Kartik Khandelwal

“There’re four, not three,” I murmured as I rubbed my chin. “What’re the ‘three’s’ in this case?” I sat on my desk at the room provided to the defense group. “Maybe he was murdered because he found something else, and not because he was threatened already.”

Sonia and Richa entered the room talking with each other lightly. “And you know what, he even confessed!”

“What an unlucky man he must be,” Sonia exaggerated in her same cold expressions. “It seems like he himself is tired of such a good life he got.”

“Stop it!” Richa saw me and they stopped talking. Still, she whispered in her ears, “He is cute too. I guess we match!”

“Ahem,” I checked my throat, giving them the warning to stop for now. “Okay then, I guess you all must have heard of the murder of Security Head Ayush Kumble.” The three nodded.

“He was found to be stabbed multiple times in the neck region and his head also started bleeding because he fell so badly on the ground,” Mukesh told. “The body’s gone for post mortem for now.”

“But,” Kartik raised a finger of his. “Everyone missed that one fact which can explain his murder quite perfectly.” I looked at their eyes, and all I could see were their confused expressions. “He was working as a ghost-investigator with us.”

“What?” Richa covered her mouth in awe. There was utter confusion and tension in the whole room.

“Unbelievable,” Sonia’s eyes were wide too, one of those rare moments.

“He was working unofficially for us, and still TES was able to find him and kill him. You know what that means, right?” I said. “TES has got an eye for us too. We can’t hide, we can’t run. We can just fight and die like scapegoats here.”

Prakash had his eyes, which were full of tension, on me. “No…”

“But, what’s the point of fighting anyways if we all are gonna die?” Sonia commented. “C’mon, I’m gonna resign.”

“Your resignation from this case won’t solve shit,” I replied aggressively. “Y’all are gonna die anyways now. So, it’s better to give up a fight and find as many clues as possible rather than giving up.”

“Language, Mr. Khandelwal. You may be my leader, but I’m not junior to you yet,” Sonia replied calmly.

“I hope that was true too, Sonia,” I replied. I was suddenly irritated by her behavior.

“Then congrats, Inspector. That’s true!”

“Strap it up, you two,” Richa tried stopping the fight, but I was already heated up.

“Wait, what do you mean? I’m the leader here, pal.” I walked towards her, pointing my finger at myself to give me some exposure.

“Oh, yes you are, but leaders are just slaves to the public, isn’t it?”

Prakash commented, “She gives pretty good replies. Your sense of humor is good.”

“Thanks a lot, Prakash.” She stood up from her seat and looked at me, “Learn from your friend, Inspector.” She walked past him and moved outside the room.

“Bloody bitch,” I cussed. I turned back at my desk and shouted, “Dismissed!”

As I was hot-mindedly packing my stuff and stuffing my papers inside, the team was going back. Prakash stopped behind me and looked at me angrily thrusting my things inside my black bag. Mukesh was the last one to leave the room, and that’s when I took up my bag and hung it on my shoulders. “The Kartik I knew was always calm and anger didn’t even roam in front of him,” He commented.

I looked at him and asked, “What do you want from me?”

“You were given the title of the leader because you can create a good environment even in the worst of times. You maintain the environment from serious, tension to cheerful and good. But, you’ve lost your charm, pal.”

“Really?” I asked angrily.

“Yes. You’re so tense that you can’t see the changes in your behavior.”

“Don’t behave like my godfather or something, Prakash. I’ve had enough from your side too. Just work with me and that’s it. Don’t try to give any silly advice.”

He replied nothing. He tilted his head down, gave a shy, “Okay,” turned right and walked away.

Richa Chadha

“Hey, don’t get angry at him, Sonia,” I was walking behind Sonia, who was walking very fast.

“Why the hell am I supposed to not be angry with him?” She replied. She stopped, turned at me and replied, “That man thinks he’s our boss or something here. That bloody motherfu--”

“That’s enough,” I stopped her. “I know he was wrong on his part, but, what’s done is done. He’s not that type to unnecessarily shot at others or pick up a fight without a reason. He’s a civilized policeman, better than most of us working here in terms of behavior, and he’d surely apologize by tomorrow.”

“Sonia,” We heard from behind. I turned back and saw that it was Prakash, who looked kind of dejected and sad. “I know what he’s done is not good, and so, I apologize on his part.”

“P-Prakash, why you--” I was confused for a second.

“Actually, he’s been in some trauma since a few days. All these killings and all is driving him crazy. He just needs some time to recollect himself, and that’s it.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t always be the preys of his worse behavior every single time, can we?” Sonia replied.

“Another witty answer,” Prakash replied. “I’m not asking you to be his preys or whatever. I’m just asking you to… to forgive him. He’s suffering from loss. On top of that, he got no one to talk to and ease his mind, so he’s constantly running here and there, trying to take out all of his emotions. They just come out in bad times. I promise he won’t do anything like this again.”

“Prakash…” I murmured.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Sonia replied, turned back and ran away.