Ashutosh says, "She called me there."
Sidharth could see fear on his face.
"Who? Who called you?"
"Divya."
"Divya? Who is she? Where is she? Is she a student here?"
Ashutosh looks away and lost in the thoughts he murmurs,
"She.. is dead."
Sidharth pulls out his phone and shows him the photo of the portrait made by Vikas on the description given by Sana.
"Is she Divya?"
Ashutosh gazes at the photo and shakes his head.
"No. I don't know her."
"Who is Divya then?"
"My junior. She.. had committed..committed..."
"Y0u are talking about Divyanshi Gupta. She committed suicide by jumping from the roof of Dr.Sundar Shah PG Hostel, about 6-7 months ago. "
Ashutosh just stares at him not saying anything further.
"You had received a call and you went there. You are studying to be a doctor and you believed that a dead girl was calling you. And you happily acknowledged the ghost and went there with a camera to shoot a vlog. Doesn't this sound strange?"
Ashutosh mumbles, "I didn't believe it at first.. but she kept calling me..right at 2:45 am. I knew it was her."
"Were you both very close?"
Ashutosh doesn't reply.
"Right. You were not close. Then why did you rush after midnight? Why?"
"Ashu, you are not saying a word now."
Sidharth turns to see an older man at the door. He is tall, thin and dusky skin. He has grey hair, combed neatly and white thin moustache. He wears a cream shirt and expensive grey suit, golden rimmed glasses and an expensive watch.
"Who are you? Why are you harassing my son? He just defeated death. He is yet to recover."
Sidharth smiles, "Dr. Subroto Bagchi, indeed your son defeated death, but don't you want to know why he went there to face it in the first instance?"
Dr.Bagchi stares at him, "Inspector, he is young. The kids these days go to places that we never can think of going just for doing these videos. "
"ACP...ACP Sidharth Shrivastava, Crime Branch."
Sidharth extends his hand to shake. Dr.Subroto takes a moment and then slips his hand to shake.
"ACP? You saved my son? Thank you."
"We did our duty to save him. Now our job is to find the truth. Ashutosh is the survivor of the attack. He could help us catch the real culprit. I know he is recovering but he is in a state to talk. So let us do our duty. Please stay outside."
Dr.Subroto's face turned serious,"Ashutosh will not say anything right now. Ashu, take rest."
Sidharth nods his head and smiles, "Fine. Dr.Bagchi I won't disturb him. But he has to come to the headquarters when summoned."
Turning towards Ashutosh,
"Ashutosh, get well soon and don't answer any calls from the dead."
Sidharth walks out of the cabin.
"I want security for him. No one should be allowed inside without my permission. And keep an eye on him."
Ranne says,
"Ashutosh is our key Sir. He can give us the reason behind these murders. "
"I know. He was about to say something but then his father came up. He won't let him share the details anymore. Divyanshi Gupta. I want her file on my table."
Sidharth sits down and drinks water from his glass. Gaikwad, Ranne, Kambli and Bhonsale enter the room.
"So, what do we have?"
Sidharth asks.
"Sir, these are the post mortem reports of the other victims. The cause of death is the same, heart attack. The only difference is Tony's."
Kambli says, handing over the files to him.
"The cause of death is strangulation. Right."
Sidharth says even before reading the file. Kambli nods his head.
"Anuraag and Sipra, both have injection marks on their arms, just like the others."
"Hmm.. We have a pattern here now. The killer calls the vloggers to an alleged haunted place outside the city. He injects them while they are busy looking around. And after they are dead, he posts their videos."
"But this isn't the case with Tony. Then do you think he has been killed by someone else?"
Gaikwad says.
"I.. I am not sure but I feel the killer is the same person. Perhaps Tony had found something and the killer murdered him to save himself. What we still need to find is the motive. And it has something in the victims' past. I need all the details of every single victim and Ashutosh's too. Did the tech people find anything suspicious?"
Ranne replies, "No Sir. Till now they haven't found anything substantial. They are still looking. But this is something that they got from Sameer Salunke's laptop."
Sidharth takes the pendrive from Ranne and puts it on his laptop and watches something. He nods his head.
"Did you find out what was in the pill that we found on the terrace of the Asylum?"
Gaikwad says, "Yes Sir. That pill had paroxetine."
"Anti-depressant?"
