Sometime, even if you don't want, some people will always slip through your skin and make you feel. Those are friends.
- -
"Madam is waiting for you, ACP Mukherjee", she could hear the receptionist's voice outside.
BANG! 5 seconds later.
she was not as startled as was Sameer, who was standing too close to her, which didnt look professional from any angel. before he could understand what is going on or compose himself, she entered, gave them a look and crossed her arms, as if waiting for them to pause whatever they doing.
Infuriating, Aisha thought as Sameer hurriedly left the cabin, shutting the door behind if.
"Social etiquette, Riya." she sighed, a disapproving frown on her face.
"Will take the night classes, Madam." came the instant reply, "didnt interrupt anything, I hope."
"None of your business." her voice was more defensive than necessary.
"Not interested." the other woman snorted in a way which matched her words in a weird way. Aisha shook her head, now getting up from her seat and taking step toward her.
"You are joining from today." she started, her fingers itching to rub her temple and soothe a headache which is threatening to become migraine. her sub conscious self was expecting a mocking reply maybe, thats why she stopped to give a look at the other woman, who raised her brow slightly, as if asking 'What you expect me to say?'
"My team, they are efficient." she continued, "as you have seen in the last case. work as a group. they are like a closely adjoined family, and you dont work in team. I am not sure how Raghu sir thought it will be a good idea for you to join here."
she again expected Riya to say something, but nothing came up. she continued to stare at her, and she didnt understand whats this about, like so many other time.
"But I am not going to question him. You will now work with them, so i expect you to adjust and start working with team. No going solo, sharing information and work in a group. Is that understood?" she used her Director voice with a challenging look.
of course, it had the opposite effect.
"Is that an order?"
"Will you obey if I say yes?" her voice was little bit strained.
"I will try to behave." there was a smirk, with a promise it wont be what it looks like.
Aisha sighed, shaking her head, "Lets go and introduce you to everyone officially."
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Rawte frowned, exhaled an irritating sigh and put the phone back in his pocket, suddenly feeling out of breath. he barely turned to go inside the discussion room when he collided with Sameer.
"Watch where you going!" his voice was louder than needed. Sameer opened his mouth to explain, but closed at it, taking in his friend's frown-y face.
"Whats wrong?"
"Your best friend." he answered w/o missing a beat, exhaling once again.
"Let me guess, dinner with parents?"
the other man nodded, "i am canceling it since 6 days. she gave an ultimatum."
Sameer scoffed, "its obvious what she is implying. she is expecting a ring."
Rawte gave a look, "as if i dont know."
"Then why you are not doing it?"
"I dont know."
"I thought you said she was it." Sameer frowned.
"I thought that too." he sighed, "its like i dont know what i want anymore."
out of nowhere, Shree came to their peripheral vision and caught the end of conversation. pushing back his glasses, he gave both the men a serious face.
"You want what everyone wants."
"and what is that?" Rawte asked, eyes narrowed, while Sameer looked amused.
"You want a Love which consumes you. adventure, passion, and even a little bit danger." he said, quoting The Vampire Diaries. Behind him, Chotu along with Sakshi entered, and she slapped the back of his head.
"Ow!"
"Quoting TV serials, are we?" she chimed in, "didnt know you are into bloodsuckers, Shree."
"he is not, its all Liza." Chotu replied, and Shree gave a look which can be interpreted 'Thanks for saving my back' or 'You too, Brutus!'
"How I ended up with a bunch of clowns." Rawte muttered, shaking his head and entered the discussion room. behind him the trio continued to banter, while Sameer's eyes found Director Kapoor who along with the officer who he just met awkwardly in her cabin, was coming to their direction. she reached to their side and signaled them to get inside, at the same time the trio stop their bickering.
"Team." Aisha cleared her throat and looked at everyone, "You already met ACP Riya Mukherjee during Raghu sir's daughter kidnapping case. I just wanted you all to formally meet. she is joining ETF, effective from now."
