Ruby placed the receiver of the phone excitedly and turned to Heera sitting behind her cubicle. "Got the address of Yamini from the telephone company!"
"Good! Check if this Yamini has any criminal records in our database. Just in case," said Heera.
On the other side of the room, Charith and Vikram were going through the CCTV footages. "This is crazy. There is not a single camera which gives a clear view of the road," complained Vikram irritated.
"That's because the companies have kept CCTVs for their security and not for the roads," laughed Charith, immediately turning serious realising it was Vikram and not Sagar.
"That's true!" replied Vikram without taking his eyes off the monitor. Charith felt relieved at the non-reaction. One thing he was really horrified about was Vikram's temper. He had been on the receiving end once and it wasn't a pleasant experience. He looked at Vikram keenly trying to search for any anger on his face. Failing to trace, he decided to have a casual conversation.
"Ready with the gift?" Charith asked hesitantly. Vikram turned slowly with eyes wide open, startled. He hit his head, and sat holding the same, crushed. "I forgot completely!" He looked at his watch. 4 pm.
"You still have time!" said Charith encouragingly. "Have you decided what you are getting for your wife?"
"If I know that why would I be sitting here blank," snapped Vikram. Helpless and guilt took toll over his emotions. "I have no idea what to get her, Charith. You have any idea?" His voice immediately turned to desperation.
"Me!!" asked Charith surprised. "No...I mean...You should get her what she likes." Charith gave a shy smile.
"You are too innocent, Charith," Vikram shook his head patting Charith's back.
Unhappy with the comment, Charith began suggesting gifts with Vikram disapproving each one. "Watch? Perfume? Jewellery? Photo frame? Flowers? Book? Pen?"
"I am going to spoil the evening for sure. Shilpa would have got me a great gift and I am going to go empty handed," lamented Vikram.
"Make something for her on your own," said Charith with his focus back on the CCTV footages.
"What?" asked Vikram confused.
"Handmade cards...like what kids do. Drawing? Write a poem or something,"
"You aren't as innocent as I thought," said Vikram with a relieved grin. Charith was delighted. "It's a great idea Charith! However bad my work is, I am sure Shilpa would love it when she realises I took time for her and tried to do something special," Vikram was already lost in thoughts excited. "You continue watching the footages, I will be back." Vikram went back to his cubicle. Charith felt pleased with himself. He had impressed Vikram. Satisfied, he struck off the name of one company whose footages he had completed watching.
"Road trip?" asked Heera to Ruby when the latter said they didn't have any records on Yamini. "We can go home directly after meeting Yamini. Pack your things. I'll inform Sir." Heera went to Vedant's cabin which was always open. "Sir!" she called to get the attention of her boss who was reading some file very intently.
"Yeah!" Vedant said without taking his eyes off the file.
"Ruby and I are going to check Yamini's address. After that I thought, we will..."
"Go home, uhmm?" completed Vedant knowing exactly what his team member wanted.
"Yes!" replied Ruby, looking expectedly.
"Go ahead! Inform Ruby to be here in office at 8 am tomorrow and go through the case files." Vedant replied. He knew everyone had an early day and would have been exhausted.
Sagar entered with a swift knock on the open door as a formality. "Good. You are also here Heera! I was thinking about the welcome gift for Ruby. What shall we get her?"
Vedant and Sagar looked at Heera. Heera knew this task would fall on her head. "What's the budget?" she asked.
"Rs 200 each? Not more than that please," said Sagar. "That would mean Rs 1200 in total. I think that would be enough to get a good gift for a girl?"
"What do you mean for a girl?" asked Heera with raised eyebrows waiting for an answer.
"Girly things are expensive, isn't it?" laughed Sagar.
"Oh Come On!" exclaimed Heera irritated.
"Really! I got this pen," Sagar showed his pen in his shirt pocket, "as my welcome gift. And you got what? A branded watch?"
"I never got a welcome gift," murmured Vedant which went unnoticed by his officers.
"That's because you didn't know how to get gifts, Sagar," continued Heera.
"Enough!" said Vedant, his eyes back to reading the file. His officers in the room sensed the red signal for their argument from their boss.
"Ok! I'll get something on the way home," said Heera, unhappy with Sagar's comment. "See you tomorrow."
"Keep me informed!" said Vedant. "And....Be careful!"
After Heera left, Sagar spread few photographs on the table. "Sir! I had been going through the crime scene photographs. These tire marks here...It's not in a straight line. It's like...the vehicle was struggling to be in control. The driver had definitely applied emergency brakes, hence the strong tire marks here..."
"Hmm!" Vedant looked at the photographs intently. "So you are implying that the incident was definitely an accident and not a murder?"
"Exactly! If it had been a murder, why would the driver apply brakes? His objective would have been to hit our victim in the highest possible speed, correct?" Sagar tried to explain.
"May be the driver panicked at the end?"
