‘It is a faint memory right now. To be honest, even back then I was partly unconscious, so the details are very fuzzy,’ said the man in a black t-shirt. Vijay examined him more closely. He had fair skin and thick black hair. He was at least six feet tall with a well-built frame.

‘It’s alright. Tell me what you remember. We shall proceed from there,’ Vijay said calmly.

He took a moment to respond. His eyes constantly avoided looking at Vijay directly and he kept pressing his palm against his mouth. He finally turns and looked at Vijay and asked, ‘sir, if I may ask. What is this really about?’

‘I just want to verify the details of the incident once more. That is all,’ Vijay replied.

‘But this was months ago. Why now?’

‘Please answer. I will ask you only once,’ Vijay said calmly.

His calmness frightened the witness rather than comforting him. ‘Alright,’ the man said and began, ‘much of what happened that day was a blur. I don’t remember much of the attack itself. I remember an argument breaking out between the shopkeeper and a customer. I tried to make a run for it immediately but was swept up instead. I felt something hit my head hard and after that I blanked out. When I woke up again, I remembered being carried on the back of someone. A woman to be more precise. I think I was in shock at that moment, none of my gabbling made any sense. But the woman didn’t seem to mind. She calmed me down immediately. She had a soft voice and on hearing it, I felt like everything would be okay. She carried me for a long time, or that is how I felt before arriving at a hospital… or was it a clinic? I lost consciousness and by the time I woke up again, I found the police waiting for me. From there, you must know the rest.’

Vijay remained silent. He had a notepad in front of him and a pen in his hand. he stared into the notepad for some time, leaving the witness to patiently wait for him. They were the only ones in the café. Each had a cup of tea in front of them and neither had touched their cup. The witness slowly reached out for his cup before picking it and taking a sip with great caution. His eyes were fixed on to Vijay, observing his poker face for any signs of danger.

Vijay tapped on his notepad hard, before setting the pen down on to the table. He too proceeded to take a sip out of his now cold tea. ‘Right then,’ Vijay said as he set down the cup, ‘let’s speak the truth.’

‘Truth?’ the witness asked nervously.

‘Yes. Let’s start with the fact that the mysterious customer was you.’

The witnesses’ eyes widened, giving away what his expression and his words tried to hide. ‘What?’ he responded.

‘And… the fact that this mysterious customer’s friends were both your friends and the shopkeeper’s associates,’ Vijay continued.

‘I don’t understand what you are saying?’ the witness replied as he set down his cup. His hands were shivering.

‘Don’t bullshit me. I don’t know how or why you and shopkeeper came to terms, especially after the bloody fight, but I know that there was no mysterious gang who started the fight. It was you who fought with the shopkeeper and both of you had people who escalated the whole thing into a bloody mess,’ Vijay explained.

‘No. You are wrong. I did not fight with the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper confirmed this.’

‘Yes. That is what surprised me. How in the world did he and you make up the same story when neither of you met after the fight?’

‘Because it is the truth!’ the witness swore.

‘No, it is not, and I feel like the truth has something to do with the woman who saved you.’

The witness’s expression changed instantly. He seemed to have dropped his anxious demeaner and suddenly become a lot calmer. He looked out the glass pane at the outside, seemingly deep in thought. ‘Got him,’ Vijay thought to himself.

‘No,’ the witness said, still looking outside, ‘I can’t. He will kill me if he found out that I opened my mouth.’

‘Who is he?’ Vijay asked.

‘Who else?’ the witness retorted in a serious tone.

‘If it is the shopkeeper, you are worried about, well he won’t bother you anymore. He is sitting behind bars.’ Vijay said.

The witness’s eyes widened on hearing the news. His jaw dropped a little before he asked, ‘seriously?’

‘Yeah. That is why I know you are not telling the truth.’

‘If you already know the story, why ask me?’

‘I don’t. He was caught on a different case. Which is why you were never bothered by us,’ Vijay said. ‘So? You going to talk?’

The witness maintained a few seconds of silence before responding, ‘okay. But there isn’t much I can tell you.’

‘Whatever you remember.’

He nodded and began, ‘there were no friends of mine. Just his. He ran a small tea stall near my room, and I would visit him every once in a while, for a quick whiff of smoke. How was I supposed to know he did shady business hiding in that tin can? It was like any other day. I went to that place at dusk for a cigarette and the shopkeeper was missing. The shop was still open and so I decided to wait. If only I stood at the stall and not wandered near that alley.’

‘What did you see?’ Vijay asked.

‘I don’t even know. The second I saw him talking to someone, I immediately turned around and walked back to the stall but it must have seemed to them that I saw their whole operation. Just a few seconds later he walked back to the stall and then things went downhill.’

‘He threatened you?’

