Sometime, facing the past is a good thing. It shows you how far you have come.
-
Sometime, the world just hates you. There is no apparent reason for this, a bad hair day, stumbling on your feet in a room full of people, saying insensible things, meeting someone you would rather not . . . shit happens.
ACP Mukherjee was struggling with her fate in the bad-day-the-world-hates-me category, as she along with rest of team entered a fancy looking bar for interrogation a victim's whereabouts. Apocalypse.
"The slogan should be for this place - Party till the world ends." the crime journo chimed in, keeping her voice low.
"Why, beautiful, that is exactly the motto of this place." A man, no more than in his mid thirties, dressed perfectly in white shirt and jeans, with a flirty smile and too much gel in hair, replied, appearing out of nowhere. Almost every men rolled their eyes, and Second in command Rawte was vaguely interested as ACP Mukherjee groaned beside him, frowning at her.
"ETF." Sameer took out his ID, "we are here for interrogation of a girl, who attended your annual party. Do you have a minute?"
"Of course." the man grinned brightly, no fear or hesitation that law enforcement was on his steps for interrogation, "always at your service."
"This is exactly the moment I realize I dislike Mr. Too-much-gel." Chotu whispered to Shree beside him, to which the IT head chuckled, covering it with cough. The man's eyes were on them, and even though he knew nothing, he winked, earning a WTF look from Sameer.
When the man's eyes fell on ACP Mukherjee, his smile vanished and eyes widen, then came a choked disbelieve, "Ri Mukherjeee! Is that you?!"
Almost everyone turned to look at the person, for starters, she and someone with winks and flirty smiles and perfectly iron shirts and too much gel? So not match. Secondly, an owner of bar? Another non-match. Thirdly, what's with the nickname?
ACP Mukherjee looked as if she would like nothing but to leave, or punch the man (it's always so hard to tell with her), instead she looked right back to the man, as usual, with a wry smile and sarcasm, "Oh yeah, that's all me."
"OMG!" the man exclaimed, taking steps toward her so fast and invading her space that Rawte had to jump so he won't collide with him. The man totally missed the murderous look on his face or stunned expressions on others as he asked, "It's been so long! How are you? Where were you? What happened to your wardrobe? Why you are with them? Are you with the girl?"
She continued to give him the look, "Work. Let's catch up later." which totally said that's not gonna happen, like, ever. The man seemed to understand that tone.
"Don't think just because it's been years I will forget that tone of yours." he frowned, then grinned, "well, it's good to see you. You look so much more se . . . " he never completed as she interrupted.
"Work." she repeated. The man nodded, but then frowned again.
"Wait, you with them?" he was surprised, and it's the understatement. Beside them Rawte finally had enough.
"Why do you think she is with us, then?"
The man looked back and forth between them, apparently her linked with ETF is unfathomable to him. then he gave up, "I am so going to find out about it." to which ACP Mukherjee rolled her eyes, dismissing the conversation.
ETF found a dead body some 4 KM away from the bar, the tattoo of the bar on the girl's wrist. She was sexually assaulted, and drugged, which are usually the factors in these type of cases. But the thing was, the drug found in her system, it was not regular one. It was a curious mixture on chemicals, on which Liza working as the Team interrogates in Apocalypse, searching the place and asks people around.
The owner, Vicky Arora, nodded vigorously and agreed to help the team with everything, simultaneously flooding the crime journo with compliments she might or might not should receive, and sending questions afterwards to ACP Mukherjee as she took samples on drinks on the bar counter of the drink Liza found in the victim's body.
"It's been what, 6 years?" He waved his hands around, "seems like ages."
"Which I would rather forget." She muttered under breath, which he heard and wisely ignored.
"Remember Amit? He still comes around, even if he is married." he grinned, "still the same, salivating after nice asses."
Somewhere in the background Chotu coughed at the comment.
"You can catch up, he comes almost every evening." Vicky continued.
"Nah, I would pass." she replied.
"How you ended up as cop anyway? Not complaining!" he raised his hands in surrender as she looked at him, arching eyebrow, "You look nice! Though you always did, even when you were . . . "
"That's enough." she cut him off, sending a stern gaze, which had no effect on him whatsoever, which was quite surprising for the team, and the phrase could be perfectly described for her collecting samples as she met the team's glances, "I am finished here."
