FF Murder Mystery Ch 3: Pg 14 Jan 29 - Page 3

I should've known she was tricking me. Why would she ever be so nice to me? I tried to keep my anger within me as I quickly walked past the curious eyes that seemed to follow me. I couldn't blame them for staring at me, I was a mess. I just came from outside, and it was raining. As if that wasn't good enough, I had to trip into a muddy puddle. Couldn't she choose another day to bother me? Today was my birthday, and I really wanted everything to go smoothly. But she really wanted to rain on my parade, literally!

Taking a huff, I knocked on the door to my boss's office, Sujal Garewal. I was more than ten minutes late to the meeting, and this time it wasn't even my fault. But I couldn't snitch on her, that wouldn't be like me. I would settle the score, my own way, later. For now, I had to face the wrath of my boss. Hearing the stern "Come in" from the other side, I straightened my shoulder and opened the door with a sincere expression, hoping he wouldn't be too angry.

"So Mr. Juneja, you finally decided to come, eh?" Sir said with his hands clasped together sitting on the table. He was smiling, but I could tell he was mocking me. I looked around feeling quite embarrassed. They were all sitting around a large wooden table, this is where we always met when Sir was about to give us a huge case. I thought my appearance was a give away that I had been having problems this morning, but since Sir still had that look on his face I decided to say something in my defense. "Save it, and sit down," he ordered.

Arguing wouldn't be a very good thing to do right now, so I did as he told me to. I noticed the only seat left was the one next to my dear Rubina Singh, aka that Vixen. I growled at her as I noticed her stifling giggles. Shabd was sitting on the other side of her; he too was trying to hold in his giggles.

"Now that we're all here, I'm here to give you guys a special case." Sir started out. "Rishab Rampal and Veera Juneja..." I jumped up hearing the girl's last name, and saw Prem do the same. Me and Prem were cousins, and coincidently are now on the same team. But as far as I know, I wasn't related to any 'Veera'. "...You guys are in charge of this scene."

"Wait, this is murder?" I asked.

"Yes Preet, didn't I just say that. Or is your brain going to be late today too?" Sir replied in frustration.

I heard Rinki and Shabd snicker again, this time they were accompanied by Prem and Heer. I looked back at my hands, dumbfounded, deciding to stay quiet until the meeting ended. As I looked at my hands, I remembered something. Prem and Heer's hands were missing. I jerked my head up as everyone continued their conversations of the murder. They were sitting together, with one hand on the table and the other underneath. Though Heer was fully concentrated on what Sir was saying, Prem's gaze didn't avert once from Heer. Now that I thought of it, Prem and Heer had been coming in and out together these days. I was so busy thinking about them that I never noticed the glare Sir was giving me.

"Preet!" he yelled out. He wasn't being formal, which meant he was quite agitated by my behavior. "What is wrong with you today?!" I gave him a helpless look, to which he sighed, I think in disappointment, and walked out of the room.

As soon as he shut the door behind him, Rinki burst into laughter. I frowned at her; all that had been happening to me today was her fault. "Why you little...!" I said getting up from my seat, but before my hands could reach her neck Shabd came in front of her and stopped me. I felt a tug at my arms, Prem was pulling me back.

Rinki hid behind Shabd, while sticking her tongue out at me. Did she want me to kill her? I tried again to get out of Prem's grip, to no avail. "Did you find your car?" she asked in her usual mocking tone while keeping Shabd in front of her.

Everyone gave her a confused look, but I knew what she was talking about. Since her little prank was what had started my inauspicious day. It was evening, and I had been very tired, so I went to the cafe for my normal black coffee. I had left all my stuff at our table; little did I know that there was an evil Vixen lurking around looking for the perfect opportunity to start jinxing my day.

I guess she had come in the cafe for the Caramel Frap she always drank, and had gotten a beep from Sir for the meeting. She had probably noticed that my beeper wasn't with me, because I didn't check to see the message, since the message was out for our team. She had even asked me where my beeper was, why didn't I catch on to her plan? Because then she told me that she saw my car being towed outside. So I ran outside looking for my car, I didn't know it was raining, because it hadn't been raining in the morning. Maybe God himself wanted me to have a bad day.

