Dark Night Dawning

Chapter 17

The next day, Arnav was on the first flight to Lucknow. He had Akash, Payal and the Guptas with him. Last night they had found Shyam via credit card transactions made by him. The store where he had made purchases happened to be a clothes store where highly priced items seemed to have been bought.

What was he up to?

He had then called the commissioner of police in Delhi, who had advised him to go to Lucknow and meet with the SP of the local police station and lodge a formal complaint. He had assured him that he would make sure that everything would go smoothly. Khushi's dad would have to go along to give a statement.

It had felt good to talk to Anjali last night. After he had confessed all that had happened, his sister had tried to give him a rational explanation to such an irrational behaviour. She had attributed it to their troubled past. But how long would he keep running from the shadows of his past? He would make it up to her somehow. He just hoped she was alright.

As soon as they exited from the airport, Arnav turned toward Akash, 'Akash, take uncle and aunty to their house first so that they can get some rest. After that take uncle and go to the police station and meet the SP so that you can lodge a formal complaint. They will be expecting us.'

Akash nodded his assent and then asked him, 'What about you bhai?'

'I am going to work with the PI, Mr Sharma and try to figure out Shyam's location. Once I have an address I will let you know so that you can send the police there. '

Arnav drove the rental car toward the address of the store where Shyam had made the purchase. Mr Sharma was already in the vicinity with a photograph of Shyam asking nearby vendors if they had seen him. Just then Arnav received a message on his phone.

The credit card had just been used again!

Yesterday night he had set it up so that he would get an sms for any future transactions on the card. He called Mr Sharma and informed him about the new address.

'That store is very close Mr Raizada, I will go there right away. I will let you know once I have him on my trail.'

After 10 minutes, Mr Sharma had called him and told him that Shyam had taken an autorikshaw and was on the Sitapur National Highway 24 toward IIM. He told him that he would call him back with further updates. After 15 minutes, just as Arnav had reached the highway, Mr Sharma called him and told him that he had found Shyam's final destination and gave him the exact directions.

**

Shyam stepped into the house with his bags. He handed them over to the old couple and told them to start decorating the small hall with flowers. He took out all the items needed to perform the rites and arranged them neatly. He unlocked the door to Khushi's room and stepped inside.

'Khushiji, look here, I brought you a beautiful lehenga and matching jewellery for the wedding this evening.'

'I don't want to get married to you!'

'Do you know why I waited for a week, Khushiji?' Shyam grated out. 'The panditji told me that today's date was very auspicious. I didn't want our wedding day to be on some random day. Did Arnav do that for you? Come out in 5 minutes so that we can start the haldi.'

**

After leaving the highway, Arnav entered a remote area with bad roads. As he went deeper he realized that there weren't too many houses and the area was heavily wooded with dense trees. Finally, he reached the spot where Mr Sharma was waiting for him. After Mr Sharma had pointed to the house some distance away, Arnav gave him Akash's number and told him to call him and give him directions to the house.