Everything happened at the same time. Rawte's phone rang and a new case was there. Sameer gave a questioning look to Aisha, which Riya noticed, narrowing her eyes a little bit. Sakshi gave a dirty look to her and then to Chotu, clearly not happy with this addition. he helplessly looked at the IT head, Shree, who just shrugged. while talking on phone Rawte caught Riya's eyes and spoke more to her than rest of team as he ended the call.
"New case. Lets go team."
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The case looked simple suicide of a 20 years old college student who jumped from 8th floor of her friend's building where she was attending a party. she looked perfect, if one can overlook the almost dry blood around her, her LBD and make up intact. from outside, its safe to say she didnt jump because some assholes assaulted her or some assholes pushed her because they could not assault. Open and shut case.
still, ETF had to investigate.
so they were doing that. Sameer, Liza, Sakshi were near the body while Rawte and Shree along with ACP Mukherjee and Chotu were at 8th floor, investigating the 2nd crime scene, the balcony from where she jumped. while the forensic expert with her team was busy, Sameer with her asking ocassional questions and rest of ETF officers away to ask the eye witnesses about the incident, Sakshi made her unpleasantness about the new addition of the team very vocal.
"Now i realised why she was at that case. Raghu sir might have thought its a good idea to test how the future recruitee will work with the team. granted, his daughter was kidnapped so he was emotional, but he is a Police officer first, his mind always doing plannings and plottings. and 3 days later, she is here! Why he thought adding her was a good idea? she clearly cant work with team. and she is so rude!" she finished her rant, now narrowing eyes at Sameer, "didnt Aisha tell you anything?"
he looked taken aback, "why would she tell me anything?"
"Dont play coy with me, Rathore. I know what goes on behind that door."
"Well she is here now, Sakshi, so suck it up." Liza's pissed voice cut through the air. both of them looked down, eyes narrowing.
"Thats harsh." the journo commented. the forensic expert sighed.
"Sorry. my mood is bad."
"Shree." Sameer said, more like explaining. the Doctor sighed once again.
"if he just look away from his gadgets for a minutes. . . sometime i want to throw those things deep into sea. i cant believe last night he was more excited about the latest windows 10 than the italian dinner i made for him." the doctor ranted. Sameer looked away to stiffle his laughter because frankly, it was funny, while Sakshi elbowed him to keep quiet.
"He will come around." Sakshi replied sympathetically, "Besides, all men are stupid." she mock glared at Sameer who didnt look too please with the comment.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The eye witnesses heard the body dropping and rushed outside. according to them there was none on this floor, so most probably none pushed her." Chotu informed Rawte, Shree on his wheels, listening to him and glancing at ACP Mukherjee who was near the balcony, simultaneously. Rawte noticed his glance and put on an irritated expression, which the IT expert noticed, pushing his glasses over nose.
"They were not exactly eye witness then, as they didnt see anything." he replied, "her phone is damaged because of the fall. didnt know nowadays people commit suicides with their phones."
"dedicated to gadgets, just like you Shree." Chotu could not help but tease, earning a glare from Rawte.
"Thats because she didnt jump, Shree." ACP Mukherjee was suddenly near them, her eyes still focussed on the balcony, "someone, or maybe more than one, pushed her."
"How you are so sure?" Rawte could hardly stand her one-woman army style of work. he was always a champion for team work and this was insulting for him. his question came out harsher than usual.
Like last time, the glare and harsh tone didnt have the desired affected. instead, she turned to look at him, eyes lighting with amusement as she asked, "ever tried a LBD, Rawte??"
behind them that was unmistakable sound of laughter-tried-to-suppress-and-now-like-coughing by Shree. Chotu looked at him, confused.
"LB what?" He was half curious half irritated.
"LBD, little black dress." she explained, keeping her straight face, "you know black dresses too short and tight and only reaches till here?" She pointed toward her thigh, waiting for his answer. as usual, he only glared at her, mixed with shocked expression for this comment as she again shifted her glance toward the balcony, with each word the glare from the former's face removing.
