chapter six"Abeer, get down on your knees." Sunil commanded. "We don't want to hurt you. Just turn yourself in for now and we can sort all this through." He spoke in a cautious tone, not wanting to alarm the young man.
"Where's Meher?" Arjun yelled, contradicting Sunil's tactic.
"Arjun, calm yourself." Sunil demanded.
"No! Now that we've finally caught him, I'm not letting him go." Arjun spoke frantically, clutching his gun tightly. "I'm asking you one last time, where's Meher!"
The constable who had been observing Arjun's behavior anxiously, feared he might hurt Abeer. Yes, Abeer is a suspect in their case right now, but that did not entitle him to be treated like a fugitive.
"Abeer, just do as they say. Tell us where Meher is and you won't get hurt." The constable pleaded.
"He's not going to listen like this," Arjun spat out and started marching towards Abeer.
Grabbing the boy by his collar, he punched him in the jaw with the butt of his gun.
"Arjun!" Sunil shouted, now completely shocked by the state of his partner. "You can't do that!"
Sunil attempted to pull Arjun back by the shoulders, but he was shrugged away. Fearing for Abeer's life, without thinking, Constable Pratap grabbed Arjun and held him down.
In the frantic exchange, Arjun had accidentally pressed the trigger, setting off a loud bangin the room. The three officers ducked their heads with instinct and shut their eyes due to reflex. When they opened them, they saw a flash of black blur run before their eyes and crash through the window. Pieces of broken glass and wooden debris flew outwards along with a body. Arjun pushed the constable off himself and followed the same suit.
"Arjun!" Sunil shouted out the window as he saw Arjun land on the ground and run after Abeer. "Damn it!" He smacked the wall and ran out the door.
As Sunil and the constable reached outside, they were able to barely hear the two shots that were fired against the strong wind and rain.
"Pratap! Call for backup right now!" Sunil yelled at the constable as he ran in the direction he had thought he heard the shots being fired.
Sunil ran down the street with the rain pouring heavily down his back, when he heard another shot.
"Arjun!" He shouted as he caught a glimpse of his partner.
He ran down an alleyway and jumped over a few soggy boxes that were littered along the way. Sunil heard the police sirens in the distance and prayed hard that the back up police will be able to reach Abeer before Arjun did. He simply was not able to understand why Arjun had started behaving so aggressively.
When Sunil made his next turn, he skidded to a stop as he almost slipped on the wet footpath. Having lost sight of both Abeer and Arjun, Sunil ran a hand through his dripping hair. With the few dim, swaying lights hanging outside some small shops, Sunil was unable to see any trace of where the two men went.
Feeling a vibration in his pocket, Sunil took out his phone and answered.
"Hello?" He answered out of breath.
"Sir, it's me Constable Bheede Pratap. Arjun sir has been taken to the hospital." The junior officer informed.
Sunil's heart beats accelerated and his breathing labored.
"What? Which one? And.. how did this happen?" Sunil questioned, not being able to comprehend the events that could have taken place. They were right in front of him just a few moments ago. "I"m so stupid! Is he okay?" Sunil slapped his head for being so dense.
"He's fine sir. I'm with him right now. We're headed towards the City Hospital. By the way sir," Sunil paid closer attention as he noticed the tonal difference in Constable Pratap's voice. It had gotten quieter, like he was telling a secret. "Arjun sir was saying that it will be much easier to catch Abeer now."
"How so?" Sunil asked.
"According to him," the constable whispered, "he shot him."
Sunil ran a hand across his face, not believing how far things got out of hand.
"How badly is he hurt?" Sunil asked.
"I have no idea. We weren't able to catch him. But if what Arjun sir is saying is true, then he will definitely be checking into a hospital to get treated. Arjun sir already got extra patrol placed in the nearest hospitals as well as some walk-in clinics."
"Hmm," Sunil nodded his head. "Okay, Bheede, I need you to send someone else to guard Arjun. Have them keep us informed on his health. But I want you back at the station. Until Arjun doesn't come back, you're working with me on this case." Sunil instructed.
