She showered. She shaved with one of Haseena's pink razors. In the mirror above the bathroom sink, she didn't look quite as frightening as she had before the long sleep. The dark rings under her eyes had lightened and the sockets weren't as deep.
But she was no Princess Charming. Her hospital pallor emphasized the discoloration on her cheekbone. And when was the last time she'd had a groomed herself? "Screw it," she said to her reflection as she left the bathroom.
Haseena was in the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder when Karishma walked in, "You found your duffel bag?"
"Yeah, thanks," Haseena had placed it at the foot of the bed so she would have a change of clothes
"How do you feel?"
"Better. Thanks. For everything. Except for the shot. My butt's sore"
"I'm sure you're thirsty. Help yourself to anything in the fridge," Haseena was dredging boneless chicken breasts in seasoned breading and placing them in a Pyrex dish
Karishma took a carton of orange juice from the refrigerator, shook it, and twisted off the cap, "Okay to drink from the carton?"
"Not in this house"
"I used your toothbrush"
"I have extras"
"Why am I not surprised?"
"Glasses are in the cabinet just behind you"
The juice tasted good. She drained the glass and refilled it, "What did you do with the bobcat?"
"Called the exterminator. He came out and picked him up. He congratulated me"
"You provided a valuable community service"
Haseena gazed into near space for a moment, "It didn't feel like that. It felt like killing," She washed her hands, moved to the oven and turned it on, then went to the vegetable sink and picked up a chopping knife. She used it to gesture toward a cell phone lying on the counter, "It's rung several times"
"Jeez, I don't even remember where I last had it"
"It was in your car"
"Where's my car?"
"In the garage out back"
Karishma looked through the window and spotted the building. It was a smaller version of the barn. The double doors were closed, "How'd you manage to get it here?"
"I rode Zed over, carrying the fuel can. Then I tied him to the tailgate and drove back slowly"
"It would have been easier if you'd waited on me to go with you"
"I didn't think you wanted anyone to know you were here"
Karishma studied her for a moment, "That's not quite accurate, is it, Haseena?"
She stopped slicing tomatoes and looked across at her.
"You didn't want anyone to know I was here"
Haseena returned to her task, "Do you like tomatoes in your salad?"
"Haseena"
"Some people don't"
"Haseena"
She dropped the knife and confronted Karishma, "What?"
"It was only a kiss," Karishma said softly
"Let's not make a big deal of it, all right?"
"I'm not, you are. You're the one who went tearing out of the bedroom like it had caught fire"
"So, you would stop mauling me"
"Mauling you?" Karishma repeated in a raised voice, "Mauling you?"
"The night we met. No, the night you arranged for us to meet, I told you then, straight out and in language, a child could understand that I wasn't interested in ... all that"
Female Pride or ego kicked in. Karishma rounded the work island so it would no longer be between them, "Well that's a switch for you, isn't it? One kiss and I'm mauling you, but back in Lucknow, you were quite the party girl. What did you call it then?"
Haseena recoiled as though Karishma had struck her, but that initial reaction lasted only a second before her facial expression turned hard, "You must have had a locker-room chat with your pal Detective Sharma"
"Only after I heard everything about you from folks in Janpad. You're remembered there, sweet cheeks. Because you used to do a lot more than kiss the locals, didn't you?"
"You're so well informed, why ask me?"
"You did considerably more than kiss"
Haseena backed down and looked away, "I'm not like that now"
"Why not? Seems to me like you were having one hell of a good time. Tongues in Janpad are still wagging about your drenched white Kurti cruise through town in your red Mustang convertible. But I get your desire rise and you freak out"
Haseena tried to go around Karishma, but she executed a quick sidestep and blocked Haseena's path, "You had all those horny cowboys at the rodeo panting after you. And their girlfriends, and probably their daddies"
"Stop it!"
"And you knew it, too, didn't you? You liked keeping 'em steaming in their jeans"
"You don't know-"
"Oh, yeah, I do. People know. We have ugly names for girls like you, Haseena. Doesn't stop us from wanting what you advertise, though. How many hearts were broken when you set your sights on Ranjan Chadha?"
"Don't-"
"Then when that affair went south, you shot and killed him. Is that what turned you off mauling?"
"Yes!"
Her shout was followed by a sudden, reverberating silence. Haseena turned away from Karishma and leaned forward against the counter. She put her hand to her mouth and kept it there for several moments. Then, very unsurgeon-like, she seemed at a loss what to do with her hands. She crossed her arms over her midsection and hugged her elbows; she wiped her palms on her thighs; she finally picked up the baking dish of chicken and placed it in the oven. After setting the timer, she returned to chopping tomatoes.
