by Sana Shetty
Misha stared at him. She couldn’t understand why Vedant would leave so suddenly just because they got into a fight. She had been aware that Tarun had been planning to send him to the city for further studies. But why would he just up and go in the night. Besides, he had promised her that if he ever decided to leave, she would be the first to know.
“I…am…sorry Misha. I know what he meant to you. I’m sorry. It is my fault.”
“Jay, can you please tell me what happened? Did you two fight with each other? How is it your fault?”
“No, we did not fight with each other. Don’t ask me so many questions, Misha. Just leave me alone. All you need to know is that Vedant has left this village, perhaps forever and he isn’t coming back anytime soon.” He shouted at her and walked out of the room banging the door behind him. Misha had never seen him so agitated and decided to let it go for the moment. She was sure he would come around and talk to her like he always did. She tried to talk to Vedant, but he wouldn’t answer her phone.
Misha had been a little shaken with the turn of events. How could Vedant just leave without meeting her? They had promised to be together for a lifetime and he had left without a word of goodbye to her. The anger and the hurt came later. Then she had tried to wrap her head around what Jay had told her. In the days that followed, she had tried to understand what happened and had pestered Jay to tell her but he had refused to say anything more. Vedant had never returned her calls or tried contacting her in anyway. Over time, she had let it go and had gone to hating Vedant for betraying her. As the years passed, she had suppressed her hurt and clung on to the anger.
She wondered now if she should have dug a little more. Maybe pressed Jay to talk, demanded that he tell her what happened. Today Vedant had said he had promised never to talk about that night. Who had he promised? Jay? Tarun?
She had met Tarun, a few times after Vedant had gone and he had always been cordial to her. Tarun had always treated her like a kid sister. No matter where they met, he always made it a point to talk to her. She had never been able to discuss Vedant with him though. If Vedant did not want to keep in touch with her, she did not want to appear desperate. A year later, after her father had died of a heart attack, Jay had insisted that she pursue her studies in the city and sent her to Bangalore. They had never talked about that night or Vedant after that. But now that Vedant was back, she wanted to know what had driven him away from his life here and her. She would ask him, she decided. He owed her that much, didn’t he?
Restlessly, she got off the bed and paced her room. Now it looked like Raunak was lying to her too. About Namita and about the details of Jay’s death and a whole lot more. He knew something more than what he was willing to reveal. He kept telling her, he needed time. Maybe it was time to find some answers herself. Like Namita. Who was she? Maybe there was something in her room that would give her the answers.
She found herself standing outside the guest room, hesitating. Then grabbing the handle, she let herself in. The room was neat. The bed made and everything in its place. Quickly and carefully, she started to look through the drawers and under the mattress. There was nothing here. Namita was careful about leaving anything around. She looked in the cupboard. There right in front of her was Jay’s copy of the Bhagwad Gita that Raunak had asked to borrow. She rifled through it and found book marks on the pages that Jay had marked. And there were some blank pages on which Namita had scribbled some notes, including the translation of the verses. Carefully, she replaced the book and closed the door. So Raunak and Namita were working together. Then why were they not telling her the truth? Namita had been eager to extract information right from the day she had arrived and had been very interested in Jay’s death. Misha realised that she had been subtly questioning her on a lot of things, including the reason why Vedant had left the village. What was she looking for? Whatever it was, Raunak knew and he preferred to keep it from her.
Someone was banging on the front door and she quickly ran down the stairs and threw the door open. Namita looked up at her from the doorstep. A bag was slung across her shoulders and there was a phone in her hands. It looked like she had been about to dial someone.
“Hey!” she said cheerfully. “Why is the house in darkness? I wondered where you were.”
“Yeah, I was just about to put on the lights,” Misha felt a little guilty about having gone through her things. They made their way into the living room and as she flicked on the lights, she noticed the dirt and grime on Namita’s clothes and shoes.
“So what happened to you?”
