Between The Pages

Chapter 14

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"Congratulations mam, one more case rests in your kitty."

Natasha looked at Paresh mimicking some claps. She had solved over fifty cases in her successful career and Paresh had been beside her during a majority of them. While she was all brains, he was brutal power. Together, they had formed a merciless combination. Once any case came in their hands, the department knew their criminals had run out of their luck.

Over the five years, they had solved the most complex of cases to relatively much simpler ones. But this Emirates Bank robbery, she had to admit it was the simplest one so far.

"I don't know Paresh, something just doesn't feel right this time. Though logic says that the case has been solved, this heart doesn't agree."

"The bank was robbed when the manager was missing. Two plus two is four, right? And even that Deepa has admitted of doing the crime. Then why the doubt mam?"

Yes, that was the only cog in this twisted tale which wasn't falling in place. Natasha was almost sure that Deepa wasn't the one. She had no motive. And the roll of events just weren't in her favor as well. Then why did she admit it?

"I know it's not the manager Paresh. Her absence from the bank after the robbery confirms it. She may still be involved in it at some level, but she definitely wasn't at the helm. And then, it had been so easy to grab her too. A criminal of that stature won't just give up that easily."

That made Paresh think too. They just had to pull up a couple of their sources and the manager was served on their platter. No tricks, no traps, no resistance, nothing. That was a little fishy.

"Paresh, I want you to visit Dev again."

"Dev?"

"Yes. That's another thing which repeatedly keeps nagging my brain. Why was the manager with him? How are they related? I'm sure both, Deepa and Dev, are hiding something. You go interrogate Dev and I'll open up Deepa."

No matter what lengths she needed to traverse, she would solve this case.

Hitting the PUBLISH button, Tanmay sat back admiring the weather outside. Clouds had started to hover around as the drops started to caress his cheeks. It felt beautiful. It felt magical. Those drops were a welcome change in the usually hot weather.

Almost half an hour later, his phone started to ping with notifications. The blinking orange LED told him what it was. Those constant notifications were a proof of how much readers loved his story. It wasn't always the same though. He hadn't forgotten that phase when he didn't have a single one of them. He had almost begged for attention and yet, hadn't received any. It had all changed with her. His lucky charm, MissMagician.

Nostalgia hit him as he remembered all the conversations with her. 'You can get lost in it,' Her last words were still fresh in his mind. Those first few days after she left were really tough for him. He had lost his will to write. He still couldn't understand why she mattered so much. She was just another stranger behind the screen. But then, she was that stranger who had managed to sneak a place in his heart.

His luck had threatened to leave with her. He hadn't written anything for a whole month and readers had started to complain a lot. They demanded some words, but none spill out of him.

He was almost sucked into a shell when ItsmeRiya had emerged on the scene. She had managed to reignite that spark and keep the writer in him alive. He had thanked her many times for the same, but he knew that no words would be enough to appreciate what she had done. If MissMagician was a spark needed to ignite his flame, Riya was the oxygen which kept it burning bright.

His phone pinged again, a different sound this time. When he saw the green LED blinked signaling a Whatsapp message, he was almost sure who that was. And he wasn't disappointed at all. It was Riya.

'I really adore the way you use female characters. You portray them as such strong and determined women. That's really different from those other stories where the girls run around to woo a billionaire. I hate that kind of characters. It's good to see that someone's changing the norms around. Keep writing Mr. Writer, your reader will always be waiting for more.'

Tanmay's lips parted in a smile. She never failed to make him smile with her messages. He quickly replied her, she messaged back, and thus began another string of messages.

He tried to remember when exactly did they get so close, but he knew there was no particular time or incident behind it. Their friendship, it had just happened. From Wattpad to Whatsapp and then to other social sites, the transition was quick and smooth. And the fact that it wasn't forced at either ends really made it special. Both loved to share their life with the other. They celebrated the other's success, cried when the other was sad and helped each other through the treacherous maze of life

It wasn't as if they didn't have friends in real life to share their moments with. They the best of friends around them. And yet, that never stopped them from revealing chapters of their life to each other. It was an invisible bond between them. A pact which wasn't said or written anywhere, but just existed between them. They trusted each other with their secrets and deep down in the heart, they knew it would never break.

Trust. It might just be a five letter word for the others, but for them, it was the elixir which kept the friendship alive.

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29th June 2017