Eleven Graves

by Aman Gupta

  “We don’t do anything. We deliver this keychain to this address. Make sure the guy is home while we deliver the keychain. Rest is up to the client,” said Morgan.

  “Where’s the keychain?” asked the lady.

  “Don’t worry, Nessy. Someone will get us the keychain when we reach the address,” said Morgan. “Before that, I need to wash my hands. Don’t know what was in the package but my hands smell like shit.”

  He started their pickup truck and they left.

  Kate went inside the station, picked up her bag and left, much to surprise of Emma.

  Later in the afternoon, Emma left for her home, to dress up for her date with Vik.

  Vik showed up around 5:30 pm at Emily’s. He was a regular at the diner and everyone in the staff, including the owner, Emily Silverstein, knew him.

  “Hi Vik, what are you doing here on a weekday?” asked Emily.

  “Meeting someone,” replied Vik.

  “Meeting who?” asked Emily.

  “A friend,” said Vik.

  “Which friend?” asked Emily.

  “Why, you jealous!” said Vik, smiling.

  “You know, I’ll kill every girl for you,” said Emily, staring and laughing while gesturing that she’s got her eyes on him.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s why your sister is in jail,” said Vik.

  “She’s a doctor in the infirmary, you idiot,” said Emily.

  Vik smiled.

  Emma showed up nearly an hour later.

  “Sorry, I’m late,” said Emma.

  “Don’t worry about it,” said Vik.

  “I see you were serious about that $500. But you didn’t have to buy clothes just for me,” said Emma, delighted at the thought that Vik believed this to be a date after all.

  “I didn’t,” said Vik. “This is my regular non-date clothes.”

  “Well, you look very handsome,” said Emma.

  “You look fine, too,” said Vik and smiled. Emma realized he was referring to their earlier conversation and smiled back.

  “My name is Sandy, I’ll be your waiter this evening,” said the waiter. “Hey, Vik.”

  “Hey Sandy,” said Vik, as she made a fist for Vik to bump back.

  He looked at Emma who was perplexed, while he bumped his fist with Sandy’s.

  “Two coffees for now,” said Vik.

  “Okay, coming right back in a moment,” said Sandy, as she smiled and left.

  “Take your time,” blurted Emma.

  Vik laughed. Emma laughed too.

  Few minutes into their date, Emma directed the conversation to get a bit more clarity about the thoughts in her mind.

  “I don’t know anything about you, and yet I am enamored of you,” said Emma.

  “Maybe that’s why you are attracted. You love the mystery, not the man,” said Vik.

  “That’s not true. There’s something here, isn’t it or am I just being a fool?” asked Emma.

  “I can’t answer that for you,” said Vik.

  “Well, what can you answer?” asked Emma.

  “I can answer this – you’re smart, funny, beautiful, and even intelligent than most people. You could have any guy you want, whenever you want. Yet you are here sitting with me, at Emily’s. We all know it’s not the most romantic spot in the town, and yet when I asked to meet here, your face lit up like we were going to Paris of 10 years ago. Even now, I don’t even need to look around to see that half the people in here are wondering that how could I be sitting across from a girl like you, and the other half is jealous. Either way, that makes me wonder about the endgame here. I live an extremely alienated life for a reason. You must have suspected that, and yet you continued to be drawn for the last few months. You think I am a mystery, but I think the only mystery here is you,” said Vik.

  “Wow,” said Emma. “I had no idea you thought this way. Please tell me more.”

  “Tell you what?”

  “Anything. What were you doing 2-3 years ago? Did you always dream to end up here at this very moment?” said Emma, while she reached across to grab Vik’s hand.

  “In another life, I was married, had a beautiful wife and a lovely daughter. They meant the world to me, and I lost that world. They deserved better than me. And so does everyone else,” said Vik, turning his face away almost as if to wipe away a tear. He looked very contrite, which Emma noticed.

  “What happened to them?” asked Emma.

  “They died,” said Vik.

