Chapter 22:"What happened to your hand?" Satya asked walking Varun out of police station.
"I hurt my hand when I was handling supplies." Varun said coolly and walked out of the station.
Satya shook his head and walked back to Maan's cabin. His boss was right about Varun, there was something off about that man. There was one thing bugging him since the topic of blackmailer had come up and when Emily gave him a copy of Mal's financials the previous night, that thought was nagging in his brain.
"Do you think Mal blackmailed Anjali sir ji?" He asked Maan pacing the cabin.
"Well the photos that Anjali received were taken by the detective agency and they were given to Mal by the looks of it." Maan said diplomatically.
"But why would she blackmail Anjali? And why would she need money?" Satya stopped and handed over a file that contained Mal's financials. "Take a look at the numbers sir ji. Mal didn't need money in any form. She was making a lot of it and she also has a decent inheritance back home." Satya said.
"Satya, people sometime get greedy and do things like these," Maan try to rationalize. He knew that his argument sounded feeble to his own ears.
"Not this woman sir ji. Seeing how twisted and paranoid Mal is, she would have blackmailed Anjali for something else entirely and not money. And also, did David's team find any of the reports given to her by the detectives?" Satya asked.
"I didn't see in the itinerary Satya. I am guessing they didn't. Did you see the detective agency file?" Maan asked. Satya nodded.
"Did Anjali and Sasha's murders documented there? As in, Mal had kept both of them under surveillance right?" Maan asked.
"Anjali's surveillance was cancelled one week before her murder and so was Sasha's. I guess Mal didn't want any pictures of her with the victims when she visited them now, did she?" Satya added. Maan didn't respond.
"Where could she have kept the reports? Could she have rented a bank locker or safe deposit?"
"She does own couple of bank lockers sir ji. I will ask Emily to get the locker operations date and see the frequency. But somehow I don't believe that she would keep all the stuff there," Satya said.
"I know. She would have placed all the older reports somewhere deep hidden – maybe those would be kept in safe deposits but the newer reports, at least for the last two years, she would be keeping it close by." Maan theorized.
"I will go and look for it in Mal's apartment sir ji. And I will drop these photos," Satya picked up the ones in evidence bag, "-at David's office. I may be completely off the track here but I want to get rid of the suspicion," Satya finished, saluted and left Maan's office.
Maan picked up the stack of messages that were left for him and he was surprised to find thirteen messages from the inspector who handled Geet's case when she was in college all asking him to call back immediately. Maan picked up the phone and dialed the inspector's number.
--9:30 AM Friday, Anjali & Geet's apartment –
"I am sorry for doing this now Geet but given what has happened, we couldn't really postpone this interview," Emily said as Geet invited her in.
"No, I understand Emily," Geet walked her into the living room. They both had forgone the formalities when they had met first time.
"I thought Maan would be coming here for the interview," Geet said sitting down. Emily stopped short and looked at Geet.
"You want Maan to interview you? If that is the case, I can…" Emily started furrowing her eyebrows.
"I didn't mean that way Emily," Geet interrupted. "I am actually very glad that it is you and not him interviewing me today. The last time, the interview didn't go…smoothly," Geet replied.
"Well Geet, you haven't been truthful to us since the start of this investigation. All of us wasted time in finding out something you probably could have told us in the beginning itself." Emily said softly. She didn't want Geet to be let off the hook very easily. She wanted complete control of the interview and for that she had to lay down the ground rules.
"I feel it's my fault that Mal is dead you know," Geet said wiping tears from her eyes.
"Geet. It's the fault of the man who killed her and not yours, understand?" Emily said strongly. She knew that it would take months for Geet to accept that fact but she fathomed coming from a cop would surely speed up the process a little.
"Just tell the truth," Emily said looking straight at Geet who merely nodded.
"Do you want some time before we start the interview?" Emily asked and Geet shook her head. Emily nodded and started the recorder.
"When did you first meet Mal?" Emily asked.
"I was thirteen and she was fourteen when we first met. I was starting high school and it was my first year. There were few kids in upper class who were bothering me. Mal had come to my rescue then. Since then we have been friends."
"How was your time in high school?"
"The first few months sucked, like it did for every other eighth standard kid. But most of them ventured into sports and other extracurricular activities so they never found out how bad it was being friendless. After meeting Mal things greatly improved. We hung around a lot during school times and we both took art classes together. I didn't even know that I was good art you know? It turned out that I was much better than Mal and like always, she made the path clear for me and helped me work on my talent." Geet paused.
"What happened the day you first met her?"
"I was picked on a lot by upper class boys. I think 'come and bully me' was stamped on my forehead given the number of times I was ragged by seniors. Ironically girls ragged me worse than boys. Ragging generally continued till mid-terms and after that it died down. I was in school for less than two months and one day I was caught by three boys and two girls, all seniors, and was made to enact a cheesy romantic scene along with a boy. The scene had two people declaring their undying love and all the hoopla. The boy was incredibly shy and terribly nervous. The seniors made us do the scene again and again till we got it right. In the end they asked us to kiss and that's when we both kind of broke down. When I realized that the seniors were getting agitated and more dangerous, I pecked the boy's lips and burst into tears begging them to leave me alone since they got what they wanted. Before the seniors could say anything Mal came in and asked me and the boy to go back to our classrooms. I don't know what she told them but no senior ever bothered me again."
