Dreamy Red

Episode 35 - A Flabbergasting Spectacle

Out of curiosity, I decided to go to the bar to meet Arfaaz to gather information regarding those books as most of the victims found them there. And as he was a dubious person himself, I could get him to talk about himself and his contribution to Naveen's wrongdoings.

I reached the club around 5:15 PM. When I asked for him, the bar girl told me that he had quit his job. It was strange. When I asked her when he had joined the club, she said that he was working there only for a month. So it became obvious that he was involved in the crimes in one way or the other. I asked the bar girl his details- his full name, phone number and address. She said that she didn't have any of those details and sent the manager over. The manager told, "Sorry mam. He never provided his details. Actually, he would never come to work properly, he would come as and when he pleased. So I had to fire him." "Very irresponsible, mister. You should not hire anyone without proper identity", I scolded him. He put his head down in shame. "Do let me know if you ever spot him again", I requested him.

While Karan and Ravi were still at the census department in Jaipur headquarters, I sent Ravi the photograph of Arfaaz which I had on my cellphone to his email and asked him to get it scanned and search for a similar face from the people directory. "Yeah ok, we will check it. And Bibbi, there is no person by the name Samrahul or Shabafaaz in the directory", he informed me. So the name could have been a false one.

Suddenly out of nowhere, I had an intuition that the operator guy from the airport console room could have been Arfaaz. As far as I remembered both their builds were similar and the operator guy never showed me his face. I sent the photo of Arfaaz to Ashutosh and messaged him, 'Do you know this guy?'. Ashutosh immediately called me. "Hello, Bibbi. Yes, I know him. He is working in the control room. He was the one who showed me the masked man. Where did you get this picture?", he asked. "Apparently he worked at the club as a bartender too. He is a culprit, Ashutosh. Is he there now by any chance?", I asked Ashutosh. "No, he hasn't come to work ever since that day."

"How long has he been working there?", I asked him eagerly. "Just a couple of months", he replied. "Hmm. More than I expected. What is his full name?", I asked. "Abdul Shabnamz. Bibbi, he can't be the culprit. He is a good friend of mine. I have known him for years. He came back here from Lucknow a few months ago", Ashutosh told. "What??", I exclaimed. But that can't stop him from being the culprit. I couldn't tell Ashutosh that. Instead, I asked, "Can you send me his details with his phone number and home address?" "Ya sure", he told me. Then I asked him out of curiosity, "What did Adbul study?" "MA English Literature", he replied. That was enough to prove that he was Samrahul Shabafaaz because the surname had a mix of both Shabnamz and Arfaaz. Moreover, if he was in Lucknow months ago, he would have been the guy in the car which I chased because he hadn't known the changes in the routes. Samrahul could have been a made-up name or could have belonged similarly to another person.

A daring thought came to my mind, Rahul. Could it be Rahul? No no, I shuddered at that thought. But one question intrigued my mind, why did Rahul go to the forest even when I was not there? I doubted whether he was a regular hiker who accidentally met me there. Before Ashutosh could cut the call, I asked him, "Did you interrogate the woman Spiderman was talking to?" "Yeah. I forgot to tell you. She told me that she doesn't remember talking to anybody or seeing someone like him. When I showed her the screenshot, she was astonished as she did not remember the incident", replied Ashutosh. That was strange. Anyhow, I collected the details of the air hostess just in case.

Ravi called me and told me that they found a match for Arfaaz, it was Abdul Shabnamz from Khatipura. Khatipura was on the other end of Jaipur. Why should he come to this far end and murder people tactfully? What connection does he have? There were several questions in my mind as usual.

I told Ravi about the conversation I had with Ashutosh regarding Sid as well as Arfaaz. Ravi ensured me that Arfaaz will be caught within the day's end as he had already alerted the Khatipura police. "We can meet him tomorrow morning at Khatipura station. Until then, take rest", he told me. I then sent him the address and phone number Ashutosh had mailed me, just in case he needed it. There was still lots of time left in the day, so I thought of meeting Rahul to ask him what he was doing in the forest. As his house was not very far from the club, I took my Vespa and rode off towards his house without even informing him.