The early morning rays crept into her room, Riya's eyes slowly fluttered open. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on her legs. A smile crept up her lips as she remembered their first hug last night, then their silent and somewhat awkward ride home and finally just before leaving him telling her he'll pick her up in the morning. Riya was so surprised when he said that, she just stared at him without giving any answer.
"Riya?...Riya??" he had to call out twice before she realised she was staring at him with her mouth open.
"You'll pick me up?" she asked still surprised.
"Is that a problem?" Arjun asked unsure.
"NO! I...I mean of course not sir" Riya smiled in spite of herself.
"Okay. I'll come by eight!"
Riya smiled sheepishly and turned in her bed. As soon as her eyes lay on the clock she jumped off the bed and hurried off to get ready.
Meanwhile Arjun was already up and went for his usual run at the park nearby. The cold morning air rushed in and out of his lungs, his heart beat in rhythm with his feet. Adrenaline surged through his body as he ran as fast as he can. Last night's events flashed through his mind for the third time that morning. Finally coming to a stop Arjun sat on a bench facing the rising sun. His breath short and fast, Arjun threw his head back and calmed his fast beating heart. He ran his fingers through his sweating hair and sighed. The wall, the armour he built around himself for years came crashing down last night. He opened his heart again, he opened it for Riya. He doesn't know the exact point when he started loving her or the exact reason, it was a gradual process. But one thing he was sure of; his life isn't his own anymore.
It was ten to eight when Riya finally found a top she was satisfied with...after emptying about half of her cupboard. By eight she was completely ready and walked out of her house, locked it and sat on the steps in front of her house. She sat there for no more than a couple of minutes when Arjun's car pulled up in front of her. Her heart started beating so fast she felt it may pop out any second now. She took a deep breath as Arjun got out of the car and walked to her with a smile, "Good morning!"
"Morning sir"
There was an awkward pause. They were still getting used to this.
"So, shall we?" Arjun asked gesturing towards the car.
"Ya, let's go"
Both sat in the car, looked at each other, smiled and fell into silence. Riya looked at Arjun from the corners of her eyes and saw the same old Arjun Suryakant Rawte sitting next to her but somehow he seemed different. He wasn't just her senior officer now; he was more – much, much more than that. Just his presence itself made Riya's heart overwhelm with warmth and felt like something was about to explode in her. She couldn't stop the smile that kept creeping up on her lips.
Their car came to a stop at the traffic lights when an old woman came up asking for alms. Riya searched her bag but couldn't find a single coin. She turned to Arjun disappointed when he took out his wallet. Riya extended her hand for some coins but was taken aback when instead got his wallet. Riya smiled at getting the whole wallet and dug in to find some loose change. Finding a couple of coins she gave them to the poor woman who Riya had compassion for. As she was about to close the wallet and give it back to Arjun she found a small photo in the folds and took it out, without thinking. As soon as she took it out Riya regretted it. It was a photo of a young, beautiful woman, around her mid twenties with a bright smile. Riya immediately knew it was Roshni. She tried to put it back in unnoticed but it was too late Arjun already saw her looking at the photo. He looked at the photo in her hand and back at Riya and slowly said, "That's...Roshni".
"I figured" Riya said and paused before saying, "I – I am sorry, I didn't mean to... " Riya started guiltily.
"No, that's...that's okay" Arjun said as he looked at Roshni's photo.
Riya looked at the photo in her hand again, Roshni was very beautiful, and her smile had a kindness that would make anyone love her. Something tugged at Riya's heart when she imagined the pain and helplessness Arjun would have felt when he lost her...
"How long has it been...?" Riya said and immediately cursed herself for no self-control whatsoever. She saw the affect instantly; Arjun's body stiffened, his grip on the steering wheel became tighter – making his knuckles go white, rage masked his eyes. Riya was about to apologise again when, to her surprise Arjun answered her question through clenched teeth in an almost inaudible tone.
"It'll be six years...this December"
She put the photo back into the wallet carefully and held onto the wallet as Arjun started driving again. She looked out of the window and stayed silent for the rest of the drive to their office.
