Mysterious Death

21-👻Proof👻

Niya was still dealing with the effects of something I did years ago. Even if I was guilty now, I am sure that I didn't even realize half of her sufferings.

"If it's not too much to ask, May I know how Maira died and when?" Niya asked after few seconds of silence.

"She died few days ago in a truck accident," Drishti told her the lie, everyone believed.

"It's fine if you don't want to tell but don't lie," Niya snorted.

Drishti's eyes widened upon hearing her. Interesting, I thought it was only me who could see through Drishti.

"How did you know whether she was lying or not?" Her mom asked curiously.

I too leaned forward, to know her answer.

Raising her eyebrows in annoyance, Niya deadpanned, "I know Drishti from nursery, it's easy to recognize her body language."

"I know you from the time when you weren't even born and I still can't tell whether you are lying or not," her mother countered back.

"That's because your old Niya never lied to you and even I am not aware of this new Niya's doings so how can you know. If you are happy with this answer then let's stop. So Drishti, how did Maira actually die?" Niya spoke in a 'know it all tone.'

"She was murdered," Drishti answered in low voice, with her head bent downwards.

Without giving any verbal response to Drishti, Niya stood up and went inside.

Drishti turned towards me with a look of confusion but I pointed towards Niya's mother and put a finger on my mouth. Fortunately, she understood my hint and turned her face away from me.

Niya came back with a bunch of CDs' in her hand.

"These are the recordings of my sessions with a therapist in the Rehab. Those recordings also have time and date mentioned. And this is my ticket that has the proof that I arrived yesterday. You can call the Rehab and confirm everything," Niya stated while forwarding the items into Drishti's hand.

Drishti took them all with a dumbfounded expression.

"Don't give me that look. The moment you said that Maira was murdered, I understood the reason behind your visit. So, here are the proofs. Let me know if you still suspect me and need more proofs," Niya explained with a small smile.

"I am actually gonna check this. Don't think just because you handed me all this, I will blindly trust you," Drishti spoke fiercely, putting aside the guilt of the past.

"Of course. Trusting me would be a stupid move. By the way, was the letter real or did you just make it up for coming here?" Niya asked, her voice strong but her eyes showed the desperation to know the truth.

"It's slightly different. I didn't bring the letter to have a reason for coming here but I brought it because I was going to come here. This letter is from Maira and I am damn sure that every word came from her heart. Sorry for our past behaviour and Thanks for cooperating," Drishti answered with a smile and left the house.

I too followed her after glancing at Niya one more time.

"So...what now? I may have said that to Niya that she was still a suspect but I don't think she is," Drishti asked as we stood still on the road, facing my dance studio.

"Now we check with other suspects. What happened with Nisha? Did you find something?" I asked suddenly remembering my fellow dancer when I saw the studio.

"That night she was in the studio, practicing all those moves you pointed out. Watchman too confirmed that she was in the dance studio for the whole night.

"Zoya, her best friend told me that Nisha was practicing hard so that she can show you that she was good enough. The fight with you had a strong effect in her mind just not the way we were thinking," Drishti ended her explanation with a small smile.

"Oh! I have a great effect on people, don't I? Some positive but mostly a negative effect. Wow!! I don't even know how to feel about myself," I spoke snorting.

"By the way, when did you find out about this and why didn't you inform me?" I asked incredulously.

"You didn't even mention her name while we were discussing about remaining suspects. I thought you knew," Drishti answered shrugging.

I didn't even bother glaring at her when I myself forgot about a possible suspect of my own murder.

Our conversation came to an end after that. Drishti and I silently walked on the road, busy in our own thoughts.

I again saw a bottle lying around and wished to kick it as hard as I could.

"Kick that bottle for me, will you?" I muttered in frustration on not being able to do that myself.

Giving me a look, Drishti picked up that bottle and threw it in the nearby dustbin.

What a great person!