"Right away sir." Constable Pratap, heeded and hung up the phone.
Sunil, on the other hand, started back tracking his route to Miss Sharma's place. The cool breeze and wet droplets falling onto his face were doing wonders to clear out his mind. During his walk, he tried to go through the hectic events that had transpired during the day. Nothing was seeming to make sense. Ever since Miss Sharma's body had been found, Arjun had been acting strangely. His thoughts had become morbid and his actions aggressive. Sunil feared his partner might be starting to break down from the stress coming from the case.
He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.
Even he was stressed out. He was not happy about finding another corpse either. But with time he had been able to detach himself from the victims. He had learnt that their deaths are not his responsibility. His job is to find the culprit and then hand them over to the law. After that, whether or not justice is meted out, it's not up to him.
But from the amount of days he has gotten to know Arjun, he does not think that way. Arjun takes the cases seriously, but in a different matter. The deaths, they're personal to him even when they needn't be. Sunil had advised Arjun to stop himself from thinking this way as he's only going to end up hurting himself in the long run. He's uncertain of how far Arjun took his advice to heart, but he sincerely hoped that he would at least regard it.
Upon reaching the intruded home, Sunil greeted the other officers that had assembled. After giving his statement on the encounter that had taken place with Abeer, Sunil got into his car. He had given a description of Abeer and had informed them about his possible injury. He wasn't sure of how far Abeer had gotten or even how extensive his injury was.
Putting the key into his ignition, Sunil starts making his way back to the station.
Trying to put himself in Abeer's shoes, Sunil could understand why Abeer was unresponsive to their commands earlier on. Or at least to some extent. Abeer had been caught surprised by three police officers, whom he had been trying to avoid for so long. The fact that he had been first received by a vehement Arjun, who had greeted him with a revolver pointing straight at him, would have frozen him. His limbs would have locked and the hairs on the back of his neck would have risen. His brain would have focused its entire attention on Arjun as he was the one posing the most danger to him. Constable Pratap and Sunil would have been considered harmless compared to Arjun. In fact, if Arjun hadn't been there, Sunil would have bet that Abeer would have fully co-operated with them. But Arjun's aggressiveness scared him off and presented the entire police force as a threat to both him and Meher.
Sunil hit hand against the steering wheel in frustration.
If that was the case, if Abeer no longer trusted them, then trying to find the two would now become ten times more difficult. Sunil is now certain that the clues that they had found earlier, were all carefully placed as breadcrumbs for the police to follow. Unfortunately, they had picked up the crumbs but had also scattered them all over the place again.
Reaching the station, Sunil got out of his car and headed inside. He was expecting to find Constable Pratap and the items that Abeer was searching through, to be waiting for him inside in his office. He didn't care how long it would take, Sunil wanted to get answers to some of the long pending questions he had.
Entering his office, Sunil found the constable sifting through the various notes that Sunil had made. Granted, they weren't as extensive as Arjun's was, but at least it would have gotten the constable some sort of idea of where their investigation is at thus far.
"Thank you for coming Bheede." Sunil bowed his head slightly, before taking a seat behind the table.
"Thank you for officially inviting me onto the case sir." The constable sincerely replied.
"So, before we get into all this," Sunil laid a hand on the plastic bags containing Miss Sharma's belongings, "let me get you up to date with what we know so far.
There have been a series of deaths of young girls - all of different causes. However, there are certain physical features that tie them together. For example, their hair color - brunette; their skin complexion - fair; their age - early twenties. Apart from that the one thing that we have been able to connect all the girls with is the fact that they all took dance lessons from the same dance teacher - Miss Sharma, who now, is dead.
About two weeks ago, a break-in was reported from a hostel by Meher Purohit. The message itself was fairly short with her being frightened and whispering about an intruder. However, shortly after making the call to us, she made sure to contact all of her close friends about the ongoing incident. The phone lines at the station had started to get busy with all their phone calls inquiring about the speed of the police force.