Namita looked down at herself and shrugged, “Oh that? I was out near the river clicking photographs. Don’t worry, I will clean up. When I work, I don’t really see where or what I step on or where I am lying down. So I usually end up like this. Did Raunak call?” she asked.
“No, should he have?” Misha asked curiously. Just then the phone rang and she went to pick it up. “Maybe that is him.”
It wasn’t Raunak but his mother. She sounded panicked and Misha couldn’t understand what she was saying. Her heart lurched in fear and she gripped the phone hard, pressing it against her ear.
“Calm down, Mrs Goud! Calm down and tell me what happened,” she said, trying not to panic herself.
Mrs Goud fell silent and Misha’s panic rose, her mind immediately going to Raunak. Something had to be wrong; Mrs Goud was not one to panic so easily. In the worst of situations, she would be the calmest one.
Someone else came on the phone, a man. “Hello….Ms Varma? This is inspector Nagral and I am calling from the hospital, Raunak…hmmm…Raunak is hurt. I think you had better come here.”
“What…?” Misha nearly dropped the phone, her heart thudding painfully. Not Raunak too. She was not going to lose Raunak too. Her mind jumped to the other time she had got a call from the hospital informing her about Jay. She sat down heavily on the chair, still holding the phone. Vaguely, she heard Namita call her name and come towards her. “Misha! Misha, is everything okay? Who is that on the phone?” She just gave her a blank look and Namita snatched the receiver from her hands and said, “Hello…who is this?”
She paused, listening intently, before she said, “We will be right there.” Putting down the phone, she knelt down in front of Misha, “We have to go. Do you hear me?” she shook her by the shoulders.
“Will he die too?” Misha asked, dazed.
“No, he will not die. Let’s go,” Namita’s pulled her to her feet. “Let’s take that old jeep in the barn? Does it work?” When Misha nodded, she asked her, “Where are the keys?”
She quickly grabbed the keys from Jay’s room, pulling a dazed Misha with her. As they got into the jeep and started to drive towards the hospital with Misha giving her the directions, Namita talked to her soothingly, telling her it was going to be okay.
Soon they were rushing past the people going in and out of the hospital and towards the front desk. The nurse at the desk looked at them sternly and announced, “Visiting hours are over.”
Namita explained to her about the phone call they had received from the hospital and the nurse relented. She looked into her register and asked them to go to the first floor. They ran up to find Mrs Goud waiting, along with some of the policeman, outside the operation theatre.
“He is still in the operation theatre,” she whispered, tensely.
One of the policeman came forward and introduced himself as Inspector Vivek Nagral. Misha had met all of Raunak’s colleagues at their engagement party and knew them well. But she had never seen this guy. He was probably a new posting.
“May I talk to you for a minute, Ms Varma?” he asked politely. He was tall and well built, with a slight stubble and dark black hair. He looked like a man of authority.
“Please call me Misha,” she said.
“Do you know where Raunak was today, Misha?” he asked gently.
“No, not really. I assumed he was at the police station.” Misha looked at him puzzled. “He came to see me in t
he morning as usual and then left. What happened to him? Do you know?”
Nagral shook his head. “Prima facie, it looks like he was shot from a close range. He came in as usual but within a few minutes he received a text and went out alone. So everyone assumed it was you. Late in the afternoon, one of the village boys heard a gunshot in the woods, about a kilometre away from the police station. At first he thought someone was shooting birds but later he found Raunak lying motionless. He recognised him and brought him to the hospital.”
She took a deep breath, “How…how serious is he?” she dreaded the answer to that question, but she had to ask.
“The doctors still haven’t told us, anything. They are operating on him.”
They looked back at Mrs Goud sitting quietly holding a glass of water in her hands. She appeared calmer and was sitting on one of the benches. Mrs Goud had lost her husband, also a police officer, in the line of duty. She had faced many ups and downs in her life but had fought all odds to bring up her only son and Misha couldn’t imagine how horrible it must be for her to have to go over the whole thing again. She prayed silently for Raunak to pull through this. His mother needed him and so did she.