The team left Apocalypse 4 hours later with lots of samples for Liza to work on, and more questions on Vicky Arora and his alleged relation with ACP Mukherjee.
"Ex-boyfriend?" Sameer is the only one who will poke the bear and walk out unscratched. She gave him a look, lips turned upward for a smile without any humor.
"Would not you like to know?"
Rawte rolled his eyes at the comment as he drove. His best friend shrugged from the back seat.
"Well I am sure Vicky," he stressed the name, "will be very eager to share a few dirty little secrets. You already have his number, eh Sakshi?" he gave a teasing look to the crime journo to which she flushed.
"What's with girls and some compliments?" Shree mumbled, "fall at others feet."
"Because you never knew the power in that." Chotu shot back, "seriously, try some of that to Liza, and she won't look pissed at you all the time as she does."
"Are you guys done?" Rawte spoke irritated, dismissing the moment, "Let's focus on the case, shall we?"
"You are just jealous Vicky getting more footage than you." Sameer said, always the helpful. everyone burst out laughing at it, even ACP Mukherjee smirked as the former tried to look smug, and for some unknown reason, she was the only one who got death glares from the Boss. She titled her head at that, to which he looked away, clearly realizing it's of no use.
As expected, there was nothing on those samples from the bar, no added chemicals or drugs. Liza even went as far as saying the wine was rather good from Apocalypse.
"You would surely know something about that?" Rawte could not help the sarcasm as he and ACP Mukherjee returned from lab. It's been 7 days on this case and he had heard more about Vicky and the alleged relation between him and her than the case itself. She stared at him as they stood in front of lift.
"Are you trying to suggest something, Boss?" Her tone had that undercurrent of threat he missed so dearly, which he won't ever admit. Nope.
"As if I care." He muttered as they stepped into lift, but still could not help as he passed another comment, "He called you by your nickname. You guys must have been close." he was curious. She was such an enigma and all they had was a tight lipped Director from her past. This new addition, even if irritating, intrigued them all about their mysterious ACP Mukherjee and her past.
"I hate that fucking nickname." He didn't blink at her swearing as the lift stopped at their floor and they stepped out. She groaned and set out a colorful string of curses as they saw Vicky sitting on the desk of Shree's legs hanging in the air, as he flirted with Receptionist who was as red as red wine by now. The Director was waiting for them near the lift, and her question was more directed at her than Rawte as she asked, "Want to share why that loud and irritating man occupying Shree's desk asking for you?" Shree was sulking in the corner, giving death glares to Vicky.
ACP Mukherjee gave her an irritated look, "I am not mind reader." and walked up toward Vicky, who gave a grin so wide that his face nearly split in two.
"Hey beautiful, was just waiting for ya." He jumped on his feet, giving a last wink to the receptionist as she hurried away, "Shall we leave?"
"To where?"
"Cop guys surely have lunch time, eh?" he gave another of his flirty smile to Director, who didn't look pleased, "Right, Chief?"
"Director." Mukherjee corrected, "I am busy."
"Oh come on," he whined like a baby, "now don't make me spill some dirty secrets and embarrass you in front of your colleague." then he added a wink. Everyone gaped at the open threat, and ACP Mukherjee looked as if she would like nothing than to punch him on face.
she turned so fast several seconds later that her neck might crack, "I will be back in 2 hours." she shouted at the Director, and stormed off toward Lift, Vicky grinning like he has won lottery. Well, it was a lottery, though everyone wondered if he would survive the elevator journey as it closed off and ACP Mukherjee looked ready for action.
"RIP Extra gel." Chotu, who appeared at the last minute, commented. The Director blinked once, and turned to look at the whole office who was gaping at the lift. They all hurried on their feet, getting back to work.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"What, you are trying sobriety club or something?" Vicky commented as the glass of scotch was still untouched from ACP's side. They were in a posh looking restaurant, surrounded by glasses and palm trees, sitting on black cozy couches near a glass wall which gave them nice view of the streets outside. he was taking occasional sip, under the scrutiny of her as she sat on the couch rather calmly, after the initial anger toward him in ETF office, leaning back, looking every bit of comfortable and as if she belonged to this place, even in her formals.
"I am on duty." she answered wryly. He rolled his eyes.
"Its lunch time. Come on, nobody's gonna know."
"Why we don't cut to the chase?" she tilted her head, "you surely didn't drag me for a friendly chit chat?"
