CHAPTER II
Part 1
As Aryan was pacing
about slowly across the interrogation room, he was actually assessing his
suspect’s body language. Mr. Manish sat there, his eyes lowered, staring at a
fixed spot on the ground. His hands were clasped together firmly, and they were
sweaty... was it nervousness, or was it simply the heat, Aryan didn’t know. As
Aryan evaluated him, he knew that this was one tired and frustrated middle aged
man.
Puzzled with the
long silence, Mr. Manish finally looked up at his interrogator, only to find
Aryan’s dangerously black eyes staring back at him. It was as if he was looking
right into Manish’s soul. Feeling even more uncomfortable now, Manish returned
to staring at the ground.
With a deep breath,
Aryan asked, “Where was your son supposed to be?”
“At his friend’s
place... Harshil Jhaveri” Manish quickly replied.
“Where does he
live?”
“Just a few
buildings away... He has been Jay’s friend ever since childhood.”
“Good... Now tell
me more about Jay...”
Manish now measured
his words well. He spoke slowly and carefully. “He was a great son. He was
doing engineering from one of the best colleges of the city! He already had a
good job offer from an MNC. He was just... perfect. He was every parent’s ideal
son. I loved him a lot. Everyone loved him, in fact. His graduation ceremony
was supposed to be conducted sometime next week. I had dreams of watching him
in his black robes, but now...” His voice trailed off and his eyes were
brimming with tears.
Aryan couldn’t
stand the sight of men crying. They looked like the most miserable creatures on
this planet. He frowned, and continued... “Your son was stabbed to death Mr.
Shah, and this wasn’t any mugging. Your son was murdered.”
He stopped to let
Mr. Manish digest the news. His big beady eyes were aghast. “But... But...
But... Who would? Why? Jay had no enemies! How can you be so sure? There must
be some mistake... There has to be!” Mr Manish got even more agitated as he stammered
away some more gibberish.
Aryan put on the most
soothing voice he could manage, and said, “We are doing everything to find out
who has killed him... but we need the full co-operation of your family. We will
be retaining the body until the post-mortem is complete, and none of you can
leave town until our investigation is over.”
He turned to face
Shlok, who had been standing in a corner like a lamp-stand and said, “Get the
address of this Harshil from Mr. Shah and pick him up. He must be the last
person to see Jay alive. I want him here in 45 minutes. Meanwhile, I’d like to
talk to the younger son.”
With a final look
at Mr. Shah, Aryan walked out.
Part 2
This is one child
who was completely devoid of every ounce of self esteem and self respect. His
shoulders were drooping; his eyes didn’t even dare to make eye contact with
anyone; he was constantly fidgeting with his knuckles and finger nails. Aryan
could read Kevin Shah like a book. He was most probably bullied in college, and
he was reeking of self depreciation. However, apart from all of the negativity
and sorrow, there was an emotion hidden deep within – Guilt. But it was Aryan’s
experience that had taught him, that it was not merely the feeling of guilt
which made someone the prime suspect, it was the reason behind that guilt which
mattered more.
Aryan knew that if
he wanted to get out any information about Jay’s life, all he had to do was,
intimidate Kevin.
“So, Kevin Shah...
Tell me everything you know about Jay. His college life, his personal life, his
relations with family... everything. And make it quick. I don’t have time.”
Aryan was now talking in a strong and assertive voice.
“Umm... Umm...
Jay... Uhh...” The rest of what Kevin said was drowned in a loud boom as Aryan’s
hand banged on the table. “Tell me quickly you nut head! If you hide anything,
remember, I’ll put you behind bars for obstruction of justice. Do you have any
idea of how much shame will you bring to your family?”
Aryan had seemed to
hit a nerve. The poor kid was scared out of his wits! Aryan turned around to
let the kid recuperate, and he almost smiled as the kid began stuttering out
everything that Aryan needed to know.
“Jay... was the
perfect son. He was the one mom and dad loved. They adored him! He... he was
very smart... very good with his studies. He had a beautiful girlfriend too,
Divya.”
He almost jumped when Aryan said, “What’s her full
name and address?”
“Umm... Divya Singh. She lives in Bandra, some
20 minutes away from home. But sir, I really don’t know why anyone would do
this to him. I heard dad telling mom that someone had deliberately murdered
him... but it is all so weird... He was my parents’ perfect son...”
Aryan knew that no
one could be so perfect. There was always that one mistake, that one secret,
and he wasn’t disappointed.
As the kid
continued, he looked up for the first time, right into Aryan’s eyes, and said,
“But sir, lately, he didn’t seem to be okay. He didn’t seem to be normal. He
was hiding something. Something was horribly wrong.”
Aryan prodded him
to go on, “What was it Kevin? You know it don’t you? You know what was wrong?”
This seemed to be
all the persuasion that Kevin needed. His next few words were uttered hurriedly
– almost as if he wanted to get them out of his mouth as soon as he could.
“He was gay”
(To be continued)
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