Part 5:
"This is sheer nonsense, how could that man have no records in the database," she yelled, banging her desk. Geet was clearly miffed to find that her hour-long research from all the databases, nobody with a name Maan Singh existed; there was nothing that was even close. "No records," she began thoughtfully, "unless the name itself is farce. Okay Mr. Criminal playing smart eh? Very well then," she said smiling wickedly.
Since meeting with him yesterday, she was determined on proving that Maan definitely had something to do with the crimes. She had vehemently denied any type of disturbance he had caused in her heart and thus by proving he was a bad man, she thought she would be to get rid of him from her thoughts.
Geet got off her chair and went to her dry erase board to note down a few points. After writing her thoughts and conclusions on the board, she decided to visit the few neighborhoods from where the victim went missing. She grabbed her bag and glasses on her way out and drove to the nearest town east of Dehradun where one of the victims went missing.
Geet reached the neighborhood in an hour, thanks to the less traffic. She got off the car, brought her mini voice recorder from her purse. She shielded her eyes from hot sun shone through the clouds mercilessly. She stood in front of a bit of a beaten down chawl yet people seemed to live. There were few older women sitting by the verandah, chatting with each other. She couldn't approach the women as an officer, it would certainly bring attention, and thus decided to downplay the investigation. She tucked her voice recorder into her jean pocket before hitting the record button and walked towards the women.
"Namaste daadiji," she said sweetly folding her hands in greeting.
The women looked up curiously for it was rare to have visitors, especially dressed in western attire.
"Ji Namaste," one of the older woman in the group wearing a worn down yellow saree replied, her tone unsure.
"Aapko pata hai Jai Kishen ka ghar kahaan hai?" Geet asked without evoking any suspicion.
"Jai Kishen? Voh ab yahaan nahi rehta, aap kaun?" the woman in yellow saree asked.
"Main, main uski chachi ki poti," she said smiling, hoping to sound convincing.
"Accha magar usne kabhi nahi kaha ki usko koi hai," the woman said shaking her head and looking at her companions who seemed to agree.
"Voh kyunki meri daadi ne sab kuch tod di uske saath," she managed to put in.
"Oh accha magar bechara uske saath koi nahi rehta tha," another woman sitting beside said pitifully.
No wonder nobody knew of his disappearance, she noted mentally. "Kya uske dost ya rishtedaar nahi the?" she asked only to add, "humare siva."
"Nahi, voh akela hi rehta tha, koi mehmaan ya rishtedaar nahi aate the," the first woman noted.
"Magar Kesar didi, yaad hai, voh ek ladka," the lady said thoughtfully grabbing Geet's attention.
"Kaun?" the lady in yellow asked trying hard to remember.
"Arre ek naya ladka aaya tha, uske bagal vale kamre mein," the other woman tried to remind. Geet intently watched as the women tried to place the new man. This was what she was waiting for, a confirmation about her instincts.
"Haan," Kesar said slowly as the memory dawned in her.
"Kya daadiji, uske koi rishtedaar the?" Geet probed further.
"Nahi ek ladka aaya tha kuch saal pehle. Zyaada bolta nahi tha magar kabhi kabhi Kishen ke saath baat karta tha," Kesar recollected.
"Voh ladka uska room mein bhi jata tha," the other lady piqued in.
"Us ladka ka naam kya tha?" Geet asked.
"Voh," Kesar tried to remember, "haan, Daljeet."
"Kya aapko pata un dono ke beech kya hua?" Geet asked.
"Voh sab hume pata nahi, magar kuch hi mahino mein us ladka chala gaya. Aur kuch aur dino mein Kishen bhi chala gaya," Kesar confirmed.
"Aapko shayad kuch andaza hai ki Kishen kyun chala gaya?" Geet inquired.
"Poora ka poora nahi pata magar mera beta bata raha tha ki usne saara paisa kho diya aur uske vajah se bahut dukhi ho gaya tha," Kesar recounted.
"Accha, kya usne us ladke ko diye the?" Geet tried to confirm.
"Nahi, voh ladka sirf aata jata tha, magar kisse se kuch nahi baat karta tha," the other lady said confidently.
"Haan," Kesar confirmed.
"Voh dikhne mein kaisa tha?" Geet asked, unconsciously her heartbeat increasing. Somewhere in the corner of her heart, she didn't want criminal's description to match Maan's in spite of having an image matching his. She anxiously waited for the women to describe him while they tried to scratch their minds to bring out his description.
"Voh, mujhe zyaada yaad nahi hai, umr bhi ho gayi na," Kesar grinned, revealing many missing teeth. But all Geet could think was, let it not be him Babaji. "Haan, daadhi aur ek badawala mooch tha, Punjabi munda tha aur pagdi bhi thi uska," she said trying hard to recollect. "Hatta katta nau javan tha," she finished smiling.
"Aur kuch yaad hai?"
"Hmm, nahi, kuch yaad nahi hai," she said shaking her head regretfully.
She couldn't really show the image of the criminal she had for she had lied she had come for the victim. She decided to check back in a few days and then show the photo. "Bahut bahut shukriya daadiji, agar aapko aur kuch yaad hai toh mujhe zaroor batayiye, main phir kuch hi dinon mein aaungi, " she said folding her hand.
