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

As she jumped out of bed, she remembered everything that had happened the last night. It was a foggy memory due to the alcohol, but she did remember about Avinash and how they had found something concrete the previous night. She ran to her study at once, where she saw all the files scattered on her desk. She went closer towards the desk and found a file kept aside on the chair. She picked it up, and rummaged through. And suddenly, all the events of last night surged up and filled her up. She now wanted to reach the police station at once and get to the bottom of this.

“Avinash, Madam is calling you inside. She wants to give you a file, I guess,” said Ekbote.

Avinash became a little alert as he heard Ekbote say that. The previous evening was still fresh and was playing on a loop in his mind. He couldn’t get out the thought of how Erika had read that particular file, and her eyes had lit up. How she had ran towards the kitchen, and as soon as he reached there, Erika impulsively asked him to leave.

“Oye, Alice in wonderland! Madam bula rahi hai” said Ekbote again, snapping his fingers this time.

“Sorry, I just zoned out. Had a long night,” said Avinash getting up from his desk.

As he reached the cabin, he saw Rodriguez sitting opposite Erika, and they were discussing something.

“Avinash come in and have a seat,” said Erika. “Alright then, keep me updated on the matter, and I want daily reports on this matter,” instructed Erika to Rodriguez.

“Sure, madam. Jai Hind,” said Rodriguez leaving the cabin.

“Avinash, I need to tell you something!” said Erika leaning forward. Her voice had a sense of urgency, and her tone had completely changed compared to what it was when the inspector was around.

“You remember the homicide case file we saw last night?” asked Erika

“Yes. Frankly speaking, ma’am that’s the only thing on my mind since last night,” answered Avinash.

“Okay, so I received this note yesterday morning on my doorstep,” said Erika passing the note to Avinash. “Read the last sentence,” she added. “And after that, read the statement given by the cellmate of this prisoner.”

Avinash read the line in the note and then took the file and read the cellmate’s statement. After a minute, he stopped reading the file and again picked up the note.

“The last line on the note matches with a line in the cellmate’s statement. But what does that mean?” asked a puzzled Avinash. And he further read out, “This is a twenty years old homicide case where the convict, a 53 years old male was convicted on the charge of murder of a teenage girl”. “The crime was committed at Bardez Villa. The one that is owned by Mr. Ranvijay Shekhawat, the late celebrity lawyer. And the witnesses are Mr. Shekhawat and a bunch of teenagers”.

“It’s a full-proof case, ma’am and it involves the celebrity lawyer Mr. Ranvijay. What could have gone wrong?” added Avinash.

“Yes but, I think someone is trying to draw my attention to this particular case. There is something that is being missed,” said Erika leaning back on the chair. “And I personally think something is off about this case” she added.

“But why now? It’s been twenty years now, and officially reopening the case again would just be illogical,” said Avinash.

“Yes I agree, doing it officially without any proof would be completely impossible. So we first need to gather concrete evidence supporting the fact that this case needs to be re-opened,” said Erika.

“But we don’t even know if it is a fact or not. And how and where do we even start?” asked Avinash.

“We should directly interrogate the inspector who was in charge of this case. Mr. Imran Sheikh,” said Erika reading the file. “He was the senior inspector in this police station, so finding his address would be easy,” she added pointing out to the name on the file.

“So ma’am, are you planning to go alone on this one?” asked Avinash.

“Okay, I think, Ekbote is too old to go on field trips. With only five months left for his retirement, he should take it easy. And we all know how trustworthy Rodriguez is. So that leaves you. You are accompanying me, and you already know everything about the case, so that’s easier,” said Erika snapping her lips.

“Ma’am, but I am just an amateur. Like if there is anybody it should be Rodriguez Sir,” replied Avinash completely caught off guard.

“You are going to appear for IPS shortly. This is just some on-field training which will help you later. So let’s go to Mr. Imran’s house tonight after the office hours,” said Erika.

“Okay, ma’am. Let’s do this,” said Avinash as if he didn’t have a choice in this. “Jai Hind” he said as he left the cabin.

It was an extremely busy afternoon at the police station for Avinash and Erika as she was trying to find as much updated information on Imran as possible. While Avinash was digging into the homicide file, trying to understand it completely. They had decided to meet at the back gate of the police station after the office hours.

Few hours later…

“You got the file along with you?” asked Erika

“Yes, I got it right here,” answered Avinash getting into the car.

“Okay, so the address says 365/15, Porba Vardo, Bardez” readout Erika.

“But when I contacted on the landline number, the person who answered the call, said that the people who stayed there had shifted to Mumbai,” said Avinash. “I enquired about Imran, and then he told me that Imran had been shifted to a mental health institution in Pune, which was around five years ago when he had purchased the house from Imran’s son,” added Avinash.

“But how does the man…

“He knows this because once Imran’s son had called the man to the institution, as few legal documents needed to be signed urgently, and that’s where he had met Imran. The name