My Dead Friend - Chapter 15

I was sitting there alone, crying for help, but to no avail, my cries were confined to that room.

“I have to get-up”, I said to myself, but couldn’t, actually I was also hurt because of the fall as my hand had hit on a slab & I had fallen on my right knee. But I only realized my hurt when I tried to rise.
I started crawling out, it was getting hard to move my body with one hand, but I knew I had to do it, if there was a slightest of possibility to save Shweta than I have to call for help. I took out my phone from my pocket as I reached the main door. With considerable effort I lift myself up, dialing the phone no. of Sanjay.
“Please you need to come here”, I said without even waiting for him to speak.
“I am coming”, he didn’t ask any question, maybe he understood.
I turned back, the door was locked.
I was confused with the events, but I understood the reason, that why the door was locked again.
I waited for Sanjay to arrive, he came in 15 min along with 2 more people, but it was like eternity for me.
“What happened to you? you look in bad shape”, Sanjay said.
“She is inside”, I said with a hoarse voice.
“Are you sure?”, he said as he started moving towards Amit’s flat to take the keys. Shikha gave him the key.
He went inside along with other two; within a moment he rushed out, & called for an ambulance.
“How do you know?” one of the 2 man asked, his eyes were filled with doubt.
“I just know”, I replied
“You go back to your room, you are hurt, I will talk to you later”, Sanjay said.
“No, I will stay here, how is she, will she survive”, I asked
“You just go to your room, that will be best for you”, Sanjay said sternly.
I never wanted to leave, but I knew I had too. Slowly & cautiously I returned back to my room. I was having severe pain in my knee, but I was still able to walk, that means it was not broken. I opened my flat & went directly to my bed. I lay there sobbing.
I don’t know whether it was the site of her lying in that pool of blood was more troubling me or the fact that I could have save her last night. I was unsure about my grief but one thing was sure that I was suffering. I kept sobbing until I felt asleep.
I was awaken at around 10:00, because of a call from Sanjay.
“How is she?” I asked.
There was a brief moment of silence, then he said, “She was dead when we brought her here, in fact doctor said, she has died at least a good 7 hours back, it was an instantaneous death”
I dropped the phone.
I sat there motionless in shock, I could see my phone ringing again, but I was unable to pick it up. After sometime my phone died down. But I sat there curled up in myself, staring blank.
I sat there is same posture for hours in that dark room.
I was not crying, but nor I was reacting; only one thing was floating in my mind, ‘She died because of me, I could have saved her’.
“Ahh…”, I woke up with a pain as my hand slipped from my knees & it brushed the bruise on my hand.
It was 6:00 in the Monday morning, although I was in no mood to go to office, yet I knew that sitting in room won’t help. I was charged up, with a fresh energy, I opened my laptop looking for my mails. If I have got any on Sunday, there was none. I again looked at the bundle of papers in that carry bag.
“How can Amit do this to his own sister?” I asked myself, “And Varun, why will he kill him & Pankaj - he is connected in this whole picture but how”, I was so confused.
“Shweta’s body is here, but what about Varun’s body, how was that taken out without giving any suspicion to anyone”, this was actually the heart of the mystery; if this was solved half of the mystery would have been solved. “Even though he would have been thin, but still would have been around 50kgs approx, they would have needed a bag or something big, but still how could have they taken out”.
‘If there has been something in it, they would have at least understood that Varun is dead’, I thought. ‘So it has to be these three things which can solve this puzzle’.
At around 7:30, I opened my door; I found one paper sliced between floor & my door. I opened it. It was from HIM.
“Sometime we are not responsible for things happening around us, but we still blame ourselves, it’s good you have realized this early.
By now you would have realized that it’s you with whom spirits can communicate, you must be wondering why but the answer lies in the near future and it will unfold at the right time. As for the test you are facing now, it’s your fight and you have to win it for yourself & both of them who have died. You need to avenge the agony those two poor spirits have faced.
I will just pray, that you get Wisdom”
I folded the paper & placed it inside my pocket. I was about to turn, when I saw Sanjay coming towards me.
“You’re alright?” He asked, “I called you 6 times last night, but you don’t attend”
I didn’t reply.
“It’s Ok, I understand, that’s why I sent you back to your flat, Also people would have started doubting you, HE has told me about you, but others don’t know about your capability”, he said.
“Which capability”, I asked surprised
He didn’t replied, after a long pause he started speaking again, “The death was caused by a blow to the head, and we have found the weapon too”
“It’s that fan”, I interrupted in between, remembering the contents of that place.
He nodded in yes.
“Amit at least looks like he is broken, but I still don’t trust that guy. We have called his parents, although he has accepted that he & Shweta had a fight last night about Shikha, but he says that after that he slept, while Shweta was awake watching some TV serial”, Sanjay said.
“Do you find any finger-prints on fan?” I asked
“Found a partial, It matches with Pankaj’s, but it makes sense as that fan belonged to Pankaj & Varun & even that print also looks very old”
“When Varun disappeared, did you investigate the flat?” I asked
“Yes”, he replied
“There was a visible blood stain in the bathroom, did you ever noticed?” I asked again.
“I am not sure, but yes we scanned the whole flat, that too in the absence of Pankaj, if anything that visible could have easily be spotted, but honestly am not sure, we were not looking into a murder, just a runaway case”, he said but confusion on his face was visible.
