Death and Dishonor

by Abhimanyu Saxena

  “Damn, my phone was tapped.”

  This felt weird, why was her phone being tapped? She was about to dial her co-worker Puneet’s phone but decided against it. She opened her laptop and decided to investigate who was snooping on her calls. She opened the Police Intelligence Database and jotted her credentials to log in and find out the cause of this.

  ‘Invalid credentials. Please check again.’

  Nothing was going right today. She had typed her ID and password correctly but decided to type them again.

  “Why am I getting clumsy in typing? This is so unlike me.”

  After some seconds the same error message flashed in front of her eyes. She couldn’t understand the reason behind it and decided to reset her password.

  “This will be a pain; I will have to take all the approvals again and provide them with the reason that why I forgot them so quickly.”

  Her worry escalated soon enough when the error message changed on her laptop screen.

  ‘Your account has been temporarily suspended due to suspicious activities. Contact your system administrator immediately.’

  “What the hell? My credentials have been flagged! What did I do?” she shouted in disgust.

  Today was a nightmare for her; she didn’t know what was happening with her. She dialed her co-worker Puneet’s number, but it was unreachable. She had a bad feeling about this, and she had to talk to someone. She knew her sister wouldn’t speak to her; that left her with no other option except Sid. She dialed his number hesitantly.

  “Sid, can you come over here. I think I am in some kind of trouble.”

  ~*~

  I remembered my father’s words as I rushed towards Aditi’s home.

  ‘Don’t be a negative person Arjun, there is nothing wrong in being hopeful or optimistic.’

  He was an English professor at Delhi University. His teachings had always calmed me in troubling times. My hands shook thinking about the gunshot, the phone call got disconnected pretty soon afterward, but I had to find a ray of hope. I couldn’t have lost my best friend. I needed her. Her house was at the corner, and the front gate was ajar. I forgot to bring my gun in such a hurry. I had procured that gun from a contact at the Gun store. I entered the house, and it was eerily deserted. The room was devoid of any light as all the windows were jammed shut inside the house.

  “Aditi!”

  I got no reply which I had already expected. It had been a long time since I came to her place. I tripped over something and fell on the floor.

  “Damn!”

  It was her dining room. I was about to get up when I saw something which made my heart skip a beat. The thing that I tripped over was a severed hand. I was taken aback and almost threw up. I could have identified that hand anywhere. It was Aditi’s. I could see the ‘Love For Flintstones’ tattoo beneath the blood and cuts. There was no silver lining in this. I finally found a switchboard and pressed all the switches at once. I wasn’t prepared for this. The entire floor was covered with blood and clothes. The entire house was searched and turned upside down. They were searching for something. The whole place looked like a slaughterhouse reeking of flesh and blood. My eyes fell on the chair in front of me. I was so engrossed with the blood and her hand that I didn’t see in front of me. Aditi’s lifeless body was on the chair except for her face. Her face was bashed in, and the wall behind the chair had blood and brain splattered across all over it. I was a strong guy, but I couldn’t see that. I felt nauseated, and the strong smell of blood and the torn up dead body of my best friend churned my insides. I gulped and tasted bile in my mouth. I threw up instantly and fell on the floor, tears flowing from my eyes.

  “Aditi!!! Aditi, you cannot leave me.”

  I couldn’t look at her body. It didn’t feel like a human. It was tortured and beaten up to such an extent that it looked like a ragdoll. It hit me that I couldn’t see her face ever again. She loved me, and I couldn’t do anything for her.

  “FUCK!”

  I punched the wall angrily, but it wouldn’t have brought her back. All of her memories were flowing wild in my brain. I kept both hands on my head and pressed it tightly for the throbbing to stop. The visions at Tia’s house were true. Shikha was correct in saying all those things to me. I wasn’t a man; I was a loser. I couldn’t save my wife and not even my best friend. She had called me in her last moments knowing that I would save her. She had placed a tremendous amount of confidence in me and what I did – fucked it all up. I was the poison that ruined everyone and everything around me. I didn’t do anything for anyone, and I was all alone due to it. I looked at her body once again.