They pulled in front of their office and Riya didn't even realise it. "Riya!" Arjun said when she didn't make a move. Turning around she saw Arjun looking at her, every muscle on his body still tense, but he tried his best to sound and act normal. Riya cursed herself again for putting him in this situation. She had to apologise. Riya was about to say something when she noticed Shree and Chotu walking towards them, so she got out of the car without saying anything.
"Morning sir" said Shree bright and happy.
"Morning Shree, Chotu" Arjun gave them both a nod and started walking towards the building when Riya called out for him.
"Arjun...sir. Your wallet" Arjun's eyes lingered on Riya for a few seconds before he took the wallet and walked inside the building leaving Riya alone with Shree and Chotu.
"He dropped you off last night; he picked you up again in the morning. What's going on??" said Shree with a smile on his lips and mischief in his eyes.
"Shree..."
"Ya..."
"Shut up!!"
"Oh c'mon Ri. Tell us..."
"There is nothing 'going on'..."
"I caught you both hugging..." said Shree
Riya's eyes widened, she hit him on the shoulder with a file she was carrying and looked at Chotu as if hoping he didn't hear Shree – who was literally few cm away. But Chotu just gave her a knowing smile which earned Shree another hit with the file, "you told him?!!" she asked him
"Of course" said Shree as a matter of fact.
"What are you? Couple of teenage girls who can't keep anything to yourself?"
"Did you seriously expect me to NOT tell Chotu about it??"
Riya just stared at him incredulously.
"Now tell us what is going on" this time it was Chotu.
They were being a bit nosy but they are Riya's best friends. She would have told them eventually anyway. Riya sighed. "Nothing...I mean...we are...you know...still at that stage...you know..."
If they were really a couple of girls standing in front of her they would have known exactly what she meant. But it's Shree and Chotu...they looked at each other with a what-the-hell-is-she-talking-about look on their faces. Riya could feel her face going hot, she was sure her face must be as red as a tomato by now. She sighed once again.
"It is still a little awkward between us...okay"
"But, why?"
"It's just...I don't know...we are still getting used to this whole 'situation'..."
Someone from behind called for Chotu so he left. Riya turned to Shree, in the last few months Shree became her best confidant, he was with her through all her ups and downs, and he became the family she craved for. She told him everything that happened in the car a few minutes ago. When she finished Shree sighed,
"Ri, I know Arjun sir has a past and whatever happened with him was very tragic. It'll take him sometime to get used to. All this will be much harder for sir, but..." He suddenly stopped, looked at her and determinately said, "you know what...maybe you should take the initiative, I am sure he'll appreciate that. Go out for dinner, a drive – not just from work to home and vice versa. Just to ease things between you guys...you know..."
Sometime later...
Everyone settled themselves around the huge table again. Arjun was already seated in his place; he looked a lot calmer Riya noticed with a relief.
"Alright. The body has been sent to autopsy last night we should get results soon. Riya, get the victims phone records, college details, she is working part time, I want her work details, any friends we should know about...find out everything."
"Yes, sir"
"Chotu and I will go meet the victim's parents they arrived about half an hour ago. Arjun and Shree autopsy reports...inform me if you find anything unusual."
"Yes, sir" said Shree.
"Riya, when is your next Physio session?" Rathore asked abruptly.
Riya suddenly felt a tingling feeling go up her hand; she immediately took it off the table. "Umm tomorrow sir..."
"Keep me updated!"
"Yes, sir..."
Rathore and Chotu left and Shree was on the phone finding out if the autopsy reports were done when Arjun came to her. Riya smiled at him hesitantly, "I – I am sorry..."
"Riya, you don't need to apologise every time you ask me something about...about my...my past. In fact, I am sorry...for the way I reacted..."
"No! It wasn't...I shouldn't have...I was..."
"Riya, calm down"
Riya went quiet. She looked behind Arjun at Shree who was still busy on the phone and then at Arjun. She took a deep breath as she remembered Shree's words from the morning.
"Do you want to go out for dinner tonight?" Riya blurted out.
Arjun stared at her. That was totally unexpected. "tonight..."
"Sir, the autopsy reports are done" Shree found the perfect moment to interrupt.