"Yes Sir. Usually prescribed to treat anxiety, depression, OCD and PTSD and like."
"Did Tony suffer from any such mental illness?"
"No Sir."
"That means our killer here has some issues. There could be millions suffering from this. It is not possible to track the shop where it might be sold. "
"Sir, got an information."
Bhonsale says with an serious face. Sidharth nods at him, asking Him to say. He after little inhibition says,
"Well, Dr.Rani Salunke, DCP Sir's wife had an affair with one of her colleague. A very reliable source told me that someone had sent her a video, blackmailing her for money."
"Reliable source?"
"Her driver. According to him, Dr. Rani took a briefcase with a good amount of money and gave it to her blackmailer. This blackmailing continued for a while. And guess who was the blackmailer?"
"Her son Sameer."
Sidharth answers.
Bhonsale nods his head.
"He bought a lot of gadgets after that and threw parties nearly every weekend."
"Talented Son. When are they coming?"
"Today after 3 in the afternoon."
Sidharth watches the last video made by Sameer at the abandoned school before his death. A young 22 year old, thin tall guy with long straight hair, falling over his eyes, smiling at the camera. He wears a loose short kurta over a ripped pair of denims and a scarf on his neck. He stands in front of an old two storey building. The doors and windows of the structure is long gone.
"Hey peeps,
This is Sam on this side and you are watching Sam's hunting. Today we are at this old abandoned boys school near Vasai. More than 20 years ago the walls of this school echoed with the laughs of the kids. Today you will find only silence after the dreadful incident where the roof of the building collapsed killing more than 5 boys and injuring many more. It is believed that the spirits of those innocent boys haunt this place. And.."
He stops saying anything further. He starts walking towards the entrance and turns the camera towards it. Sidharth could see the area inside has overgrown vegetation.
He had seen something or heard something that had drawn his attention and it was later proved when he again starts talking about it.
"Friends, I think I just heard footsteps. I am going inside. It's dark and there are thorny bushes and creepers growing around. I need to be careful of snakes and insects too."
"Wait. Did you hear? Something moved. Ah! I think I just got pricked with some thorn. Who's there? Hello?"
He walks up the broken stairs to reach the 1st floor. He enters a room and shows the broken roof.
"This is the place where the accident had happened. We can still see.. Who's there?"
"Tu jo hai,
Chup kar bhi chupa nahi sakta.
Sachai samne aajati hai,
Koi kuch kar nahi sakta.
Teri bujhdili kisi par bhari padithi,
Aaj ussi galti ka hisab hoga.
Tu yahan hai, tere Karam ki wajah se,
Gunah jaise bhi ho,
Aaj uska faisla hoga."
"You.."
A scream and the video ends.
Sidharth replays the video and listens to the poem at the end.
"What was he hiding?"
Sidharth picks up the file on Sameer that Bhonsale had given. He makes some calls to confirm a few things.
A couple gets down a white Innova. The husband is tall, dusky with short dark hair and a moustache. He wears a white striped shirt and black trousers. The wife is short and beautiful with long black hair tied into a bun. She wears a simple cream and maroon saree.
As they get down the constables and a few officers salute him. He is escorted inside by them.
Sidharth sits in front of the lady, Dr.Rani Salunke. Her face is still, devoid of any emotions.
"Sameer hated us as we were never there for him. He could go to any level to take.."
"Revenge?"
She looks up, "You can say that. Ram stopped giving him money and he started blackmailing me."
"Why did he hate you both? Many parents are working people. Not all kids end up blackmailing their parents."
She stays silent.
Sidharth enters the room and greets DCP Parsuram Salunke with a hand shake.
"I am really sorry for your loss Sir. I have a few questions about your son."
DCP Parsuram Salunke nods his head.
"Sir, how close were you with your son? Did you know everything about him?"
DCP shakes his head, "No. I was always busy and that's why we both really never spent time together. I can say I hardly know him."
"You were a strict father, I believe."
"I am a disciplined person and I like my family to stay that way. So, I was strict."
"I can understand. Your son was an artist. He wanted to get into film school to be a director but you sent him to business school. Was he angry?"
DCP thinks for some time and nods his head.
"You weren't on speaking terms. Was it only because of this or something else?"
"No, there was nothing like that. Young people these days are difficult to understand."
