ArHi FF! The Cult [Completed] - Page 77

Originally posted by: RockBarbie

Sorry everyone!

I have been missing for a month now and will be missing for couple more weeks. It's exam time!

Astrology and Sociology!

Send me truck loads of luck cause I need all of 'em!

See you on 20th December!

- RockBarbie

Chapter 24:

"I am not sure how we can proceed with the investigation sir," Keith breaks the silence that's been festering. "You are involved with the case now, isn't it?"

It isn't uncommon for police officers to get dragged into a case where their past or their family is involved. However this is unprecedented and has the capacity to f**k everything we have been building.

"If Anjali was involved in any one of the cult cases we are working on and if it gets out then we will be pulled off this investigation and it will be a bureaucratic nightmare." Shukla is being...Shukla I suppose. "And the other cases we are working on - they will never see the light of the day; especially by the defendants."

He is right, of course.

"I don't understand why you guys are fussing so much about this," Khushi was the first to offer a different view. Not that it is a surprise. "I mean-" she turns to look at me square in the eye, silently demanding me to be a big boy and suck it up, "You can simply talk to her about her life in ashram and move on. Use it as knowledge and not as evidence. It's quite simple and you aren't generally this thick." There was derision in her tone.

I raise an eyebrow at that. "You do realize that's against the law, right?"

She snorts. "It's your sister Arnav. Just talk to her and move on. Don't complicate things unnecessarily by dragging her name." Shukla nods wearily and Keith affirms. It's not like I never broke the law but hiding evidence, witness makes my stomach queasy. What Khushi is asking me to do isn't hard but if use against me by people who don't want me where I am, the cost will be irrevocable.

"Don't worry about it sir ji. We will do this at your home." Only when Shukla affirms what Khushi is asking me to do, the clenching in my stomach eases.

*****

"No."

The answer is immediate and frankly not unexpected. "Anjali..."

"I said no' Arnav." Anjali stresses and flashes her eyes. Her anger is warranted. Shyam looks on helplessly, torn between what needs to be done and Anjali's distress.

"It may help their case Anjali," Shyam tries to instill a sort of semblance to the already derailed interview which never began.

"I don't care jack about it." I haven't seen this side of Anjali since...her days in ashram. I wonder if I am making her regress to her troubled teenage days by digging a part of her past which she tried hard to get over with.

"You screamed in station that day because you recognized what was done on Vimal Sharma's body, didn't you?" I venture out.

Anjali can be irritatingly stubborn when she wants to be, if her teenage years are anything to vouch for. I just hope she doesn't hold out on information for long time.

"So?" She replies carelessly thumbing through Cosmopolitan.

Khushi pats my hand and cocks her head at Anjali. My eyes automatically seek out Keith and Shukla who nod automatically. It's a go-ahead from them. I lean back on sofa giving my consent non-verbally.

"It's possible those people are trying to kill Arnav. They are the ones who poisoned him." Of course Khushi would go for the jugular. "They sent a man to kill me at my house yesterday and I am sure Keith, Shukla and Deshmukh are already being tailed and will be attacked whenever they get closer to truth. Feel free to assume we are being selfish in saving our own assesses and that's the reason behind asking you to tell us what you know."

Anjali's hands stilled for a moment and she looked up. The look on her face was reminiscent of the days after our parents' death - the way she would look at someone unblinkingly and curl her lips so slightly that she oozed the aura of a deranged psychopath. I don't know if the anger and rage she harbored was put out or just shoved so deep inside her that a probe like her would burst it all out like lava and burn us in its wake.

"Again. So?" Anjali asks. Khushi falters and everyone else just gapes. Anjali throws the magazine down and picks up another without any change in her expression. "My life has been on their hit list since the moment I walked out of the gates of that damn ashram." She sneers at me openly.

"You made a deal!" Khushi realizes first. Anjali curls her lips and smiles mockingly.

"Why do you think I am still alive Khushi? Why do you think they let me go?" Anjali asks. Khushi looks confused for a moment. "You should know this better than anyone, isn't it?" There is sadness in her voice.

"It's because you never left." Khushi replies slowly, taking time with her words to organize her thoughts and see how it fits. "It's because they have known. They have always known; about me, Arnav, Shyam...everyone. You told them." Khushi's voice is deathly calm.

Anjali shrugs. "I did what I had to do for my family's protection."

A shiver runs up my spine. I don't know the amount of information that has now been compromised. I am suddenly glad Khushi didn't divulge everything in the beginning itself. The lives of people from her community who went into hiding would have been compromised.

"When did you last contact your handler?" I ask Anjali to assess the damage.

"Last week. The next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, the day after tomorrow." Anjali's face is closed down and I have no idea what is she thinking. I nod at Keith and he walks out, his phone already out.

"I know you don't approve of what I have done Arnav but I don't expect you to understand. If it means you, Shyam and Arav will be safe I will do it and continue to do so." Anjali is defiant. I don't give in to that obvious trap she has set me up for - an argument for self-preservation and everything that went down after our parents' death.

Their death happened two decades ago. Anjali felt annoyed at her friends at a birthday party so she demanded my parents to come get her. Like the loving parents they were, they left immediately. Long story short, they met with an accident and died on spot. It was an accident, so no one's fault. But Anjali took it badly. The guilt manifested into something I could never recognize or come to reconcile with. When she was finally out of her grieving and mountain sized guilt, things had changed too much for both of us.

"Were you ever part of this ritual when you spent time in Ashram?" Khushi asks, putting on a phenomenal bitch-face. It's almost funny but the party it's directed to be my sister who at this moment isn't really all that innocent.

"Wouldn't you like to know...," Anjali smiles easily. "I am not going to answer your questions about my past. I am not going to tell you what I did. I am not going to lie to my handler. I cannot get out of that...group. I will do anything to keep my family safe." She stares and Khushi and I. "You should understand perfectly well what I am talking about, don't you Khushi?" She asks pleasantly.

Khushi lets out a deep breath before replying. "Unfortunately, I do." Khushi turns to look at me and shoots a smile that doesn't reach her face. "I think I know what we have to do."

I am hoping she isn't going to tell me what I think she will.

f**k this case.

Good to have you back and hope your exams went off well.