  “I am so sorry Aditi.”

  My whole body was shaking. I had lost my best friend and my brain was taking its time to register this. Ajeet was looking for something and had tortured and killed Aditi. What could have made Ajeet like this? There were many unanswered questions, but I knew one thing. Ajeet would pay for this. I gulped again and went to her bedroom. Her entire wardrobe was turned upside down on her bed, and I saw something that shocked me. I could see a huge folder lying amidst all the clothes which had a hand-drawn heart on its cover. She always used to say ‘Follow your heart,’ and I started to cry again thinking about everything. She was always there for me, helped me during college and in life. When I lost Shikha, she still tried to help me, but I didn’t do anything for her. I was so engrossed in my life that I had never asked her about her problems. Maybe she was investigating something, and Ajeet was involved in it, resulting in her gruesome death. I shook my head in disgust – I couldn’t have hated myself more. I opened the folder and found that it was empty except a single blank sheet of paper. It had tons of sheets originally, but they were removed from the inside. Ajeet had scanned the place well; he hadn’t left any corner of the house unsearched. I looked hard at the sheet of paper and found that it was sticky in the middle.

  “There must have been a photograph pasted on this page,” I deduced.

  The photograph was missing now, and I could feel something was jotted down at the bottom right corner of the page. The page looked engraved at the bottom as though much pressure was being applied while writing something on it. Could it be that Aditi knew that her life was in danger and she left a clue for me? It looked strange because the paper wasn’t torn apart. It was as if Aditi had rubbed the writing in order to avoid any suspicion. I looked around and saw a pencil lying near the bed. After a couple of minutes of incessant scribbling, I could see a word that was written on the sheet before rubbing it off.

  ‘Ali’

  “Who is Ali?”

  I had never heard his name from Aditi’s mouth. I stepped out of the bedroom and saw her study in the same state. All of her works were gone, her laptop was missing, and the stench of blood and rotten flesh lingered. As soon as I stepped a foot inside the study, I stumbled upon a huge board. It was a collage board having various pictures pinned on it. I picked it up and placed it back on the wall. All the pictures that were pinned on it were mine. Some were group pictures while the rest of them had both of us. They spanned from college till now. I felt broken after seeing this – she still loved me. I had thought that she had moved on finally, but it wasn’t the case. Then I saw something which made me curious. There was a small note pinned beneath our photographs. I removed it and saw that it had only one line written on it.

  ‘A,

  Follow your heart.’

  I had a strong feeling that the A mentioned in the note was me and this ‘follow your heart’ was different than the rest as the note looked hurried and the handwriting was clumsy. I was surprised why Ajeet missed this, but it was hidden beneath all the pictures. Aditi knew me better than myself; she knew that I would stop and check all the photos. She wanted to tell something specific to me. If only, I hadn’t been late, she would be sitting beside me joking and chatting like we used to do in the college. I looked in all the rooms and didn’t find any other clues. She had left two clues for me, and I didn’t want to disappoint her
again. I crossed the room again where her lifeless body laid. I tried to straighten the body but couldn’t manage to do that. She was tortured to such an extent that bones were visible on her face. Suddenly I heard something – the Police siren.

  “Finally, they arrived.” It was way past noon at this time.

  After a minute of hurried footsteps, almost ten Policemen had entered the flat and surrounded me.

  “Put your hands up,” said one officer.

  I didn’t recognize him, but he meant business. “I think you are mistaken here. I didn’t kill her.”

  “You are under arrest. All you say now can be used against you in the court of law –”

  “Stop telling me my rights. I know them much better than you,” I shouted in angst.

  “You are talking to an officer of the law. Please keep your tone under control,” he shouted back.

  I was about to lose my temper but decided that things could go way bad if I did anything stupid. “Who are you, officer?”

