ArHi FF! The Cult [Completed] - Page 61

Posted: 10 years ago
Happy to knw that u r fine n back..
Posted: 10 years ago
Yay! You are back. 
I'm glad that you will be updating even though they may not be regular. Can't wait for cult update (:
Posted: 10 years ago
Morgan: Kid definitely likes to draw, but I can't quite figure out what it is he's drawing.
Hotchner: That's a dog.
Morgan: How can you possibly know that that looks like a dog?
Hotchner: Maybe a father knows.
                                                                 --- Criminal Minds


Chapter 17:

"Welcome back sir." "Jai Hind sir-ji"

I respond with a nod and motion Deshmukh to follow me. It's been a week since second murder and things aren't looking up. We are nowhere close to figuring out the first one as every piece of evidence was leading us to dead ends.

"Where are on Helen's case?" I push the pile of files which needed my attention immediately and pull the file Deshmukh had placed in front of him. My priorities weren't always appreciated by my superiors. The value of human life apparently was decided by various factors like political association of the victim, social and economic standing. The neutral color of Khaki we sported was reduced to a shameful irony.

"Her escort service is clueless about her defection. You will be surprised who some of her clients were sir." Deshmukh turned some pages in the file and tapped on a post-it stuck on one of the pages. I look at the names and look at his face. He nodded his head as if he was anticipating my surprise. "They are pretty elite service."

"How could she manage to slip one past them and ditch her clients? These people aren't to be trifled with Deshmukh and I am sure the escort service itself isn't a small town wh**e house." I flip through the file Deshmukh has put through. I am impressed with his attention to detail. He has searched Helen's apartment for hidden narcotics and has supervised a joint-raid with the narcotics department. They had found all usual suspects but nothing was flagged as unnatural.

"Did you find out anything about how Helen met Vimal Sharma?" Deshmukh smiles and turns few pages in the file and leans back when the required page is reached. It's an interview transcript of Mrs. Payal Sharma.

"Mrs. Sharma told you?" I cannot say I am not surprised at this.

"She came in three days ago to tell us not to stop investigating her husband's death irrespective of what the circumstances dictate." Deshmukh clarified.

"Maybe someone got to her," I say distractedly as I allow my eyes to soak in as much info on the interview transcript as possible. I am more surprised at the courage the woman was showing by going against an invisible power to get to the bottom of her husband's murder. Her husband wasn't loyal to her and probably had made deal with the devil yet, here she was.

"She doesn't know exact details but she insisted Vimal started seeing Helen after he started associating with members of Samaj Kalyan Party three years ago." Deshmukh's voice held trepidation of the unknown. The political influence wasn't unexpected but the brutality of its execution was.

"But didn't his family support the state's ruling party?" People change affiliation all the time and incur wrath for breach of loyalty. Vimal Sharma wasn't a poster child for loyalty but even he knew it would cost him to go against generations of political association.

"They did. Vimal however changed all that when SJP was newly formed by several disgruntled minsters after the scandals exposed their crimes. They formed a new party sponsored by several newly rich corporates and financial institutions and Vimal saw a chance there." I can see that Deshmukh has researched the background very well. Once he got a sniff of political problems Vimal was facing, he started to treat the case differently.

"So you cross referenced Helen's ex-clients with members of SJP and you found a link?"

Deshmukh shook his head. "No sir, I didn't. But her handler's client list did." Of course it would be a handler. An escort had his or her own handler with who transactions are made and act as middleman between the company and escort. It was well known fact that the handlers sometimes contracted escorts to clients who don't want to be associated with any service. This way confidentiality would be maintained and is profitable for both escort and the handler.

"How long did it take you to make the handler talk?" I close the file and push it towards Deshmukh.

"It took some work sir ji." Deshmukh stood up and saluted. "It took twenty minutes to make him blab about every girl he has ever pimped out in his life." There was no victory smile on his face. I nod in understanding.

"The client is not an ordinary man Deshmukh. No judge is going to give a warrant to even talk to the man." It hadn't taken long for me to figure out the name and once I had the name, couple of things started to make sense.

"I tried talking to some people but it hasn't gotten me anywhere." Deshmukh's voice held contempt.

"He was the minister of external affairs before he was fired from his job Deshmukh. I didn't expect it to be easy." I am aware how infuriating it gets when one hides behind red tapes and wall of people working against you. It is disheartening that we have to fight our own people, our own government to provide justice for common men. Life had stopped being fair a long time ago.