He was silent for a minute, then exhaled a breath, "it's a favor, against the one I did to you years ago."
She looked perfectly composed, but none could mistake in her eyes that she didn't like it, "Well, it was new, people asking favors from me."
"I came to know something, after you guys left." he started telling, and explained how got a shattered glass in a dustbin right after ETF left, with his bar's label on it. He took it to a lab and they informed it had high amount of some unknown contents which was surely not alcohol.
"Surely it looks like I am in trouble." he muttered, for the first time out of his comfort zone, "I know what it looks like, don't try to convince me otherwise."
"I am not." she answered calmly, "It looks like you are going to get arrested for the obstruction of justice and hiding evidence."
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." he took a long sip of his scotch and slumped back, rather tired.
"Why didn't you give that to us as soon as you get it?" she asked, to which he gave a small smile, looking proud.
"Tried to a little bit detective." when he noticed her huffing he added, "HHHHHH ey! I just fast forward your work with the lab thing, I should expect a thanks if I didn't know any better."
"What favor exactly you need here?" She asked, not getting why he dragged her for this small thing.
"You take the evidence, and say you missed it during searching the bar. My name should not come to this mess."
"If you missed it, your name and bar is already into this." she pointed out, suppressing the urge for eye rolling. He opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it.
"Good point." he muttered, "As if I am already not in enough trouble."
she frowned at it. he looked at her heatedly.
"Don't think I don't know what's going to happen in here. A girl who visited my bar and ended up with drugs in her system? Its totally going to fall on me, the bar owner who sell drugs to its customers for money."
"if you are innocent, you will walk out without a scratch." she replied calmly. he didn't believe her a bit.
"Yeah right." he took another sip, slamming the glass on the table rather loudly, "I see how this will go from here, so I should better prepare myself for the jail time, right?"
"You need to calm down." her voice was eerily calm, and it did its wonder. he blinked at her tone, then took a deep breath.
"Sorry." he mumbled, "the death of that girl totally ruining my reputation and business." he looked at her squarely, "are you guys sure she had that drugs in my bar? not before or after?"
"positive." she replied, now resting her frame as she kept both her elbows on knees, fingers intertwining, "Tell me where you got the glass?"
"Backyard." he informed, "mostly its off the limits for public, but sometime people sneak in, you know hormonal pairs for hook ups." he added a small smile, "it's for staff actually, dumping garbage before sending it away."
"its been 7 days," she tilted her head, "when you got it. is this garbage cleaning every day's routine?"
he nodded.
"we searched every inch." she continued, "someone must have dropped it after we left. anyone in your mind?"
he shook his head, "like I said, it's for staffs. it was slow time after you guys left in afternoon, mostly staff and some guys. there is no camera as well in that door, so I can't help you guys, sorry about that."
"We need to talk to your staff once again." she added under her breath, "this time with little more pressing."
he raised his eyebrows, "let's not scare off my staffs."
"your staff can be very well behind a murder, if you forget it." she said heatedly.
"It's just a speculation, they are all good guys." he defended his boys, "I will drop by your office and hand it over to you. outside office building." he dropped his voice, "in a total secretive spy way."
she rolled her eyes, "whatever." she leaned back, already deep in thought. he stared at him for a while.
"Who knew you will be into IPS?" he shook his head, amazed, "Where is the party animal who could empty the whole bar and still could stand perfectly?"
"Who knew you are into interrogation?" she answered mockingly, displease evident in her tone, "send me the evidence as soon as you can." she stood up.
at the same time, the wall beside them shattered into pieces, before breaking the scotch glass Vicky emptied just moments earlier. She hide her head with both hands, kneeling down, as he nearly fell off his couch. People shouted everywhere and ran, and she dragged him toward her, both of them falling on the floor.
Some seconds later another bullet shattered the glass table. She took out her Gun, pointing and trying to see the shooter. as she got on her feet, she noticed a black Xylo rushing out on the streets. She lowered her gun, face hard as stone, as Vicky shakily stood on his feet.
"When I said secret spy stuff," he muttered, as shaky and scared as he felt, "I didn't mean the bullets so fast."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ACP Mukherjee returned to ETF building 4 hours later, after dropping by Vicky's penthouse, arranging extra security along with his private ones, telling him to take all the precautions and contact her if he knew everything. When she banged the glass open of lab that evening, almost everyone was inside, even the Director, listening to Liza as she explained the chemicals in the drugs, and turned to look at her. Their eyebrows rose instantly as they took in her state, creases on shirt and dirty, almost torn jeans at the knees, scratches everywhere and blood oozing out from some places on her arms and face, short bangs falling on her forehead. Before anybody could ask anything, she dropped the evidence on the desk with a thud.