"You became friends after that?"
"Not immediately. Many people had already started commenting how Mal and I looked a lot alike. I mean if you make us stand next to each other, we looked very, very different but if we were to briskly walk across the hallway, then it was evident that our features were similar. She came looking for me one day asking me to help her with some art project and from then I kept meeting her regularly. And then we slowly became friends and by the end of mid-terms we were almost inseparable," Geet reminisced.
"How was Mal in school?"
"She was the student liked by everyone. She got good grades and was active in school sports. She was an outspoken girl who gave people a piece of her mind when she felt that they were wronging her in some way. She was my role model, you know?"
"Geet, Maan met your parents early this week and they told him that you were treated for depression." Emily stated hoping Geet wouldn't flip her lid. To her surprise, Geet sighed.
"Had I told him the truth he wouldn't have dug this deep now would he? Yes Emily. I was treated for depression. Mal once had told me that I had an air of tragedy surrounding me and sucking me in its vast bubble. And let me tell you before you delve into your next question Emily. I wasn't delusional when I said that there was a man stalking me. I was just lying." Emily looked at her in surprise.
"But the police said that there was a case where in a teenage girl who happened to be Mal was attacked by a man who wore a citrus flavored perfume. And in college you had similar experience, right? Tell me what exactly happened Geet." Emily asked. Geet didn't say anything. Emily knew that patience was the key so she looked straight at Geet and said, "Look Geet, you can tell me the truth right now or we can go find out the truth the long way digging into your and Mal's past much deeper. But we really, really don't want to waste that kind of a time. There is a killer out there who is murdering your friends and please help us find him," Emily said.
"Alright, I will tell you everything." Geet said nodding to herself as if she wanted to cheer herself up.
"Mal's dad had left her mom when she was a little kid. Mal's mom worked in a bank and Mal hung around my house most of the time once we became friends. She didn't have any friends and her childhood was lonely. She had a case of extreme paranoia and it drove her mom crazy when she had one of her spells. Some days woke up at least dozen times in the night to check if the front door was securely latched and locked. She never shared her personal details with anyone and if she did, it was mostly a lie. Her paranoia drove me crazy sometimes especially when she made me take the longest route to art class so that we didn't have to take the same path as we did yesterday. What if there was some child molester waiting for us on our way back? That was her way of thinking. I was in tenth standard and I was studying a lot for the exams. It was few weeks to mid-terms and Mal came down to my house to help me revise. And then she told me about him and how she was worried about the way he behaved around her."
"Who?" Emily asked.
"The stalker." Geet said grimly.
"Wait, are you telling me that you had known about the stalker even before Mal was attacked by him?" Emily asked flabbergasted. Geet nodded.
"He wasn't really a stalker then. He was just a boy who was obsessed with Mal. He was the guy who I almost-kissed back in first year of my high school. He had seen Mal as the savior since he wasn't bullied anymore too. Even though he was Mal's classmate, his scrawny look and shy persona had made him a very easy target for other boys. And after that day, no one bothered to touch him. He kind of worshiped Mal and did all her errands around the school. Back then we didn't realize how wrong we were but we simply let his admiration grow into an obsession."
"When did Mal figured this out?"
"I was in tenth standard then. That day when she came to my house, she told me about that boy and how eccentric he was around her. I thought she was having one of her paranoid attacks so I told her that we should observe for few weeks first. But she was downright panicky so I told her that I would go with her to confront him and ask him what he was really up to."
"How did that meeting go?"
"It was a true eye opener. He wasn't living in this reality Emily. In his own version of reality, he was together with her. There were many versions of his story and every time Mal asked him why he was doing it to her, he would tell us a new story. His obsession with Mal is something you and I can never imagine nor understand. It was too dangerous to ignore yet his loyalty for her was fierce. He however hated me the most though, given how we were always together."
"Geet, are you saying what I think you are saying?" Emily asked her voice laced with shock. Geet nodded.
"I wasn't the one who was stalked. It was Mal. At least that was the case in the beginning. Years later I was pulled into his fantasy too. Even then Mal had been his prime target of affection and I always came second and sometimes not considered at all."
"But there is so much of compelling evidence which shows that it was only you who was stalked. Photos from detective agency, your photographs found in stalker's apartment and …"
"Emily. Everyone saw what Mal wanted them to see. Everyone heard what Mal wanted them to hear. And everyone thought exactly what Mal wanted them to think. Her paranoia made her an excellent planner and she planned every single step and every single detail. Every statement she and I gave to the police during college and before and also when we moved here to the city was carefully thought of and we understood its ramifications if the plan ever went awry."
To be continued.
Cricket
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
36