BALI 100 KM (Book 1) ✔

Chapter 26

Bandu glanced back to see glass pieces on the ground and looked up to see the deity's glass framed photo cracked. He turned to see both the players walk over towards the shop with guilt written all over their faces and stand before a furious Bandu, who was tongue-tied for the moment. Of course, he could not scold his customer.

Before fireworks could break out, everyone got distracted by the arrival of the police SUV, which stopped in front of the shop, and Inspector Seth and his assistant stepped out. Nand ran inside and hid behind Bandu. And his playmate scoots off quietly back to work. But nothing escaped Inspector Seth's keen eyes behind the glasses.

"Why is he hiding from me?"

"He is just shy, sir."

"I didn't know you had a son. You said you had no family, Bandu."

"He was roaming around lost, and I adopted him," Bandu explained.

"Oh, I was mistaken then. The boy got your features, you know, which mislead me."

Bandu glanced at Nand, who seemed pleased at being compared to him and came out from his hiding place with a smile pasted on his face. Fearing that the conversation was treading to dangerous topics, Bandu changed the subject.

"Why did you dig up the place, sir?" Bandu asked, curious.

"Searching for the suitcase Rana was carrying with him that day. He did not have it on him when the police arrested him. You were the only one who saw him with a suitcase. That means he must have hidden the suitcase, with the documents in it. He had ample time to hide it nearby, and that is what we were searching for."

"And did you find anything?" Bandu asked, full of hope.

"Yes, we found the suitcase yesterday and took it to the lab to open it."

"Oh, that's wonderful news," said Bandu in excitement.

"What's so wonderful about an empty suitcase?" asked the commissioner sarcastically, dousing Bandu's enthusiasm.

Bandu's face fell, and he felt heavy in his heart, "Empty?" he echoed.

"There were no documents in the suitcase. Rana was a crafty bastard," the explicit was spat out, 

"We now have to search your shop too, thoroughly,"

"You will be digging my shop too?" Bandu asked unbelievingly.

"Hmm..." Commissioner Seth nodded, looking around the shop, "You renovated," he commented knowingly.

"Yes. Balwant destroyed my shack earlier, completely."

"In that renovation, did you accidentally throw away any unwanted papers?"

No, I did not find any such papers in the rubble, and some of the wood I have reused in making the furniture for the new shop,"

"Do you know to read?"

"No...I don't,"

"Then how do you know if the papers were important or not?"

"Because there were no papers to throw away,"

"Did you change the tiles too?"

"No, sir, that was left intact,"

"You could have put up a bigger structure,"

"I don't have that kind of money, sir. This shop too stands on loaned money,"

"Ok, Bandu," said Comm. Seth and scanned the ground, "I heard that there was a break-in at your neighbor's house yesterday after midnight."

"Yes, sir, but how did you know about it? We reported the matter just this morning." Bandu said, surprised.

"Inspector Sarathi,"

One of the men approached him and whispered something confidential. Comm. Seth nodded his head and stood thoughtful and looked on ahead for long. He then mentally concluded with a decision and called out to his men to get ready to leave. Before leaving, he once again gave an overall look inside the shop, finally stopping at the broken glass frame of the deity.

'The glass is broken." Comm. Seth remarked.

"Nand here was playing with the ball. It was an accident waiting to happen," growled Bandu looking at Nand.

Comm. Seth stared at the frame, lost in thought. He was just about to utter something when the horn distracted him. He turned, taking a few paces towards the vehicle only to stop and look back at Bandu.

"We will be back to search the shop. You better not move anything from here until then," Comm. Seth instructed and strode away.

After the entourage left, Bandu sat down to do his washing but suddenly remembered the scene before Commissioner Seth arrived and got up to inspect the damage. Glass splinters had scattered on the ground below the frame. He collected the shards from the ground and threw them away into the bushes.

He unhooked the frame, wrapped it carefully in the newspaper, and placed it in his grocery bag. For all the extra work, he wanted to give an earful to the perpetrator and called out for him, who seemed to have sensed the danger and decided to remain unresponsive.

Abandoning his chores, he set out to seek him out himself but could not see him anywhere. Anxiety now replaced anger as he rushed around everywhere.

"Nand! Nand! Come out. I won't scold you, promise."

Taking a breather, he came to stand on the road with his hands on his hips. Viewing the length and breadth of the road with keen eyes, he tried to spot the hiding boy but only became aware of the lone customer sitting on the bench waiting for his tea. He had a confused look on his face.

"My boy has gone into hiding fearing my scolding." explaining the reason for the order being late.

Fear had begun to knock on his mind that the boy might have run away again. Just then, the customer's laughter made him swing around in surprise.