Nobody could believe their eyes as Vibha passed on the mobile to the others.
“That means Vivek could never make it to the hospital huh?” asked Nishant.
“No, he never did” answered Avinash
“But I hope you are not hinting that we did it, right?” asked Nishant covering his face with his palms.
“Oh, not you all, but certainly one of you. Isn’t that right, Abhimanyu?” asked Erika as she glanced up at Abhimanyu, who was standing quietly by the window all this while.
“Uh, what?” asked Abhimanyu as he stood near the window, clueless.
Chapter 19
“We checked with the institution and found out that Richa had only two visitors during her entire stay there. The recent one being a few days back, which was Kaajal, and one five years back where we saw a bulky 5’10” man, with an oversized coat and a cap entering and exiting the institution. The name in the register was obviously fake, but he could not escape the security cameras,” explained Erika showing the snapshot from Avinash’s phone.
“Doesn’t his structure resemble yours?” Avinash asked turning to Abhimanyu, who was standing by the window.
“I hadn’t met her in a long time and just wanted to check on her if she was okay,” he answered
“Yeah, right. Then why do this?” asked Erika handing him a printout of the security cameras. “He was caught slipping something in a small sachet to one of the staff members in that facility.”
“What!?” asked a confused Vibha as she snatched the print out from Abhimanyu’s hand to have a look.
“But how did you even get these. What about the privacy policy of the intititution ?” asked Nishant.
“It’s because the source of this evidence is anonymous,” said Avinash looking at Erika, turning the recorder off.
One Day Before….
“We have a strict privacy policy, Sir. I am sorry I cannot help you,” said the warden.
“Could you help us in any other way then? Otherwise, we will have to get a warrant and make it completely official and then obtain the evidences. And it would become official that your institution is involved in an ongoing homicide investigation, and that is bad news for business. Isn’t it?” said Avinash.
“Also, if your superiors get to know about this. They are not going to be happy either,” added Erika. “Though, we understand your situation, we are compelled to take legal course of action,” said Erika, slowly closing the laptop.
“Wait! Wait!” shouted the warden. “Let’s get to a middle ground. I will cooperate and send you the required names, photos, and CCTV recordings of those two days when Richa had some visitors. But I do not want you guys to make this my official statement or mention the source of this evidence.”
“But then you will have to get the recordings discreetly. How will you tackle that?” asked Erika.
“I am the warden of the facility ma’am. Don’t worry. You will get the required files,” he added.
Present Day…
“Hence the evidence has no official source,” added Avinash taking back the printout.
“So Abhimanyu, there is no escape from this now. Why don’t you just spill out what exactly happened with Vivek that night, after the incident?” asked Erika, switching on the recorder.
“When you are a teenager, there are like a million chemical changes occurring in your brain. These force you to take decisions that either destroy or build your future. A limbo that needs to be broken out of,” said Abhimanyu.
“That was a dreadful night, but more was in store….
Back to the dreadful night…
After they decided on what was to be done, they split up. Vibha and Richa started cleaning the whole living room. Kaajal was in the kitchen, emptying the fridge contents to make space for the dead body. Nishant and Abhimanyu picked up the unconscious bodies and put them in Vivek’s cab.
“I will take dad’s gun with me, just for protection,” said Abhimanyu taking out the car keys from Vivek’s pocket.
Then they picked up the dead body lying in the garden and put it inside the refrigerator.
“Now me and Richa will get going, and you guys stay put here,” said Abhimanyu wiping the sweat off his face.
“We will get through this, mate. We did nothing wrong. This was just a bad night,” said Nishant trying to boost the morale.
Abhimanyu put the two men in the car’s trunk, and Vivek was on the back seat. All the three men lay unconscious in the car. Richa and Abhimanyu got in the car and sped off as everyone stood at the door, watching them go.
“There is a government hospital on the outskirts of the town, and we will leave them a few metres away from the hospital and leave,” said Abhimanyu as Richa drove the car. “We will take the bypass so that we don’t get noticed by the patrolling cops,” he added. Richa just nodded as she drove, flinching now and then.
