Till Human Voices Wake Us: Last Part: Page 175 - Page 80

Originally posted by: manashi

when are you updating Sooks?😒

Waiting...😊

Originally posted by: -Sookie-

In an hour. 😊 I finished reading two books: Secret of Nagas and Hunger Games over the weekend so writing took a back step. Update will be short but will definitely be...interesting..😊

Originally posted by: -Sookie-

In an hour. 😊 I finished reading two books: Secret of Nagas and Hunger Games over the weekend so writing took a back step. Update will be short but will definitely be...interesting..😊

Chapter 25:

-- Friday 9 PM, Police Station --

"You found it?" Maan asked Emily as she came in. They were winding up for the day and everyone regrouped one last time for the day. Maan had asked Emily an hour ago to find out the fraud case that Vikram was in middle of.

"That was quick," Satya said turning pages of the file handed by Emily.

"Well one of my seniors from the academy works in Economic Offences Wing so it wasn't all that hard. Vikram was indeed involved in the fraud case and the case was filed by Mal's firm. While digging about him back then, they also found that there were other changes against both the brothers."

"You mean Varun?" Maan asked. Emily nodded.

"There is an open forgery case on him. Apparently Vikram sold few paintings to high profile buyers saying they were Varun's. There are rumors around Varun's studio that there were two artists at his disposal who did all the work and Varun paid them for their work but sold them under his name."

"Isn't it natural sometimes for a gallery to produce artists who work on collective works which is, to put it lamely, mass production?" Satya asked.

"I know that some galleries work that way and the paintings or the sculpture are sold under the name of the gallery or the collaboration the artist is recruited under. But here the case is entirely different. There are at least seven paintings bought by four high profile celebrities who found out that they weren't really works of the person they thought."

"Is Varun really that popular?" Deshmukh asked.

"Varun specializes in making great copies of renaissance art. He has his originals too but several customers give custom orders to him to make them something specific. The copies are also darn expensive if made by a famous artist. They generally add something different to the original rendition which makes the copy, different from the original as well as the other copies. That is the artist's signature and by signature I don't mean the actual sign but a marker that is exclusive to the artist only. And that is how people in the business will recognize who exactly painted it. As twisted as this sounds, apparently this is how it works." Emily explained.

"So people who bought paintings from Vikram believed that they weren't done by Varun, correct?" Satya asked.

"Yes. It was done by someone else because the artist signature was different on the copies. So the client first tried to negotiate it with Vikram outside the purview of law. But Vikram refused thus making them contact us for help."

"What happened to investigation?" Maan asked.

"It didn't go anywhere. The world of art and artist isn't really that straightforward. Am not saying that it's complicated but its plain twisted and we aren't invited. The case is still open given how Varun finally claimed that the paintings were his own and the signature was also his."

"And all the clients were happy? How idiotic are they really are?" Satya asked, clearly flabbergasted.

"Satya, these people as in artists or their clients don't like coming into station and dealing with us mundane people."

"Well Emily, us three may be mundane, but you? Aren't you a daughter of diplomats?" Satya asked placing the file on Maan's table sipped his tea smiling at Maan. Emily completely ignored Satya and continued.

"Those clients lost interest in the case as the pace of investigation didn't match the way it is generally shown in television. The department thinks that Vikram made some sort of deal with those people in terms of some other authentic art pieces given how they are all already loaded and didn't care too much about money."

"Did the department talk to any of the potential artists who could have been part of this scam?" Deshmukh asked.

"They did. There were three of them who worked in the gallery along with Varun." Emily said.

"Why are we looking into this sir ji? How does all of this fit into murder investigation?" Satya asked.

"The murders of Anjali and Sasha are connected to Mal. And our killer knows all three. The connection between the three women is Geet, Vikram and Varun. Somehow or the other all of them are connected." Maan said.

"Didn't you mention something about the killer seeing the women at a social event or something?" Satya asked Emily.

