The Selfie

7:30 a.m - 8/8/11

The four of them stood shoulder to shoulder and looked on as they lowered the coffin. Rudy and Diana were consoling Atisha's parents while Ankit was rubbing Prithvi's shoulder to calm her down. There weren't many people, just Atisha's parents and brother, and the four of them, along with the priest and keepers of the graveyard.

They finished with the final rituals and slowly filed out, one by one. As Ankit turned to go, he realised that Diana still hadn't come. He turned to see her kneeling in front of the fresh mound and apparently whispering something. Ankit realised she needed some alone time with her dead friend and walked away.

He joined Rudy and Prithvi outside the cemetery. "We need to talk." He told Rudy.
"If its about that damn selfie, I already told you, I didn't imagine that. How the hell do you imagine a phone that is so clearly switched on?" Rudy demanded. "The same way she could imagine her dead friend in a recently taken picture." Ankit replied. Then he looked over at Prithvi. "Not that I'm blaming you honey, I know how much you miss her." He added apologetically. Prithvi just gave him a slight nod.
"Look, I did not imagine that." Rudy said. He paused and then continued, "OK, maybe I accidentally switched on the phone. But how do you explain the movement across the hall?"
"Physics, Rudy! It was probably a shadow!"
"Physics, Ankit! You need a screen to make a shadow! And clearly, there was no screen across the hall!"

At that moment, Diana walked out and joined them. She looked at the both of them curiously. "Is this about Sunday night?" She asked them finally.
They both nodded.
Diana sighed. "Guys, can we drop it? Now? We have more important things to discuss about. Something more important than your hallucinations." Diana said.
"More important things like what?"
"More important things like Anand."

At that, they both immediately shut up as a silent signal for Diana to go on.
"I interrogated his friends over the past two days. From what they say, his alibi holds true." She paused. "Which is bad for us because now we are back to square one." She said, looking at the others.
"How are you so sure that they're not lying?" Rudy asked.
"Because I saw the security footage. It clearly shows Anand entering the apartment at 7 and coming out only the next day. Alisha was nowhere around that area."
The others didn't say anything.
"Somewhere, I had a feeling he was innocent." Prithvi said quietly, after some time.
"But now what do we do?" Ankit asked.
"Yeah, I'm guessing Anand got off Scot free?" Rudy said, narrowing his eyes as he said the last few words.
"Yes, he got off Scot free. And now, the only evidence we have against him - the suicide note - doesn't hold true because his alibi cancels it out." Diana said.
"And this leaves us where exactly?" Ankit asked her.
"Nowhere. All we can do is start guessing. Maybe it was a different Anand or-"
"Or the note was a hoax." Prithvi said suddenly.
"Wha... What?" Diana asked her, baffled.
"I said, the note could be a hoax." Prithvi said, more confidently this time.
"Wait, wait, wait a minute. If the note is a hoax..." Diana said, looking at the others.
"Then it would mean that someone else wrote it. Which means that he wanted it to look like a suicide..." Ankit said, finally putting the pieces together.
"Which means that..." Ankit continued, looking at the others incredulously.

"Atisha was murdered?!"

There was a deafening silence as they soaked in the new thought.

"But who? And why?" Prithvi voiced out everyone's thought.
"Because from what I know, she doesn't have any enemies." Diana said, and Prithvi nodded in agreement.

"Well, we'll just have to take it from here then. Interrogate whoever has known her, go to wherever she has been, in other words, trace her footsteps. But it won't be easy." Diana said, walking towards her car.

"Yeah, considering she was a journalist and knew a lot of people, you're going to have a hard time." Rudy said, looking pointedly at Diana.

She just glared at him. "Right there is what you call optimism, people." She said and then continued walking to her car.

She said goodbye to the other three and then got into her car. She just turned the key when her eyes randomly darted to the passenger seat. Something shiny hit her eyes. She picked it up and frowned. She looked at her own hand.
No, her ring was still there. She looked back at the ring that she was holding. Then it hit her.
"Prithvi drove with me here. Maybe its hers." She thought to herself and dialled Prithvi's number.

After about three rings, she answered. "Yeah?"
"Hey, just wanted to check. Do you still have your ring?" Diana asked her over the phone.
"Which one?"
"The one we bought in Rajasthan."

There was a pause.

"Oh my god, I lost it!" Prithvi cried out.
"Calm down, its here in my car."
"Oh, thank god. I'll come and collect it later."
"Yeah sure."
Diana cut the call and started driving.

Two minutes later, her phone started ringing. She answered the call and put it on speaker. "Hello?"
"Hey, sorry. Are you driving?"
"Yeah Prithvi, why?"
"No, I just wanted to say that I found it. I had removed it and kept it in my purse today morning before bath. I had forgotten to wear it after that. So yeah, I have my ring." She paused. "Wait, so who's ring do you have?" She asked Diana hesitantly.

Diana looked at the ring on the passenger seat. "I don't know." She whispered.