"Teekhai beti," Kesar smiled and waved to Geet as she left for her car.
She couldn't really confirm Maan was the criminal without anyone attesting but she couldn't eliminate the possibility either. She had to keep him close to confirm her doubts about him. She would go to the caf, strictly to investigate him and keep an eye on him. "Aur kuch bhi nahi, haina Babaji?" she asked loudly, trying to convince herself while driving back home.
The evening was quick to arrive and Geet was sitting on her couch holding a book in hand. Engrossed in writing something, she didn't realize it was three quarters past six. The doorbell rang loudly, jerking her and she looked up annoyed to be disturbed from her work.
"Kya hai?" she asked peeved as she opened the door to find a boy in khaki shorts and beat down white vest.
"Didi, bhaiyya ne yeh aapkeliye diye hain," he said bringing a bunch of red and white roses, wrapped neatly in a bouquet.
"Kaun bhaiyya?" Geet asked frowning at the enthusiastic boy.
He turned to point Maan's door and turned to smile back at her. She was angered with his audacity to send her roses and stomped to his door and banged on in, shouting his name.
"Didi, voh chale gayein," the boy announced, confused by her behavior. "Yeh lijiye na didi, kitna khoobsurat hai," he said extending the flowers.
"Ugh," she grunted grabbing the bouquet from him and angrily walked into her house, banging the door at the confused boy. She was about to throw it away when her eyes fell on a note attached to it. She plucked the neatly folded sheet of paper, dropped the roses on the table and opened to see something neatly written.
Lady Handa,
Kindly grace me with your presence to calm the restlessness of my heart. Hope to see you very soon! I'll be waiting…
Soon-to-be Tumhara
Maan ;)
The last bit of the note had her skip a beat unconsciously but soon she rolled her eyes at his cheesy lines and sighed in reluctance. She left the note by the coffee table and walked to her closet, "I need to get to the bottom of this man," she said. She changed into a simple creamy white anarkali, letting her long hair loose finishing her look with a dash of mascara along with light pink lip-gloss.
Geet drove to the caf that was located a few blocks away from her apartment. The moon shone brightly and the warm breeze gave a nice feel to the atmosphere. Few people were sitting outside enjoying coffee and chatting with their respective partners or friends. She was about to enter inside the caf when she felt his presence behind his back.
"Arre yahaan nahi sweetheart," he whispered before holding her shoulder softly and guiding her to a secluded corner located on the other side of the caf that was secluded.
The booth was romantically decorated with candlelight in the middle of the table along with roses in every corner. Geet's eyes widened in shock with all the fancy decorations and she became a bit uncomfortable. "Maan I thought this was simply a coffee," she said skeptically.
"Of course it is my love," he said being unperturbed.
"With all this fancy-shmancy decorations, it's called a date," she stated cocking her one eyebrow up.
"If you wish to call it that, I absolutely have no problem," he winked flirtatiously.
"Correction Mr. Singh, I never called a date. It's the decoration that makes it look like one," she said her expression grim. "And neither am I your love," she stressed the last word through her gritted teeth.
"Ah feisty," he commented chuckling. "Must say I am loving it in you."
"Listen if you are going to continue this I may have to call it a night and leave. Thanks for your offer," she said before turning to walk away when he caught her wrist before jerking her towards him, making her fall on his rock hard chest.
Geet gasped at the sudden contact of his well-toned chest, her face buried in his neck. The generous of his cologne from the crook of his neck seemed to make her dizzy in pleasure. "Itni bhi jaldi kya hai Geet?" he whispered hoarsely. "I promise it shall be worth your time," he sounded sincere.
Geet immediately looked at him, lost in his genuine words. How she wished she could see him without her criminal radar. He looked sincere and sounded earnest but every criminal sounded the same in order to fool everyone around him or her. "Damn it!" she cursed mentally looking away from him unable to decide for the first time as she couldn't see the total picture clearly.
Geet stood lost and Maan could clearly see the confusion in her eyes. His eyes twinkled while he caught her arms, leading her to the table while she followed without a word. She simply stared at him blankly while he smirked slightly before gesturing the waitress to give the order.
"Caramel macchiato, light on cream please," he ordered and looked at Geet. Seeing her mum he decided to fill in for her, "Let me guess ice-cold vanilla coffee?"
"No! Could I have black coffee with exactly one cube of sugar," she ordered looking sternly.
"Black coffee with one cube of sugar? No wonder you are always bitter," he joked only to see her stare with a no-nonsense look before he shut up. He coughed trying to covering up his folly as the waitress left to get their orders. An awkward silence followed; Geet looked around the caf that was now filled with a lot of people while Maan continued to fiddle with the paper napkins. "So how is the case going?" he asked out of the blue.
"Case?" Geet asked perplexed at first but changed into suspicion.
"Er I mean you almost killed me yesterday with your interrogation, so I guessed you would be on one," he shrugged trying to look careless.
Her suspicion grew with his careless attitude playing around with the napkins. She decided to play along hoping she could gain something. "Well Mr. Singh criminals don't come knocking on my door," she said casually.
"Well officer let me tell you some do," he said looking keenly at her for a second before grinning at her.
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