  “I lost someone too, you know. My sister. She died in a car accident. Didn’t even find her body. She just disappeared. That’s why I became a cop. I couldn’t have someone else go through what I and my family went through – the unknown, the uncertainty. It just kills you,” said Emma, almost about to cry.

  “Don’t worry, the way you drive, you’ll join her soon,” said Vik, wanting to cease the flow of the conversation.

  Emma’s pain turned into laughter. Vik laughed too, on seeing her laugh.

  “Here’s to new beginnings,” said Vik, toasting his cup of coffee.

  “New beginnings,” said Emma.

  They conversed about their weird habits, their high school crushes and their interests.

  “Here, let me show you something,” said Vik.

  “What?” asked Emma.

  “Place your back towards the sidewall and put your feet up, like sitting parallel to the table,” said Vik, while showing it to Emma.

  Emma copied him.

  “This is how I relax. I can see everything that is happening. The entire world at this very moment, has turned constant for me. I can see anything, observe everything, be it that knife on the floor or that drawing on the ceiling. I don’t even have to move my neck. Whenever I’m anxious, I do this and the world seems a lot better, brighter and worth looking at. It lands a perspective that makes you realize the situation better,” said Vik.

  “And it makes me a lot more philosophical too, like looking at a bigger picture,” said Emma.

  “Like how?” asked Vik.

  “We have to lose things to find something else,” said Emma.

  “And sometimes, we are looking at places so far away that we don’t even see our own backyard. But wherever we go, we must always have a way back to where we started. That way, we are never truly lost, just misplaced,” said Vik.

  “And how does that help us?” asked Emma.

  “In time you’ll figure it out. Hope it’s not too late,” said Vik, shaking his head.

  “You’re terrible, you know that. I don’t know why Joey or Eric trusts you,” said Emma, laughing.

  “We all have things we don’t get to use. I read in your file that you know Morse code. I bet you never used it. But some day you might have to. And Eric trusts me because I got him you and Joey,” said Vik.

  “What do you mean?” asked Emma.

  “That’s a story for another time,” said Vik.

  “Do you see us getting a coffee tomorrow?” asked Emma.

  “No,” said Vik, as coldly as he could.

  Emma looked at him for a few seconds and asked, “Why?”

  “Because I’m no longer a mystery,” said Vik.

  “That’s not why I’m here,” said Emma.

  “You think that, but after few days or months, you’ll forget about this. You’ll replace this stuff with something new. Maybe even resent me, I tend to bring that out in people. And don’t worry, it’s not like you’re losing out anything,” said Vik.

  “What if I feel I’m losing out?” asked Emma.

  “Look around, Detective. Everyone is feeling they’re losing out at this very moment. But if you look at the unabridged picture few months or even years down the line, you’ll find that this is nothing more than a memory, a milestone which steered you to your ultimate destination. That’s all there is to life. I made my peace with that when I came here. You’re just a few months behind,” said Vik.

  “You are right. I don’t think I can be around someone like you,” said E
mma, and got up.

  “There you go. What did that take? 30 seconds?” said Vik, while looking around the diner.

  “I just think you’re scared of hurting people. So you just push them away,” said Emma.

  “You’re onto something,” said Vik.

  “What do you mean?” asked Emma.

  “Few days, weeks, even months from now, there might come a time when you’ll need to take a leap of faith when the world is telling you not to. I just hope you don’t make the same choice that I did,” said Vik, with a hint of concern in his voice.

  Emma sat down, facing Vik. She could see he was hurting a little bit, but it had nothing to do with her.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” said Emma.

  “That’s not the first time someone told me that. Didn’t quite end well last time,” said Vik.

  She held his hand. They talked for another few minutes before having their meal.

  “Would you excuse me? I need to make a phone call,” said Vik.

  He came back after fifteen minutes while Emma thought about what he had said.

  “Everything alright?” asked Emma.