She did not realise she was crying till Nagral offered her his handkerchief and said sympathetically, “He will be okay, Ms Varma. He will get through this.”
“Can’t you tell from his phone whose message it was?” Misha asked.
“We can, if only we could locate it. I mean, we cannot find his phone. By the time we went back it was already dark. But I still have men looking for it. It is important that we find that phone. Is there anything you can tell us? He must have told you something.”
“No, he does not discuss his cases with me,” Misha said. She remembered what Pankaj had said the other day. Trust no one. And this man was new to her.
As she turned to walk back towards Mrs Goud, Nagral said, “Oh, by the way. We haven’t been able to tell Mrs Goud this as yet but I think you should know. Dr Pankaj Goud, Raunak’s cousin, was found dead at his house today morning.”
“What?!” shocked, she looked at Nagral in disbelief. “What…what happened?”
“Suicide, I think.” Another suicide theory. “He appeared to have injected something into himself.” No! Don’t you see it, you fool! He has been killed, she wanted to scream. The man was watching her intensely, as if he expected her to say something. But she kept her mouth shut.
“And his family?” she asked dreadfully.
“Apparently his wife and kid were at her mother’s house when it happened. Dr Pankaj had sent them there about two days ago.”
“And did you talk to the wife? Did she say why he would do such a thing?”
“His wife told us that he had been depressed lately. Something to do with being dis-satisfied at work.”
Misha could feel herself shaking and hugged herself. Was he killed because he had come to see her the other night? “Did…did Raunak know?”
“No when the call came, he had left the station already. We were trying to contact him since then but were unable to do so,” Nagral was still watching her closely. “Are you okay?” when she nodded, he took a step closer to her and said in a lower tone, “I can make arrangements for your security if you so wish.” Startled, Misha looked at him but there was nothing on his face to show he knew anything.
“No…no I’m okay,” she said as she turned to walk back and sit next to Mrs Goud.
“It will be okay. He will pull through,” Mrs Goud told her. Misha marvelled at her self-control. She put her hands over Mrs Goud’s and gave it a squeeze.
“Yes, he will be okay.”
It was a long night and eventually around three in the morning, the doctor looking tired but triumphant announced to them that they had successfully removed the bullets and Raunak was stable.
“He is a brave one, that boy,” the doctor told them. He was a tall middle-aged guy with salt and pepper hair and a kindly looking face. He looked like he could only be a doctor and nothing else, Misha thought, as she thanked him. The hospital scrubs suited him very well. “He will be in and out of consciousness for the next forty eight hours or so but he will recover. You will be able to see him only after that, I’m sorry. You should go get some rest. We will look after him.” He told Mrs Goud gently.
Misha sent Mrs Goud home to rest, in spite of her protests. After Mrs Goud had gone with one of the policeman, Inspector Nagral came and sat with her.
“You should go home too. There is nothing much you can do around here anyway.” He told her.
“I…I would rather stay here,” she replied.
Nagral did not protest but told her, “We couldn’t find Raunak’s phone.”
“Do you think Raunak was set up by the person who sent him the text?”
“I’m not sure. But it could be so. That is why we need to find that phone.”
She wished Namita or Vedant was here. She desperately needed somebody to talk to. Namita had disappeared after leaving her here and Vedant? She hadn’t seen Vedant since…she frowned trying to remember. Yes, since he had walked out of the house promising to find answers. Where was he? Was he okay?
She looked at Inspector Nagral out of the corner of her eyes. She remembered what Pankaj had said. Trust no one. Nagral’s phone beeped suddenly and he jumped, as if the sound had surprised him. He frowned at the instrument.