"Well it could have been social event or even meeting at a fancy place for dinner. I checked Sasha's blog for any such entries and I found five. Three were just the women meeting over for dinner, one was at Varun's gallery but Geet couldn't make it that day and then all four of them met before the Phuket trip." Emily replied.

"Let's narrow it down." Maan said.

"Restaurants are good place to start but the line from the killer doesn't give that meaning. It would be something more of an upscale social event where he would feel completely out of place even though he was part of the event." Deshmukh said.

"Why cannot it be a restaurant?" Satya asked.

"It cannot be a restaurant because it isn't exactly a social gathering. The killer observes people who are coming and coming out and these women stand out." Emily said.

"That is, if we take the line from poem literally," Satya said.

"Look who has done their homework." Satya wriggled his eyebrows at Emily's comment. She continued. "The social event which Geet missed was at Varun's gallery. Sasha and Anjali were invited and it was much before their Phuket trip. I can try getting a guest list but I don't think I can do it without a warrant." Emily said. Maan nodded.

"And Emily did you check about Varun's financials?" Maan asked.

"I managed to get few of his bank details and also Form 16s for him and his gallery for the past eight years. He is losing money." Emily said.

"It is possible that he is our blackmailer," Satya said out of nowhere. Everyone looked at him.

"When Emily gave me his financials in evening, I did some asking around. I called Geet and asked the name of the club where she went with Anjali months ago where she saw some man giving Anjali an envelope. And Geet also mentioned that Anjali suggested going to that place as it was recommended by a friend. And it turned out that the friend who recommended Anjali was Varun. I went there and flashed Varun's photo. They told me that he was a regular there. I got the CCTV footage for the night Geet and Anjali went to the club after lots of digging and did see a man handing her an envelope. There are also footages of the same man with Varun at the same club. They are sending us footages that I asked for tomorrow." Satya said.

"But its Saturday tomorrow we will have to wait till Monday then," Maan said.

"They have agreed to co-operate with us sir ji. They didn't ask for a warrant." Satya said. Maan unknowingly sighed in relief.

Deshmukh consulted his notes and spoke. "I spoke to the detective agency and..."

Emily's phone rang in that moment. "It's Geet", she said in surprise.

"Geet…please tell me what happened…okay…okay….calm down okay? I will be there soon….okay…I will not hang up and will keep talking to you till I see you okay…please calm down….," Emily stood up.

"Something has happened. She is having a breakdown or a delusion, I cannot say. I need to go," Emily said.

"I'll drive," Satya said as Emily walked out of the room.

"Deshmukh and I are will continue with a minister's protection duty tonight. I will replace you and Emily with someone else. Keep us posted." Maan said nodding at Satya.

-- Friday 10:15 PM, Geet's apartment --

"Geet, it's me Emily. I am right outside your door now. Can you open it?" Emily asked. She had been on phone with Geet for the entire time calming her down. But Geet still wasn't coherent enough to understand what exactly was going on.

Geet opened the door minutes later and as soon as she saw Satya and Emily at the door, she grabbed Emily's hand.

"Geet, look Satya and I are here right? No one can hurt you anymore okay?" Geet looked totally terrified.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Emily asked her softly. Geet slowly nodded. She walked to the living room and pointed to a sheet lying between coffee table and sofa. She said, "I found that in my mailbox today."

Satya put on gloves and picked up the paper. He looked startled to see it. Emily stood next to him and was equally startled to see the paper.

It was a sketch of Geet beautifully drawn covered scantily in a black robe. The art wasn't signed but in the sketch, Geet's hair had streaks of blood amidst the black. Satya placed the drawing down on the coffee table and picked up the envelope to check if bore anything identifiable.

"There is something inside it," he said as soon as he picked up envelope. He looked surprised when he peeked in. He held his palm out as he turned the envelope upside down.

A coin rolled safely into his palm. He looked at Emily in surprise.

What was going on?

To be continued.

Originally posted by: Boogleton.Schiz

Res. I'll edit this comment tom when my net comes back.

P.S you read the HG series? Me too :)