The moment Ishan drove out of the jail premises he was engulfed with fear, panic and anxiety. Millions of unanswered questions swam through his head so he decided it was for the best if he took the day off and went somewhere that could just calm him.
He drove to the Marine Drive just in time for the sunset. He parked the car in the parking lot and turned off the engine. It was about to rain therefore he decided to stay in the car as it would be difficult to manoeuvre through the crowd of people.
The colour of the sky kept changing like the thoughts in his mind. It changed from blue to golden yellow to pink and then purple. He allowed the evening breeze to blow over him through the windows gently. But it wasn't enough to calm his mind.
Suddenly, he received a message from Rishabh, who asked him to check the news.
He opened YouTube and tuned in to a live news press conference by the Home Minister of State, so he rewound the video by a few minutes.
"Sir, are you fully satisfied with the current investigation? Our people have been apprehensive of the current team and they are asking for central agencies to be appointed?"
" Oh no no, I am very relieved and satisfied with the current team. Mr. Gill and his team have been very responsible and efficient in their work. They have submitted timely reports and I don't think we need to be worrying about them"
"Sir, so how are you looking at the Sharma's team in the defence?"
"Haha, it's just a bunch of newbies, he knows they are going to lose anyway that's why he did not appear! right?" All his subordinates standing beside him started laughing. The live streaming got disrupted suddenly by a breaking news coming in.
"Live from Colaba we have reports coming in of another unidentified body found near Kendriya Vidyalay. The initial reports suggest it is just like the Scarlet Hound killings. This is now a big blow to the local police or I'd say this is a national security issue as it happened a few metres away from the army enclave! This is the big breaking of the hour! Does this mean the police have been totally useless in this case? The minister has just made a big fool out of himself by making bogus claims. Let's now connect to former IG Mr. Shanker Das..."
Ishan turned off his phone to avoid further information overload. Was this what Hardik bhaiyya had hinted at earlier? But this had just happened a few minutes ago. How could he have predicted it? It must be something else. Well, let's just meet and get this over with.
He still hasn't talked to Rishabh about the earlier event with Jaddu bhai. Hell, why is he calling him that? Mr. Jadeja, that's enough. But something about him just feels personal, maybe in some other universe, they were closer.
Ishan decided it was better to just stop everything and go back home. A good sleep will make everything better or maybe Biriyani? Yes and a brownie with ice cream. Fantastic! It is definitely going to work. So he just backed out of the parking lot and drove towards his favourite Persian Durbar. Investigations and everything else can wait for a night.
On the other side of the city, a group of people were pacing the corridors of JJ hospital, waiting for the initial autopsy reports. They silently wished the results said the opposite of what was blatantly obvious. But they hoped it was not done by the same person that did the other killings.
Shreyas looked as if he was about to cry with all the prayers hoping it was just a copycat trying to mimic Ravindra's work. Shubman is eerily silent and stuck in his position while Hardik is on his phone making multiple calls and messaging someone, seems so urgent and hurriedly. Since he stood a few feet away from them they didn't hear and weren't in the right mind to listen in anyway.
The door to the autopsy room opened and Dr. Mithali walked out. Dr. Jemima was doing something inside the room with some assistants. She had a very concerning face that made them panic a little.
"It's not a copycat. The Scarlet Hound is still at loose."
A/N: I haven't visited Mumbai since I was old enough to remember anything, so the biryani spot I mentioned is from Google. It has great reviews. I remember Ishan saying he likes mutton biryani, so I initially planned to find the best place that sells good ones. However, according to some reviews, the best ones are not as good as they used to be, so I skipped them. I've heard that autopsies are usually done in government medical colleges only, so I went in search of one on Google. That was when I found out that Anjali Tendulkar is an alumnus of this college. I didn't plan it as such, but it's where autopsies usually happen in Mumbai so I didn't change it
I'm not going to pretend everything happening with Ishan is all sunflowers and butterflies and it's important to acknowledge that. It is clearly a case of blatant injustice and sadly this is not the first time and with the way they handled Shreyas' case, we can understand it's not going to be the last. It wouldn't be surprising if talented young players decided to leave and join teams in other countries. At that time no one should dare call them traitors because the real traitors are the ones in our own country.
Sorry for going mia. I was dealing with some personal health issues. Ishan's situation made it difficult for me to stay motivated and write too. Sending love and lots more love to Ishu jaan and all of us who do care about him unlike many of his "Brothers". Here's hoping for better days.