Upon reaching the hostel, there were no signs of a break-in apart from the bathroom. The entire dorm was left untouched apart from the bedroom where there some signs of some tampering. However, nothing of great importance seemed to have been missing. It is believed that Meher had jumped out the bathroom window, landed in the rose garden, and then made a run for it. But considering how great the height was, she had to have hurt herself. So, in that condition, I'm not sure how far she could have gotten.
All forms of security were disabled. Meaning, all the security guards in that wing were made unconscious and one week worth of security videos had gone missing.
By the time the police had arrived, all the girls from the ward had been shifted over to the boys' for their safety. Some boys had gone as a group to help Meher out, but it had been too late by then.
We interviewed everyone who had given us a call at the station, including her parents, the head master, her friends etc. All their statements are there in that file." Sunil pointed at the bulging green file that was situated in the corner of the desk.
The constable picked it up and started skimming through the statements.
"When we had initially interviewed Abeer, his reactions had been similar to the other students. He was in shock and did not know about Meher's whereabouts. We were basically at a dead end for a while. No one knew where Meher had went and they hadn't known much about her. As for her family, they were completely distraught and when they heard about the dead girls that were showing up, they were becoming erratic.
But, two days ago, Nisaar shows up at the station with this photograph." Sunil slid the said picture of Meher and Abeer towards the constable who picked it up. "He had found it in Abeer's room, under his pillow. It was the only personal belonging that was evident in the room. Everything else that belonged to Abeer had been either missing, or in our belief, taken away by him."
"How did Meher contact him?" The Constable asked.
"Excuse me?" Sunil asked, confused.
"By now it's clear that Abeer didn't leave to clear his mind or get a break from the ongoing investigations. For two whole weeks, he had remained low, to himself and didn't attract any attention to himself. Then all of a sudden he's gone without a trace? And then we find an intimate picture of him and the other missing girl? It's evident that Meher had contacted him and that's why he left. But the question is how and when."
Sunil nodded his head.
"Arjun and I had thought about that too. At first we thought, she might have contacted him at Rocco's, the place where that photograph has been taken. When we went there we found out that Abeer and Meher had been there when the restaurant had first opened. Meher had been frightened to be there. Like she was scared of being seen in the public eye. But after speaking with Abeer, she had settled down enough to open up and sing and dance at the party." Sunil leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes. "However, after all that was done, Meher was found talking to someone anxiously. It was as if she had met the very person she was scared of meeting."
"So, was it at Rocco's that they made their first contact?" Constable Pratap asked.
Sunil was about to answer when a song started playing. He opened his eyes as a very familiar tune started playing but he was unable to pinpoint exactly where he had heard it.
He leaned forward and thought hard while the junior officer answered the phone. Informing his family about his late arrival to home, he hung up and looked at Sunil questioningly.
"Anything the problem sir?"
"That song," Sunil said slowly.
"Oh I'm sorry if it's annoying. My daughter heard it on the radio a few days ago and has been completely obsessed with it. She changed everyone's ring tone to this so that when the phone rings she would at least have an excuse to hear it." Constable Pratap explained. "I can change it right now."
"No!" Sunil exclaimed, making Constable Pratap stare at him surprised. "I... I heard it somewhere before. Play it again."
Obeying, Sunil pulled up the song from his music playlist and let it play.
A guitar started strumming and a male's voice sang.
Jukhi teri palkhon mein mil jaaye mujhe panaah
Palkein ghire aasoon bhaari reh jaaye mere nishaan
Toote dil ki maat kar tu fikar mere humnava
Pyaar doon tujh ko iss khadar
Reh jaaye mere nishaan
"Stop." Sunil instructed.
He took out a piece of paper and began penning down the lyrics.
"When was the song first played?" He asked while writing.
"I would say about two, three days ago." The constable answered, unsure of the exact date.
"Right about when Abeer went missing." Sunil revealed.
The constable straightened up as he latched onto what Sunil was trying to say.
"This song, was a message for Abeer?"
"Exactly." Sunil said. "I heard a similar version of this song being played atRocco's inauguration party. And I'm damn sure it's the same song that Meher and Abeer were playing in the greenhouse.
