I opened my eyes. There was no one around.
Was I ?..
I pushed on the door.
"Why the hell am I in the interrogation room ?", I screamed.
For a long time, I didn't hear any sound.
But then I hear a woman's voice. "You up, Dr. Raghav ?"
"Nilima ?"
"Yeah, it's me. Arjun sir put you here. He thinks you... killed Srivastav."
"Wait, Nilima. Get me out of here", I ordered.
"Don't you dare, Nilima", I heard Arjun's footsteps.
He opened the door and came in.
"Well I must say, You are a genius Dr. Raghav, killing all these people while acting like a victim..
I must appreciate your intelligence", he clapped, sarcastically.
"But how's this possible ? I didn't...", I said.
What the fuck was Arjun even thinking...
"Allow me to explain that", Arjun smiled.
[ WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED THAT NIGHT ACCORDING TO ARJUN ]
Raghav enters the house, along with his associate Geeta. Sarita spots Geeta with Raghav. Enraged, she tries to get Geeta out of
the house.
That's when something wierd happens. Raghav is tired of his old wife.
And the kid.
He chooses Geeta over Sarita.
He slams Sarita. Knocking her unconscious. He takes out his surgical knife and makes cuts all over her body. And does the exact same procedure he witnessed the following day.
The same type of murder with an arrow and half cut face to make it look like a serial killer did it.
Geeta horrified by this entire scenario, hits Raghav knocking him unconscious too. She tries to flee too. But is caught by her brother
Srivastav.
Raghav plays victim and hence, gets saved from the investigation. But then, Raghav suspects that maybe Geeta had confessed about the crime to Srivastav.
Hence, he kills Srivastav. As there was no one except all of us yesterday at Srivastav's place.
I trust my team. You weren't on the team.
It's you Dr. Raghav. You are the killer.
[ IT COULD BE NONE ANOTHER THAN DR. RAGHAV ]
"False, everything's false", I said. "It doesn't even make any sense. Why would I do it ? And what about the murder of the old woman, the first victim ?"
"I can't say anything about it right now. I'm sure I'll find about it too soon."
"Arjun, the killer's out there somewhere. And here, you are wasting your time on me. Get me out. I can help you", I pleaded.
"Enough of this nonsense, I still have to find out about what information Srivastav was trying to give before he passed out - OLD SCARS WILL REAPPEAR...."
With that, he left.
***
The interrogation room just had one window.
I waved around the table. Arjun, what have you done.
I saw a paper on the table.A confession from Geeta ?! What were you even thinking Arjun ?
The first few words had a curvy thickening, but as the letter progressed... Her handwriting became worse. Words were
incontinuous...
That's when I realised something.
The 3 maps.
I had seen the uppermost floor map. Actually I've been there. The president's office lies to the southernmost point of the SCF building.
OLD SCARS WILL REAPPEAR. Old scars...
Yes, it has to be.
The reason why the map was incorrect.
It didn't belong to the SCF here.
It was of the old SCF. The one which met with a fire accident, years ago.
"Arjun, Nilima !!! It's urgent !", I called out.
"No matter however you try, I'm not going....", Arjun started.
"Save those dialogues for later, I know what the map is about. It's still of the SCF. Just the old one", I said.
"Old one ?", Nilima smirked.
"Ya, the one that shut down years ago. The President's office there corresponds to that of this map."
"Whatever, I shall see what to do", Arjun left again. What's with this guy huh ?
***
Another 30 min of lockdown. But before I could notice, it was pindrop silence outside. What the hell is going on here ?
That's when someone opened the door.
"Nilima ?"
"Arjun sir needs your help, I guess he can't figure out the map", she said as she let me go.
We raced to the old hospital on Nilima's bike.
When I got there, my head seemed to hurt. It was early morning. The light seemed to drain me out.
Huh. What was I doing here ? Arjun ? Nilima ?
"Well, you told me about the old SCF. Now you'll find the President's office too", Arjun said as he gave me the 3 maps.
Well as I remember the entrance should be... There. I went to a fallen gate. I could see fungi around the burnt trees and fresh grass on the ground. It looked as if it's being used, but...
I wandered here and there, till I could get an idea about the hospital. Most of the building had came down due to the fire.
"There, there it is. The president's office", I pointed out to a fallen wall.
"Ok. We'll take it from here", Arjun said. "Lock him up", he instructed Nilima.
"What the hell Arjun. I just helped you", I said as I felt my hands being captive by the cuffs.
"Do you even know about the app's connection to the murders ?", I yelled.
"How do you know about it ?", Arjun rushed.
"I figured it quite a while ago. But Srivastav told me to shut up as you would think me as a suspect if you think I'm misleading you. But that doesn't matter now. I'm a suspect already, isn't it ?"
"What more do you know ?"
"Srivastav was a just a gray character. You don't know anything about him for sure. I didn't even get to see Sarita's autopsy", I hissed.
"What do you mean you didn't see ? There has to be an autopsy with the police, right ?", Arjun turned to Nilima. "Right ?", he repeated.
"Actually sir, Sarita's body was never given to the forensics... I'm sorry sir", Nilima turned her head around.
"That freak Srivastav....", Arjun muttered as he disappeared into the crowd.
People were struggling to get the burnt wall out of the way. Finally, Arjun came up with a big hammer and smashed most of it. The others made way into the office and pushed the wall away. Soon, the investigation team started looking for a hidden entrance.
"Sir, over here, there's a metallic lid here", a member called out. Arjun quicked to the scene. "We found the entrance...", Arjun looked good.
Me and Nilima also made our way to it.
There was a weird stink in the room.
It grew even wilder when they opened the lid.
"Shit, close it", he ordered due to the pungent smell.
"Nilima, we need a kit. Someone's dead down there", Arjun came out.
"Looks like he's been there for many years."
Arjun looked into my eyes. I knew he was as confused as me.
YOU ARE READING
IGNOMINY
Short Story[ Completed ~ around 12k words ] Raghav, a rookie surgeon goes against his seniors to save an old lady from an odd illness. But he soon regrets doing so as this starts a vicious cycle of events affecting the life of his own and that of his loved one...
