ArHi FF! The Cult [Completed] - Page 69

Chapter 20:

"You knew your assailant," Keith says, not looking into Khushi's eyes. Of everyone, he seems to be most disappointed. He had stuck up an immediate repertoire with her and now things are corroding at the edges.

"I do...I mean did," she corrects herself. Keith looks up from his notebook and searches her face for some sort of repentance but finds none. After sharing what Deshmukh and I found about Khushi's community and Ranvir in process, we had revisited every bit of evidence we had gathered.

"But you didn't tell us."

"I didn't think it was important."

"That isn't for you to decide," Keith hisses. "It's almost as if you don't want us to solve the murders." I want to warn him, tell him to stop going that route but he isn't speaking anything outside what I have been feeling since the moment truth about Ranvir was unveiled.

Betrayed.

"No..." She falters, eyes wide and feeling helpless. "That's not...no, that isn't why I didn't mention. I honestly didn't think it was connected." She chances a look at me and I keep my face neutral. Keith is leading this interview, not me and I respect this temporary chain of command.

"I really want to believe you Khushi but this isn't the first time you have withheld information from us. If Shyam hadn't recognized the composite sketch, we still would be groping in the dark."

Khushi exhales loudly. "My life has always been in danger and I manage to escape from the mouth of danger at the nick of time. So I thought this was similar-"

"Have you killed anyone before?" I interject. My patience is over and so are my Nicorette gums. Temporary chain of command is flushed.

Khushi staggers for a moment. Shaking her head, she replies. "No."

"So this is the first time you are defending yourself and you don't hesitate to eviscerate a man." I am tired of this hypocritical bullshit. "You aren't an idiot. There was an attack on me and now there is an attack on you. Reason: we are poking in the right places. You are helping the cops for which there was some retribution. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. You lied about the whole incident."

Keith looks at me, admonishing my tone while Khushi pales. "I am honestly not lying here. This isn't the first time Ranvir has threatened me. It's almost a once a month ritual for past decade. I thought this was the same - try to convince to move on from my current lifestyle and he would give me the power he believes I deserve."

"What went wrong?" I ask. My fingertips are tingling. There is a buzz in my ears and restlessness creeps in. I wonder idly if I should heed Anjali's advice and consider some hypnotherapy for nicotine addiction. Some psychological mumbo jumbo may cheat my brain into thinking something else thus reducing the craving for heat in my lungs.

I miss that the most.

"He pulled a weapon on me. It was a ceremonial knife," she replies. This whole ritualistic nonsense is getting annoying. I almost miss cold blood murder by guns. "He was here to deliver a message to you via me."

"What did he tell you?" I am intrigued. I still don't know if she is telling the truth or spinning a story worth writing. I ask anyway.

She chuckles mirthlessly. "He would have left it only body Arnav. They believe in communicating via writing on skin. He would have carved it on my skin slowly and then would have killed me. It would be a warning to you."

"But you told me once that the cult leaves you alone as long as you remain...oh..." Now I understand. Khushi nods her head.

"What is it?" Keith asks, confused.

I am too jittery to sit down and explain. I start to pace, my mind busily putting things together. There have been too many gaping holes in this story and this has gone far too long.

"The cult had hope that one day Khushi would join them. But the scales were tipped when she started helping us and working against them." I bit out.

"They didn't attack me viciously before was because they believe as high priestess I hold authority over the entire community. In olden days high priestess held knowledge unknown to anyone else. The knowledge isn't written anywhere and it's the right of passage for the new high priestess of the clan." Khushi explains further.

"I still don't understand." Keith slams the notebook on table. Khushi and I exchange a small smile.

"The cult believes that they need a high priestess to be complete. They kept me alive in hope that I would change one day - with or without my consent." Khushi shrugs.

"And they don't need a high priestess?" Keith ponders aloud. I look at Khushi, intrigued.

Khushi shakes her head and chuckles. "There never really was a rule that it has to be a woman. We have had both men and women as priest or priestess in the clan. Thankfully my father forgot to mention them this tiny piece of info."

"And you killed Ranvir because...?" Keith still isn't satisfied with Khushi's answers.

Neither am I.

"As I mentioned before, I had to kill him to save my life. Keith, these people aren't joking around. They will do everything in their power to stop us from finding about them. Remember Keith, they aren't dime a dozen Sadhus with just fancy ashrams and thousands of followers. They are secretive, ambitious and crave for power than popularity. It isn't easy to uproot such a thing that easily if their legacy of last three decades is anything to go by." Khushi replies.

There is uneasy silence in the room. I am far too gone to go back and it isn't in my nature to turn my back against atrocities of men who think that they can alleviate over the rest of the population with hedonistic attitude and blasphemous moral code.

"I need a smoke." The interview is far from being over but we don't want to continue further. I leave Keith and Khushi alone in the interrogation room and walk out.

I hear Keith's faint "I still don't believe you" followed by a reverberated slam of the door.

Last night Venkat gave us a list of names and addresses - people who can tell me what the f**k has been going on in the city for decades. It feels like a war has been going on for ages and someone decided to push me right in the middle of it.

I first have to figure out on which side Khushi is.