Eternal Return: Ch 9-16 summary; 26/July/2015; pg 101 - Page 47

Originally posted by: kunataanya

which show is this?

Chapter 17 – Part 2

"What?" Geet heard Maan raise his voice over the din of incoming traffic. Maan swiftly navigated through early evening traffic making way towards Bhagats residence.

"What were you thinking Geet?" He admonished her.

Geet had explained her session with Dr. Vandana earlier and how she had delved right into the old cases without consulting Maan.

"Look Maan, I apologize for doing this. I just went along with my instinct and questioned Dr. Vandana about those cases. It struck me that it was her handwriting that was present in notes and I had to re-validate it," she replied. She had also mentally apologized to him about talking to his father and disclosing information about his state of mind. At that moment she wasn't talking to senior Khurana as a shrink but a close confidant and a friend of Maan's. Looking at his tired face, she felt fresh bout of guilt surge through her.

Maan didn't respond but concentrated on traffic.

"Tell me what happened," he said ignoring her statement. Geet swallowed.

"Dr. Vandana has worked on the three cases along with my father when she was his research student. She was onboard right after second murder and worked along with him for next two years. She wasn't authorized to visit any crime scenes or watch interviews but she was given access to listen to them. According to her it was also one of the very few cases that made my father go back to it over and over again. Even after years, she had heard my father mention about it and working on it whenever he had enough time to spare."

"Why did he maintain the case file and all original notes at his work place and not at home?"

"It's possible since he preferred to work in his clinic rather than at home and the fact that he spent most of his time there anyway," she said wryly.

"How much does she know?" Maan asked.

"She knows most if not all of it, since she has studied the case end to end and discussed with my father as a part of her research. It is very hard to differentiate between her theories and facts Maan given how her psyche has devolved however she agrees that there is a profile that father worked on in which she assisted."

"That's a good thing, right?"

"I am not sure." Geet said chewing her lips. They shared a glance and Maan noted that Geet looked disturbed.

"She said, 'in the end it's all about the parent'. Dr. Vandana was given the case files by father to get a fresh perspective and that's what her notes were all about. Her involvement ended there." Geet said looking at him. Maan parked the jeep in front of a spacious residence.

"'The parent'?" Maan repeated. She nodded.

"Well it's also something you are already hypothesizing on – the family structure, dominating parent or absent parent. It is actually about the parent," Maan said walking towards the front door. "Let's do this first, okay?" He said breaking the police seal on the front door.

"Why is there a seal on the door?"

"Mrs. Bhagat refuses to move in to the house. She said there were too many memories and she couldn't get past what happened to her family. The house isn't touched after the night of murder. So everything we see should be almost the same as the night of murder," he said.

Geet looked around and started checking out the house as soon as light flooded the house. A thin layer of dust had settled on the furniture.

"I'll have David sweep through all the bathrooms in the house and probably plumbing too. If the house hasn't been used there is a slight chance that we might be lucky," Maan muttered to himself.

"Has everything that was collected as evidence returned to the family?" Geet asked looking at the paintings hung on wall. The living room was tastefully decorated and when the family lived there, it was well maintained.

"I don't think so. We will have to check evidence once again," Geet said following Maan to master bedroom.

"What are you looking for?" Maan asked switching on lights.

"I am not sure," Geet said and walked past him.

"The victims were found in master bedroom with multiple stab wounds." Maan said stopping at the middle of room. Geet opened the window curtains and looked out, frowning.

"How was the relationship between the three?" Geet asked turning back.

"Father and daughter got along really well since he was a stay at home dad. Mrs. Bhagat said that they were pretty close too, since her daughter came to her for advice related to friends and school but she didn't get enough time to really spend with her daughter; at least not as much as Mr. Bhagat did." Maan replied.

"And that's almost similar to the Guhas right?"

Maan nodded. "Geet, we have gone through all this. Why did we have to come back to Bhagats residence again?"

"To check the daughter's room," Geet said and walked out. Maan silently followed her wondering what she was thinking.

The bedroom was a typical girl's room with stuffed toys strewn around and walls decorated with collages and pictures of the girl with her family and friends.

"Nothing seems out of the ordinary," Maan noted as he looked around. "There is couple of dolls broken and their eyes taken out but apart from that everything seems fine." He added.

Geet checked cabinets and the desk mentally noting the things she was seeing. The bed seemed made and the girl hadn't slept in which wasn't very odd. It was possible that the girl slept later than most kids her age seeing how the bed was undisturbed. There was nothing hidden under the pillow and for the sake of complete checking, Geet removed the covers to expose the mattress. She stilled at the sight of the exposed mattress.

"Maan, check this out," she called out.

"Look at this," she said pointing towards stains on the mattress.

"Bedwetting," Maan said.

"Eleven year old wetting her bed. We know the odds – taking out anger and frustration on dolls, bedwetting, extra disciplined," Geet said. "I'll let David know about it and ask him if we can get a timeline on these mattress stains. My guess is its quite recent." She tucked the sheet back on the mattress.

"Guhas killing might be more violent and would have gotten the killer a gratification but it would be this family that triggered the whole killing spree. There is something about this family that made the killer snap and go after the girl and the father. Once we find it out, there is high possibility that there may be some overlaps with the Guhas."

"Just overlaps and not exactly similar?" Maan asked as they walked out of the residence.

"Once the frenzy of the first kill dies, the killer gets a gratification of doing something right – it's like something was fixed in his world. And once that feeling sets in, they start seeking it out more and more. They may have picked up Guhas thinking that they were exactly same as Bhagats, which in reality may be, but if they realized that they weren't same, the killer compensated that lack by overkill."

"So the killer will keep looking for families who are similar to that of Bhagats and whoever comes close become fresh victims," Maan said. "They won't stop unless they are caught." He surmised.

Geet nodded.

Geet was quiet as Maan while Maan drove them back to her apartment.

"What is bothering you Geet? It is something Dr. Vandana said, isn't it?" Maan asked when he saw her lost in her thoughts. Geet nodded.

"When she said 'It's all about the parent' I think she was talking about the killer's parent not victims'." Geet said biting her lip.

Maan looked at her wide eyed. "How can you be sure that that's what she meant?" He asked recovering quickly.

"This family wasn't a random pick Maan. It wasn't a cliched variant of light bulb going on in a person's head and he picked up a knife when he saw the family. No, it wasn't like that at all. The killer has seen this family up close and has interacted with them at regular intervals. An incident involving them has triggered rage that was bottled inside the killer which in its evolution managed to consume his rationality. Bhagats were start and Bhagats are the key to find the killer for this round of killings."

"You know what you are saying, right?" Maan asked little taken aback at her explanation.

"It is highly possible that it's the same killer we are dealing with." Geet replied flatly.

Maan looked at her, for the first time unsure about Geet's deduction.

To be continued.

What is irking me is... why the 20 year gap in between? Is it the same killer or a different one? But if it's a different killer, there is too much of similarity between the homicides. Waiting to see how the answers unfold...

Originally posted by: anu.happy4ever

What is irking me is... why the 20 year gap in between? Is it the same killer or a different one? But if it's a different killer, there is too much of similarity between the homicides. Waiting to see how the answers unfold...

Anu

Anu, though the gap is quite large it's very possible nothing actually triggered the murders up until now. Something the Baghat's did, triggered the killings to start again and as Sooks mentioned once it's started, it won't end until he is caught. Now what happened in the time period is still a mystery.