Till Human Voices Wake Us: Last Part: Page 175 - Page 101

Originally posted by: hegdemedha

Interestingly, the constables were armed. I wonder if the injured, unconscious constable (I hope he hasn't died) still bears his arms.

Originally posted by: hegdemedha

Sookie, the reprimand from Emily was well-deserved!

--
😵 --> 😆. Close and yet so far!!

--

He gazed at the spark and willed it into a flame,
At his flame he attempted to lay the master blame,
"Prove it, or be sued 'coz you did the spark defame,
"But, I'll still lead you!" this she did, in silence, claim.

Enter the ferryman from Hades, the artist, the stalker.
The spark was his light, his ideal mother and lover,
'Tis twelve, when night welcomes day, turning darker,
Perhaps, dawn will, 'tween them, finally a truce broker.

PS: I continue to believe in Geet's innocence.😆

Originally posted by: night13

Medha...Is your client pleading the 5th... presumed innocent until proven guilty? 😆

Originally posted by: hegdemedha

No. My client is merely asking the investigators to do their job so that they can lay charges against her. Then, once they've managed to get their foot into the front porch of the court house (in Sookie's words), then she will plead the fifth four times over. And, then, the investigators can use all the evidence they have to prove her guilty.😉

PS: I am assuming that the trial will be subject to Indian law.

Disclaimer: This update is not yet proof read. Apologies in advance.

Chapter 30:

-- Sunday 12:10 AM, Geet's apartment --

Geet's eyes were transfixed on the knife that glinted every now and then. It wasn't too hard to recognize that knife. It was hers. She suddenly felt that her life had finally come to a full circle. But it wasn't the time to breakdown, she realized. She looks up and looks in the eye of the killer. The recognition doesn't give her any hope and the stilled madness in them shook her a little. She took hesitant step back only to find her legs hit the bed making her collapse on it.

"Why are you afraid of me? I know you have been waiting for me. Even I have been waiting for us, for this moment. I wanted us to take this journey together. I am sorry that it took so much of time since we first met. But I knew that one day we would be here" His words contained suppressed emotion.

"Did you kill Mal?" She doesn't know how she manages to keep the quiver out of her voice but if she was going to die that night, then she had to know the answers.

"For the journey that you and I have to make, I had to clear my way. They were guarding the gates to the path that in the end leads to the city of Dis so they had to go. It is my duty to take you there." The voice was nostalgic, as if remembering an old story. Geet didn't understand the answer completely.

"Did you kill Mal?" This time her voice was stronger and her tone held a bit of rebellion.

"The Furies are eliminated. It was my wish to eliminate all of them in my own hands but one of their own betrayed them. They were punished by their own sins and when the time was I right, I cleared our path by eliminating the last of the kindly ones." She didn't know what to make of his words. She shook her head vigorously to clear out the fear and confusion which were creating havoc in her brain. She took several deep breaths and waited for him to come near her. She cleared her face of the dread of impending death and waited.

"Tisiphone who avenges blood sin had to commit blood sin of her own; her avenging spirit fought with her soul and I set her free. Dis is now guarded by only the fallen angels but they cannot stop me, your guide, your love, your son and the one who is destined to take this journey with you. The night is full and moon is dead and we take a ferry across the Styx. We pass the gates and enter Dis and then unfurl the last four rings. But promise this my Nyx, my love, that in icy ring you will hold my hand tight and when the time comes, show me the light. Never let go of these hands, I beg thee." His words had in the end reduced to a whisper full of pain and agony. She had no clue what was going on but she had gotten her answer though. She knew that irrespective of how many times she asked questions the answers from the killer will be wooly. There was no way the killer could hear to her pleads so it was better if she put up with him for some time.

She had to stall.

"You killed Mal because you believe that she killed other two?" Geet asked calmly. The man hesitated for a moment. And she knew that she had finally asked the right question.

"It wasn't impossible to see the stains of blood on her hands. The guilt that she carried on her shoulders hunched her back and hollowed her eyes." The man replied. She didn't know why he simply didn't attack her. She found it odd that he had answered all of her questions.