"She cant climb over the balcony with that dress. someone pushed her, maybe she was already dead or unconscious by then. they put the phone in between her palm so that police dont search for it. a small mistake. . . "
"not a perfect crime then." Shree chimed in. she turned to look at him, the smirk is back.
"not even close."
when she left, Rawte purposefully stayed on the 8th floor with Shree, who was half scared to get scolding for his earlier laugh which he quite could not convert to coughing. Chotu followed her, partially because the second on command signaled him to, partially to update the rest of team at the first crime scene. inside the elevatore, his mind continued to play the LBD comment and his lip moved upward, desperate to burst into laughter, but behaving just because the ACP was there with him.
"Spit it." she ordered in a tired tone. he burst out laughing then.
"that LBD comment." he composed himself, "none ever talked to him like that. he is second in command and quite. . . strict."
"you think i am in trouble then?" she pretended to look worried, but the amusement in her eyes gave her away.
"No." he admitted truthfully. the elevatore was open and they both got out, heading for the crime scene.
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the worst part of a case is dealing with grieving family members of the deceased. they are already in their worst shape, losing someone, and on top of that one have to hopelessly crush the sympathetic self and be cut throat and ask all the questions, any suspicion on anyone, if anyone ever threatened, if the deceased was involved in something less than legal. does these questions matter? he or she is gone, the shock is enough, and these questions are like salt on burning wound.
the victim's parents were in the ETF building in the afternoon. they answered all the questions with as patience as a parent who lost their child could. they wanted to see their daughter, who was now merely a lifeless bunch of flesh and blood called 'Body'. unfortunately, they cant, not until the autopsy.
after everyone left and the parents were showing themselves out, they noticed ACP Mukherjee, who was standing quietly in a corner and watching them from past 1 hours. the mother looked tearfully at her, and the father's helpless eyes were going back and forth on his wife and the ACP.
"when we can see her?" he asked. the ACP stared at him for a split second, then straightened her back, ready to move.
"come with me."
the people on forensic lab floor gave them curious glances. liza and her associates were not particularly happy as Mukherjee banged the door open, her lack to social etiquette extending outside Director's cabin to forensic lab, the grieving parents behind. she gave the associates a look, and they all left the room quietly in a hurry. Liza shoot her somewhat pissed look, clearly not over of her earlier bad mood, waiting for the other woman to explain whats going on.
"they want to see Seema." she didnt use the word Body. it felt wrong, too soon. Liza's eyes became softer, realising they are the parents of victim.
"they can, after i finish autopsy."
"did you start yet?"
"No. i just took her hair and skin sample."
"then you can surely wait 5 minutes outside." Mukherjee's voice was low, though there was a undercurrent of a threat. Liza narrowed her eyes, not appreciating the attitude.
"its not allowed."
"5 minutes." she crossed her arms in a clear warning. if Liza was not impressed by now, she was intimidated as she took in her stiff posture and steely eyes. she knew better to say no once again. after some seconds, she started moving, walking toward the table where the body was kept and removed the white sheet from its face.
as both the women left, the air of lab was filled with sobs of the parents. they waited outside, leaning against the wall.
"they could see her after autopsy." Liza stated, but the question was clear.
"it would not have been same." ACP Mukherjee replied, her voice quiet and emotionless, "she would not have felt like their daughter."
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turned out, it was not a difficult case at all. after Shree extracted all info from the victim's phone, it was piece of cake. it was the host of party pushed her himself after spiking her drink, something about leaked question papers of last semester. people kill for less nowadays. a lousy spot to push her to death, one's own party.
the interesting phase was the interrogation. the guilty, a spolied brat of a shady businessman all but screamed at ETF officers, like how they framing him, or his father will see them all. they had all evidence they needed, but needed to hear him confessing the crime. Rawte and Sameer sat opposite the guilty quietly, letting him rant like a desperate and taking sadistic pleasure from it. far away from them Mukherjee was leaned against a wall, her eyes on the boy and behind the guilty, Director Kapoor watched the scene unfold along with others through the one way glass.
"interesting news for you i think, Sakshi?" Chotu quipped.