“Hey, we got this okay. We got this,” said Abhimanyu trying to boost her confidence.
They drove within the speed limits to avoid getting noticed by the police. The car jumped a bit on a speed breaker as they entered the jungle road bypass, making Vivek’s body fall onto the car’s floor.
“Please slow down, Richa! There was a speed breaker,” Abhimanyu exclaimed
“I am sorry, I am just too nervous to be driving right now,” she said.
They were driving on a deserted bypass road with dense jungle on both sides. The only source of light was the full moon that poured its light on this road which was otherwise engulfed by darkness. Abhimanyu heard something move in the backseat. He turned quickly but found Vivek still unconscious on the floor and nothing unusual. He turned back on his seat.
Just as he was turning back, a pair of hands swiftly caught his neck tightly! This sudden movement startled Richa, and she lost control of the steering wheel and turned it to the extreme right. The car swirled on the road and entered straight into the jungle, rammed into a huge tree. Due to the impact of the collision, Richa banged her forehead on the steering wheel, falling unconscious. Abhimanyu hit the dashboard board hard, and Vivek was flung onto the front glass, cracking it.
After a few moments, Vivek came back to consciousness with his head spinning and bleeding. He saw that both Abhimanyu and Richa were unconscious, so he took the metal showpiece, which was on the dashboard, and broke the half-broken glass completely. He then gradually crawled his way out on the car’s bonnet with glass pieces piercing his body on his way out. He slid over the bonnet and fell on the ground. He stood up using every ounce of energy left in him. As soon as he stood up, he felt a sharp, piercing pain in this left leg with blood pouring out of the bullet wound. He couldn’t move that left leg, so he dragged the leg and limped forward sluggishly, with all his might.
He had managed to cover a small distance when he felt two hands, grabbing him from behind and swinging him back towards the car. Vivek fell on the ground in front of the car as he saw Abhimanyu walk towards him with blood trickling down his forehead and nose. Panting hard, he picked up Vivek with his collar and slammed him on the bonnet of the car. He was about to land a punch on him, when Vivek tackled him with all his might, pinning him to a tree. Abhimanyu raised his elbow and hit Vivek’s backbone hard, partially cracking it. The pain made Vivek loosen his grip, letting Abhimanyu take full advantage of the situation.
In the car, Richa was slowly gaining consciousness. As she raised up her head from the steering wheel, she had a blurry vision. She was trying to see what was happening, but all she could see was a faint, blurry outline of two figures brawling it out in front of the car. She opened the door slowly and crawled her way out, moaning in agony, a big piece of glass sticking out of her shoulder. She was on her four limbs battling her pain when…BAAM! A loud noise of gunshot was heard and one of the two figures fell on the ground with a loud thud. Richa felt as if someone had zapped her out of her sleep as she saw Vivek fall to the ground with a bullet in his head. Her head was now spinning out of control. She tried to move forwar
d, but her body failed her.
“Everything is alright. I had to do that. We will sort this out,” said Abhimanyu walking up to her. Richa fell unconscious on the ground. Abhimanyu had to get rid of this body. But what about the other two, he thought. He realized that he could not follow the plan anymore. Everything had now spiralled out of control. There was no going back from here.
So he opened the trunk and of the car and pulled out both the unconscious men. He then pulled out the tools from the car that Vivek had brought along with him to dispose the dead body. He then started digging a giant pit. He toiled hard at it for two hours and finally succeeded in completing it. Richa still lay unconscious in the car.
He towered over both the men and shot them in their head with his father’s gun. He then rolled all the three dead bodies one by one into the pit with all the strength he could muster.
He then covered the dead bodies with the soil. After he was done, he trudged his way back to the car and tried starting the car, but the car made a roaring sound and turned off. He tried repeatedly, but without luck. So he stepped out of the car again. He pulled out Richa too. He tried putting as many branches and tree leaves to hide the car in the best possible way he could. Richa was slowly gaining her consciousness. He swung her arm around his neck, and they started walking slowly out of the jungle. On reaching the bypass, Abhimanyu saw a car coming in from a distance. He kept Richa down and stood in the line of the car, aiming the gun towards the car. The car halted with a screeching noise. He threatened the driver with his gun and put Richa in the back seat.
