The Other Side

by Shreya Faria

  ‘No, not at all. I don’t think I have any rival in my contact or someone who can do this to harm me,’ said Sam without thinking much on the chances of anyone being the culprit.

  ‘Hey, you are thinking too fast. We will have to find out, and you will have to tell me everything about everyone whose name I see on your phone’s contact list. Because your blackmailer is someone from this list,’ said the officer confidently.

  ‘Yea Sam, you will have to think hard on it. It has to be from someone you know,’ said Harvey.

  ‘So, give me your phone, and I will ask you about each and everyone on your contact list, let us know a short detail about the type of interaction you have with these people,’ said the officer. Sam found the idea too funny.

  ‘Sir, my list is long. Don’t you think it will waste a lot of time?’ said Sam as he removed his phone from his pocket to unlock and handed it to the officer.

  ‘I don’t say with certainty that it will lead us to the culprit, but surely it will help us not to skip any possible suspect since you can’t think of a person you know who is out to harm you ... so let’s start with A. First on the list Aaron, tell me about him,’ said the officer.

  ‘He is a friend from my college,’ said Sam. He started from ‘A’ and went on ahead with the list. It was tedious to give information about every contact to the officer, but all worked patiently.

  ‘Finding an unknown culprit was much better than finding someone from your own contact list, to doubt on everyone ... it’s so bad,’ said Sam as they continued with their contact list and reached till alphabet ‘L’.

  ‘Yea, I know it’s a tough job Sam, to doubt everyone you know. So tell me about Lisa,’ said the officer.

  ‘Hey Lisa can be a suspect ... what do you think? On what note did things end with her? She was always interested in money, right?’ asked Harvey intently. He gazed at Sam as he thought about the question.

  ‘Yes. She can be the suspect. But I am not so sure about it. Because, why only me? She can do that with everyone whom she engaged with for such things. And it’s been a long time since I removed her from the office; I have no contact with her since then. How would she know if I had an account on this website?’ asked Sam with turbulent emotions.

  ‘Who is Lisa?’ asked the officer.

  ‘Sir, she worked at his office and had an eye on him for his money. She created turbulence in his marriage; she proposed to him even after knowing that he was married,’ said Harvey.

  ‘Hmm ... I see, and so according to you, she may want to harm him, blackmail him?’ asked the officer.

  ‘Revenge, for removing her from the office; it might have hurt her ego or something, and so she just took a chance? Did you share any of your personal details with her? Your personal email id or something of that sort?’ asked Harvey.

  ‘Yes, she had my personal email id through which I had opened an account for Ashton Martinson, but not the password, and when she left the office, she didn’t show any aggression or any such behaviour. She was quite normal,’ said Sam.

  ‘Oh, you can never trust anyone like that. And email ids can be hacked, and she might have done that if she wanted to take revenge. Anyways, we will keep her name on the suspect list and continue ahead with other contacts,’ said the officer.

  They went on with other contacts, but they didn’t find anyone else to suspect.

  ‘Now, what do we do?’ asked Sam.

  ‘We will figure out; something interesting should come up soon. Till then, we continue with tracking your mobile,’ said the officer.

  Harvey was hoping something would come at this meeting itself; still, he was okay with how things are going. Sam and Harvey bid their goodbye to the officer and left the LAPD building.

  ‘So tell me, what happened yesterday night?’ asked Harvey as they moved towards the parking.

  ‘Yesterday, when I reached home I saw Rachel was constantly busy on her phone. I asked her if she could have dinner with me as it had been days since we had eaten together; she said a yes, but still, she was on her phone continuously texting someone. I got annoyed and went to sleep. Today morning when I got up, she was nowhere in the bedroom, and you know I found her asleep in the library, and she had drunk almost a full bottle of wine and her phone was flashing with messages,’ said Sam, taking a deep breath.

  ‘So I am sure you have read those messages,’ asked Harvey.

  ‘Yes, that’s how I came to know that she was transferring money to some bank account in India, but anyways I was not able to read much as she got up from her sleep,’ said Sam.