"Let's go Shree" said Arjun looking at Riya. With a slight frown on his forehead he left, followed by Shree.
At the victim's house...
Rathore's phone rang loudly in the quiet room; he cursed himself for not putting it on silent, "I am sorry, excuse me" Rathore left Chotu with the victim's parents who have been crying non-stop since they arrived. He took a deep breath as soon as he came out and attended the call.
"Yes, Riya"
"Sir, I have the phone records. There is one number that appears very often"
"Whose number Riya"
"The number belongs to Ritesh Agarkar, he goes to the same college as the victim"
"Do you have any details on him?"
"I have his address and college details sir"
"Good, send his address details and let me know if you find anything else"
"Sure sir"
Rathore took another deep breath and prepared himself to go inside again. Facing family members of the victim is the worst part of the job, but seeing their faces is exactly what drives Sameer Rathore to catch the criminals. He was about to open the door when Chotu came out shaking his head in all seriousness.
"What?" Rathore enquired
"Poor lady. She has been crying non-stop...she is not even able to say anything..."
"I know...but we need to do our job Chotu"
At the forensic lab...
"Arjun, Shree over here" the forensic pathologist, Aalok Bhatt called out. Aalok was the most experienced person on the floor and a senior to Arjun.
"Swati Benarjee" said Aalok looking at the body in front of them, he took the file lying next to the body and started reading off the details.
"Time of death is about three days ago. There are no signs of struggle but I did find blood of someone else on her clothes"
"No signs of struggle meaning she did not try to defend herself then how did somebody else's blood get on her" Shree asked
"Maybe it got there after he killed her or maybe an earlier wound..." Arjun replied, paused then said, "If she did not defend herself then she must have known the killer"
"I thought so too" Aalok continued, "the cause of death is one fatal wound on her chest, so she must have seen him coming towards her"
"Why do you say him? Could be a girl" said Arjun
"Hmm most likely not. The pressure with which the knife went in...It is most likely a male"
Arjun and Shree just nodded to that.
"The knife used is similar to the everyday kitchen ware we use in our homes" he looked down at the file again and said, "oh and your victim was three and half weeks pregnant"
Both Shree and Arjun were taken aback with this piece of information. "What?" Shree exclaimed.
"Yes, she was three and half weeks pregnant"
"The blood you found on her clothes did you run it through the data? Do we have any matches?" Arjun asked
"I did run the DNA sample through the criminal records but I did not find any matches. Honestly I wasn't expecting any matches either"
"Why is that?" Shree asked
"I wrote this in more detail in the report but the angle of the knife insertion, the pressure and then the scars that show the way he took the knife out, they all look more like an attack out of rage than a planned murder"
ETF office...
Rathore, Arjun and Riya were back in the conference room. Riya was putting up all the photos related to the case on the board and their details. Shree and Chotu went to the victim's work to enquire about her there; once they came back the ETF team started analysing all the information they had so far.
"Ritesh Agarkar" Rathore started, "We have gone to his house but he wasn't there, from the information we got from the neighbours he was Swati Benarjee's boyfriend...not a very reliable soure though"
"He got to know that she was pregnant, asked her to abort, maybe she said no and in a fit of rage killed her?" Riya interpreted
"Possibly...but if that is the case, it is probable that his parents know something because when we asked them about him the first thing they said was 'we are not talking without a lawyer'. They are not co-operating whatsoever" Rathore said frustrated
"Then we'll have to use some other means to locate him" said Arjun seriously
"Meaning?"
"Maybe we can get some information from their college? Common friends?"
Rathore looked up at the clock on the far end of the wall. It was already 7:00 pm, he sighed they did not make much progress today. Rathore threw the pencil in his hand on the table and called it a day.
"First thing in the morning, we need to enquire at the college again and let's see how it goes from there"
One after the other everyone started packing their things and headed out. Riya bid bye to Shree and Chotu and went to her desk to grab her bag when Arjun came up behind her. Riya turned around, he looked tired but there was a hint of smile on his lips. The next thing he said made Riya's day...
"So, how about that dinner?"
comment:
p_commentcount