"Could be!" replied Sagar, not disappointed. The team always had the habit of questioning each other's perception to arrive at a clear conclusion. "May be it was drunk and drive? The driver suddenly realised he was about to collide with Veerkaran and..."
"Did the vehicle, by any chance, hit anything else on the road? Divider or something?" asked Vedant.
"I'll check it out immediately! May be this will help us lift the invisibility cloak over our mystery vehicle." Sagar left the room as he spoke, his mind making plans.
"Agastya! I am going to the crime scene," informed Sagar as he dropped the photographs on his table, scattered.
"I was thinking of going through the phone records to see if it matches anyone from the rape case," said Agastya. Sagar gave a thumbs up and left the office.
Vedant focused his mind back to the bills which were waiting for his clearance. The phone rang. Vedant heard the caller. "Great! I will be there right away!" Vedant closed all the files and put it into his table drawer locking it. He checked the table if he had left any important notes. Satisfied, he closed the door from outside and locked it.
"Vikram! Call from the hospital. Post-mortem reports are ready. Shall we go?" asked Vedant with a relatively high intonation on the last phrase.
Vikram blinked at his boss and looked at the paper where he had been writing a poem for his wife. "Sure Sir!" He folded the paper and pocketed it. He had to give an incomplete poem to his wife in the night. He remembered how doubtful his wife was the previous night. She knew he wouldn't be able to keep his promise. Going to the hospital, discussing the report and other possibilities, he would definitely not make it home on time to take his wife out for dinner. May be he should try to get permission from his boss. At least he should try.
"Sir! Hmmm....actually...Can I...Can I give this trip a miss?" asked Vikram not meeting Vedant's eyes. He had never turned his back for anything when it came to work.
"Give it a miss? You know how important this case is. We have been waiting for the post-mortem results since morning and now you are saying you don't want to come? Why?" asked Vedant probingly.
Vikram looked embarrassed. Both Charith and Agastya were witnessing this. "Nothing Sir!" he replied bluntly. "I will come."
Vedant observed Vikram, annoyed at his behaviour. "I asked for a reason, Vikram?"
"I had plans to take my wife out for dinner. So!" Vikram said in a low voice, trying to mask his discontent. His boss knew about his plans and yet he wanted him to come along. Above that, he was acting as if he didn't know anything. "He will never understand the value of spending time with family," he thought to himself. With no response from his boss, he slowly forced his eyes to look at him, hiding his displeasure. He was surprised to see Vedant smiling. He looked around to see the other two men smiling too.
"You do think I am a sadist boss who doesn't understand the value of family, don't you?" asked Vedant casually. "I just wanted to see if you could muster the courage to ask permission from me." Vedant laughed accompanied by the other two men.
Vikram stood with a blank expression. He didn't know what to say.
"Go home and have a lovely evening, Vikram. Convey my wishes to Shilpa!" wished Vedant and left the office. "You both! Don't stay too late!" he shouted from outside at Charith and Agastya.
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"So...The address is a fake?" pondered Ruby. There was no Yamini living at the address. In fact, there was no Yamini in the entire colony.
"Did someone else stay in the house before you moved in?" asked Heera to the lady who had opened the door for them in that address.
"No! This is our own house. We have been staying here since its construction," replied the women.
Ruby and Heera thanked the woman for her time and walked back to their car. Ruby looked at Heera who stood silently, thinking. "So either Yamini had given a fake address..." began Heera.
"Or Yamini doesn't exist..." completed Ruby. "Shall we list down all Yaminis in the city and filter the list based on some factors?" she asked doubtfully.
"Not a bad idea! But the easier way would be to directly ask Mrs Singh, if she knows any Yamini and where we can find her," replied Heera. Ruby immediately understood how experience could make the difference.
"Call Agastya and ask him to find from where Yamini had called Veerkaran yesterday," said Heera. Ruby felt a sudden motivation to learn and equip herself even more.
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Vedant walked the long corridor in the 3rd floor of the government hospital to the door at the end. He knocked and opened the door. A women sat behind the table, talking to someone on the phone. She looked at her visitor and smiled with surprise. Vedant smiled back as he waited by the door, not going in.
Dr. Shakti Raghavan, 49, was the forensic doctor and the assigned consultant for the Special Branch. Strong minded, passionate about her work, she was very straight forward with her views. She didn't believe in having close relations with any of her colleagues and preferred to stay away from socializing. Always bearing a lovely smile, she was approachable by anyone for help. She didn't believe in special preferences and liked to do her work according to her own priority.
Vedant closed the door and decided to wait outside in the corridor. Twiddling his keys, he waited for 10 minutes before Shakti stepped out of her room, wearing a white coat over her blue saree. She pointed the way. Both of them started walking towards the lab, silently. Vedant looked at the doctor twice, undecided if he should start a small talk. He decided otherwise.
