Chapter 01: Blood and Asphalt
Asphalt gleaned like thousand diamonds in front of his eyes. A thin stream of blood mingled trickled from his forehead and coated silvery bits red making them look like blood rubies. His collar stuck to his neck as it perspired under hot sun and his body revolted as the hot asphalt permeated through his khaki uniform and scorched his skin. Obscenities rained around him making him close his eyes and count to ten. It was his personal philosophy not to get angry but the two men laughing at his fallen state had riled him up in a matter of seconds. He slowly picked himself up from the ground dusting his Khaki uniform and checked his temple for the depth of his injury. It wasn't too deep but it wasn't a scratch either. He spit on the ground making it land only inches from one of the man's feet and was tainted with blood. 'Screw moral code,' he thought rolling his eyes and slammed one of the man on the hood of the car. Before the second man could recover, he elbowed his lower stomach and clapped the backside of his knees. When the man was kneeled over in pain, he used his forearm to hit his lower spine. The man would be in enormous pain and he wouldn't be able to pick himself anytime soon.
The man lying on hood of car was groaning loudly when Arnav was finished with the other man. Arnav fathomed he was half faking the pain but he didn't care. He walked back to his SUV and slid smoothly and called in. Without giving the two fallen men a second glance, he drove away from the deserted road.
A constable was dabbing cotton soaked in Dettol when the call came. He checked his watch and looked at the inspector sitting opposite to him.
"It took them forty minutes to scramble off their ass and make a phone call sir. Well done," inspector smiled at Arnav with pride. "Next time, make it an hour." He added cheekily. Arnav snickered behind his palm and cleared his throat when he heard the terse voice of his boss – police commissioner.
"You are an ACP for god's sake Arnav, stop behaving like a hoodlum." The voice on the other end of the phone yelled.
"I wasn't acting like a hoodlum sir but I was dealing with two of them." Arnav said caustic. Commissioner was under tremendous pressure with general political tensions perpetual in their city and Arnav had managed to rub shoulders wrong way with two most influential ones in city.
"Do you realize the kind of f**kery you just did?" Commissioner was unnaturally hard on him. Arnav wondered if it was due to failure in solving string of murder cases or was it because he had hit two men whose boss was a good friend of the commissioner. In all honestly, he didn't care shit about it.
"I happen to teach two men a lesson: what happens when they hit an officer in uniform after harassing women on street." Arnav's voice was hard and his face lost all ease it contained before. When commissioner didn't reply, Arnav lost his cool. "Unless of course making your friend happy is more important than life of your men. Well done sir." Again there was silence on the other end of the line and Arnav knew then what was going to happen.
"What happened to you, son?" Commissioner's voice was laced with concern and mild apprehension. "You were the star of our department – a role model for the other ACPs but look at you now: picking fights with petty politicians, snapping at your superiors and indulging in fist fights."
"Sir-"
"Don't let your failure to solve murders come in way of everyday governance." Commissioner cut him off. "You are suspended without pay for three months." He hung up the phone before Arnav could defend his actions.
Arnav looked at the phone in his hand bleakly and sighed deeply.
"What happened sir?" The inspector asked noting his grim expression.
"What do you expect," Arnav said standing up and tapping the bandage on his temple. His constable had done a decent job at it. "I am suspended without pay for three months. There may be a temporary posting in my place but I will recommend against it. Take charge of this station for me," he said to inspector. Inspector nodded mutely, his expression matching Arnav's. "And I need all the case files of the unsolved murders. Can you arrange that?" Arnav asked.
Inspector nodded. He sighed when Arnav turned around to give out last orders to other personnel and wondered what made Arnav Singh Raizada such an honest and good policeman. The man was intelligent, charming and extremely resourceful but the recent failures had taken a toll on him. He knew his boss drank little more than necessary and his anger level had exponentially increased but beneath it all was a good man. He was suspended yet he would be thinking about the victims and the justice which they deserved during this suspension time.
"Do you need anything else sir?" Inspector asked Arnav. Arnav shook his head looking through contact list in his cell phone. He had met with his childhood friend less than a week ago who owned a resort somewhere in southern India. He had pestered Arnav to visit his resort over the years and this time his friend had threatened to sever or his friendship if Arnav didn't visit within a year.
"I am suspended." Arnav said as soon as the call was connected. He rolled his eyes when his friend cheered happily and shouted at his wife saying he had good news. "I don't know why you find my suspension being any good," Arnav grumbled.
"At least now you will stop for a moment and take a deep breath to look around. You have been working non-stop for thirteen years. You are thirty six and still single. This doesn't look good on your resume." His friend lamented.
"Doesn't catching criminals doesn't count?" Arnav countered.
"Pshaw. When are you coming?" His friend asked ignoring Arnav's comeback.
"I have to windup things here before I come there. Where is your resort again?"
"It's in Mysore Arnav. Mysore."
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