Compilation
Segment 2 : LizzieBennet
"The autopsy report just came in," Raghav flung a thick bunch of papers on Kesha's already cluttered desk.
Kesha looked up from her laptop, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Just tell me, bro."
"Natural causes," shrugged Raghav, pushing away a messy pile to make room for himself.
Kesha let out a loud snort. "Yeah right. Natural causes, my ass. Johnny was 38, he led an active and healthy lifestyle, played Golf and Tennis every weekend, and ran the last half marathon. They're covering up something."
"It's been known to happen. Johnny is a high profile case." Raghav sounded casual. Too casual. Kesha narrowed her eyes.
"I know you're upto something. Out with it."
Raghav pulled his phone out from the hip pocket of his snug-fitting jeans and placed it atop another mountainous pile on the desk.
"What are we looking at?"
"Nothing. We're waiting."
"Waiting. For what? Your girlfriend?" scoffed Kesha and was shocked to see a faint blush form on Raghav's cheeks. Bingo!
"We're waiting for a call from the assistant pathologist at Panacea General."
"And who's that?"
"Dr. Anahita Choksey," mumbled Raghav and Kesha smirked.
The phone rang. Raghav picked it up and mumbled a few words hanging up with a "Thanks, Ana. I owe you one."
Kesha burst out laughing. "Ana? Oh God, you and the pathologist! I knew with that face you had to be a player but I had no idea just how far you've spread your wings!"
"Stop smirking. This is big. Ana just told me the lab tests revealed nothing conclusive but they're suspecting a rare poison has been used."
"What is it?" Kesha said eagerly.
"It's something called prostaxanthium or PRO-X. Nothing much is known about it, scientists and chemists around the world are still researching it but preliminary studies have shown it to be an untraceable poison causing almost instantaneous death that mirrors natural causes."
Kesha drew a deep breath. "That's it. That's our clue. We have to track this drug's sources."
"On it. But I have more."
"What else have you found out, Don Juan?"
"Uhmm, a friend of mine has a son that works at the cybercrime unit specializing in the dark web. I called in a favor."
"Ohhkay... does this friend have a name? I'm assuming a female friend? Do I want to know?"
"No." Raghav said firmly earning a loud cackle from Kesha.
"Anyway, he was able to pull up some information on assassins that pick up jobs on the dark web. It's a network."
"And?"
"I have a list but we don't know who runs it." Raghav placed another printed sheet before Kesha. She stared at the names.
"I have circled the two whose MOs match what we're looking for."
"Quinton, &....Thysian. We were already on to Thysian. Do we know anything else about them?"
"Nope. But my friend's son has promised he'll have more information for me soon."
"Good work, Raghav. Your erm..undercover skills have served us well."
She grinned at his sheepish look.
"Go home. You deserve to."
"You?"
"I'm going to stick around for a while."
"No hot date?" Raghav teased and Kesha let out a long sigh.
"My love life has been as barren as the Gobi desert and you know it."
Unbidden, a pair of green eyes flashed before her. Ames. She hadn't been able to get her out of her mind.
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The phone rang piercing through the stillness and Kesha awoke with a jerk, looking around in confusion to realize she was still in her tiny office, having fallen asleep on her desk.
She gazed at the time on her phone that was still ringing persistently. 5 am. God, she had slept through the night!
"Inspector Kesha Crime Branch," she said crisply, her tone betraying no trace of sleepiness.
"Inspector...," said a male voice and Kesha's trained ears immediately detected severe anxiety and fear.
"Inspector," the voice began again. "This is Freddie, from Cafe Libera?"
Kesha nodded, recognition flooding her. She had seen him a few times when she'd gone in for her early morning cuppa.
"I came in for my usual shift this morning and was cleaning up, getting ready to open and I went into the store room to get supplies and.. and..."
"And?"
"Inspector. It's Maria. She's laying on the floor of the store room and and...." his voice trailed off.
Kesha's heart clutched in fear.
"Speak up, man!"
"She looks like she's fast asleep, but she won't wake up."
Kesha was already on her feet.
"For God's sake, is she breathing? Call Emergency."
"I have & I don't detect a heartbeat," Freddie's voice trembled. "But Inspector..."
"What?" she snapped, her long strides taking her to her car in seconds.
"It's so strange. She.. she's got a peaceful look on her face and she... she's smiling."
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Segment 3 : Satrangi_Curls
Kesha rushed to Cafe Libera. The ambulance was present, she walked to the doctor.
