It's been 10 days since Riya's body has been cremated. Today there is a memorial function at her house, I attend the function along with my parents. Everyone is calm and composed comforting the family who is going through a sad phase. I should be sitting with my friend Akash instead I am here with this idiot Shweta, seems like she feels responsible for Riya's murder. Akash didn't want to attend this function as he doesn't want to accept her as dead yet. He did put me to a task though, asked me to observe everyone's reaction and also take pictures of people who are attending. So, while I am busy with my tasks, this annoying girl keeps on interfering with my duty by keeping me in conversation.
"Hey, thanks a lot for clearing out the suspicion on me," says Shweta.
"To be honest the police never suspected you, it was only me and Akash who had doubts about your boyfriend" I reply with looking away from her.
"W-what? You tricked me? ugh, I hate you even more now" she says while pouting.
"Come on, we had to do it, time is ticking, and the culprit is still on the loose" I reply while scratching the back of my head apologetically. "Anyways thanks to that you can be free from your toxic relationship, why do you girls always want to be with bad guys?" I ask her.
She looks pretty with her ponytail, dressed in a white top and a light-yellow polka printed skirt. Well, being a rich kid, she would obviously dress in good clothes. Even with all this, she definitely is no match for Riya.
"Yeah, I am glad, thanks to the police, I now know his true nature. Maybe it's because they have the guts to ask us out? I don't know, it just happened, and we were only dating for a few weeks" she replies being embarrassed.
"Alright then, let's eat lunch and head out, I have an appointment with Akash this afternoon, so I need to hurry"
So, I finish my lunch and meet Akash at the bus stop and the next thing is we are in front of the police station to talk with the inspector.
"Welcome back boys, thanks to your tip we were able to narrow down the drug ringleader," says Inspector with a bright smile.
"Good for you but we haven't caught the culprit yet," says Akash with a distaste.
"Aww kids, I know you are impatient, things like murder isn't something that easy. You need a lot of patience and determination to figure out, you need to wait for the culprit to make mistake," says Inspector trying to comfort Akash.
"Wait for what? For him to kill someone else or get away with murder?" murmurs Akash.
"So, have you got any more leads, Sir?" I ask trying to cover up my friend's impatience.
"No kid, we are only keeping an eye on the boyfriend, anticipating if he is planning for another victim,"
"I see, it's really weird that Mrs. Chopra never seemed sad throughout this whole incident, and even today, she has that same dazed expression all the time," I ask intently.
"Oh that's because of medications she takes, you know she has some kind of mental illness," he replies casually.
Then we both sit straight up and look at each other.
"Y-you never mentioned this before?" fumbles Akash.
"You never asked, I thought it was well known in the village?"
"If it's true then those wounds on her body, was it because of her mom? So, it wasn't rape?" I ask the inspector.
He nods.
"I thought we were eliminating people based on who would have chances to rape her. Damnit, seems like anyone could have killed her, are back to square one now?" asks Akash dismayed.
"Oh now I understand, why you boys were fervently supporting that boyfriend, you thought he didn't have time to assault her," he smiles wryly "that's what you get for playing detectives"
Seems like this hit Akash really hard, we thought we were close to eliminating everyone.
"Thank you, Sir, you have been helpful, we will let you know if anything comes up," I say and drag the depressed Akash out of the station.
After a long ride back to the park, I finally break the silence "Hey bro! don't be so upset, I know it's disappointing after coming so far, but we can again try with a different approach now that we know the truth."
"Yeah, you are right, thanks man" he replies with a weak smile "but something is not right bro, I feel like we have all the missing pieces but we aren't looking at it in the appropriate angle"
"Let's take a break bro, here, look at the pictures which I took at the function, almost the whole town has turned up, but you were the only one who missed it.
"Whoa look here Uncle Chopra looks really short beside her mom" I laugh.
"Haha yeah," he replies without paying attention but still immersed in his thoughts.
"Man, today Mrs. Chopra has tied her hair into a bun, she looks exactly like Riya" I try to swipe the photo.
He suddenly grabs the phone, which almost slips out of my hand, and stares at the picture for 10 minutes. His expression changes from being curious to be stunned and then he smacks my back hard.
"Rahul you might be dumb at making conclusions, but you stumble across great information accidentally, get up bro, the time has arrived to catch the fucking scum tonight!" He howls furiously and rushes out of the park like a mad man.
I am glad that he praised me, but it hurt a little because he called me dumb. He is true after all; I didn't do anything in this investigation rather than supporting my friend like Dr. Watson.
"Seems like Sherlocks can't be made after all."
We are finally back to the place where Riya was killed, on the way Akash asked for my phone and called the Inspector asking for someone's phone number and then he messaged that person from my phone. He tells me "Bro! this is the moment of truth, in about half an hour the culprit will come here, so you better hide in the bush and wait for me, just promise me you won't rush towards him, meanwhile I'll go get people of our town to catch him, alright?"
"You bet, go and come back quickly" I reply with resolve.
The trees are swaying, and the leaves are fluttering as the hot wind blows through the forest. It has almost turned pitch dark and I am hiding under the bush, sweating and listening to the noise of cicadas while ruminating over this chaos of events that transpired. We were living so peacefully and enjoying our lives, her smile, her anger, her voice, everything is so innocent and pure, how could anyone hurt such a poor soul? All the memories of her come flooding, building anger and resentment in me, and then he emerges in front of the tree.
Something in me snaps and I charge at him
"FUCKING BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!"