"Can it be not guilt for burdening me with the truth that you saw in her eyes and not the guilt for the spilling the blood of a kin?" Geet decided to play his game. If she was going to die, then she was going to give a run for his money first. She saw that the man was fairly tall and had a knife in his hand. She wasn't going to risk fighting with him physically.

"Tisiphone's sins were her own my love. You were but the kindred spirit or a confession box, if you will; the one who ate sins and cleansed the humanity of their misdeeds." He responded.

"But I am Nyx, I am night and darkness consumes my soul. Can I not be that malevolent voice that sprung in her heart when she committed her sins?" She ensured that her each statement ended with a question. This way he was answering her and telling her about himself and his choices. She was surprised when she heard him chuckle.

"Darkness is not evil my love but robbing a person of her choice is. The voice that commanded her could have been ignored by the soul that possessed her body. A tainted soul would embrace the voice while the purest would never be blemished. I know the sin I committed and every time I plunged this blade through her soft skin I could feel her finally being free." He took another step further into light and Geet noticed that his eyes were misty. She couldn't understand the killer who had tears in his eyes. She recognized him, of course, but she didn't want to bring it up at this moment.

"Can you not believe that my voice holds the very darkness so deep and so dark that it managed to coerce her in making a choice?" Geet asked again hoping that he would pause for a moment and then answer slowly. He was only eight steps away from her. As she expected he paused for several moments. She wondered if her question had angered him or abated his existing anger. When he spoke, his voice was soft.

"My darling Nyx, it's the prerogative of the night to always fight with the light and it a part of her to lose to the dawns every morning. But come evening, she coerces dawn to retreat back to Tartarus and bathes the world in enigmatic black. This is who she is. This is who you are." He had completely understood her. The man was definitely delusional but he wasn't stupid.

"Why did you decide to come out now? Why didn't you kill all of us before with a single blow?" Geet wasn't letting him go. He took two more steps closer to her. He was only six steps away.

"I had to wait till the time they realized their sins and the closer I saw hideous they looked. Have you still not realized my love? You are destined to begin your journey in the fifth circle and I am Phlegyas who will take you across the Styx." He took two steps closer and she was caged between him and the bed on which she sat.

"What will happen after that?" Geet asked knowing fully well that it wasn't going to be good.

"And then we live. In weeping and in grieving, accursed spirit, may you long remain and I bless thee." The words come to him as forgotten faces pop-up in a dream; uninvited and always with a purpose. The borrowed words had profound effect on her psyche and she was suddenly very exhausted; exhausted of life and everything under its umbrella.

"Are you going to kill me?" She asked him without blinking an eye.

"No. I am going to take you to Hell." And then he lunged forward, knife pointing straight at her heart.

-- Outside Geet's apartment --

"Deshmukh, call an ambulance. Ask them to turn off lights and siren when they are a block away. If the killer is inside, then I don't want to spook him away. Wake up building secretary and get spare key to this apartment." Maan ordered Deshmukh who started making calls as soon as Maan finished talking.

"Satya, can you…?" Maan trailed and stopped as he saw Satya already picking the lock.

"I want to know how he got past the deadbolts sir," Satya was still thinking about it. Maan understood why he was being so picky about it. If there were no deadbolts locked on the other side of the door, then it would mean that Geet probably expected someone to come and that someone had the spare key to the apartment. The key could have even picked up from Mal's apartment.

A very long minute later, they heard the soft click of the door. The three of the pulled their weapon from the holster and Emily turned the bolt. She looked at Satya and nodded. The very next moment she entered the hallway and swiftly moved towards Geet room. Maan followed her, his weapon trained straight ahead.

"Aaahhh…" Geet's scream pierced the darkness. Maan nodded at Emily and Satya and entered inside Geet's room first.

"Stop!" Maan yelled at the man who had raised the knife ready to strike. The man looked shocked and the knife stained with blood, slowly trickled with blood.

"Geet! Oh my god!" Emily exclaimed in whisper seeing a heavily bleeding Geet lying on her bed.

The killer suddenly turned around and brought the knife down to stab Geet once again and at the same time a shot was fired.

To be continued. Next chapter is the finale.