"Test it, immediately." she ordered, and Liza hurried without another word. The team walked out with her from the lab, watching her as she paced in the hallway like a caged animal.
"What happened?" Rawte's urgent voice snapped her out of her brooding. she looked at him sharply.
"Someone shot at us."
"What?" Director's eyes widen like everyone else, "Did you notice it who?"
"if I did, he would have been here by now." she answered, and nobody could mistake the sincerity in her voice, "He is okay, under security."
"this makes no sense at all." Sakshi answered, "why anyone would shoot at him?"
"Are you sure it was for him and not for you?" Sameer asked, trying to appear calm but everyone had the opposite reaction to it, necks cracking to look at the ACP. She didn't answer instantly, which really bothered the trio seniors.
"Not for me." she replied at last, and though Sameer and the Director were satisfied, Rawte was not. She looked away, in her own thoughts, and informed rather forcefully that she is going to locker room to change, leaving others to create more theories in her absence.
ACP Mukherjee nearly did not notice when she was slowly closing her locker shut, still brooding, lost in her own world, that her Boss, Rawte, sneaked up on her. She turned to him rather slowly as he asked, "What you are hiding from us?"
She wanted to answer Everything, which was quite fitting, but instead she asked back, "Why do you think so?"
He had the fire in his eyes when she defied him when he was right, and the situation is rather serious, "You go out with him and shoot out happens? What he informed you? And where you got that evidence?"
"I missed it last time." she shrugged.
"Bullshit." He answered flatly, taking a step toward her, "you don't miss anything."
"well," she smirked, "thanks for the vote of confidence." He didn't move an inch as she tied up her hair in a high ponytail, staring at her as if he can read her soul.
"You don't have to hide everything, you know?" His voice had the unexpected seriousness which caught her off guard. She was blank for a moment, then she composed herself.
"I missed it last time." she emphasized, and even if he looked he don't buy it, the message was clear, she won't talk about it and he won't ask, "And I am not hiding anything. I won't do anything which can compromise the case." She paused, "I can withdraw myself if you want."
"I don't want you to do that." He answered too fast, "You won't do it . . . " He paused, thinking for moment, then replied with added confidence, "I trust you."
Those were some words none said to her in years, and she didn't say back to anyone either. She chose not to respond to that.
"I think we should interrogate the bar staffs once more." she started heading toward the door, and he followed, "we don't have any other option, so we may as well start from the very beginning."
He nodded once slowly, "that makes sense, though this time, we need some added pressure."
He frowned when he noticed her smirking a little, but didn't ask why.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Vicky was as cheerful as ever when the team saw him next time, like the attempt on his life didn't happen. He winked and flirted with Sakshi, gave a small nod to ACP Mukherjee, and cringed when the team did their added pressure to his staffs. But it was worth it when a guy, no more than 27, cracked under Chotu's grip on his neck and confessed he took the girl in that off limits area and made her taste the new drink in town. She was high, and he had his way with her, but later when he heard about the drugs and death, he panicked and hid the glass, later planning to throw it away. But he never saw the glasses next time, thinking garbage cleaner took those. He informed he got the bottle on new drinks from a series of people, someone who knew someone and who knew someone else. Chotu took off to dig out something more about this, Sameer with him. Shree along with local police took the guy into custody.
"You turned out right," Vicky said haltingly, "my staff was involved."
"See the bright side." Sakshi supplied, "at least he was not the murderer."
"How he was not the murderer?" Rawte retorted, "he took a bottle, made the girl taste it, and sexually assaulted her when she was high. It looks pretty much like murder."
"He didn't know about the substance in drink Arjun." She replied, "And how we didn't know the girl gave her consent about . . . that?" she paused and added, "its common thing in bars, people drinking their guts out and doing all sorts of things." she then turned to Vicky, "No offense."
"None taken." he said, but he did take offense.
"Also, a girl dressed like that." she added, and now ACP Mukherjee had something to say to that.
"Dressed like what, exactly? Short dress? or the fact that she was returning from a bar?"