  “Inspector Ankur Gupta, Paharganj Police Station.”

  Both the Police were working together as I could see Defense Colony officers as well inside the flat.

  “Officer Gupta, my friend was murdered brutally by your fellow officer Ajeet. Stop wasting everyone’s time and catch that bastard.”

  Ankur was about to say something, but he stopped upon seeing a senior officer in the vicinity. Pratap had entered the flat, and he looked menacing. The mustache added the menace on his stern face. I was relieved to see him finally.

  “Pratap, where were you? I called you multiple times. Adit- Aditi was killed man!”

  I broke down and couldn’t complete my sentence. I always treated him as my elder brother. “Ajeet killed her.”

  “Shut up Arjun. We will have to arrest you. You can give your statement at the Police Station.”

  I was shocked to hear this. I had expected him to take my side – he should have been biased towards me.

  “Don’t you trust me? You think – I killed her. I killed my best friend, right?”

  He placed a hand on my shoulder. The officers pointed their guns towards me. “It’s alright, lower your guns.”

  “Arjun, you are accusing a Police officer of such a heinous crime, we will have to talk at the Station. Meanwhile, let us search for clues here and allow the Forensic team to do their job. This is a joint investigation by Police of both the areas.”

  He made sense though. I forgot that he was the ACP and had to follow law and order. He just couldn’t play favorites with anyone. I moved to a corner, and Pratap handcuffed me.

  “I am sorry for this,” he whispered.

  I nodded. “It was Ajeet.”

  “Are you sure? He is our friend and has never done anything like this. What makes you so sure that it was him?”

  We were talking in muffled whispers in the corner of the room while the other teams were working.

  “I received a call from her, and I heard everything. I recognized Ajeet’s voice – it was him! She was tortured first and then killed brutally. I tried calling you, but your phone was unreachable. We have to do something about him.”

  “Sorry, I was on the field today. There must have been some connection issues otherwise I would have got the call. Don’t worry Arjun; I promise you that Aditi will get justice.”

  Pratap’s mobile rang suddenly; he looked at the screen and had a frown on his face. “It’s from higher up,” he added.

  After a minute of their conversation, his attention directed towards me. “The bosses are not liking you accusing Ajeet in this murder. You remember that he is the nephew of a local politician, right?”

  “How did they come to know about this?” I asked.

  “Must be an officer here behind my back. Politicians have their sources.”

  “I don’t care even if he is the nephew of the Prime Minister. I will kill him.”

  Pratap shook his head. “They want to frame this one on you. So if I were you, I would choose my words very wisely.”

  I couldn’t believe his words. They were trying to blame this murder on me. “What the fuck?”

  Pratap was in a pickle. On the one hand, he was being pressurized into something he didn’t want to do, and on the other hand, it was his friend being framed for a murder.

  “Arjun, I will ask you just one time, and I don’t want any nonsense from you. Did you kill her out of anger or any other thing? I know that you have been having issues handling everything.”

  “Are you kidding Pratap? To answer your question, no I didn’t kill my best friend, who has never done anything bad for me and has always been there for me.”

  I was getting tired of these allegations, and Pratap sensed it too. “I am just doing my job,” he sighed.

  “Arjun, I trust you. You heard the call and came here to save her, but you were late. Did you find anything suspicious here?”

  Before I could say something, Ankur, who was out of sight for about half an hour, came towards us and took a deep breath, "Sir, we have found two sets of fingerprints all over the house. One of them, possibly Aditi's own and we found the other set right in our database," he showed them his Tab screen where my name was flashing as the match.

  Pratap didn’t say anything and looked at me helplessly. “Thank you, officer. I will take care of this.”

  Ankur nodded and went back near Aditi’s body. “Arjun, this looks screwed up. I will have to arrest you now. I will help you clear your name and get justice for Aditi, but I have limited options here.”