Karishma continued to watch her with the single-mindedness of the vultures that had circled the carcass of the bobcat. She refused to drop this subject. She felt entitled to peel away just one of her multiple layers. She wanted at least a glimpse of who she was and what had made her so compulsively neat, what had made her so disinclined to touch another human being except in the sterile security of an operating room. She wanted to see if only for an instant, the real Haseena Malik.
"What happened in your father's study that day?"
The knife came down hard and angrily on the chopping block, "Didn't Santosh share the details with you?"
"Yes. And I read the police report"
"Well then"
"It didn't tell me shit. I want to hear what happened from you"
She finished with the tomatoes and rinsed off the knife. As she dried it on a tea towel, she looked at Karishma sardonically, "Lustful curiosity, Karishma?"
"Don't do that," Karishma said, keeping a tight rein on her anger, "You know that's not why I'm asking"
Haseena braced her arms on the countertop and leaned toward her, "Then why are you asking? Explain to me why it's so bloody important for you to know about that"
Karishma leaned forward to narrow the space between them, "You know why, Haseena," she whispered. There was no way her meaning could have escaped Haseena. But just in case it did, she covered the back of Haseena's hand with her palm and encircled Haseena's wrist with her fingers.
Haseena lowered her head. It appeared to Karishma that she was staring at their hands, but all she could see was the crown of Haseena's head, the natural part of her hair. Half a minute passed before Haseena withdrew her hand from beneath Karishma's.
"Nothing good can come of this, Karishma"
"This being the weird triangle we have going? You, me, and Roy?"
"There's no such triangle"
"You know better, Haseena"
"The two of you had a score to settle before you ever heard of me"
"That's true, but you've added another dimension"
"I'm not involved in your feud," Haseena said adamantly
"Then why did you leave town?"
"I needed some time off"
"You heard Roy was released from jail"
"Yes, but-"
"And you beat it here within hours of his release. Looks to me like you're hiding from him"
Karishma's cell phone rang. She picked it up and read the caller ID, then swore under her breath, "I might as well get this over with," she carried the phone with her through the living room and out onto the front porch. She answered as she sat down in the swing, "Hey"
"Where the hell are you?"
"No hello?"
"Karu-"
"Okay, okay," Karishma sighed heavily, "I just couldn't take that hospital anymore, Santu. You know I don't handle inactivity well. Another day in that place and I'd have wigged out. So, I left.
Retrieved my car from your house and drove most of the night. Reached Goa this morning around, hmm, five or so, I guess. Been asleep most of the day and got a whole lot more rest listening to the surf than I would have in the hospital where real rest is impossible"
After a significant pause, Santosh said, "Your place in Goa is locked up tighter than a drum"Oh, shit! Karishma thought, "How do you know?"
"Because I asked the police there to check it"
"What for?"
"I'm waiting for an explanation, Karu"
"Okay, on my way home I took a little detour. What's the big deal?"
"You're with her, aren't you?"
"I'm a big girl, Santu. I don't have to account to you for my-"
"Because she coincidentally flew too. From the hospital. From her house. Her obliging neighbour told me that he saw a lady who looked seriously ill and malnourished knocking on her door in the middle of the night"
"Does that guy keep vigil at his window or what?"
"He's become a valuable informant"
"My, my, Santu. Talking to Goa police. Talking to nosy neighbours. You've been busy today"
"And so has Roy"
"Oh yeah? Doing what?"
"Terrorizing my family"
His name was Chintu Kichlu. Only someone of Chintu's diminutive size would have tolerated such a ridiculing name. Chintu did so only because he had no choice. He was defenceless. He had acquired the name in second grade when he'd wet himself in the classroom. He'd wanted to die on the spot, but he had had the rotten luck of living through it. That afternoon he had been dubbed Chintu by a pack of bullies led by the nuisance of the school, Ramesh Redi AKA Ricky Roy.
The nickname has stuck to this day. And so had Roy's bullying. Chintu audibly groaned when he opened his door and saw Roy standing on the threshold.
"May I come in?"
The formality was a mockery. Roy asked only to remind Chintu that he didn't need an invitation. He pushed past Chintu and entered the cramped, poorly ventilated-apartment where Chintu sometimes confined himself for days without going out. For self-protection, Chintu existed in a universe of his own making.
"This isn't a good time, Roy. I'm having dinner," On a TV tray next to the recliner a bowl of Maggie was turning cold and rigid
"I wouldn't interrupt, Chintu. Except that this is very important"
"You always say that"
"Because my business is always important"
Roy's torture of his unfortunate classmate hadn't ended that afternoon in second grade but had continued through their high school graduation. Chintu's size, his perpetual squint, and his meek personality were open invitations to torment and ridicule him. He was almost too easy a target. Consequently, Roy had treated him as a forgettable pet, one he could scold and neglect, or grace and praise, at whim.