"We were able to revive her through the defibrillator. Her pulse is weak so we shall be monitoring her closely."
Kesha sighed in relief and accompanied Maria to the hospital. She was waiting for the scans when she felt a familiar scent and turned around. Ames.
"What happened? Is Mari okay?"
"Yes. I don't know what happened. I will ask Freddie and investigate the matter." Ames sat beside her. "I just hope she is fine. I don't know how to answer her mother."
"Don't worry, she will be alright.
After some time, the doctor called both into her chamber. "We have run a few tests. She suffered a blunt force trauma and is currently comatose. We shall be monitoring her continuously."
Kesha and Ames look at the doctor and at each other. Kesha took a deep breath. "Ma'am when will she wake up?"
"We cannot be sure but I hope it's soon. We are giving her the best treatment possible. There is a small blood clot and if it does not dissolve within 2 days we will have to perform a surgery.
"Please do everything that you can. I want my Maria." Ames pleaded.
___
Cafe Libera.
"So, Freddie, was the door of the store room open already or you opened it?"
Freddie looked at the door and fidgeted with his ring. "Ma'am I don't remember but I think it was closed but not locked. I went in this morning to get essentials for the day, found Maria on the floor and called you right away."
"Thank you for the quick decision. Freddie, were you the first person to open the cafe? No ma'am, it is usually Maria who opens."
"So, when you came, the cafe was open and Maria was alone?" The manager came in. "Can we access the CCTV footage?"
"Yes ma'am. Here is all the footage from yesterday night and this morning." The manager gave her a pendrive.
"Anything else, do any of you remember?"
"No ma'am." The staff said in unison.
"Okay, here is my number and if you can recall anything, do let me know."
___
"What is going on? Thysian's voice barely contained her anger. She slapped the table.
"Calm down." Her handler answered. "What got you so hyped up?"
"Why did you hurt Maria?"
"What?" He chuckled. "Are you out of your mind? Why would I hurt your friend?
"Because you were not happy about us hanging out together, am I right or right?"
"All these years that you know me this is your evaluation. I am disappointed, Thysian."
"If anything happens to Maria I will make sure you will die 100 times before you die the most gruesome death."
"Go find out what Quinton has been up to." He said silently.
"Quinton? Nobody has heard of him for over a year now."
"Go find out."
___
Kesha put on the pen drive.
"Don't stay awake another night, it's not good for you," Raghav said as he pulling a chair beside her.
"Nobody hurts my friend and gets away with it. Not on my watch."
"Okay, miss saviour of the world." Kesha shot him a are-you-serious look and concentrated on the video recording.
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Segment 4 : oh_nakhrewaali
*About 12 hours ago*
Maria smiled at him.
"I missed you so much."
He lowered his hoodie, his tall back to the camera and hugged.
"I missed you too. I got you a gift, your favourite Iced White Chocolate Mocha, and not that crappy thing from Starbucks, I made it."
"Kind of ironic to give me a mocha in a cafe," Maria laughed as she took the drink from it and sipped on.
"Did you meet the lawyer?"
"I spoke to him, and we cannot meet, else she'll use it to get me to pay more alimony, and baby, you know I cannot afford that."
"I understand. " She took his hand in her and kissed it.
"I will try to be in touch with you though."
"You are the only thing that's keeping me sane right...well, you and Ames."
"Do you still talk to her? After everything she did at that party?"
"She was just looking out for me! And one day, she'll realize that she is wrong."
"When will you realize that she isn't who she pretends to be?"
"What do you mean?"
He looked down at his hands.
"Oh, I need to do a few dishes in the back,"
Maria said bad stood up, not liking the awkwardness seeping in.
He waited for a few minutes before there was a thud from the inside room.
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Segment 5 : Satrangi_Curls
Presently.
Kesha shut the lid of the laptop, angrily. "Not even a glimpse of the man's face."
"It seems like Maria liked him. Anyone she's told you about?"
"No. We never talked about our love life like that. Not the names at least."
"Okay. So who do you think it could be? Shall we start interrogating friends and family tomorrow?"
"Yes. Someone should know about this mystery man." Kesha looked at his picture again. Would Ames know?
___
"Salaam, Saiyyadbhai." Ames raised her hand to wish a middle aged man as they sat on the couch.
"Batao Ami beta, kaise aana hua?"
"Mujhe aapse kisi ke baare mein puchhna hai."
"Puchho. Tumhe pata hai na, har jawab ki keemat?"