Look at this, the first line of the song:
Jukhi teri palkon mein mil jaaye mujhe panaah
It's about finding comfort and a type of safe haven in another's company.
The next line:
Palkein ghire aasoon bhaari reh jaaye mere nishaan
The tears that fall leave behind my signs. Now, these words, mere nishaan, they can be interpreted in so many ways. Nishaan can refer to a sign, a mark, a scar -"
"A clue." Constable Pratap added.
Sunil snapped his fingers.
"Exactly! Now, let's assume that the first two lines are from Meher for Abeer. Then in Abeer's response, these will be his lines.
Toote dil ki maat kar
Tu fikar mere humnava
Pyaar doon tujh ko iss kadar
Reh jaaye mere nishaan"
"Don't worry about the broken heart, I'll love you so much that you'll be left with my mark..." The constable translated. "Whatever the problem was with Meher, Abeer knew about it and was doing his best to help her out. We know that she was a brilliant student so whatever was troubling her was not related to academics."
"Right. Her friend circle was just beginning to form so she couldn't have had any major problems from them either. The kids that I spoke to were all very sincere and deeply troubled by what happened to her."
"So then whatever was bothering was coming from home." The Constable pondered. "In your reports, you had mentioned that Meher's father, Shyam, he had started becoming verbally aggressive when he found out about Abeer."
"Go on..." Sunil encouraged, about to grasp what Bheede is trying to say.
"Well, according to your notes," Bheede pulled out Sunil's notebook that had accounted personal details of everyone they had interviewed thus far. "Shyam is a professor and look at where he just got posted his new job at." Bheede turned the file around for Sunil to see, pointing at the line where Shyam's current occupation was stated.
"Isn't that Meher's college?"
"Yes." Pratap answered grimly.
Sunil took a deep sigh as the pieces started clicking for him.
"So let's suppose Meher is being terrorized by her father at home. Because of that she has been afraid to socialize with others in fear of being judged both by Shyam and others. Then, she meets Abeer who helps her out in trying to break out of that shell."
"Let's not forget the dance classes. Meher had felt free and open there until recently." Bheede reminded Sunil.
"Perhaps Shyam started attending the classes as well? To keep an eye on Meher?" Sunil proposed. "We can call up the other girls' families to confirm."
"But sir... the murders of the other girls... do you think Shyam might have committed them?" Bheede questioned.
"Yes, he did."
Sunil and the constable looked towards the entrance of their office to see Arjun standing there with a crutch.
"Arjun, what are you doing here?" Sunil asked, getting up from his seat. "Shouldn't you be at the hospital resting?"
"I was, but then I met our favorite rockstar there."
"You... where is he now?" Sunil asked, speechless.
"In the interrogation room, giving his statement." Arjun replied, walking further into the room.
Bheede got out of his seat and offered it to Arjun who took it graciously.
"While you were at Lost Safari, I was here with Miss Sharma. Turns out she had put up a great fight before dying. There were a lot of bruises found on her abdomen and upper arms. In her defense, she had to have gotten some sort of DNA off of her attacker. So when I asked for a DNA analysis to be done, it matched up to Shyam's. Some of his dead skin was found underneath her nails." Arjun informed calmly.
"Did you send someone out to arrest Shyam or should I?" Sunil asked, feeling like a huge burden had been lifted off of him.
"I took care of it. They should be bringing him in any moment now. I suggest you go and listen to Abeer's statement though." Arjun said, pointing to the doorway with his crutch.
"What about Meher?" The constable asked.
"Said he would hand her over once Shyam has been captured first."
Bheede nodded and began gathering all the evidence.
Obeying his partner's advice, Sunil ran towards the small cornered office that they used for interrogating suspects. Upon entering, Sunil saw Abeer seated in the grey room with his hands folded on the metal table. He took a seat opposite him and opened up the notebook that contained the listed questions that Arjun had assigned. Glancing them over, Sunil looked at Abeer and noticed the changed clothes he was wearing and scrunched his eyebrows. He surely must have met Meher once before going to the hospital.
Sunil straightened his back and folded his hands across from him on the table.
"So, shall we begin?"
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