"I hope you give me something interesting to make my trip here worthwhile," said Vedant jokingly as both of them stood by the body of the victim.
"How about...," began Shakti, "The cause of death wasn't by the accident!" stated Shakti eyeing the shocked Head of Special Branch, little pleased with herself for being the cause.
"WHAT!" exclaimed Vedant.
"The victim didn't die due to the injuries sustained in the accident. He was murdered." said Shakti calmly, silently enjoying the look on Vedant's face.
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Sagar stood beside the Traffic Police shelter at the centre of the JP Link Road Junction. He looked around the shelter to see if there were any scratches or bumps from a hit. The shelter seemed devoid of any markings. Disappointed, he looked around at all the tall buildings around the junction. From nationalised banks, multinational companies, luxurious apartments and showrooms for different commodities, the junction was surrounded by richness. He looked at the traffic signal pole from which hung a CCTV camera, a camera which must have rusted because of non-usage. "What a waste! This one camera could have solved this case," murmured Sagar to himself. A sudden rush of cold wind hitting his face made him crane his neck up, looking at the dark clouds setting in, hiding the sun completely. He walked to the northern side, where the bike and the body were found. He noticed the huge gates and the high compound wall of Viscos Towers which held offices of multiple MNCs. They had recovered CCTV footages from this building, but the angle showed nothing. Sagar decided to check the walls with the hope that the out of control vehicle had hit them leaving some mark behind. After 30 minutes of canvassing the area around the building, Sagar returned to his bike disappointed. He decided to drive further north. Droplets of rain began to fall, dotting the windshield of his helmet. He rode slowly, trying to screen the area for any sign of suspicion, letting the rest of the vehicles to easily overtake him. He passed a huge tree which he wanted to cross quickly due to the lightning above. Lightning, something he was really scared of since he was a child and the shadow of the huge tree sent him jitters for some reason. After crossing the tree and turning left similar to the road, he suddenly stopped his bike, thinking raptly. He directed his bike back to the scary tree and stopped beside a puddle of shattered glass pieces under the tree. He looked at the bark of the tree. Clear mark of a hit was etched.
"BINGO!" Sagar called the forensics to pick up the evidence.
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"You mean to say the victim didn't die because of the accident?" asked Vedant again. "What's with this case," he wondered. Confusion and frustration wracked his thoughts.
"Exactly! The victim was definitely part of the accident, he did get hit, but he didn't die because of that," explained Shakti.
"So someone killed him after he was hit by the vehicle?" he asked trying to resolve the confusion.
Shakti shook her head. "No! Your victim was dead before he got hit," she replied.
Vedant removed his spectacles and rubbed his eyes thinking. Shakti waited patiently. He put his spectacles back, gathering his thoughts to accept the turn of events.
"So how did he die?" asked Vedant.
"A blow to the back of his head," said Shakti pointing at the head of the victim and handing over the X-rays. "Your victim was beaten to death. All these marks on his body suggests he was hit repeatedly..."
"Oh!" Vedant couldn't find any other reply. He stared at the body and all the stitches and marks.
"He probably was placed on the road for some vehicle to run through, so that it looks like a hit and run..." Shakti explained further, seeing the perplexed look on Vedant's face.
"How do you presume that?" asked Vedant. "I mean..."
"If your victim had been alive during the hit, he would have bled even more. These blows to the head would have caused more bleeding. The fractures he had sustained in his legs and his left hand are due to the beating and not due to the hit...and look at these ligature marks, our victim definitely put up a fight." Shakti pinpointed at the reddish black marks on the hands and legs.
"But there was a pool of blood on the crime scene," reasoned Vedant.
"The blood was contaminated," said Shakti handing over a report. "One blood is of our victim, the other is just a red coloured solution – not even blood."
"And our victim's blood in the pool is out of beating or due to the accident?"
"Can't say conclusively, it could be a mix. But mainly due to the accident."
Vedant sat silently on the small stool covering his face. He wanted time to process the new information. The entire investigation was going to take a different route. It was a murder investigation now. He can imagine the pressure the team would be put in, when he would inform the top about this.
"The crime scene was staged to look like a hit and run then," talked Vedant to himself. He stared at Shakti unintentionally trying to find answers to the thousand questions running in his mind.
"Ved!" called Shakti, feeling a little awkward, bringing him to the present.
"Yes! Yes! Sorry!" recovered Vedant. "The clothes? DNA?"
"My team is working on that. I am also testing the wooden particles from the victim's body. A wooden rod could have been the murder weapon."
"Fingerprints and DNA?"
"Many! I could also fetch some flesh from under the nails of the victim. It's being tested now."
"Thank you...Doctor! Call me whenever you find anything," said Vedant formally.
Shakti nodded her head and turned away. She didn't want to have further conversation with Vedant, a conversation she had been avoiding to have from the time she met him 3 months back, a meeting which she had never expected would happen in her life after nearly 25 years.
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