Every class had a computer whiz, and in their class, it was Chintu. While computers and microchip technology bored Roy, he was nevertheless aware of the advancements being made. As the viability of computer usage increased, so did Chintu's value to him.
Nowadays Chintu's livelihood is designing Web sites. He liked the work. It was a rewarding creative outlet. He could do it alone, at home, on his schedule. He billed his clients four times the number of hours it required him to complete a job, but they were so pleased with the result that none ever questioned the amount of the invoice. It was a lucrative business.
But that income was paltry compared to what Roy paid him. Chintu's computer setup occupied one whole room of his apartment and rivalled NASA in sophistication. He put most of his money back into his business, buying state-of-the-art equipment, upgrades, and gadgets. He could dissect a computer with the precision of a pathologist, and then reassemble it with new and
improved specifications. He'd never met one he didn't like. He knew how they worked.
Furthermore, he understood how they worked.
Roy relied on Chintu strictly to provide him with information on his clients and his targets. He told Chintu that was what he was after tonight, "Information"
Chintu pushed up his slipping eyeglasses, "You always say that, too, Roy. And then the person I get you information on winds up dead"
Roy fixed a cold stare on him, "What's wrong with you tonight?"
"Nothing," He picked at a crusty scab on his elbow, "What makes you think something's wrong?"
"You don't seem very glad to see me. Didn't I pay you enough last time?"
"Yeah, but..." He sniffed back a nostril full of mucus, "I've got no quarrel with the money"
"Then what's the matter?"
"I don't want to get into trouble. With the law, I mean. You've been in the news a lot lately, or haven't you noticed?"
"Have you noticed that it's all been good news?"
"Yeah, but this time, I don't know, the police seem to be closing in tighter. That Singh got it in for you"
"She is the least of my worries"
Chintu looked plenty worried, "she comes across as a woman with a mission. What if they, you know, link us? You and me"
"How could they do that?"
"I don't know"
"You're afraid?"
"Damn right, I'm afraid. How long do you think a guy like me would last in prison?"
Roy looked him up and down. He smiled, "I see your point. So, you'll have to be doubly careful not to get caught, won't you?"
Chintu went through his routine of nervous twitches again with the eyeglasses, the scab, the snot in his nose. He avoided making eye contact. Roy didn't like it.
"Sit down, Chintu. I'm in a hurry. Let's get started"
Chintu seemed to consider refusing, but then he reluctantly sat down in the rolling desk chair in front of the bank of computer terminals, all of which were oscillating with a variety of screen savers.
"Haseena Malik," Roy told him, "Doctor Haseena Malik"
Again, Chintu groaned, "I was afraid you were going to say that. I saw her being interviewed on the news about that cop. What do you want to know?"
"Everything"
Chintu went to work. His nose stayed within inches of the screen as he squinted into the glare. His fingers struck the keys with impressive speed. But Roy wasn't fooled. He could tell Chintu was dilly-dallying. It went on for at least five minutes. Occasionally he mumbled with frustration.
Finally, he sat back and said, "Bunch of dead ends. Truth is, Roy, there's not much on her"
Roy slipped his hand into his pants pocket and removed a glass vial with a perforated metal cap. He unscrewed it slowly, then upended the vial over Chintu.
The scorpion landed on Chintu's chest. He shrieked and reflexively tried to roll back on the chair's casters, but Roy was standing behind it, trapping Chintu between him and the computer table. He clamped his hand to Chintu's forehead, pulled his head back, and held him still while the scorpion crawled over his chest.
"He's been mine only a short while. I've been waiting for the perfect time to show him off. Isn't he a beauty?"
Chintu emitted a high-pitched squeal.
"All the way from Africa, meet Mesobuthus tamulus, one of the rare species of scorpions whose venom is toxic enough to cause death in humans, although it may take days for a sting victim to die"
Chintu's glasses had been knocked askew. His eyes rolled wildly as they tried to focus on the vicious-looking scorpion crawling up his chest, "Roy, for the love of God," he gasped
Roy calmly released him and chuckled, "You aren't going to pee on yourself again, are you?"
He calmly scooped the scorpion onto a sheet of paper, then formed a cone and funnelled it back into the vial, "There now, enough fun, Chintu," he said as he replaced the perforated cap,
"You've got work to do."
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Hey people, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know Karishma's outburst is a little over the top but we do know our Karishma Singh's famous angry outburst on Haseena Malik, how can I miss their beautiful love hate relationship. And if the notifications didn't show up sorry for that, I am still out of town. Please do share your thought. See you soon in the next part.
Don't forget to vote, comment and follow. Have a nice day.