Deshmukh nods and walks out of my cabin. I sigh and look at the pile of files which is begging for my attention and I wage a silent staring war against it. It's childish but after a week of sitting at home, the last thing I want to do right now is paper work.

"That's some...intense staring." I look up and see Arjun smirking at me couple of feet away. I hadn't heard him come in.

"I f**king hate paper work." I say blandly and completely feeling like a five year old trying to skive off work. Arjun snorted.

"Weren't you preaching few weeks ago how meditative paper work can be?" Arjun can be an asshole when he wants to be. "What do you got?" I point at the file in his hands.

"I analyzed the contents of zip lock cover like you asked." He hands the report and I don't bother to open it. I need him to explain the report anyway. "The content is entirely organic Arnav and some of it matches what we found in Helen's toxicology report."

"Do you know what it is?" Stone settles in my stomach and I already have an idea what the answer is going to be.

Arjun looks perplexed. "It's a common weed Arnav. It grows near sewers or wherever you find trash. It is possible some parts of the plant are poisonous when ingested in large quantities. Animals don't eat them either." I am not surprised anymore. Helen knew who killed Vikram. Maybe she was part of the plan all along.

"What's going on Arnav?" Arjun asks, shuffling on his feet. I know that with the two cases we have on our hand, he believes he can find answers to his mother's murder too. After his mother died, something in Arjun died too. A bright boy was reduced to glimmer of what he was.

"Nothing good," I grunt in response. Arjun knows when to press for information and when to leave me alone with my thoughts. He bids goodbye and leaves me to deal with mountain amount of paper work.

Sighing deeply, I pull the stack of files towards me and start working on them. It was going to be a boring long day.

*****

I decide to call it a day after the stack of files on my desk is completely gone. It's late in the evening and I can make it to dinner if I hurry. Shukla and Keith were on field the whole day while I was dealing with bureaucratic bullshit. It had taken every ounce of control not to take my weapon out and shoot the official from justice department for asking justification for additional ammunition and Kevlar vests.  I pick up Deshmukh's report on Helen's murder and forensic report left by Arjun. It's for my bedtime reading and even if Anjali ends up looking at them, she wouldn't be shocked.

I see Shukla and Keith parking cruiser in the compound so naturally I wait for them leaning against my car. I can see they are tired but their collective enthusiasm is infectious. I cannot help but smile at the two men who truly uphold the job we do.

"After four f**king days those bas***ds gave us information," Keith rattles. His anger is justified but Shukla throws him a warning look. "What? They were sending us on a merry goose chase all this while Shukla." Keith huffed and kicked a stone. Frustration accumulated after sitting through meetings for better half the day leaks out of my system. I can deal with this.

"What did you find out today?" I ask him steering him back to the land of answers and gentility.

"Baba, the gangster turned politician had asked everyone to go away and return next day. He had even asked his employees and security detail to leave the property. He was alone the whole time in that house. Looks like someone took advantage of it." Keith explains.

I shake my head soon. "He isn't a newbie in this gig Keith. Asking his security detail to go was not a choice he made voluntarily. Someone made him do it."

"Could an employee or a worker be involved?" Shukla is thinking out loud.

I shake my head again. "It was a neatly organized murder that involved a ritual Shukla. We will have to check employees for their alibis. If anyone is involved, it wouldn't be easy to flush out."

"Why can't they be flushed out?" Shukla asks immediately.

I think for few moments before answering. The fog surrounding the case is slightly thinner and I can see patterns emerging.

"Because their alibi is going to be solid. They are sleepers of the cult Shukla." My mind is running ahead leaving information behind and my mouth sort of refuses to move.

"What are you talking about?" Keith asks, scratching his chin.

"We are late to the game Keith." I shake my head and pace in front of my car. Shukla watches me intently while Keith looks lost. "Everything these people have done is according to a plan and has been executed to precision. If there is a cult which is conducting these murders, they are planned way ahead of time with their people already in the inner circle of their targets. How can you possibly convince a gangster-politician to be alone in the house for an entire day and night?"

"Some murder goes as far as thirty years sir. Are you suggesting the planning has been done for a very long time?" Keith still doesn't get it.

"I meant with respect to execution Keith. Why the murders have started now? Why Vimal and Baba? What's Helen's role in this? Why these three were chosen and not any other small time politicians or business tycoons?" I stop pacing and look at Shukla and Keith. They have had similar questions from last three weeks and it shows.