“It was there, could have been easily seen with a naked eye”, I replied, “I need to talk to the broker too”, I said.
.
.
.
We went to the broker, his face has turned white, ‘Loser, would be worrying about his business’.
“Did you notice anyone Amit or Pankaj taking any big container, Bag or anything outside”, I asked.
“No, I don’t remember, let me confirm with Arun”, he said (Arun is like a caretaker he stays in the first flat).
“Nope, I don’t remember, only time I saw them taking something out was when Pankaj’s men were taking his belongings into that truck”, Arun told.
“I doubt Pankaj or Amit would have kept his body for so long, it would have decomposed within a day”, Sanjay said to me, “Also we checked 308, it was nothing there”.
“Did you found anything unusual or did Pankaj said anything to you?”, I asked Arun.
“Pankaj was not there, I didn’t even saw him that day”, Arun replied.
“Body wouldn’t have decomposed if freeze, right?”, I asked Sanjay
But Arun replied, “I remember one thing with Freeze, that day when they were putting everything in truck, one of them said, that Fridge is too heavy to lift & they were unable to lift even with two men trying to lift it, I helped them then”.
“So that’s how the body was transported”, I said to Sanjay.
“I still don’t believe it, that someone kept a body in his fridge for 15 days, first it’s a great risk & second fridge can’t freeze the body, but if he did than he was psycho and could be very dangerous”, Sanjay replied but his face was very tense.
“I tried calling him yesterday his phone was not reachable”, I said.
“This is the last piece of puzzle”, Sanjay replied, “I will make that Amit talk like a parrot”, Sanjay said grinding his teeth & left.
I too returned to my room & started getting ready to the office.
It was only two days since I last went to the office, but it almost felt like two years. While leaving home I took that crumbled paper & placed it in my pocket.
‘Now, I have to pretend normal’, I said to myself as I put my earplugs on while boarding the auto, I reached office before 8:30, I went to my desk & without thinking about anything else, I started working on the code correction, I was supposed to work on.
At 12:30, Mirza invited me for Lunch, although hunger was light years away from me, yet I agreed on having lunch. We reached Canteen & decided to have the special lunch on 2nd Floor, I had just stepped in, when I saw HER sitting with her group.
“Not again”, I said slowly.
But somewhere inside me I was very content to see her; It felt like I saw a ray of light in a storm, but that moment passed very quickly as I remember the last Bus ‘HATE’ look, I saw in her eyes, she was sitting with some boy.
“Good for you, with me there are only problems & destruction”, I said inside me.
To avoid myself from staring her, I sit with my back facing her, but couldn’t help myself from stealing glances of her. I was trying hard to avoid Mirza seeing me doing this, but it was one other friend of mine, who was also sitting behind me, parallel to her, who saw me.
He flashed me a smile and gave me a ‘come-on buddy, I am not stopping you from looking her’ look.
After the lunch that friend meet me on canteen stairs, “You like that girl”, he asked
I declined.
“Then why were you staring her throughout her lunch”, he asked
“Leave it, he won’t accept”, Mirza said, “He don’t even know her name”
“I know her name”, he said & told us her name.
“I don’t like her guys”, I said but I know they didn’t believe. “So now you will be using her name as desktop password?” he said as Mirza laughed.
Actually someone has said it right,
“When a Girl likes someone, nobody knows, except the Girl,
&When a Boy likes someone, everybody knows, except the Girl”
We returned to our desks. Something in me was forcing me to ping her, but I resisted that temptation, “She is with another guy, better than you & above all he is normal too”, I said to myself.
I planned to leave at 8:00, but Sanjay called me & told me that he will be coming to pick me up as he needs my statements. He also told me that Amit has now accepted that Shweta & Pankaj were friends & he was hoping for a confession, but due to Monday he had to produce him in court, so didn’t have a chance to do a thorough investigation.
He came to pick me up at 6:30, anyway my 9 working hours were completed, so I left with him.
“I think, this Amit only has killed Varun”, he said.
I nodded.
“And by the way, we’ve traced Pankaj’s phone using his IMIE number. His last tower was of KK, he is still in this area only”, he said.
“Could it be that Pankaj killed Shweta?” I asked, “Although it won’t makes sense, because both were friends”
“God only knows.” he said.
We reached Police Station in 20 minutes; Shikha was also there, also the broker.
“What is he doing here?” I asked.
“He don’t want us to seize the room”, Sanjay said.
“Pathetic loser”, I said.
I gave my statement, actually it was Sanjay who gave me a written statement & I just signed it.
"It still don't add up, if Amit killed Varun, then how was he betrayed?", I felt confused on these turn of events, "It could have been Shweta who killed Varun, atleast that makes the betrayal logic, right", I said.
I was thinking about all of it, when I sighted the file, which was on Sanjay’s desk. But I stopped myself from taking it in my hands, the curiosity was to see how a case-file looks like, but I was afraid as it was an official document & I was not supposed to touch it.
After sometime, when Sanjay was taking Shikha’s statement, & I was sure that nobody was watching, I slowly slide it towards me, then I started looking it from the backwards. Currently the last one was my statement, then it was Broker’s statement, every page was attested by the Investigator & the Witness’s signature.
A proper receipt of all the items along with their Identification numbers, I now took it in my hand, when something slid from the file & fall on the floor.
It was a photograph. I took it in my hand and saw..
“Oh!... M..Y….. G..O..D…”, I shouted.