"a lousy case instead. idiot of a criminal." she replied, facial expression bored. the boy was wasting more time to rant nonsense than admit for any of their patience.
the boy stopped for a while, taking a breath, his eyes now falling on Mukherjee.
"I understand what you are trying to do. trapping me. listen i am not an idiot! i didnt push her!" he paused, his eyes running on all three of them, "you all will pay! my father will make you pay!" he was now pointing finger at all of them.
suddenly Mukherjee was in front of him, twisting the finger as the guilty's expression changed from panicky to pained.
"show off your father's influence to somewhere else, is that understood?" her face was barely a whisper. he didnt reply, trying to pull his finger back.
"is that understood?" she gritted her teeth, her eyes flashing dangerously. he nodded hurriedly.
"yes. yes!"
"Now, who pushed her from balcony?" she asked again, and when he didnt reply instantly, she twisted the finger more, earning a cry from him.
Sameer and Rawte was standing by now, "leave him." the latter ordered.
"You want a confession or not?" that was a rhetorical question. before any of them can say anything, the boy opened his mouth.
"I did. i pushed her. she knew i leaked question paper of last semester and was going to do for next one as well. she confronted me. I pushed her."
the three stared at him, taking in his confession. Mukherjee's eyes went to the one way mirror, behind which Director Kapoor was waiting for her next move. she freed the finger then.
"how you hurt your finger?" she asked innocently to the boy, who looked confused first, then understanding dawn on him.
"it got pressed. . . between elevator door. . . " he paused, "accidentally." he added.
almost everyone was half horrified, half amused at the words.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
at the end of day (or case to be precise) Mukherjee was summoned to the Princy's class, aka Director's cabin. Sakshi looked smug while delivering the news, clearly hoping she will get a scolding, to which the former looked mildly amused, smirking all the while.
inside, Liza was already submitting the forensic report and Aisha was inquiring her why the report was submitted late than usual.
"I didnt finish autopsy on time." the doctor explained, eyeing Mukherjee as she opened the door w/o knocking, yet again, surprised by the action.
"i dont remember you were ever late to finish autopsy." the director replied, raising eyebrow. Liza spared a quick glance to Mukherjee whose face remained still.
"not every day is equal." she shrugged.
Aisha watched as the doctor was out of door, and turned to Mukherjee, "I dont appreciate your action back in the interrogation room."
"then don't." the latter replied, looking bored.
"Riya." the director said in a warning, "its against rule."
"you ordered to work with team, not follow rule." Mukherjee pointed out, "besides, he was just wasting everyone's time."
Aisha threw her hands in air.
"You are so childish sometimes!" she said, exasperated, "fine, note it down as well. work with team and follow rules."
"i will see what i can do." Mukherjee rolled her eyes, "now, can i leave?"
Aisha opened her mouth, but closed it again. when she spoke again, her voice was much softer, "have dinner with me."
that surprised Mukherjee, but she brushed it aside, "dont want to piss your boyfriend."
"my who?" the director was appalled, to which the former narrowed her eyes, not giving anymore reply. she turned and started walking toward door, her fingers barely touched the handle when she spoke again.
"I am trying to fix this."
"i know." she replied w/o turning back.
"I didnt push you away." Aisha's voice was rising by now.
"Did I ever say you did?"
"Your attitude surely screaming as if its all my fault."
that made her turn, "You are my Boss. you are here to keep an eye on your team and assess their work, not to read their attitudes."
"you are not just my co-worker."
"i am now." she answered, "and i will appreciate if you dont try to fix anything."
"why not?" the director's voice was strained, desperate to understand.
"Because you can't. and I don't want you to." with that she pulled the door and headed outside, barely colliding with Rawte and Sameer who were about to enter. she caught herself at the last moment, at the same time when Rawte's hands rose in reflex as if to catch her. she went aside as Rawte continued to stare and Sameer glanced at Aisha, who composed herself quickly but from her face it was evident something happened. she rarely looked troubled.
"come in, both of you." Aisha said and both the men entered, not before giving a glance to the mysterious ACP Mukherjee as she left.