“Drive till I tell you to stop!” he ordered her, pointing the gun to her head.
The woman was petrified and drove as Abhimanyu instructed. After reaching close to the villa, he asked her to stop the car around half a kilometre away. He got out of the car with Richa and walked towards the mansion. The woman was shell shocked as she saw them walk away.
It was 4:30 in the morning as they entered through the gates. By the time they walked in, all the lights were off, and everybody had already dozed off. Abhimanyu limped his way up the stairs, completely exhausted. He put Richa on the bed in his room and covered her with a blanket. He then walked into the bathroom and sat under the cold shower with a thud.
Every muscle in his body was throbbing in pain, blood gushed out from his wounds, painting the bathroom floor red. He just sat under the shower with closed eyes, the horrific incidents of the whole night repeatedly flashing in front of his eyes. He opened his eyes wide, not being able to bear the agony any longer, as the worst nightmare of his life haunted him.
As he sat under the shower, he thought about the night, and then he thought about the dead body in the refrigerator. He felt that if no one is convicted in this matter, then the case would be open for a long time, and that would mean that it could somehow be tracked down to Vivek and then eventually trickle down to the six of them and finally onto him. So he got up from the shower. He cleaned up the wounds. He then ran to the hall and dialled a number on the landline.
“Ram Lal?” he asked. “Could you come up to the villa? Idhar kaanch toot gayi hai” he said.
“Jii sab ji 10 minut mein aaya” replied Ram Lal hanging up the call.
Abhimanyu went into the bathroom and put on a pair of first aid gloves. He then went into the kitchen, picked up two bowls, filled them up with little leftover food, and threw them on the ground. Ram Lal came in after ten minutes and saw the mess in the kitchen.
“I just wanted to reheat some food. And it just fell while taking it out from the refrigerator,” said Abhimanyu.
“No problem. I will clean this up,” he replied.
Ram Lal took a cloth and started to clean the floor. Abhimanyu bent down to help. Ram Lal was amazed at this gesture but continued with his work.
“Apne gloves kyu pehene hai?” Ram Lal asked.
“It’s just as a precaution for picking up the glass pieces on the floor,” Abimanyu replied.
Ram Lal was a little confused with the answer but chose to ignore it. Just then, a piece of glass pierced Ram Lal’s forearm while he was picking up the broken pieces.
“Oh shit! Sorry!” apologized Abhimanyu as Ram Lal tried to stop the bleeding.
Abhimanyu helped him clean up the cut and washed it thoroughly. Ram Lal was in a lot of pain. While Ram Lal was busy cleaning the wound, Abhimanyu thought it to be the best time and swiftly plucked two strands of hair from Ram Lal’s forearm, which went unnoticed by Ram Lal, as he was already in a lot of pain.
“I will check the refrigerator for some more food for you,” said Ram Lal after cleaning the wound.
“NO NO!! I ... am not hungry anymore. You go back to sleep, I will manage,” Abhimanyu exclaimed.
“I mean, okay Sirji,” said Ram Lal leaving.
The clock was striking half past five. Abhimanyu slowly opened the fridge, and in there, he saw the woman’s body all curled up. The face was totally damaged to an extent where the identification was impossible. He then inserted the two strands of hair in her finger nails of her clenched fist, and closed the door.
Back To Present
“And this is how Ram Lal was framed,” said Abhimanyu as everyone in the living room gazed at him in disgust. Richa sat on the floor rocking to and fro, indifferent to what was happening around her.
“Is this the reason you insisted on putting Richa in an asylum?” Vibha asked.
“She had seen me kill Vivek that night in the forest. She just wasn’t sure about it as she was barely conscious that night” said Abhimanyu sitting on the couch. “But suddenly, five years back, she started threatening me, saying that she had seen me commit the murder and could remember everything. She even claimed that she had summoned Vivek’s soul, and he had asked her to bring justice to him.”
“So I used the black magic against her and made everyone of you believe that she was ratting us all out,” continued Abhimanyu. Everyone’s faces had now dropped in disgust except those of the officers.