Chapter 31:

Emily and Satya moved to the bed and Satya grabbed the killer who was clutching his hand and howling. Emily had fired a shot that had pierced through the killer's forearm making him drop the knife. Maan placed his weapon back in holster and in three long strides he had his palms pressing on Geet's chest trying to stop the blood flow. Geet's breathing was labored and she was slowly losing consciousness. Deshmukh had come in as soon as he had heard a shot being fired and seeing an injured Geet and the killer from the bedroom door, he had asked the medical team to move in.

"Geet, you are going to be alright, okay? Look at me, look at me," Maan urged Geet to look at him and slapped her cheeks couple of times. Geet's eyes were closing and it seemed as if it took her lot of effort to keep them open.

"He…..killled…..Mal," Geet bit out couple of words hoping that the killer would get what he deserved for mutilating her best friend like that. He words became more and more incoherent and her breathing had labored. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the medical team bursting through the door.

After Satya had pulled the killer off Geet, he had body slammed the killer against the wall. Already in pain, the killer didn't protest his arrest when Emily had handcuffed him. Emily had managed to graze the forearm and not deposit a bullet there and once the wound was cleaned and bandaged, Maan and Satya escorted him back to the station. Emily drove to the hospital to be there with Geet.

"I know that there is a possibility that she is the mastermind behind the killings of Anjali and Sasha but irrespective of everything that she went through tonight, I don't think she would want to wake up alone and friendless. I want her to see at last one familiar face when she wakes up," Emily replied to Maan when asked about her intentions.

-- Sunday 4:00 AM, Police station --

"Son of a bitch," Satya slammed the files that he was carrying on Deshmukh's table.

"He isn't talking?" Deshmukh ventured slowly.

"He is talking a lot, actually. Accusing us of lots of things but I don't have a clue what he is on about. Emily's theory about his psychosis was dead on. His delusions are disbelievingly rationalized by him." Maan said.

"How did he get in to the apartment in the first place? It's hard for me to believe that Geet forgot to lock the deadbolts tonight," Maan asked Deshmukh who had stayed behind the crime scene along with David.

"They weren't locked sir. The deadbolts were tampered with. As per Satya and Emily they were fully operational till yesterday morning when they left Geet's house. But someone entered the apartment when Geet was brought in for questioning and tampered with the bolts. Geet wouldn't have noticed till late night. She might not have worried too much about it given how she knew that there were people right outside her apartment," Deshmukh said.

"Who is the man?" Deshmukh asked a moment later.

"He is an artist and he worked in Varun's gallery. He was brought in for questioning during that fraud incident. The inspector who investigated the case suspected that this guy was one of the main artists whose art was sold as Varun's. But nothing came out of that interrogation and they had to let him go. That inspector wrote in the report saying that this guy was too involved in whatever he was doing and he had no idea what was happening." Satya said.

"When he saw Geet, he found a purpose in his life. And all the stories he read suddenly made sense and she fitted in his fantasy very well. This fantasy isn't new to him. If we see his living quarters, we will definitely find traces of his fantasy dating back as far as his adolescence. And I am pretty sure that his art work also is greatly influenced by this fantasy. " Maan said. "Look at the extent of his delusion. He is long gone from this reality. I don't think he is even fully functional in this society anymore. The devolution has happened gradually with time and after Sasha's death everything would have changed for him radically and made him believe in his fantasies more." Maan finished.

"Where does he live? Did you have any breakthrough in that area?" Maan asked Deshmukh.

"We don't have a precise address but we may have narrowed down couple of localities." Deshmukh said.

"Is Geet's or Mal's locality one of them?" Maan asked. Deshmukh shuffled some papers around and picked up the one of interest and checked the names written in the report. He nodded.

"Both the localities are listed here sir," Deshmukh said.

"Start with Geet's locality. And ask your team to start talking with retail owners, building securities and street side vendors. They would have seen him there." Maan said. Deshmukh nodded.

"What is he doing now?" Deshmukh asked.

"He started complaining about the pain in his arm and stopped listening to us. Given how the wound started bleeding again, I called a doctor for a checkup. The doctor prescribed mild sedatives and painkillers. I guess he is already asleep in his lockup by now." Maan replied.