  “Couldn’t be better,” said Vik. “I had jumped out of the bathroom window, but then decided to come back.”

  “We should probably head to the town, as the party is about to start,” said Emma.

  “You should go,” said Vik. “I have some errands to run.”

  Emma got up and they left the diner together.

  “I hope I’m wrong about you. I think it’s not such a coincidence that we are here,” shouted Emma after they went in opposite directions.

  “Remember what we talked about tonight, Detective,” shouted Vik.

  ◆◆◆

  Across the town, Morgan showed up at the address in his pickup truck. Someone knocked on the window. He opened the door. A woman got in his truck, wearing a hat & sunglasses, with her face being semi-covered by a black scarf.

  “Got a message to be here early. It’s almost 8 yet feels so dark. Hope there are no loose ends in the chain,” said Morgan.

  The woman gave him a package. Morgan opened it to find a keychain. The woman pointed at her hands, to her imaginary watch.

  “Wait here,” said Morgan.

  He went up the stairs to the apartment, and knocked on the door. As soon as a guy opened the door, Morgan punched him in the nose, and threw the keychain on the floor. The man got up and went after Morgan by taking out his gun from a drawer. Morgan managed to get hold of the gun, and accidently fired a shot into the man’s gut. The guy went down on the floor in the apartment, bleeding profusely.

  Morgan went down the stairs and ran towards the car, and tripped over a can of oil. He managed to get up as he heard a phone ringing. He recognized that ringtone, as it belonged to the head of a group that he used to work for, a former life that he was running from.

  He looked around, as few seconds later, the apartment caught fire and its roof exploded. He got to the truck and saw that the woman had already left. There was a phone on his dashboard.

  It started ringing and he picked up the call. The voice on the other end said, “Is it done?”

  “Yes,” said Morgan.

  “Swell. Stay low, we have another job for you. Get rid of the phone,” said the voice.

  “You didn’t just hire me because I’m an assassin. You hired me because you know who I am, didn’t you?” said Morgan.

  The person disconnected the call.

  Morgan broke the phone and drove away, while planting the gun underneath his seat.

  The woman came out of the shadow, and made a phone call.

  “Everything went as planned. He’s gone. Now I’m through,” said the woman.

  “You did well, Jenna. You did well,” said the man on the phone.

  The next morning, Vik got a phone call from Eric, who asked him to come down to the station.

  Vik entered the station and went to Eric’s office.

  “I wanted you to be the first to know,” said Eric.

  “You know its 7 AM in the morning right? We are the only two people here,” said Vik.

  “Anthony is gone,” said Eric.

  “What are you talking about?” said Vik.

  “His apartment blew up last night,” said Eric.

  “Did you find a body?” asked Vik, after pausing for few seconds.

  “We found two,” said Eric.

  “How did you control the fire in the middle of the night? I couldn’t smell anything in the air. Fire trucks are like hours away for us,” said Vik.

  “Rain helped,” said Eric.

  “Maybe it’s not him. You know him as well as I do. And also he wasn’t supposed to be in his apartment yesterday. He was supposed to be at the lab,” said Vik.

  “I need to find out if it’s him,” said Eric.

  “Sure, we have his DNA on file. He added it himself. So, I’ll do that,” said Vik.

  “Now, I have to figure out how to break this news to the entire town. All they know is a house got blown up yesterday and they’re scared,” said Eric.

  “We’ll figure it out,” said Vik. “Where are the bodies?”

  “Parked outside. Scorched, charred, unrecognizable. Only couple of officers know about this. Let’s keep it that way,” said Eric.

  Vik nodded and left.

  A few hours later, Elina showed up and asked to meet the sheriff.

  “Ma’am, would you like to take a seat?” said Eric.

  “What’s wrong? Is my husband alright?” asked Elina.

  “We don’t know. I asked around. Your husband got fired last week. He wasn’t at the grocery store,” said Eric.

  “No, that’s not true,” said Elina.

  “I asked Roger. He fired your husband because he suspected your husband was stealing from him,” said Eric.

