Chapter 07: Wine soaked Aubade
"If you guys want to work, you really go all out," Khushi commented looking at the packets Arnav had arranged on the table. Bharadwaj had grudgingly given him an unused store room after Arnav had promised that he would do Bharadwaj's each bidding with respect to whatever treatment he would recommend to undergo.
He glared at her annoyed at her insinuation but didn't contest it. She would probably pull out half a dozen real life scenarios where police had failed tax paying citizens.
"The latest victim, Selena, received calls repeatedly for ten days from a phone booth near her house," Arnav pointed the red triangle marker on city map and pointed to her house which was marked in red circle.
"A call was made from a PCO?" Khushi asked raising an eyebrow. Arnav nodded. "It doesn't make sense." She frowned. When Arnav didn't reply she stood up and started pacing slowly. "Let's say the killer saw the girl one day and decided that she was his victim. He calls her forty two times in two weeks and then suddenly stops. He waits for six months to make his move. How does any of it make sense? It's possible that the lunatic who made the call was just having some fun and the man who killed her is different guy altogether."
"It's perfectly possible." Arnav said slowly. "But is your preposition irrefutable?" He asked. Khushi scratched her head and smiled shaking her head.
"Then we look at phone records of each victim and see if the same pattern exists." Khushi said. Arnav grinned and nodded. "Why isn't anyone from your department working on it?" She asked taking the packet containing records of the fifth victim.
"People there are slammed with cases this week. There is murder of Selena which has Shukla and his team are working on along with the daily dose of disturbances, drug busts going on. We cater to one of the largest areas in the city Khushi. An inspector will be working along with us and we can contact her anytime we need to access systems." Arnav said.
"Do you guys have the things that they show in TV shows? Like you enter driver's license and you will know their history. Or enter their phone number and you can triangulate their location?" Payal, who was watching the proceedings asked, eyes sparkling. Arnav chuckled.
"In our country RTO which issues licenses are yet to be centralized meaning you can have more than one license issued officially from two different states if you have the right paperwork. We have to work with phone companies to get phone records of their client and issue a warrant to release the information. Without their cooperation, we can't do much actually. And the police stations aren't really centralized either. They have just started the process and few of the stations in capital cities are on LAN but rest of them still operate on their own." Arnav said arranging records for the fourth victim on table in front of him.
Payal looked at Khushi who was smirking at her. She rolled her eyes and collected her things. "I'll see you kids at lunch." She trilled and walked out.
"I hope your novels don't presume things that don't exist in our systems here." Arnav said chuckling.
"I know it doesn't so the crime scenes I write have absolutely no forensic evidence. No hair, fibre, mud from the killer shoe belonging to certain city and the maggots stuck to the mud would point to a specific geographic location. There is no DNA of the killer available to check against a database because such a database doesn't exist. The killer in my book doesn't kill because of who the person is but what she represents. The emotional attachment lies in the killing rather than in person. This gives the hero of my novel, an ACP, just the edge he needs. He is trying to solve the case using his intelligence and lot of leg work." Khushi said opening the packet and emptying the contents. "I don't indulge in science of crime but only in psychology of it."
Arnav looked at her open mouthed and bit his lip. He wanted to say that was exactly his predicament but he refrained from saying anything.
"That's probably for the best." Arnav said non-committal. Khushi hummed in response.
"I should be looking for a number repeating in day and weeks and make a note of it, right?" Khushi asked.
"That's right. Make a list of those numbers and we can later find out who they belonged to." Arnav said not looking at her and started his work.
Three hours later, Khushi was startled when Arnav suddenly exclaimed. She looked up from her work table and saw the papers surrounding Arnav.
"There is almost similar pattern here. Come, check this." Arnav called her. She crawled on her palms and knees to where he was sitting on the floor and took the sheet from him.
"It's a land-line number," she noted looking up. "It's a different number though," she frowned.
"Let's find out more about it," Arnav said dialing the tech's number. He gave the number and instructions.
"This victim number five, Reshma, has a high volume of telephonic activity. It's almost not normal," Khushi grumbled. Arnav smiled at her annoyance.
Several minutes later, their concentration was broken when Arnav's blackberry buzzed loudly. Khushi jumped a little and saw Arnav's face blank. He didn't say anything when on phone but soundlessly got up and walked towards the board where he had stuck a map of the city. He took blue marker and put a triangle and a circle on the map.
He hung up the phone thanking the tech and turned to Khushi patting the map, looking flabbergasted. "The fourth victim, Nisha, received calls from a PCO near to her house five months before her death."
"What's the timeline?" She asked shuffling the stack of papers in her hand.
"The first call he made to Nisha coincides with the time of third victim, Bhoomi's death." Arnav said.
"Let me check if Reshma received any call…" Khushi trailed as her hands stilled with a sheet of paper in her hands.
"What is it?" Arnav asked. Khushi held up the sheet to him and bit her lip. Arnav saw the repetitive landline numbers and called up the tech.
His call was returned almost immediately and confirmed what they were guessing. Arnav marked a triangle and circle in green on the map.
"Let's get some lunch first," Arnav said depositing the stack of papers he had been working on. When Khushi didn't budge he sighed. "I know when you are on a streak of discovery you don't want to stop. But not taking a break affects your perception and I frankly can't afford that." Khushi shrugged and stood up. The sternness in his voice had come as a surprise to her but she had remembered one of his conditions: their working relationship would mimic that of an ACP and Inspector and she would follow orders as given by superiors.
She stood up after neatly stacking the papers on side and slipped due to numbness in her feet. Her hands flailed and hit the case file which splashed all the contents on the floor due to sudden impact. She regained her balance soon and smiled sheepishly at Arnav who had rushed to her side and had his hand around her waist. She bent to pinch her feet to relieve it from numbness when her eyes fell on the photo of sixth victim skinned alive.
Half a moment later, she started to scream.
Did a round of PM list clean up. I am going to maintain the list twice a week. If you don't wish to receive PMs, please remove me from list. Thank you.
I am changing from my original plan with this update by introducing an element I want to experiment on. Let's see how it goes...
Pati Patni Aur Panga
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
44