"Wont the medication make him little groggy in the morning? If he is already like this then he is going to get worse tomorrow," Deshmukh said. Maan shrugged. It was something he had to do.

"It's late. Let's get some rest and start again in five hours. Satya, pickup Emily from hospital, will you?" Maan said. Maan noted that Satya was little preoccupied as they walked to their vehicles in parking lot.

"What is it Satya?" He asked.

"Is the killer going to be convicted sir ji?" Satya asked hesitantly. He had seen one too many cases where in the defense pulled the last minute card of "insanity" which made the convicts enjoy much lesser punishments than they originally deserved.

"I don't know Satya. The arrest was legal, the convict was caught in the act and that is all there is to us." Maan said. Satya looked at him not buying his theory.

"Sometimes it's best if we don't think too much about the consequences. Don't you think so?" Maan said and walked to his car. As he started the engine he saw that Satya was still standing where they had parted and lost in thoughts.

-- Sunday 9:30 AM, Police Station --

"How is Geet?" Maan asked as soon as Emily came in to his cabin. He didn't miss Emily and Satya looking at each other when he asked the question. He rolled his eyes at their juvenile amusement and before Emily could deliver her customary wisecracks he decided to squash them first.

"We will have to question her soon and I was hoping I could do it today," Maan said.

"You still don't believe her, don't you?" Emily sighed as she sat in chair opposite to him.

"She hasn't given us lots of opportunity to trust her." Maan shrugged.

"Well to answer your earlier question, she is doing alright. She was stabbed twice and the killer missed major arteries. I wonder why though," Emily said thoughtfully.

"You think he wanted to prolong the act of the actual killing by stabbing her several times missing the arteries on purpose?" Maan asked. Emily nodded.

"How does that fit into his fantasy?" Satya asked.

"He has the complete control. Undergoing repeated deaths and subjected to various degrees of pain is what being in Hell is all about." Emily said.

"Sir, we may have a location," Deshmukh said coming in to Maan's cabin.

"How did you find his living place so fast?" Satya asked impressed.

"We followed what sir told me early this morning. A vegetable vendor in Geet's locality recognized him and gave us a street where she had seen the killer several times walking down. We knocked on several doors and finally a security guard showed us a building where this guy may actually live. It's an old apartment complex sir. My men are now knocking doors as we speak and…" Deshmukh paused. "- we have an address," he finished.

-- Sunday 10:00 AM, Geet's locality --

"So he lived within fifteen minutes of walking distance from Geet's house. I wonder he lived there because for Geet or because Anjali also lived there or because it was a place where all our suspects and witnesses met?" Emily asked slipping on a pair of gloves.

"He wanted to be close to the heart of immorality, if you ask me," Satya said looking around the apartment in obvious distaste. "David is not coming in sir ji?" He asked Maan.

"He and his team will come in once we are through with the place." Maan asked. Emily was seeing the murals on the wall – the three angels which had blood coming from the eyes and photo of the women in real life pasted on top.

"His fantasy goes much deeper than I thought," Emily said with a frown. Satya was looking inside the apartment.

"What do you mean?" Maan asked.

"When I theorized about the coin left for Geet, I thought that he had read few stories and was trying to follow it. You know there are cases where people start believing that the story they have read is real because they find some sort of connection to it. These stories may be comprised of real life incidents or they could be words of pure fiction. Faith is born based on that belief."

"Isn't that how people start believing in saints?"

"It's one way, yes. People who are thrown to a world of continuous chaos cling to something that gives them a ray of hope. They build an incredible amount of faith when their initial hypothesis comes true. For our killer here, something similar has happened. Only my guess is that it wasn't Sasha. The fantasy started much earlier in his life and his role was fixed even before he saw these women. Meeting them is definitely a trigger because it was then his fantasy had reached its peak. He is following the circles of hell unconsciously in his mind for most part of his life." Emily said.

"Where do you see behavioral evidence for that?"

"It's going to be in his art. When we find his art work we will be able to see evolution of his fantasy. I would say he had a very strict upbringing and is isolated from his family at a very young age. He is also an avid reader and a fan of mythologies. Look at his book collection," Emily said.