  “He’s lying. My husband is a good man. He works hard, and keeps his head down. He’s not a criminal,” said Elina, sobbing.

  “But don’t worry, we’ll find him. It’s just going to take a little longer,” said Eric.

  “How long? He could be in danger, and you and the other cops aren’t even doing anything. I saw them all investigating the other crime, the river one. No one’s looking for my husband,” claimed Elina, deeply hurt and furious.

  “That’s not true. We’re doing everything we can. We’ll find him,” said Eric.

  Eric wasn’t as comfortable talking to grieving families’ as other cops at the station. He felt their pain, and that used to cloud his judgment.

  “Now, I need you to go home and think hard about where your husband could go other than the grocery store. Anyone he knew, any friends or enemies, okay? Meanwhile, we’ll expand our investigation area and get a couple of more officers on it, to cover more ground,” explained Eric.

  Elina nodded and got up. Eric noticed a strange red bruising on her left wrist.

  When she left, he called Kate to his office.

  “That woman, Elina. I think she knows more than she’s letting on. Put a tail on her,” said Eric.

  “Okay,” said Kate.

  “What do we know about the body?” asked Eric.

  “Not much. We are showing his photograph around to see if we can get an identity. We have requested for a match with the central registry. Still waiting to hear from them,” said Kate.

  “Okay, keep me posted,” said Eric.

  “You don’t think it’s connected, do you?” asked Kate.

  “Connected to what?” asked Eric.

  “The house that blew up. The uniforms said they found two bodies. That’s three bodies in a matter of days. Maybe we should ask Anthony to take a second look at all of them together,” said Kate.

  “I’m handling it,” said Eric.

  “I’m just saying..” said Kate, before Eric interrupted her.

  “Detective! I’m handling it,” said Eric, firmly.

  “Yes, sir,” said Kate and left.

  Vik went to the lab and saw the front
door to the building unlocked. He went in and saw the entire place ransacked. He went up to the lab and saw the lab trashed and the tech room destroyed. Jacob’s body was also missing from the lab.

  “Hey, it’s me,” said Vik on the phone. “Someone was here, looking for something. The whole place’s trashed.”

  “Come down to the station,” said Eric.

  Emma got in and saw Vik setting up his lab in the room next to Eric’s.

  “What are you doing?” asked Emma.

  “Moving in,” said Vik.

  “What do you mean, moving in?” asked Emma.

  Eric showed up at the door and Vik looked at him.

  “Come with me, detective,” said Eric.

  “Yes, sir,” said Emma, looking all confused at the turn of events.

  Eric gathered Kate, Joey, Emma and other 3 officers in the hall.

  “I’ve got some news,” said Eric.

  Eric continued, “Last night, we all know a house exploded just outside the town. Not many people know this but that house belong to Anthony Arnold.”

  “Oh no!” said Kate.

  “I have reason to believe one of the bodies found at the crime scene is Anthony’s, but we are waiting for confirmation from Vik, who will be handling the Forensic and Tech Centre of the town. Unfortunately, the lab got ransacked sometime between yesterday evening and today morning, and the body found at the river is also missing,” said Eric.

  “What is happening?” exclaimed Joey.

  “We’re trying to figure that out,” said Eric. “All we know for sure, is that we now have 4 cases – The body by the river, the missing husband, the possible murder of Anthony and the ransacked lab. Now I believe the last two could be connected.”

  “What’s the plan?” asked Emma.

  “Kate, you will now be handling Anthony’s case and working with Vik in identifying both the bodies. Emma, you will be handling the missing husband’s case. And Joey, you will be in charge of investigating the body by the river. The officers will be assisting you in your investigation and all of you will directly report to me,” explained Eric. “Till we have confirmation, the official status of Anthony Arnold is presumed missing. We don’t want to incite a mass panic.”

  A few hours later, Vik showed up and confirmed that one of the bodies belong to Anthony Arnold.