Sakshi was stunned, as it was the first time the ACP addressed her directly since their infamous spat in discussion room. she more or less pretend she don't exist, and now . . . the topic was wrong on so many levels.
"So just because she was here that means it was totally okay for anybody to take advantage of her?" she looked positively frightening at the moment. Rawte took a step toward her cautiously.
"I didn't mean that." the crime journo mumbled.
"Alright," Vicky jumped in like a referee, "Let's not start a brawl on that thing, Ri, you did enough damage last time."
Two necks cracked going back and forth and ACP Mukherjee's eyes suddenly turned steely at the comment.
"Last time?" Sakshi asked, half hopeful, half scared, as she stole a glance at the ACP in question. she looked around, like asking herself to endure it all silently as it was all out. Even Rawte was interested in that, his eyes shining.
Vicky poured some drink in a glass for him as he casually continued, "Oh yeah. That was rather nasty." He winced, then shuddered, "the damage it caused . . . and I was new at that time. The only reason I didn't pull my hair out or shout at her because, well, she helped me with the start- up money."
The last part didn't sound too surprising, but none of them know the reason of the brawl.
"Also, she paid for all of it fully." He winked at the crime journo, "A rich kid, comes quite handy."
"Just when this whole thing turned into my past?" The ACP asked harshly, "I think we should head out." Her eyes flashed dangerously toward her colleagues. They took the hint and all of them walked out of bar, the crime journo leaving them alone to go to her office for a news report.
"well," the second in command mused as they walked toward their SUV, "at least now we know violence was always your forte." to which she looked away to hide her smile, affectively turning the situation light.
It took another 10 days, stings of criminal chasing, information swapping with secret informers in red light areas and a big Narcotics bust into a old lab which looked shut down but was actually used for creating a new kind of drug which can be sold as alcohol and drug, far more effective and addictive. The head of this syndicate confessed privately he did that shoot out in restaurant when he knew one his worker let one bottle out and it ended up linked to that girl's death. he thought the shootout will look like mafias are after the bar owner and it will shift the case from drugs, but it didn't happen, unfortunately for him. In press, Vicky's name or his bar was not mentioned. Narcotics took all the credit to stop a dangerous drug to hit the streets, even though ETF did all the work.
"Seriously, we need some guidelines when we did this kind of charity things.'' Sameer grumbled, "Which part of it makes sense, that we do everything and they take the credit, tell me."
"it doesn't." Shree muttered in agreement, "I hate Narcotics."
"They should really pay us." Chotu said, then added hurriedly as all 4 pair of eyes narrowed at him, "I mean to the informers. I have to pay them for their work, how fair is that?"
"Liza made me sit through whole spectrum analysis and explained it all, if I knew we are getting this after that . . . " Shree trailed off.
"I feel for you buddy." Chotu clapped his back, to which the IT head winced, rubbing the place. the commando looked apologetic, and both friends took leave, cursing the Narcotics and drugs in general.
"Well, I am heading out too." Sameer looked too glad to leave, "Enjoy the paper work, Kids." He waved to the ACP and Second in command, both of them leaning against the front of a unofficial SUV, courtesy the Director. The former chuckled, while the latter scowled, but soon it turned to an affectionate look as the senior agent walked away.
They stood in silence, which was not new, and not awkward like earlier. Just when the second in command was about to say to head back to ETF, she unexpectedly opened her mouth.
"I threw vodka at a Girl's face."
He was surprised, and didn't even try to hide when she looked at him directly into eyes.
"I was upset, and she was pissing me off. After that, a fight broke out, and it turned to a brawl." she paused, "at one point I smashed a bottle on a guy's head. Bouncers cleared the whole thing. I along with other staffs had to clear the mess."
That she was capable of such a thing, was not surprising. He got taste of how she can react to small things, like invading personal space and touching hands, first hand when they met. The overwhelming thing was she was thoughtful enough to clean the mess afterwards, and now after God knows how many years, she is sharing this, that too with him.
He wanted to know why.
"I didn't ask you."
"Don't tell you were not at least a bit interested." she countered smugly.
"More than a little bit." he admitted truthfully. The same blank, unreadable expression was back, like those days ago in her locker room. Not the frightening one she gave after that paper clip catastrophe.
"Now you got something." She uncrossed her arms and turned, walking toward her side of SUV and opening the door.
He craved for more Somethings after that.