"You guys should take a look at this one," Satya called out from the bedroom. It was a small room with a bed alongside the wall beneath the window, stacks of papers with art on them, paints, charcoal was haphazardly thrown on a large workbench similar to the one in the living room which was a make shift studio. It was the wall opposite to the bed that was interesting.

"What is it?" Emily asked coming into the room.

"Oh my," she exclaimed as soon as her eyes fell on the wall.

The wall was covered with vivid pictures of the killer and Geet traveling in a fantasy land. It was achingly beautiful given how the entire thing was probably driven by his obsession with the notion of Geet being the damsel in a moral distress.

"He has adapted Dante's story to suit himself where it's him and Geet who travel through the hell. It's unbelievably brilliant in the way he has accurately perceived the book and translated it to pictures. The visuals are stunning," Emily said running a gloved hand on the mural.

"We will not be able to get him to talk to us. I don't think he even understands what we are talking to him," Maan said. Emily and Satya nodded distractedly as they were still mesmerized seeing the mural.

"Call in David's team and ask them to sweep the place." Maan said removing his gloves and walking out of the apartment. Emily and Satya followed him a moment later.

-- Sunday 1:00 PM, Police Station --

"Geet has recovered consciousness and her vitals are fine," Satya said coming in and standing in next to Emily right outside the interrogation room. The killer was brought in handcuffed and looked somber.

"He is calm; too calm actually," Satya said peering through the glass pane.

"That's what bothers me too," Emily said.

Maan decided that the three of them will perform the interview while Emily did most of the talking. She understood the killer's psychosis and she also knew the weaker points which would put the killer on spot. He knew very well that the killer would mostly end up in a psychiatric ward rather than a jail but he had to do his job.

"When I am in there I will be playing fully into his fantasy. Once he realizes my role, he will pull me in and it may get confusing for you. No matter what happens, don't interrupt." Emily said. The two men nodded.

"The fallen are here," he noted as the three came in. "You must be very glad that you have successfully managed to stop me, don't you?" He looked at them viciously.

"You know that the fallen angels aren't capable of stopping you. But who are you? Charon?" Emily asked fishing for information and completely alienating herself from her association with Maan and Satya. Surprise was written on the killer's face.

"I am Phlegyas fair maiden. If you are not one of the fallen, then who are you?"

"They call me Medusa." Emily replied smoothly and watched the convict's reaction. It was something that she had expected. The killer's eyes widened at her answer the looked positively terrified. His ramblings were gone and he looked scared of the woman sitting opposite to him.

"Please let me in," He stammered and begged.

"You know that I cannot let a mere ferryman inside." She said smoothly.

"Please. I have to. You know I have to. You know everything, right? I have to go inside with her. Please. Please let me go." He begged more.

"I will. But on one condition." Emily said.

"Anything. Who are these women?" Emily asked placing a photo of Sasha, Anjali and Mal in front of him.

"That is Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone."

"Did you kill them to keep the gates unguarded when you were about to enter?" Emily asked slowly.

"Alecto was already dead when I went. Megaera was almost dying so I had to eliminate her. But Tisiphone, the one who spilled the blood of her sisters had to be eliminated. She is the notorious and the scariest of all. You being the wisest and feared by many should know that right?" He asked Emily. Emily vaguely nodded.

"Are they her sisters?" Emily asked pointing to the photos of Anjali and Sasha.

"That's them," he said nodding.

"What did you do after you removed Megaera from the gates?" Emily asked.

"I knew that Nyx was battling with dawn and was coming back home. So I left her a treat to soothe the pain," He said.

"Is he talking about making a drink and leaving cookies for Geet?" Maan asked. Emily nodded.

"Why did you leave the jars?" Emily asked.

"I did not want Nyx to carry the sins of them when we crossed Styx. The sins had to be kept hidden inside the jar. I was only trying to correct the mistake of Pandora," He replied.

"How do you know so much about Nyx?" Emily asked.