"We are missing something." Keith shakes his head and looks blankly at his feet.

"Politics." Shukla replies. "That's another dynamic variable we should start looking at."

"We will pick this up tomorrow," I tell them and smirk when Keith visibly relaxes and grins toothily at me. I have no intentions to be a slave driver. A well-rested cop is an alert cop. That's my mantra. Shukla presses his lips thinly and stops me from entering the car.

"I'll get a constable to drive you." There is a plea in his voice. I want to lash out in anger saying I am fully cleared for duty but the panic behind his eyes is evident. "Take this jeep." He motions a constable and throws the key to him. I am not a fan of abusing office resources but Shukla's relief filled face stops me.

"Whatever," I grumble and slide into the back seat. I might as well enjoy the drive. It's a cool night and strangely breezy. I lean my arms on the window and rest my chin atop. The road is brightly lit and there is exuberance oozing on the streets. There is an assault of color, sound and smell and the bright lights magnify everything under its yellow tinted haze. It takes me moment to realize that my Blackberry is ringing.

It's Khushi.

"Hello-"

There is fear in her voice. "There is someone in my house Arnav. I-"

She screams and the line goes dead.

Reader Commendation:

I apologize for stopping this somewhere around chapter 10. I had no idea I had stopped and feel like a douche for doing that. Anyway, this update is for your Arjuhisis Many thanks for reading and commenting on my stories. I know you have been reading my stories since the days of Gravity. Thank you so much. I appreciate your understanding and kind words in the past. :-) Many thanks for taking time out and reading and commenting here. Appreciate it a lot.


Thanks everyone for all your kind wishes last month. I am on a road to recovery and it isn't easy. Updates will be staggered but they will come at least twice a week. Cult is going to be the longest thing I have ever written and I am pretty much excited about the prospect. Hopefully I will see you all till its end!


Have a great rest of the week!
-RB
Posted: 10 years ago
And it continues. I stalk even when I dont πŸ˜ƒ 
~Edit~

Shukla's concern for Arnav is endearing.. but somehow Arjun always gets my attention. His mother's murder is always looming above his head.. its almost like this ghostly presence that is permanent. 
You add politics to something that is already to twisted and complicated, you've got yourself a huge mess. And then you add a topping of Khushi and bam, the fog gets thicker. She was always on high alert right from the beginning, like she knew someone is after her. And here it is. What exactly happened? And will Arnav make it there on time? 

Glad you are back, RB. Now you can tell me more πŸ˜ƒ
Edited by vgedin - 10 years ago
Posted: 10 years ago

The missing link - the lack of knowledge of the Cult, the murders or the reason behind is still unclear and me thinks, Khushi's involvement may just throw the investigation off track. Now the lady is in trouble, can this get anymore complicated, I guess it can and it will. We will wait to read more.

Shulka is really worried about Arnav and that is touching, he may need that kind of support, given the recent knock on death's door.
Edited by Kalyaani - 10 years ago
Posted: 10 years ago
Welcome back RB! πŸ˜Š

OMG!!is someone trying to kill Khushi for helping Arnav?
hhhmm...so the plan to kill the victims have been for a while?! since ur stories are so unpredictable i can't even speculate d reasons...makes me feel stupid (abt my guesses)once I read the real motive so patiently await for u to unfold the mystery ...




Posted: 10 years ago
Welcome back...
And what happhappened to khushi
Posted: 10 years ago
How can u leave us like this!????
U simply CANNOT DO THIS TO US!!!!

please please, let your nrxt update be that of cult!!!
Please!
With a cherry on top!??? 😳 πŸ˜ƒ
and i m glad to see that arnav is closer to link every evidnce and make sme sense outta it!
I m really afraid for khushi!? Whats up?!???

I m glad she was able to call arnav b4 ...jezzz!
Please update soon!

Ps- get well soon!
Posted: 10 years ago

oh my god!!! you updated!
so glad to see you back RB!
Shukla's concern for Arnav is touching...
and what a cliff hanger end it is...what happened to Khushi?
still very wary of her...

Welcome back RB!!

Posted: 10 years ago
Finally cult is updated...i feel like its been ages
welcome back...hope u r doing fine now
coming bak to update...it was awesome
most intresting n mysterious character in this story r khushi n arjun...both seems to be mch more than they shoes to the world
n with khushi's call in end it becomes more complicated
looking forward to more twists n turns
plzzz update soon
waiting

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