilet and beauty kit].uss hair bow ko zara pass karenge…..[Arjun was totally amused and a bit surprised at her request….he grinned seeing the things kept there too….but he didn't have an option but take it out and held it to her…..she took it] thanks….. jaldi jaldi mein teek se packing nahi kar paayi…..bas isiliye dash board pe kuch….
Arjun: [closes the dashboard with a grin] main samajh gaya….zyaadha samjhaane ke zaroorat nahi hai Riya…..
He looked at her managing the steering with one hand and putting on the bow with the other…..he wished to help her but he decided not to and tried to look away…….
A little later, Arjun was a bit tensed at her driving….she seemed to be mindlessly speeding the vehicle and was literally flying over the pot holes on the road and overtaking big trucks and it was dangerously risky…..so he had to speak up…..
"Riyaaa…..thoda dheere bhi jaa sakhe ho…..itna bhi emergency nahi hai ke tum itne tez drive kar rahi ho….."
Riya smirked and replied "rehne deejiye sir…phir aapko taane maarne ke bahaane mil jaayenge…..hum ladkiyan bhi ghaadi tez chalaa sakthe hai sir!"
Arjun: [sarcastically] woh toh dikh raha hai…par mujhe ab humaare jaan ki zyaadha chinta ho rahi hai! Wahaan safely paunchna bhi zaroori hai na?
Riya was amused further by his sarcasm but she chose to reply seriously "aap fikhar matth kariya Sir….aapke jaan ko kuch nahi hone dhoongi…..you can trust me on that!"
He turned to her side as she said that…they shared a beautiful momentary eyelock……thousands of unsaid words flew out in that instant but somehow, none of them reached its rightful destination! Intense and intimate was the moment but unduly went waste……
Riya's mind voice: aapke life mere liye bohat precious hai sir….mere jaan se bhi pyaari hai!
***********
A honking sound brought Riya back to the present…….in the next 5 minutes, they reached the house and were examining the dead body and also scanning for the clues and evidences……
Chotu was busy questioning the neighbours...While Arjun and Rathod questioned the maid and the newspaper boy who had seen the body first…….Shree took the photographs and Riya was examining the body……
Rathod concluded that the murder was similar to the first one…the murder weapon, probably a knife was missing from the crime scene like the previous one…..and there was a handkerchief which had Chaaya written on it indicating that the next in tow to be killed was that girl who probably was another actress or model…..Now the clues were indicating to a serial killer who was killing all small time actresses and that too in the alphabetical order……
Rathod: Riya, aise serial killings ke history nikhaalo…. Shaayad kuch details mil jaaye…
Riya: yes sir…..
Arjun wasn't convinced "kuch toh choot raha hai Rathod!"
Rathod: [he seemed to agree with Arjun] haan shaayad…par humme kahi se toh shuruwaat karni hai na?
Arjun: Chotu, uss ladki, I mean Chaaya ko dhoondna hoga….aur usse security bhi dena hoga…..
The evidences were collected…the body was sent for autopsy and they were back at ETF after a tiring day……Shree and Chotu were still on the prowl for Chaaya…..they had traced her somehow but she was held up in a shooting and they had to wait there indefinitely…..
Riya was at her desk trying to get the details….she was also in parallel doing some other back ground research which she felt was needed for the case…..Rathod came to her ….
"Riya…" he called her from behind…..
Riya: sir aap….kuch aur details chahiye kya??
Rathod: nahi nahi…main toh bas nikhal raha tha..socha tumse pooch loom…..agar tum bhi ghar jaa rahi ho toh, main drop kar
Riya: [stopped him midway] nahi sir…mujhe aur thoda time lagega….you continue…..
Rathod: are you sure?? Raat bohat hogayi hai…..
Riya: that's ok sir…..main thoda aur kaam karke phir nikhalthi hoom….dont worry about me!
Rathod: okay…bye….gud night! [he turned to leave and she sat back on her chair but he turned back and came to her side…patting her shoulder consolingly] Riya, main jaantha hoom tumaare personal problems ke baare mein…..isiliye phir keh rahaa hoom….iss tarah aur stress matth lo…..
Riya: [her eyes welling up] ab yeh sab hi mere liye stress busters hai sir…..waise bhi problems toh saare khatam hogaye na?? its all over now….
Rathod: [genuinely worried for her] Riya…. plz calm yourself!...its ok….
Riya: hmmm…I am ok sir….
Rathod: tumne usse bathaaya?
Riya: nahi…..yeh sab kehne se kuch teek toh nahi hone waala na? phir unne bhi kyun pareshan karoom?
Rathod: par phir bhi…..kabhi na kabhi jaan lega na?
Riya: haan jaanthi hoom….par mujhe kehne ki himmat hi nahi hui….kehthi bhi toh kya kehthi unnse? [getting a bit emotional] ….Anyways, forget it!
[Rathod leaves…..He knew Arjun was there in the office still and he would take care of her…]
Arjun's POV: During the course of the day, he had seen her fighting over the phone with someone……he couldn't hear anything clearly but from her animated talk and the unshed tears in her eyes, he was sure that all wasn't well with her…..there was something which was troubling her but what?? He had just heard this as she screamed into the phone "ITS ALL OVER, DID YOU GET THAT??? ITS ALL OVER! GOOD BYE"
He switched off his cabin's lights and came out…..and that's when he saw her still there at her desk….She seemed exhausted and her head rested on the chair and her eyes were closed as if in a power nap! He walked towards her desk...
Kaise bataayein, kyun tujhko chahe, yaara bataa na paaye.
Baatein dilo ki, dekho jo baaki, aankhein tujhe samjhaye.
Tu jaane na .. tu jaane na .. tu jaane na .. tu jaane na
Milke bhi, hum na mile, tum se na jaane kyun. meelon ke, hai faasle, tum se na jaane kyun. anjaane, hai silsile, tum se na jaane kyun. sapne hai, palkon tale, tum se na jaane kyun.ooo ooo..
Kaise bataayein, kyun tujhko chahe, yaara bataa na paaye.
Baatein dilo ki, dekho jo baaki, aankhein tujhe samjhaye.
Tu jaane naa..aaa... tu jaane na .. tu jaane na .. tu jaane naaa...
[To be continued]
Edited by vidya.anand - 12 years ago
35