“Excuse me, I have to take this,” he muttered and walked away from her. She needed a cup of coffee, she thought and got up to go towards the canteen. The policeman standing nearby directed her to the ground floor and she decided to walk down the stairs. She felt cramped from sitting for so long. She had just gone down one flight of stairs, when she felt a hand on her shoulders and nearly jumped out of her skin.
“What!!…?
“Sshh…It’s me!” she turned around to find Vedant behind her.
So great was her relief on seeing him safe that she threw her arms around him and broke down.
“Ssshh....It’s okay. He will be fine. I heard the doctor say he would be fine.” He patted her back awkwardly.
She pushed him away and glared at him angrily, “You were here the whole time? You idiot! And I was worried sick that something had happened to you too.”
He looked almost surprised, “You were worried about me?”
She wiped her tears on the sleeve of her shirt. “No I wasn’t! You deserve to be killed! Maybe one of these days I will kill you myself. Do you ever think of anyone else other than your own selfish self? Do you know what has happened…?” she stopped her tirade.
She felt too tired to go on and sat down at the foot of the stairs. He sat down beside her and taking her hands in his, said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I didn’t realise…” He hesitated. He looked tired too. Her anger melted immediately and she was sorry, she was making him the target of her frustrations. That is all she was doing these days. Using him as her boxing sack, she thought wryly.
“I am sorry, too. It is just that all this,” she gestured with her hands, “is getting to me. I suddenly don’t feel safe here anymore. How can all this be happening here, in Tamara? It was my safe haven.” She whined.
“I know what you mean. Nothing is the same anymore.”
“Where have you been the whole day?” she asked him, suddenly remembering why she was angry with him.
He took a deep breath and said, “Let’s go get that coffee and something to eat and I will tell you everything. I am famished.”
They went down to the canteen together and chose a corner to sit. The canteen was almost empty at this early hour, except for three guys sitting in the other corner. Vedant bought them coffee and sandwiches. Only when she had bitten into one, did she realise how hungry she was.
“After I….yesterday when I left…you guys,” he began hesitantly. “I was so upset I just walked for a long time. I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going. Anyway, I spotted a bright red car in the village. It was the same Lexus that I
had seen in our private garage back at the hotel. Then, I had thought Tarun had bought himself a new car and when I saw it in the village I decided to check. It was parked just a few metres from Pankaj’s house. And guess whose car it is?”
When Misha looked him blankly, he said, “My sister-in-law, Divya’s.”
Misha stared at him. “She drives a Lexus? But you said she …”
“She belonged to the antiques section of the palace? Well, I couldn’t be more wrong. You should have seen her. There was no trace of the gypsy girl that I had seen before. She was dressed in the most modern of clothes. When she wasn’t looking, I slipped into the boot of the car and she took me directly to the Heritage.”
“You went back?? Are you crazy? You realise someone is trying to kill you, don’t you?”
“I had to do something. I couldn’t just sit around waiting for Raunak or the police to act,” he said. “Anyway, I came back alive, didn’t I?” he grinned and she rolled her eyes at him. She wondered if she should tell him about Pankaj.
He had just said that Divya was outside Pankaj’s house that morning. Did it mean she was involved in the murder? Was she involved in all this? Divya was looking more and more guilty. She had lied about Dinkar as well, according to Vedant. Also she was pretending to be someone she was not. Even her marriage to Tarun was probably hogwash. But what could she gain with all this? Certainly not the Heritage. It was not worth much anyway.
“What are you thinking?” Vedant asked, looking at her curiously.
“Nothing,” she shrugged. She was not going to tell him just yet. “You were saying…”
“Huh? Ah yes, I did not go to the hotel but managed to slip into the house. Divya wasn’t there and I took the opportunity to go through Tarun’s room.”
“I think you took a foolish risk. What if you had been caught? We know what these people are capable of, now,” She said worriedly.
“There was no one in the house.”
“And what did you find?”
“You wouldn’t guess in a hundred years!”