As they sped silently along the road, Arjun's mind was in a
turmoil. Why had he reacted as he had? Why did he have to shout at her, simply
because she was trying to cheer up someone who had gone through a tragedy? Why
did he have to assume that she was trying to pry into his life? Why was he
directing his anger and frustration at her, her who had absolutely nothing to
do with any of the calamity which had happened to him??
He looked at Riya. She was staring out of the window. Its
not her fault, he thought. Its not anybodys fault except for the cruel monster
who had wiped out Roshni. He sighed...he wished he hadn't confronted her like
that, he could see he had hurt her...he had seen...what?? He had seen the pain
that he had caused, but also something more...she was depressed...no
distressed...ever since she took her day off..maybe...something was wrong back
home? Someone was sick perhaps?? Her dad, her mom, her...boyfriend...? What was
he thinking??? His thoughts were going haywire...He had accused her of interfering
in his life, and what was he doing now?? Trying to do the same...No, he
resolved...he would not pry into her personal affairs either...
They pulled up in front of the office, and as Riya began to
get out, Arjun spoke.
"I am sorry"
Riya stopped for a second and turned to him, shocked. This
was the third sorry he had told her in the past half hour. What was the matter
with him suddenly? Split personality?
Riya: Sir i told u na, its alright.
Arjun put on his glares and looking straight ahead said " I
am not talking about your hand."
Saying so, he got out of the vehicle and walked into the
office.
Riya sat there, amazed n bewildered. Did Arjun Sir just
apologize for shouting at her?? WTH!!! She exhaled nervously, opened the door,
n muttered to herself "Unbelievable..." But deep down, she felt a bit better.
Rathod n Chottu were back from the foundation office. Tey
had news.
Rathore: based on what her colleagues at the foundation
said, Salma was onto something big. Something that would shock the city and
paralyze it completely.
Arjun raised his eyebrows questioningly at Rathod.
"Terrorists." He spoke the one word quietly but it shocked
both Arjun n Riya into action. Arjun banged his fist on the table and Riya gave
a loud "Kya??"
Chottu continued " Hanh. They said that Salma was close to
uncovering a covert terrorist group operating right in this city, that too
somewhere in this locality"
Riya: Lekin, if that was the case, how come they didn't
inform the police till now?
Rathod: Because Riya, they were not aware of this until
yesterday night. Salma hadn't told anyone of her investigations. She was secretly after them, for the past week or so,
n disclosed all this to her team only yesterday. She said she was finally close
to getting some proof and by today they could present their case to the cops.
Apparently, she informed her assistant Krishna that she had some important work
in the morning and would be late to office. The next they heard, was the news
of her death.
Arjun: She went to this office everyday? I mean, she had her
job as a geologist right?
Rathod: Yes Rawte, but she was on leave for the past four
months, she wanted to work closely with the activities of the foundation, it
was established only in May this year.
Arjun: I c...so what time does she usually go to office
everyday?
Chottu: At 8 AM sharp everyday
Arjun: Today, at around 11.30 she was killed. So in the
three and a half hours before that, the events that took place then, that will
lead us to Salma's murderers.
Rathore: exactly.
Riya: According to my notes, Salma visited her friend Aarti
Gupta, right before her death. She was walking back from Aarti's house, when
she was attacked.
Rathore: Then thats our next stop.
Arjun: Before that, we...
Shree burst into the room interrupting Arjun. He was
panting.
Shree: I...have...news!!!!
Arjun muttered " aaj ke din, he has taken an oath to
interrupt me each and every time I guess"
Rathore: whats that Rawte??
Arjun: nothing...whts up shree?
Riya: Yeah Shree...whts got u so excited?
Shree: I have discovered...what...Salma was after...
Chottu started laughing: Bas? For this u ran in as if ur
tail was on fire? We already know what she was investigating...terrorists...
Rathore: Hanh Shree...we got the info from her foundation..
Shree confused..."What?? terrorists??? But she was chasing
after some drug cartel here...around this locality..i got it from her
notes...her laptop..what are u guys talking about??
Arjun: From her laptop?
Shree: Yes Sir, according to her notes, some drug pushers
were operating in the area...on further research, she discovered that it was
more of a bigger group than she had thought of in the beginning.
Rathore: But..how is this possible? Two sources, two leads,
each saying that Salma was after different cases.
Shree: I also checked the her mobile phone, there were some
granules caught between the keypad. I am not sure, but I believe they are
minute granules of cocaine. I'll just check now.
Saying this he dashed into the inner room to his equipment.
Chottu: Which case are we supposed to solve? Murder of Salma
Akhtar by terrorists or Murder of Salma Akhtar by the drug cartels?
Riya: Yeah...Who is right and who is wrong?
Rathore: Salma couldn't have typed up fake notes in her own
laptop..so I guess her colleagues were
wrong.
Chottu: or mabbe Salma was trying to mislead somevn as to
what she was actually after..she mite have suspected somevn had access to her
laptop
Riya: So then...Shree is rong??
Shree comes running back, super excited.
Shree: Its cocaine alright!!no doubt..n some traces of
heroin as well.Its some pretty strong
stuff..
Chottu: So again..the office guyz r rong??