  I shook my head. “Pratap, I cannot go to jail for a crime that I didn’t commit. The real killer is out there living freely. You have limited options, but I am not bound by law. Help me, please. I found some strange things here which could mean a foul play.”

  Pratap hated to be put in such a situation. After a few seconds of introspecting, he finally broke the silence.

  “Okay, I will help you in escaping. We will have to do this by the oldest method in the book. We can analyze your findings afterward and catch the real killer.”

  I didn’t hesitate, “Anything.”

  “Officers, arrest him. We are taking him to the Defense Colony station.”

  He thanked the Paharganj Police officers for their help and took me along with many officers outside the flat. It felt weird being pushed into the Police van like a convict. It had been the other way round all these years. The journey back to Defense colony was pathetic. I was brought to my locality like a convict. I was accused of murdering my best friend. I couldn’t even say goodbye to her. Aditi died because of me, and I would do anything to avenge her. As soon as the van stopped in front of the station, I saw Pratap gesturing to me. It was time. There were two constables seated beside me. Pratap opened the back door of the van, and I knew that I had to act fast. I kicked one right in the face while pushed my elbow at the other one’s chest. I had to ensure that they didn’t suffer any serious injury as they were just doing their job. Within a fraction of a second, I had jumped on Pratap from behind and caught his neck from the back into a choke hold. “If anybody moves, I will snap his neck,” I shouted.

  There was a commotion and disturbance at the road. Many officers had stepped out of the station with guns pointed at me, but I had a plan. “Pratap, hand me your gun and un-cuff me right now.”

  Pratap handed his gun to me and complied with my demands. He ordered all of the officers not to shoot. Once I was free from the shackles, I pushed Pratap with me till the next turn on the road and then shoved him on the ground.

  “Thanks for everything, I will keep in contact,” I whispered and ran like hell.

  RUN!

  A landline rang at the station, breaking the silence.

  “Someone pick it up,” a Sub Inspector shouted from the other room.

  A constable who had just woken up from his slumber by the loud tone hurriedly went to pick it up.

  “Hello!”

  “Hello! Defense Colony Police Station?” A man with a ha
rd voice spoke on the other end.

  “Yes, sahab.”

  “I want to report a crime in progress in our Aadarsh society. A thief just scaled a wall railing to enter our society.”

  “Ok sahab, can you tell us anything that would help us identify him or any other details?”

  There was a pause, then the man went on, “Hmm, I could make out that he was about six feet tall. I briefly saw his face under the lamp post, and I think he has unkempt hair and a thick beard. He is currently hiding in some bushes in the park next to my apartment building,” then his voice suddenly expressed urgency, “Please send someone to catch him at once before it’s too late. He looks dangerous; please hurry!”

  The Sub Inspector had entered the room curiously as the constable put down the receiver. His eyes widened as the constable briefed him. It all happened within the next few minutes. The armory was cleared out, and a flight of police officers rushed out into the night in a roar of footsteps followed by an Innova and two jeeps leaving from the station.

  I was okay for the next few minutes, but time was running out fast. I had to keep moving. I was not well hidden in these thorny bushes.

  What the hell had happened in the last few hours? Hadn’t my life already crashed down and wrecked? Or there might be pieces still left to shatter. “The mighty God will guide you,” I whispered mockingly, then continued in anger, “He is guiding me to jail, alright.”

  It was bad enough on my conscience that Aditi had died so horribly, that I couldn’t protect her even though I was a cop and her best friend. Now, I am being framed for her death? Adding on top of that, it gave me shivers to even think that Ajeet had killed her, my friend, whom I trusted.

  We have been best buddies since college, having each other’s backs in the toughest of times, life-threatening situations. How could Ajeet stoop so low? Had I missed something all these years?

  I thought that scanning my life history should be put in my ‘things-to-do if I survived this ordeal’ list when I heard multiple cars stop outside the perimeter and could feel the heat of a hundred cops who might have surrounded the society.