Into The Shadows by Aayush Borulkar (smart ebook reader txt) 📗

Erika requested Avinash to accompany her to her house, where they could complete this task. And when an ACP invites, you don’t decline her request. So Avinash had no other choice but to accompany her to her house.

“When is the exam date, Avinash?” asked Erika, rummaging through the bunch of files on her desk, in her study.

“5th of November, ma’am,” answered Avinash.

“Oh. two months to go then huh,” said Erika

“Yes, ma’am,” said Avinash bending over his bunch of files

“By the way, what are we looking for, ma’am?” asked Avinash. Even Erika did not have an answer to this.

“Needle in a haystack, I guess,” replied Erika.

“It’s just that we have been working on it since the afternoon and gone through a million double homicide cases already. So just wondering,” said a puzzled and exhausted Avinash.

“I am going to take that figuratively, and yes, we haven’t found anything, but we are close, and I can sense that,” replied Erika, trying to cheer up Avinash.

“Okay, let’s take a break. C’mon, leave that. Let’s go," said Erika getting up from her chair and leaving the room, followed by Avinash into the garden outside.

“Beer?” asked Erika

“No ma’am, I don’t drink,” answered Avinash

“Okay, soda then. I’ll be right back,” said Erika leaving Avinash in the garden.

Erika came back with a can of beer and a glass of soda. They both sat in the chair, sipping their drinks.

“So why did you refuse the bungalow given by the government?” asked Avinash, finally breaking the silence.

“I am not after the luxury that comes with the position, Avinash. I just want to do my duty and punish the bad guys. That’s what we are all here for, right?” answered Erika sipping her beer. “Protect the innocent and convict the criminals,” she added.

“Yeah, that’s true,” said Avinash. “You are such an inspiration for me. Achieving so much at such a young age and…

“I put my father behind bars,” said Erika interrupting Avinash. “I was sixteen back then. My father was a sub-inspector at the customs office. One day he was caught…

“You don’t need to continue, ma’am,” interrupted Avinash.

“He used to bring a lot of expensive gifts every weekend. Dresses, toys, shoes, cycles. You name it, and he bought it. I used to love him for that, and he was the best dad on this planet earth,” continued Erika staring at her beer can.

“He would never let us feel like a middle-class family. He provided us with everything. We lived a luxurious life. But one night, three men arrived at our doorstep. They wanted something from my dad, and within minutes I saw one of them pushing him around and threatening him. Dad asked me to run to my room as he stood there, trying to sort the issue out. I hid under the dining table,” narrated Erika as she stood up from the chair.

“The argument escalated so much that one of them pushed my mother, and she swung and hit the table corner and went unconscious. Father ran to the bedroom and brought a few packets of a whitish powdery substance. I was naïve enough to understand then, but it was cocaine. The man took the packets and struck my father on his forehead with his gun as a parting gift, I guess,” chuckled Erika. “As soon as they left, I was so scared and did not know what to do, so I just ran out of the house and kept running until I reached the police station and asked them for help because police are your friend whenever you are in danger. The police entered the house, and saw both my parents on the ground and a torn packet of cocaine on the floor. They took in my father for questioning. But little did I know that it was the last time I was ever going to see him, as they charged him with possession of psychotropic substances. A fancy word for drugs,” said Erika, taking the last sip from her beer can.

“But that is not more than ten years of prison. Shouldn’t he be out by now?” asked Avinash

“No, Avinash. He committed suicide in the cell. Slit his wrist open with a sharpened plastic tool,” answered Erika

“Oh shit. I am so sorry,” consoled Avinash

“He could not live in the guilt, I guess. The guilt of letting down his daughter and the only woman he loved. It pricked his conscience, demolishing him from within. Mom could not take the trauma and it got the better of her and she lost her voice,” continued Erika.

There was silence for some time as Erika sipped through her third beer can, and Avinash was still completing his glass of soda.

“Okay, never mind, let’s wrap it up for the night. Let’s go in and keep all files stacked up and let’s continue tomorrow,” said Erika breaking the silence.

They both stood up, and Erika lost her balance for a few seconds. It must have been the beer, she thought. They both made their way back into the house and into her room. Milo was already in there sitting on the floor, about to doze off. Erika went up to him and started petting him to sleep. Avinash went to the desk and started to sort out the files which were scrutinized and those which were still pending. As he was doing that, he picked up a file and from the file, slid a page and fell on the floor.

Erika picked up the page and asked, “To which file does this page belong to?”

“Oh, it must be from this file, might have just slipped out” answered Avinash, handing over the file to Erika.

The file was about a homicide case dated twenty years back. It had a male suspect convicted for the murder of a female in her late 20s. Had Slit her throat open. The male started to show psychotic symptoms during his punishment period. He had gathered quite a few well-wishers during his stay at the central jail. The cell mates claim that he had gone