‘Not at first. He wanted to make sure if I saw anything in the first place. Don’t know why but he didn’t believe me. I was so scared that instead of just submitting, I started defending myself… four men walked out of the alley, and I knew at that moment I was done for.’

‘Is that when the woman arrived?’

‘She was there the whole time. When I first arrived, I saw her sitting on a bench beside the stall, having a bottle of soda… I think. But she stayed out of sight for the rest of the time. Things got really bad before she stepped in.’

‘You had no clue what she was doing while you were having the argument?’ Vijay interrupted.

‘Yes. I completely forgot she was even there. Or… maybe she left. I am not sure,’ he replied.

‘Anyways continue. Judging by how badly you were wounded when you arrived at the hospital, you must have taken a few good hits.’

He nodded before saying, ‘they had no intention of showing mercy. I was on the ground and felt the taste of blood in my mouth when suddenly they stopped. I looked up to see the woman standing between me and them. They warned her and she said something. Last thing I remember before losing consciousness was one of them pouncing on her. The next thing I remember, she was carrying me to the hospital.’

Vijay quietly listened to his story and nodded slightly towards the end. ‘Do you remember how she looked?’

‘Not really. All I remembered was that she was short, like really short… and also had short black hair.’

‘Any physical features? Like marks or scars?’ Vijay asked.

‘Didn’t notice any.’

‘What colour were her eyes?’

‘Her eyes? Black, I guess.’

‘You are not sure?’

‘They just looked like anyone else’s eyes.’

Vijay began to tap on his notepad with his pen again. He looked deeply dissatisfied which made the witness even more anxious. ‘Any detail. Anything at all?’ Vijay asked. It became evident that he was here for the woman, not for him nor the shopkeeper.

The witness so far hadn’t given anything new that the shopkeeper in custody had. The shopkeeper had a hard time remembering any details after receiving a severe thrashing. It was unfortunate that the witness paid little attention and remembered too little to give him anything of substance too.

‘If I may ask, sir. What is this about?’ the witness asked.

‘Trust me,’ Vijay said, looking at him with steely eyes, ‘you don’t want to know.’

He felt a chill run up his spine. He gulped the saliva that was stuck in his throat and said, ‘okay. But could I say something?’

Vijay looked back at him cautiously. ‘What is it?’

‘Whoever this woman is, at the end of the day she saved my life. I know you might think that it is a good enough reason to keep information about her from you. But the truth is I too want to meet her. So, I just want to know if you are looking for this woman for the wrong kind of reasons.’

Vijay lowered his gaze and said in low voice, ‘honestly, even I would like to know that.’

***

Three months had passed since his boss had first assigned him this job. While the investigation was going pretty smoothly, no complaints from Raghuram so far, the internal turmoil continued to grow by the day. Now, he spends the nights just contemplating his actions and how his decisions would affect those involved in this case.

‘Now is not the time to think,’ he told himself every night and tonight was no different. He sat on the floor of his tiny house with a plate full of food in front of him and his wife to his side. He had a lot of other things to think about, like how to make his empty little home a little better. They moved in five months ago and after all this time, it looked as empty as the day they moved in. Despite a steady job, he made so little that every investment had to be well planned as it took months of savings.

‘You are not listening to me, are you?’ his wife asked.

‘I am,’ Vijay replied as he stared at his food.

‘Oh yeah? What was I even talking about?’ she asked.

‘The neighbour’s green jacket. If she doesn’t like the stitching just ask her to get elsewhere,’ he said. His wife spent the entire day at home. While her husband was away at work and with no television to keep her entertained, she found herself dying of boredom every day. That was until she began sewing clothes for the neighbours which now was slowly becoming a job she enjoyed doing.

‘No way. I already did the work. Not going to lose money for it,’ she replied.

He sighed dully and returned to his meal. His wife felt a strange sense of sadness in his voice and behaviour lately. ‘Vijay, I feel like you are not telling me something important.’

She was right. He desperately wanted to share this with her, but he knew better. It was not just the dilemma, but also the fact that he could not talk to anyone about this. This left him to carry the burden of his decision all on his own. But what could he do? That was kind of the situation he found himself in. ‘Just some work stuff. Nothing to worry about,’ he replied.

‘I may not know much about your work. But maybe telling me will help you,’ she said.

‘It sure would,’ he thought to himself. He then proceeded to spin a story about a stolen vehicle and the pressure from higher ups to find it. It was just convincing enough to keep his wife’s fears at bay. But he couldn’t help but wonder if it was all worth it in the end.

If he did find the woman in the end, would he really turn her in? Should he lie and spin a story to close the case? He was sure that if he caught her, his life would change for the better. But it would mean sacrificing a woman’s life for his personal gain. Was she truly guilty in anyway? He never felt so. Then, wouldn’t that make him the villain of her story?