Let's End Your FEAR

Chapter 7

Gina Rabbani was obviously long past  her retirement age, and she looked pathetic, wrapped up in a sagging, faded cardigan and shivering in the backseat of the squad in spite of the sun warming the car's interior. When Rai approached to open the door she looked up with bleary, narcotics-glazed eyes.

A few tears traveled the wrinkled valleys down her cheeks, but there was no emotion attached to them.

Rai had seen the look many times, on tranquilised survivors of murder victims, on kids flying on their parents' valium, but the shivering concerned him.

He knelt down next to the car and touched the elderly woman's arm 
"How are you feeling, Mrs. Rabbani?"

She smiled weakly and raised a quaking, arthritis curled hand to cover his. He couldn't imagine this work-worn woman still scrubbing and sweeping and keeping a house. 'A little better.'

"Did you take something?"

She nodded, a little embarrassed, and handed him a small plastic prescription bottle. "One of those pink ones."

Rai opened the bottle and raised his brows when he looked inside. There were pink pills, blue pills, yellow pills and a dusty cluster of Tums. The pink ones looked like Xanax, but he couldn't be sure.

"I take one of those if I get really upset," she explained.

"I understand." Rai made a note of the clinic address on the bottle and handed it back to her. She tucked it in a little old lady purse with a metal clasp at the top.

"Are you feeling well enough to answer few questions for me?"

She nodded slowly, dabbing her eyes with a damp handkerchief with a lace border.

Rai was exceedingly gentle with the old woman, and it was a slow motion interview, but eventually they learnt that she'd been Ashish Puri's neighbour for thirty two years. She cared for him like a brother, and couldn't imagine who would want to hurt him. And yes, those books were supposed to be on the coffee table, along with a lovely tapestry runner she'd bought him for his 18th birthday, and no, she hadn't moved anything.

"Was the tapestry runner very valuable?"

Her watery eyes crinkled, "Well, you don't often find one with birds on it; certainly not bluebirds; and yes, it was a bit pricey. 7k you know" She leaned a little closer to Rai and confided in a whisper

"But I got it in sale. For 2k"

Rai smiled back at her, " Quite a bargain."

"Indeed it was."

Rai thanked her, gave her his card , then asked Suraj to drive her to the Medical centre and asked to stay with her until she'd been examined, then drive her home.

Suraj sighed miserably.

"You know what the ER at Sion hospital looks like on a Sunday?"

Rai shrugged apologetically.

"She lives alone, Suraj, she's self medicating, and she's still shivering in that hot box of a car. I'm a little worried about shock."

"Okay okay, but you should have been a monk or something."

He and Sharma stood in the driveway and watched the car pull away.

"So now what are you thinking?" Rai asked.

"That the shooter moved the books to steal a 2k worth tapestry runner?"

"Don't forget it has bluebirds on it. You don't often find those."

"Jeez Rai, was that you trying to be funny?"

"Maybe.."

"Well stop it, you're scaring me a lot today."