"Hmm.. Sir, what was the reason for Sameer to go to a boarding school, in the middle of the year?"
DCP with a calm demeanour answers,
"He was getting spoiled with his friends. His mother and I couldn't give much time. So we decided to send him to a good boarding school."
"Oh! I thought it was about the death of his friend Pratik. You remember him, right."
"They had a fight. But that's nothing to do with his transfer."
"But it has everything to do with Sameer's death. "
"What do you mean, Sidharth?"
Sidharth leans to the table,
"I believe that's the link to his death. And I want you to be honest here. Sir, you are a police officer. You know how important every minute detail is. Don't hide anything."
DCP looks up at him and gives out a deep breath.
"The guy Pratik was his best friend. At least that's what we thought. Pratik and he had a fight one day at school. He was upset the whole day. Next morning we got the news that Pratik came under a bus while he was going to school on his cycle. He was absent minded and didn't see where he was going."
DCP stops saying anything further.
"What was the fight about?"
Sidharth asks.
"Sameer started crying on hearing the news. He blamed himself for his death. He had made fun of Pratik with his friends. That insult killed him."
"That's not the whole truth. Why did Sameer hate you? Why was he so mad at you both? Sir, tell us everything. What is the reason he wanted to get away from you? Changing school was his decision, wasn't it? Why?"
"Because we wanted him to stop being with guys. We wanted him to be normal and not be with boys."
"Sameer was gay. You found him romantically involved with Pratik. You made him leave his company. He stopped hanging out with Pratik. He made new friends. They found out about Pratik. They started ragging him. And they took Sameer in with them. Sameer in the attempt to become what you wanted him to be, started harassing him. It went too far one day and the two friends ended up fighting. Pratik was killed in an accident. Did you get back your son the way you wanted? Did he stopped being gay?"
Sidharth completes what DCP should have said.
"You are a police officer and your wife a doctor. And you both still believe being gay or lesbian is a disease. Seriously?"
Sidharth gets up and leaves the room.
"Sidi, tu kaise hai?"
Ruhani says as she runs her hand over his cheek. Sidharth smiles and gives her a peck on her cheek.
"Dadima, I am good. But the question is why did you wake up?"
"I have not seen you for two days. Main jab uthi, tu chala jata hai. When you come, I am asleep. Tujhe chot lagi, mujhe dekhna ta. Main uth gayi gadi ki awaz sun ke."
Rita ji sitting beside Sana says,
"Now that you have met him, can we go back to sleep? You have school tomorrow morning?"
Ruhani wraps her arms around him,
"Na.. mere ko nahi jana. Sidi, can I sleep beside you tonight?"
Sidharth smiles and says, "Ruhani laath toh nahi marti?"
"No. Ask Sanu or Maa. Please Sidi."
Sidharth thinks for a minute and then says, "Alright."
He picks her and takes her to his bedroom.
After a few minutes of non-stop random talks, Ruhani falls asleep.
Sana comes up the bed,
"Did you get any information on the woman?"
"No. Nothing yet. There's no missing complaint in the system nor any mention of any dead body matching the description. We are still looking."
"She is the key."
"Hmm.. I need something else to find her. Any other detail would help."
"Bindi."
Ruhani murmurs in her sleep. Sidharth runs his hand on her head.
Sana says, "Tum so jao. It's late."
"Hmm.."
Ruhani mumbles again,
"Bindi..Sidi.. no..Bindi..."
Sana says,
"Ruhani, bache. So jao."
Ruhani opens her eyes and starts crying.
Sana comes closer, "What happened, Ruhani baby?"
Sidharth touches her forehead and she immediately gets into his arms.
"Ruhani, stop crying. She must have had a nightmare. "
"I saw her. She said that she will hurt you if you don't stop."
Ruhani says amidst her crying, as she holds Sidharth tightly.
"Who will hurt him?"
Sana asks.
"Nothing will happen to me. I am right here."
"No. She has hurt you twice. She is angry. Stop. She says stop."
Sidharth and Sana look at each other.
"Sidi, please stop. She will hurt you otherwise."
Ruhani keeps on crying as Sana and Sidharth hold her close, their faces pale and in shock.
Is Ruhani a psychic too? Or was it just another dream? Who is this woman? What is the link between the victims and the killer? Too many questions need to be answered. One by one they will be.
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Let the suspense continue..