"Ji." Ames put forth a suitcase of cash. "Quinton koun hai aur kahan hai?"
"Mujhe tumhara ye seedhi baat karna bahot pasand hai. Quinton is known for his discreet yet torturous murder methods. Uska asli naam koi nahi jaanta, chehra bhi kisine nahi dekha. Lekin ek shakhs hai jo uske baare mein thoda jyada jaanta hai."
"Uska handler?"
"Keh sakti ho." Saiyyad scribbled a name and number on a piece of paper. "Suna hai wo wapas aaya hai."
"Kab se?"
"Ek mahina hua hai."
"Shukriya." Ames put a wad of cash on the table and left with her suitcase.
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Segment 6 : LizzieBennet
"So? What's going on at work? Isn't it time you were promoted?"
Kesha's dad always wound up talking about work during their once-a-month scheduled Saturday dinners. Work was safe. Though he hadn't totally approved of her choice of career, at least it was a respectable one. Nothing as shocking as her coming out.
Kesha shook her head, toying idly with her fork as her mom rose up with a bright smile, trying to play peacemaker as always.
"More raita?"
Kesha shook her head again, rising up with her plate.
"I'm done."
She went to the kitchen & rinsed her plate out at the sink, then wiping her hands looked down desperately at her phone. Come on, save me!
Maria had usually been her saviour during these intolerable dinners with her family. She would always call with a fake 'emergency' to rescue Kesha from the ordeal of sitting through her father's judgmental pronouncements on why her life was going exactly nowhere and why she should be more like her perfect older brother with his perfect wife, perfect kids, perfect house and perfect job. Even his location was perfect: USA. Kesha was thankful she didn't have to see him beyond their occasional Facetime chats. Not that she didn't love her brother, but his mere presence had now become a trigger thanks to her dad.
Now with Maria laid up in the hospital, she had no one to save her. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that she had no friends outside of Maria. And no social life.
Her phone rang. Raghav! She could kiss him!
"Tell me you want me at the station!" she whispered.
"I want you at the station."
"How did you know? That I needed rescuing?" She lowered her voice so her parents wouldn't hear.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Are you in trouble?"
She sighed. "Yes. No. What is it?"
"It's about Maria's case. There's a woman here who says she will only speak to you."
"Have you told her I'm off the case?"
She fought down a wave of frustration. Her boss, Kulkarni, had assigned Raghav as Chief Investigating Officer for Maria's case and pulled her out completely stating conflict of interest. She had ranted and raved but no dice. She was still working on Jonny's case though.
"I did, but she insists. And I want you here too. This could be the breakthrough we're looking for."
She didn't need to be asked again. Mumbling her usual practiced excuses to her parents, she rushed out, reaching the station in less than 10 minutes. Ames was sitting at Raghav's desk.
Telling herself to calm down, she addressed the other woman in a cool tone.
"You know something? About who assaulted Maria?"
Ames merely looked at Raghav, eyebrows raised as if asking Do we need him?
"He's okay. He's good people."
Kesha sat across from Ames as Raghav sat himself on his usual spot on the desk. Heaven knew why the man had any chairs in his office.
"I know Maria was seeing someone. I also know he's married."
Kesha's mouth fell open.
"Maria??!! Seeing a married man? Are you sure?"
Ames nodded.
"How do you know? Have you met him? What's his name?"
Kesha was all business now, grabbing a pad and pen.
"I don't know anything about him except he's married. A few months ago, Maria & I were at a party. There was dancing and booze and general hooking up, you know? Maria disappeared for a while and I thought she was off for a good time. But I heard her in one of the rooms having an argument with a guy. She was yelling...you'll never leave her, will you? I couldn't hear what the guy said, but I saw him leave by the back door. Didn't get a good look at him."
She shrugged.
"I found her crying. I told her in my no-bulls**t voice that she needed to stop this. That he was a piece of sh*t. He was cheating on his wife which meant he'd never be faithful to her either. Any guy who made her feel like this wasn't worth it. She didn't listen."
Ames paused and took a long breath. "After that, we didn't speak for a while. Then, a few days later, she called & apologized. We made up promising we wouldn't talk about him again. I have no idea if she was still seeing him."
Raghav pulled up the CCTV footage on his laptop, flipping it around to Ames.
"Do you think this could be him?"
"Looks like the right build and height. But can't tell for sure."
"We need to find this guy. I'm sure he is responsible for Maria's condition," Kesha said, grimly.
There was silence and then,
"Let's do it. Let's nail the ba**ard."