"The moment my eyes met hers, I knew that my destiny was coming true. I could see the pattern all around me and I finally decided not to fight the feeling anymore. I took up my responsibility and ensured that all the Furies are dead. I went to their homes, I went to the places where they worked and I even went to the places where they met."

Emily looked at Maan. He knew so much about them because the women had become his life support. He watched them regularly being fully discreet and even went inside their houses when there wasn't anyone around. But it was surprising that he never showed up in any of the photos from detectives. But then again, the detectives weren't around the homes when the inhabitants were not there.

"Why did you wait for this long? Why didn't you finish the task of removing them from the gate duties earlier?" Emily asked.

"Because Nyx wanted me to," he replied.

Emily looked back and Satya and Maan in surprise. Geet asked him?

"Where did you meet Nyx?" Emily asked recovering from shock.

"I met her at the edge of dawn," he replied sincerely. Maan and Satya could hear Emily's frustrated sigh. They looked at her in surprise as she got up.

"Where are you going? You said you will let me enter the city. Please don't abandon me." The killer had the look of panic back in his eyes. Emily didn't respond but walked out of the interrogation. Moments later Satya and Maan came out and put the killer back in lock up. They found Emily sitting in Maan's cabin.

"Explain," Maan said sitting across her.

"I don't think it's an easy task to get an answer that the court would accept out of that man sir. I don't have the necessary skills to get those answers from him with the kind of delusion he is in. He needs a full psychological evaluation first to get a baseline on his touch with reality and then we need experts who can talk to him and understand his fantasy completely. I still have not understood his fantasy sir as there are overlaps of multiple mythological events in his story. Untangling each one of them is going to take time and it will not be done in a single day." Emily said rubbing her temple.

"You want me to hand him over to the state?" Maan said looking at her in surprise.

"I think it's for the good. Look, you always tell me not to think about the consequences and just do my job. This is what I am inferring. I don't want to think what happens when media gets a wind of this arrest and sensationalize the whole thing and blow it out of proportion. I don't want to think what will happen if the court appointed lawyer muck up. He has no idea what he has done. He needs help sir." Emily said. Maan didn't respond.

"What will happen to Geet?" Emily asked after moments of silence. She looked up and stared at Maan when he didn't respond.

-- Sunday 6:00 PM, Hospital --

"I am glad you are doing alright," Maan said seeing Geet.

"Are you really?" She asked bemusedly. Maan didn't respond but quietly took the chair.

"Did you recognize the man who was trying to kill you?" She nodded.

"He was an artist in Varun's gallery. I saw him few times when he was working there and after that I heard he disappeared."

"He has been following all of you for two years now and has been in and out of your house several times. He knows a lot about you." Geet didn't answer.

"Why?" Geet asked.

"There is no rational reason behind this Geet. He is undergoing or completely surrendered to severe psychosis which is making him see the world differently. In his mind you exist as a different person entirely and he wanted to kill you because he wanted to take you to hell." Maan said as Geet listened.

"What did you talk to him about?" Maan asked after several moments. Geet looked at him in surprise.

"From the time he attacked your protection outside the apartment to the time we came in, he had almost spent twenty minutes with you. I think the time we entered the apartment was when the first stab came in. So, what did you guys talk about?"

"Weather," Geet replied. Maan frowned.

"It might as well be about weather because he sprouted some nonsense about Furies and Hell and I simply asked questions to stall him. I knew that my protection detail was compromised and if I was lucky, you guys would come in." Geet replied nonchalantly.

"Is that so?" Maan asked unconvinced.

"If you don't believe me like the usual ACP Maan, why don't you go and ask the guy who tried to kill me?" She asked Maan knowing fully well that the killer's answer would never implicate her in any fashion.

She had confessed to the killer, after all.

"Get well soon," Maan said getting up.

"ACP. You still believe that I was the one who planned the murders of Sasha and Anjali while Mal actually committed them." She asked.

"You know I do," he replied not facing her.

"I would like to see you prove it Maan," she said. He didn't know if she was challenging him or asking him to let her free of the guilt. He sincerely believed that she wasn't innocent as against his colleagues.

"One day, I will." Maan said turning back and smiling at her sincerely.

She smiled back.

-Complete-