Arjun: or mabbe both are rite??
Everyone stares at him.
Rathore: kehna kya chahte ho Rawte??
Arjun: What if both the cases are connected??
Shree: Huh?? Drugs n terrorists?? How on earth??
Arjun: Leave the how for now. Letz focus on the who first.
Riya: Who??
Arjun: When we talked to Ruhi..what did she say happened
about two weex back??
Riya: the fight between Raihan n his frend Shivam. N how
Salma intervened.
Arjun: Correct. Ruhi told us how her mom had a talk with
Shivam n then appeared disturbed. From various accounts, we have come to the
conclusion that Salma started her probing around that time. Ab Samjhe...ya
Samjhaun??
Rathore: So this Shivam...we need to find him first...he is
the key to this entire mystery..
Riya: Ruhi said Shivam is at
summer camp. I'll get the number from his parents.
Arjun: Don't let them know we
want to question him on the murder
Rathore: He's Right, we need to
keep things on a low profile until we know whats going on here.
Riya nodded and made the call.
She talked for about 10 minutes, and ended the call with " Thank you so much
Mrs. Kashyap. I'll let you know if Shivam is chosen."
She put down the phone.
Riya: Got the number of the camp.
His parents are away in Rishikesh, on a pilgrimage with Shivam's grandparents.
Mrs. Kashyap said that they had planned this trip for a long time, n it was
Salma who suggested that Shivam be sent to this camp with Raihan. They haven't
heard the news of her death yet.
Shree: Who did you say you were?
Riya: I said we were trying to
scout players for an under 16 national football team n wanted to talk to Shivam.
Chottu smiled: Impressive
Riya smiled back n glanced at
Arjun, who was looked away. Riya stuck out her tongue at him slightly. Shree n
Chottu giggled quietly
Rathore: riya..
He stopped, staring at Riya sticking
out her tongue
Rathore: Riya!! What are you
doing??
Riya quickly turned to him, "Ah
nothing sir..I was just going to call the camp"
Rathore: Hmm...yes quickly...
Riya again made a call. She spoke
quietly into the receiver, frowned, talked for about a minute more n then cut
the call.
She looked puzzled.
Rathore: Well?? Whats wrong?
Riya: They said that..they don't
have anyone called Shivam Kashyap there...
Shree: What?
Riya: I don't understand..I also
asked about Raihan
Arjun: N they said, he was there
till today, right?
Riya looked surprised: Yes..but
in that case...
Rathore: He would know that
Shivam was never at camp
Arjun : he did know..more than
Ruhi, Dr. Akhtar, n her office colleagues..Raihan knew more of this affair.
Arjun picked up some papers left
on the table, notes related to the case which Riya had made n quickly scanned
through them.
Chottu: Then we need to talk to
him first. And find out where Shivam is.
Shree: He would be at home
Rathore: letz go
Everybody got ready to leave.
Arjun: Just a minute.
Rathore: What Rawte? We don't
have time to waste.
Arjun: Isiliye toh bata raha hu.
Going to Dr. Akthar's house will just waste our time.
Rathore started getting angry:
Look Rawte, if you have something to say, make your point, don't waste...
Arjun: Dr. Aarti Gupta
Rathore: What?
Arjun: Sorry to interrupt
Rathore, but u said not to waste time.
Rathore rolled his eyes, n tried
to control his urge to throw something at Rawte.
Arjun: We need to see Dr. Aarti
Gupta first.
Shree: But that can wait right
Arjun sir? I mean our priority is finding Shivam, so we need to talk to Raihan
first.
Arjun: Dr. Aarti will directly
lead us to Shivam.
Rathore: How r u so sure?
Arjun: Yeh dekho, Salma's mobile
records...for the past two weex, calls to and from this one number tops the
list
He pointed to one number "Dr.
Aarti's number"
Chottu: But they were friends,
whats so strange about that?
Arjun: Strange because each day,
they spoke for about 5 hours..that too sometimes at 1 or 2 in the night..n only
since the past two weeks
Rathore: You r saying, whatever
it is, Aarti was also involved?
Arjun nodded.."It would also interest
you to know, that Dr. Aarti Gupta specializes in addiction medicine"
Riya: And her main interest is?
Arjun: Drug Rehab.
Rathore raised his eyebrows. "Dr.
Aarti Gupta's house. Letz go." He stopped, "N Rawte, good work"
Arjun nodded slightly n said "Riya
got the notes, I just made the conclusions"
Rathore: u too Riya..good work..
Both Rathore n Arjun started to
leave
Riya stared open mouthed at
Arjun.
Shree whispered to Riya "Did
Arjun Sir just compliment u?"
Chottu: Hanh yaar..kya baat hai??
Riya: I..don't..
Shree n Chottu go into romantic
mode.
Chottu fluttering his eyes "Sir...aaapne...humhe...compliment
diya...aapne finally dekha ki...how hard I work to please u??"
Shree: Hanh.dekha maine.I think u
did well.Isliye kaha.I finally understood your intentions. Ab samjhe..ya
samjhaun?
Riya threw her diary at both of
them.
Riya: Shut up u guyz!!! N come
on!!!
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