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Segment 7 : oh_nakhrewaali
"Don't mind me asking, but what happened to the rest of the footage, like after Maria fell?"
"There was none, I guess the attacker realized that the backroom had cameras after he left Maria alone, so he cut the wires off before he came in to put Maria in the chair and attack her on the head."
"Why on the head?"
"I don't understand it too. Clearly, the drink had the poison and it had started working, so why set the stage?"
"An artist's final touch" Her boss' smooth voice rang in her head.
Shaking her thoughts away, she focused on Kesha who was mumbling to herself, probably a process to gather her thoughts to work on the case. That was good, maybe she could get tidbits to get to the killer. She had no interest in catching him and putting him behind bars, her sense of justice was a little more creative than that.
"Can you give me the name of the venue where you first saw the killer and the date? We could see if they have something. Do you have any photos or videos from the party? The metadata will have the exact date."
"It was Casa Blanca, the hotel and club on the east side? I don't like clicking pictures, maybe Maria's phone has some. Didn't you find any texts or pictures?"
"He took away her phone and it's been switched off since, so we can't trace it. Her laptop is new, so there is nothing there, she didn't even connect the laptop to her phone or do backup of her stuff on the laptop, but I'll get the team to do a recheck."
"The blood reports?"
"Clean. But a few tests will take some more days, so we'll have to wait." Kesha shook her head. She then looked at her for a few seconds and laughed.
"Do you watch a lot of Crime Patrol and Savdhaan India? You know your stuff. "
Ames faked a blush trying not to think of how many good episodes her "actions" would have given those crime shows, much better than their semi-p*rn episodes.
"Can you send me the blood reports when they come in? I am a medical professional, I can help you."
She also has a theory, but she knew she couldn't voice it without making Kesha suspicious.
______
Ames entered her house and almost slipped on the paper on the floor.
"You think you can get away? You are selfish and the people who loved you have always paid the price, starting from Maria and you know who."
Ames' green eyes went wide with shock and anguish as the image of her father lying in the pool of his blood flashed in front of her, his brain almost spilling out of his skull, and the ten-year-old Ames who stood over his body, with a huge rod in her hand, rod almost bigger than her own body.
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Segment 8 : Satrangi_Curls
"Aa gayi beta?" Ames' mother strolled up to her in a wheelchair. "Maria kaisi hai?"
"Abhi behtar hai maa." Ames smiled at her mother. She could do anything for her mother including taking someone's life. "What have you prepared for dinner tonight?"
"It's your favourite khichdi." Ames smiled and both settled on the dining table.
___
Kesha sat beside Maria in the hospital. "Marie, wake up, girl. Trust me, I will find and punish whoever put you in this position real soon."
The doctor came for a regular checkup.
"Any updates, doctor?"
"No but let's hope for the best and pray for her to wake up soon. Her condition is stable and the internal beating has almost stopped which is a good thing. We shall be continuing to monitor her at regular intervals. Keep talking to her when possible because even in this state she is very much aware of her surroundings and she can listen to your voice."
"Thank you doctor, I will keep it in mind."
Kesha looked at her and then back at the doctor. A question played at the back of her mind but she decided to wait for the reports.
___
Next afternoon Kesha got a call.
"Mam the reports are here." Kesha opened her mail to read the report.
Narrowing of blood vessels is seen in the upper half of the body.
Kesha read the sentence a few times before opening the PM report of Jonny. 'Angina?' Kesha called her doctor friend and asked for an explanation on angina and its potential causes. She listened patiently. "So, you're telling me that a sudden drop in temperature or exposure to something very cold can result in angina?"
"Yes, sometimes it can trigger Prinzmetal angina."
"Okay, thank you. Do meet me soon."
"Sure, the moment I get relieved from this pile of cases."
"You and your file are bffs for life, there is no separating you two." "Just like you and your patients."
"Well I am a life saver,"
"So am I."
Woman, your work begins after a life ends, mine starts before that. "Hey, that's rude."
"That's what you get when you don't meet your bestie for 2 months."
"But we just met last Sunday."
"Gurrl, that last Sunday was two months ago." Kesha looked at the calendar. "Oh no!" she said to herself, " I will call you back later."
"Sure, take care of yourself."
"You too."
Kesha smacked her head. 'S*it sh*t, how can I forget? How could you forget Kesha?' She logged out of the email, shut down her laptop and rushed to her car.
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Edited by Satrangi_Curls - 7 months ago
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