Once I stepped out, I looked around everywhere for a bright red car being towed, but didn't find anything. Eventually I did figure out that Rinki had just made a fool out of me. I was angry then too, but my anger built up as I slipped and fell in a puddle, ruining my perfect white shirt. Finally I got to know that there was actually a meeting when I went back to the cafe.

"Aw... looks like you had a really fun day today." She mocked me further. If it wasn't for Prem, I would've gotten my hands on her by now. I puffed, and walked out of the room with all the dignity I had left, which probably wasn't much. I could hear her giggle like a typical high-schooler as I left; which was okay since she was the youngest on the team. Even though I hated how miserable she made my life, I wondered how boring life would be without her. We fought a lot, but I couldn't imagine a day without her. She was what brought life into my live.

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"So this is my present... dead bodies?" I complained while making my way into the hotel room. As soon as I entered, a light smell stung at my nose. Though it was light, I could still smell it, and it wasn't the decomposing bodies.

"Stop complaining," Rinki said to me while rolling her eyes and looking around. I think she could smell that smell too. Shabd was supposed to collect all fingerprints, while Rinki and I were supposed to inspect the bodies. Prem and Heer were supposed to interrogate all the people that were at the inauguration party, to see if anyone had scene anything suspicious.

"I think I have the right to complain after what you made me go through," I growled at her. I wondered if she felt even a little bit guilty about what she made me go through, on my birthday. She didn't answer back. "Shabd, you think you can get a test of the air here?" I asked, finally acknowledging the smell that was bothering me.

"I can try," he replied while opening his kit on the dresser.

"Take fingerprints and samples of all the perfumes she has too. I think there's something in the air too," Rinki said, while getting on her knees next to the bodies. I knew she wouldn't be able to lift the man of the woman herself, so I bent down next to her to help her. After uncovering the woman, I saw that she was purple. I held the woman's hands, to look at the tips of her fingers, they were purple. Catching on to what I was doing, Rinki checked the man's hands; the tips of his fingers were purple too.

"They've been poisoned," she stated in wondrous manner. I had figured that out before her, I thought.

"Yea and I think the poisons in this room..."

"... In the air..." She finished for me. We both quickly got up and away form the bodies. If there had been a poison sprayed in the room, then it must have spread out by now, making it less deadly.

"Don't smell any of the perfumes," I quickly warned Shabd.

"I'm not a dimwit, I can still hear your guys' conversation too," Shabd snapped back. I really don't know why I had warned him, it would have been so much better if he had smelled one of the perfumes.

"The poison could be in her lipstick or something too," Rinki suggested while shrugging. Even Shabd looked at her with a wry look. "It's possible!" She hung on to her theory.

"You just wanna go against me, don't you?" I asked her with an eyebrow raised. "Or you really are that dumb. The lipstick would have to have a very strong scent, and it would be very hard to hide a poison in lipstick." I smiled at my own intelligence.

"Well look at the bottles of the perfume, there all glass, and the tops are sealed. It would take a long time to put poison in them too," she argued.

"Which means someone left it here..." I said thinking. "But wouldn't she know if she saw a new bottle of perfume on her dresser...? Then again... she's a girl. She would have probably been happy to see a new bottle of perfume and sprayed as much as she could." I put my hands on my hips, smiling at my explanation. I managed to catch Rinki's jaw dropping, probably in offense, and I enjoyed it.

"Are you trying to say something?" she demanded an explanation.

"I think I am saying something... unless you're going deaf and can't hear me anymore," I smirked at her. I found revenge through talking to her. Her expressions were the greatest prize of it.

"You..." she said while pointing her finger at me.

"Me?" I asked, taking a step closer to her. I could feel the awkwardness in her body; she hesitantly took her finger back and turned around quickly, not before huffing as loudly as she could.

"Would you two cut it out?" Shabd asked, looking back at them from the dresser. I gave him a victory smile, which seemed to annoy him. "Both of you come here and help me out with the fingerprints," he said handing me a brush. I took it, and decided to help, since I was done analyzing the body.

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kimz