  ‘Yea, that’s so typical of you Sam,’ said Harvey and laughed out loudly, at which Sam pushed him so hard that he had to save himself from falling; but Harvey’s laughter didn’t stop.

  ‘So tell me what are you feeling so bad about? That she was ignoring you as she was busy with her phone or because she had drunk up the wine alone or because she didn’t feel it important to share the things with you about her work; these are all things you have done to her at other times, right Sam?’ asked Harvey sarcastically. Sam was annoyed, but then he knew Harvey was right. He had done worse things to her than what she was doing.

  ‘Yes, I did feel bad about these things, but also I am concerned. I hope she is not in the same mess as I am. And the thought of her possibility of having opened an account in Ashton Martinson is kind of killing me ... yes, I know what you might be thinking about me right now, I know I did the same things too ... but ... now I know how it actually feels to be in this place,’ said Sam.

  ‘Good you realize this, Sam. If your problem was related to only jealousy and if you would have told me to find out the details, then trust me, I would have never helped you. But since you are concerned about her genuinely, I am helping you,’ said Harvey.

  ‘Yea ... I know you. So, now can you please concentrate on helping me?’ said Sam.

  ‘Yes, let me think of some way to find out things. I will give you a call once I come up with something,’ said Harvey, and they moved towards their cars and dispersed from there to reach their offices.

  Chapter 47

  While driving to the office, Harvey kept thinking if Rachel could have actually opened an account with Ashton Martinson and fallen into this mess. He was incredulous of what Sam was thinking and doubting. As far as he knew, smart women like Rachel would not waste time on such websites even if she had felt the need to have a fling. It had to be something else, but nothing struck him. He decided to follow her after her office hours in the evening. In the afternoon, while Harvey was busy in his office, Sam called him several times to ask what to do next about Rachel. But he didn’t say a word about his plans to follow her after office.

  ‘Sam, I will tell you by night as to what to do. Give me some time,’ said Harvey and disconnected the phone.

  He left from the office, grabbed a coffee from the café, and waited outside Rachel’s office. He checked that her car was still in the parking lot. He parked his car out of her line of sight but from where he could see her car. After almost more than half an hour, he saw Rachel coming out of her office building and getting inside her car. As she crossed the exit gates of the office, he hurried and followed her; she was not headed home. In a while she parked her car outside a café. Harvey saw some person who greeted her with a hug as she entered the café. Now he was anxious. He tried to peep inside the café to check on the person. Harvey was not able to see properly, but from what he saw, the person had a great body build, some sort of a health freak, someone who would be a regular at gyms. As he went a little ahead, he was surprised to see that the man was an Indian. His style, his accent, and a religious band he had on his hand proved it. Harvey wondered about the man’s connection with Rachel. From their gestures, they seemed rather friendly with each other, as if they had known each other for ages. They just laughed and giggled, and their meeting was in no way like a formal one. Harvey waited for them to finish for almost an hour. He observed the hug again as they bid goodbye. Harvey was n
ot able to fathom what exactly was happening in Sam’s and Rachel’s life and where they were headed. But he didn’t want to assume things fast and followed Rachel again as she left. This time she was on her way home. Harvey left after seeing her car parked and then called Sam.

  ‘Now listen to me carefully, I want you to check Rachel’s phone and find out how many Indian contacts she has on her phone. And also her recent call log,’ said Harvey.

  ‘Okay, but did you find anything that you want these details?’ said Sam.

  ‘I didn’t find anything as such, just wanted to check as you mentioned that she was sending money to some Indian banks,’ said Harvey.

  ‘You got to be kidding me. There is only one way, to use her thumbprint to unlock her iPhone. What, if she gets up when I am using her thumb to unlock? I will be screwed. You find some other way out,’ said Sam.

