The Lion and the Rose

Chapter 34

Raghav

We started the investigation on the very next day of the press conference.

First we reached Sanjeev's apartment and with his help we took the image of the salesman from the textile showroom with whom the Devil had switched places. Also Sanjeev's wife Aneesha shared with us the chemical report of the saree which Ashwika wore on the day of Diwali celebration.

One of my team was assigned to find the availability of the Chemical while Pallavi entered the textile showroom with a business proposal as cover. The owner of the textile showroom was pleased with her Deskmukh emporium designs and agreed to sell those saree in their showroom. Pallavi requested them to allow her presence in the showroom for a week to see the response of the customers and the owner permitted her.

Our actual plan is for Pallavi to get along with all the salespeople, especially the one who switched places with Devil. For the first two days Pallavi couldn't meet him and on the third day, she learned that he didn't return after his diwali holidays. He didn't inform the showroom manager either.

During the lunch hours of the supervisor, Pallavi stole the salesman's address from the register and our team reached his home town. We searched for him in his village and surrounding areas before we found his hideout location. Meanwhile the other team tracked down the chemical vendor.

They both didn't take much time to blurt out the information they had known. The Devil has always been in his mask, whenever he met them. The pandemic has been to his advantage to hide himself in the crowd of the masked world. The Devil has seen Siva talking with the salesman at Sanjeev's apartment and he made the salesman leave the city.

But both of them have met him near V&D automobiles. We searched the nearby shops and traffic surveillance on the sale day and diwali celebration day using Sanjay's hacking skills. Sanjay found out that Devil was walking out of the apartment opposite to V&D automobiles. We rided the empty flats and flats where a single bachelor was living in that apartment. We finally zeroed in on the one which has the direct view to Siva's cabin.

Except for a small broken piece of microchip which was used in the computer monitor there were no other traces of him. We are still trying to track him down. I have a feeling that he has people inside Siva's office and the falling of the engine on Siva was also his orchestration. If I get another way into Siva's office without piquing others' doubt, we can reach a step closer toward the Devil. Until then Siva has to be careful and should always look out for Ashwika.

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Siva

I take out the report from the file and shred it using the paper shredder multiple times. I turn and look at the faces working for me.

Can anyone be Devil's informer among them?

I trusted my employees, they have been here for years and everyone loves Ashwika. No one would think of harming her. But what about the newcomers? As far as the background check, everyone had clear records. Maybe I should ask Raghav to run a background check once again.

I take a look at my computer screen to check for Ashwika. It's been ten minutes since she left. I saw her plugging in her headphones as she danced on her way from the entrance of the archive room to the S alphabet shelves. But why is the surveillance repeating the same sequence? I feel something is wrong.