“Raman", I called upon the eldest brother and sat on the chair. I observed that four brothers were talking something and they suddenly stiffened looking at me. Their faces were as pale as a blank white sheet.
“Yes sir", he chortled with a broad welcoming grin recovering from the sudden shock upon my arrival while everyone looked at me wide-eyed.
“By chance, do you know this girl?” I asked as I showed him the photograph of Priya Vashisht in my phone which I had for evidence purposes.
Raman glanced the picture closely and denied, “No sir”, outright while the three brothers looked at my phone zooming in and out the picture.
“Are you sure?” I asked probing each of them as I was losing patience. After reaching at dead ends from every lead, we had finally found a clue but much to my horror, these men were not an easy catch.
“Yes sir", everyone spoke confidently but I could find Shekhar being nervous and anxious. His voice trembled and his forehead had the beads of sweat despite the cool breeze was blowing in the peaceful rooftop restaurant.
Psychologically, I could analyze that Shekhar needed to be probed all alone to extract some truth out of him.
“Raman, have you never been in touch with the number, 9123456780?”, I asked glaring at the Gupta brothers.
“Sir, I own this restaurant and a stone crushing plant. Being a businessman, I get several calls. I need to check the call records.” The cunning man stated with immense calmness in his voice. I could not help but mentally appreciate his intelligence. He was truly a wonderful businessman, I deduced.
Having said this, Raman asked the number again. As I spoke the digits, he dialed the number and then he exclaimed, “O! Sir, this is the number of Priya Vashisht. The girl had been incessantly calling me and Shekhar to review this restaurant last month. She works with some content aggregator firm. Once the interview was done, she never called.”
I was dumbstruck. Raman Gupta had kept the alibi ready even before I could even think of questioning him. “Why could not you recognize her in the photograph if you had met her?” I asked glaring at him.
“O! Sir, I am a businessman but I am not into women. I met that girl once and I could not recognize her in the photograph.” Raman chortled humbly and I realized perhaps, he must be stating the truth too. After all, recognizing someone in a picture is a difficult task.
I glanced at Shekhar and to my utter horror, he was staring his elder brother with disbelief. I realized Priya had something more to do with these Gupta brothers but they were a tough nut to crack. I wondered these cunning brothers perhaps, had a great experience with dealing in aftermaths of crimes they must have been committed in the past.
Mentally deciding to probe Shekhar later on, I decided to end the meeting when Varun questioned, “Sir, why are you carrying the picture of this girl by the way?”
“She is Ansh’s girlfriend”, I uttered glaring at all four of them.
“O! Sir, now I can understand your suspicion", Prem uttered who had been quiet all the while.
“Sir, she called me a few times but once the interview was done and my restaurant was reviewed, I never talked with her", Raman reiterated while I nodded.
“Our restaurant is one of the oldest in Paharganj. My grandfather was the first one to come up with the idea of rooftop restaurants.” Raman boasted with a proud smile on his face while I nodded upon realizing the fact that the old, crumbling building was not even well-maintained by these Guptas.
I was almost convinced but I decided to question Shekhar to try my luck, “Shekhar, why did she call you?”
“Umm.. she asked me to arrange the meeting with Raman bhaiya to review this place”, Shekhar stuttered as if he was hiding something.
“Why she expected you to arrange a meeting? I mean, why she did not call him directly?” I asked probing him partly to dig in some truth and partly to irritate the brothers. I expected them to at least hint me out something.
“Sir, her boss Tarun Desai is my permanent customer. I own a garage. He recommended our restaurant for her project and perhaps, this is why she called me.” Shekhar spoke with newly found confidence and I deduced, Raman had taught him to lie perfectly.
“This is what she had told me", Shekhar uttered emphasizing on each and every word glaring at me with irritation. I smiled gleefully realizing that something is definitely amiss with these brothers but my smile faltered upon realizing that unfortunately the evidences were still missing.
“Sir, it is okay that you suspected us. Now that, you know about our lost car, please help us get it back.” Varun pleaded joining his hands in front of me. I closed my eyes in despair and assured him, “I will personally ask the police department to look into the matter”.
I had expected them to panic upon the name of police as I strongly suspected that the car was not lost at all but to my utter horror, Raman smiled and chirped, “Sir, thank you so much for this”.
I suppressed my urge to bang my head against the wall after reaching another dead end. I had pressure of my life and days were passing while I could not find any trace of evidence of the death of Ansh Awasthy. I did not want to die.
With terror surpassing every nerve of my body, I excused myself and began walking towards the labyrinth of dark alleys of the streets of Paharganj. Under the darkened sky, I walked quickly towards the New Delhi Railway Station where I had parked my car.
As soon as I ignited the engine, I called Rahul and was greeted by his grumpy voice, “Hello sir".
“Rahul, please try to find out more about these Gupta brothers and Priya. Focus on Shekhar, he might tell us something worthwhile.” I ordered him.
“Yes sir", he spoke assuring me that the work would be done soon while I dreadfully drove towards my house after all, Anvita was supposed to come the next day. Though, I had not seen Ansh after meeting Priya, I was looking forward for his visit at my humble abode tonight but I was not afraid of the terrifying spirit anymore.
😎😎😎
Word count : 1087
Hi everyone
This is the new update!
So, Ved is getting used to spirit of Ansh 😉
This cat and mouse chase of evidences is terrible, right!
I always wanted to write a perfect murder, actually 😅
I will be back soon and I will try to finish this story today.
VOTE, COMMENT AND SHARE 🥰
With immense love
♥️
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Mystery / Thriller⭐ Among the winners of Indian ONC 2021⭐ ⭐ Featured in Reading List of @MysteryThrillerIN ⭐ I was standing in my balcony when I saw a silhouette of a man walking in my lane. The silhouette was terrifying because it just had two hands and two legs jus...