  ‘Look, you have already done this once while she was sleeping. I don’t know any other way out as fast as this right now, so please at least try to do it. You may want to offer her a drink or wine or something before bed, as you said she has started drinking a full bottle of wine and then sleeps anywhere in the house ... tell her you too want to drink today and drink together,’ said Harvey.

  ‘Stop laughing, you think it’s funny?’ said Sam as he was still thinking about this insane plan.

  ‘Now I am hanging up, I have other work to do. All the best for your task,’ said Harvey and hung up, leaving Sam in utter confusion. He was not clear what he would do next. But eventually, he had to try this insane thing.

  ‘Hey, what’s your plan post-dinner? In for some drinks?’ asked Sam as he tried to sound as casual as he could. He was sure about Rachel’s sarcastic reaction, which would follow up.

  ‘Hmm, yes sure. Is everything okay with you, though? Do you want to tell me anything?’ asked Rachel after Sam’s proposal.

  ‘Yes sweetheart, just felt like having some quality time with you. It’s been a long time,’ said Sam. At this moment he was cursing Harvey so much. Rachel gave a weird smile of acknowledgment, and Sam noticed it. He too knew how stupid it would sound if after ages he would tell her things like this; which though he actually meant. He never thought that after years, his marriage would go for a toss where he would have to request Rachel to spend some quality time.

  Rachel had almost three glasses of wine, and Sam only managed to finish one drink. They chatted for a while about work, about their common friends. At times there were awkward silences between them when they fidgeted with their phones till Sam again came up with something to talk. They continued like this, till after three glasses of wine and a tiring day at the office, Rachel felt dizzy and decided to go to her room and sleep. Sam was a little relieved as now he could get to work.

  ‘You not sleepy? You have not even finished one glass of your drink?’ asked Rachel as she got up to go to the bedroom.

  ‘No, not sleepy. But you sleep, I will finish this and come soon,’ said Sam.

  ‘Okay then, don’t be late,’ she said and left for the room.

  The words ‘don’t be late’ made Sam happy. He felt wanted, and it completely changed his mood. He no longer felt like eavesdropping on her phone after she had gone to sleep; he felt like going back to her, hug her and go off sleep next to her. But he had to check her phone, for nothing else but Rachel’s good. He waited for half an hour for Rachel to sleep before he entered the bedroom. He sat on the sofa for a while, observing Rachel. She was not in a deep sleep and kept turning on her sides. Sam never admired her the way he did today when she was sleeping. That moment he just prayed and hoped that Rachel would never leave him alone and stay forever in his life and that how he would sacrifice anything for this to happen.

  After some time, when she was in deep sleep, Sam tried to take her phone, which lay near her pillow. As he was about to take the phone, she moved a little, and he kept back the phone out of fear. His heart beat faster as his hand again went forward to take the phone. This time he was successful, but still, the major task was pending, to unlock the phone. At first, he tried unlocking by entering a few codes, but it didn’t work. Now the only way was to use her thumbprint while she was asleep. He took the phone and went towards his side of the bed as Rachel had turned that side. He slid under their duvet and turned towards her. He went a little closer, his heart beating faster, he tried to touch her hand. She didn’t move, he felt assured, and after several attempts, he was able to unlock her phone. He moved back slowly and went back to the sofa. He was not able to believe what he had done.

  He opened her contacts and scrolled down through the names and scanned for the Indian names, but he was not able to find any Indian sounding names. He checked the call log, and to his surprise, her full call log was deleted. He found it fishy, he checked her messages to see if he found something suspicious like the other day, but again her inbox was empty. There was nothing in her cell phone to check out. He was not sure whether to feel relieved for not finding anything suspicious or to worry about not getting any clue at all. He thought for a while; by the time he had decided to recheck the contacts, the phone had auto-locked again. He dropped his idea to recheck and placed her phone back. He went and made one more drink for himself. Mixed emotions had gripped his heart, he was feeling guilty and annoyed at the same time. Guilty for doing such things, checking her phone and worrying about all that she might have done. Especially when he had done worse things himself and still has not said anything to her. How could he expect that she would come up upfront when he himself was hiding things from her? Then again, he started thinking about things that Rachel was hiding and was worried about. Why didn’t she feel it important or necessary to share her problem with him?