“I got her admitted to the asylum on the basis that she had tried to do black magic on me and bribed the doctors in charge to give her electric shocks periodically, so that she actually loses her sanity eventually. Because no one is going to believe an insane woman,” said Abhimanyu looking at Richa, who looked back at him and gave him a wide smile, clueless as to what was happening.
“And then what about the soil in the garden? How did that mess up?” asked Erika curiously.
“This villa has been closed for the past 15 years. Dad tried to sell it, but he couldn’t because of the rumour that this place was haunted because of the murder,” explained Abhimanyu. “So two years after the incident, I came to Bardez to get rid of the bodies once and for all. I experimented with sulphuric acid on a dead cat in the garden, and it worked. Hence, I threw the keychain in that pit to get rid of it. I had kept it with myself for two years, as a memoir of all the dreadful things I had committed that night,” Abhimanyu sighed. “Then I went into the jungle one night and dissolved all the three bodies with sulphuric acid,” he said.
“That is one hell of a story now. You are one professional criminal,” said Erika. “But now it’s time to put a seal on it,” she continued getting up from her chair.
“I will get the paperwork and transportation ready by tomorrow to take the six of them back to Panaji,” said Avinash as he turned to leave.
But Abhimanyu had other plans. He was not going to give in so easily. He was clenching his fists slowly, tighter with every passing minute, and then suddenly he jumped out of the couch and pulled Richa by the shoulder firmly.
“I am not done yet!” he screamed, pointing a gun to her head as she cried out in pain.
Chapter 20
“I won’t be done so easily!” yelled Abhimanyu holding Richa by her shoulder and pointing a gun to her head.
Everybody backed away from Abhimanyu. Erika and Avinash took out their guns at once, aiming straight at Abhimanyu. The two constables came running inside on hearing the com
motion.
“This is insane!!! Are you out of your senses?” yelled Vibha.
“That’s Richa. Our Richa!” exclaimed Kaajal.
“Oh, no-no-no. I am not falling for these little cries anymore,” said Abhimanyu. “You two officers, drop your guns and your car keys on the floor and slide them towards me. Do it now!!”
The officers hesitated for a moment but realized that they had no other choice but to give in.
“Alright, here you go,” said Erika as both of them slid their guns towards Abhimanyu. He kicked the guns away under the couch.
“Now everybody, hands in the air where I can see them! I am going to go upstairs, get my car keys and money, and get as far away from here as possible with her,” said Abhimanyu, as he pressed the gun to Richa’s head. Richa had started sobbing.
Everybody gave way to Abhimanyu as he climbed up the stairs. Richa fell while climbing, but Abhimanyu picked her up roughly and continued walking up. Everybody followed him upstairs. He entered his room and tried to find the keys and the money with his left hand. Till then, both the officers, Nishant, and Ishaan had also reached the room. Erika stealthily turned to close and lock the door.
“Heyy!! Back off !!” shouted Abhimanyu pointing the gun at them.
“Abhimanyu, there is no escape now. Even if you run away, how far could you possibly go? We will hunt you down eventually,” said Erika walking towards him cautiously.
‘Heyy, back off!! I will shoot her!” threatened Abhimanyu taking his steps backward.
“Nobody needs to be killed here. You are checkmate buddy” joined in Avinash as Nishant and Ishaan watched all this from the corner of the room.
“No, I am not! You will see that when I drive out of here with her,” said Abhimanyu, slowly moving backwards towards the window as the two officers approached him. “I have done all of this to save my friends. We were the victims that night, and I just wanted to clean up everything up,’ he added.
The officers were trying all they could to put sense into Abhimanyu while slowly walking towards him. Richa was screaming in fear. Abhimanyu was yelling his lungs out and flashing his gun towards the officers. And in all this ruckus, Richa suddenly bit Abhimaanyu’s right forearm really hard. This made Abhimanyu lose the weapon. He even let Richa loose as he cried out in pain. Richa turned towards him and in a fit of anger and fright, pushed him hard with both her hands. He lost his balance and crashed out of the window and kept on falling till he smashed onto the car parked below.
Into The Shadows Page 13