  Chapter 48

  ‘What are you saying? She had deleted her call log?’ asked Harvey in disbelief. Sam had called him early in the morning as soon as he was up. He was expecting that Sam would manage to get the number of the guy whom Rachel had met post office hours.

  ‘Yes, either she deleted on purpose, or she may have reset her phone. Who knows?’ said Sam. He sounded a little strange to Harvey; he observed this and asked Sam if he was okay, to which he got a reply in the affirmative, but somehow Harvey didn’t want to believe. Sam, on the other hand, had decided to do something before going to the office. This time he was stern on it. After ending the call with Harvey, he went towards his room and planned to wake up Rachel. As he entered, he saw Rachel was not sleeping and when he went looking for her and found her standing in the balcony, absorbing some morning sun and fresh air. It was the perfect time and place, thought Sam.

  ‘Hey Rach, I want to tell you something important,’ said Sam as he entered the balcony.

  ‘Hey ... good morning, is everything okay?’ asked Rachel calmly to the worried sounding Sam.

  ‘No, sweetheart. I want to confess to you many things ... and I hope this is the best time,’ said Sam and went close to her.

  ‘Okay. Now you are scaring me, tell me what it is about,’ asked Rachel who was now curious to know what Sam had to say.

  ‘Rachel, I had opened an account on that Ashton Martinson website out of curiosity. It was all for fun after getting a little drunk, and trust me I had never used it later for anything ... and ...’ said Sam and paused to see if Rachel was okay after hearing this information before he could proceed further.

  ‘And what?’ asked Rachel, staring deep into Sam’s eyes.

  ‘And then I got emails from the blackmailers, and they demanded money and bitcoin in all different ways. At first, I was called to Las Vegas to give the money to the blackmailer, but it turned out a failure, and thus the blackmailing saga continued. I planned to tell you all these many times. But ... you were sort of mad over me after cutting short our date that day. And also I was scared of your reactions. I am so sorry for hiding it for so long,’ said Sam and waited for Rachel’s reactions. But none was forthcoming. Sam waited still he asked again.

  ‘You don’t want to say anything?’ asked Sam as he
was desperate to know if Rachel would be okay after hearing all this. The two minutes of silence felt like two years as Rachel still didn’t answer or react.

  ‘No, I don’t want to say anything ... so is there anything else you want to confess, or this is it?’ asked Rachel in a normal tone. This was freaking Sam more.

  ‘No, well, are you not freaked out. I want you to get mad at me. I have been doing all the wrong things to you sweetheart and am feeling so bad about it. How can you not react to it at all?’ asked Sam.

  ‘Sam as of now I just don’t know what to tell you and I don’t want my mind to lose its control. I want to be calm and composed for my mental health, thus it’s better I don’t react to things anymore ... so if you want to tell anything else apart from this you can or else I have to get going, Sam. I need to reach office early,’ said Rachel. Sam was too confused with her reaction, and he didn’t know what else to tell her.

  ‘Okay, so ... dinner together tonight?’ asked Sam. He just didn’t know what else to tell or how to ask why she is okay with it.

  ‘Yes ... hopefully if I come home by time, I have a meeting in the evening today,’ said Rachel and went inside the room.

  Sam was expecting that Rachel would react to his confession, would get mad or if not that, then she would also tell what she was hiding for a few days and things would be clear and normal between them, but nothing this sort of happened. Sam was growing more anxious to know what was happening in Rachel’s life.

  Rachel, on the other hand, was in complete disbelief at what Sam confessed. She never thought he could confess such things so easily, and this is what she used to hate about him. Now since he confessed these things, she started feeling guilty for things she had done, which she didn’t want to confess. It would be with her forever. Things happened out of rage? Against the husband who was not there and who in many ways, was never there. Madness? Or a bottle of fermented grape juice?