In Sunshine or In Shadow ✔ [Completed]

Chapter 4.2 - Somewhere Safe

It had been Angre’s idea to call the guests at the fundraiser one by one under the pretext of reaffirming their testimony, but really to see if they had a history with Riddhima. Vansh was letting them work while just sitting on the couch going over the list himself. No one expected him to pick up a phone and help with the calls. Vansh had his own method of working.

"Sir," Sara said into her phone, "You're certain you've never met Agent Riddhima Mehra before?"

"No, I'd never even heard of her until I read about her in the paper. Why are you still harassing me? I told you people before that I didn't hear or see anything."

"Sorry, Mr. Paletti, just following up," Sara said.

She sighed and put her phone back in its cradle. So far everyone she talked to was hostile and knew little or nothing about Riddhima. At this rate they were running into another brick wall.

Her coffee cup was empty and cold, time for a refill. Maybe the caffeine would perk her up.

She picked up her mug and carried it with her to the break room.
Unfortunately, both coffee pots stood there completely empty. "Damn," she muttered to herself.

Sara set her cup aside and removed one of the pots so she could run it underneath the faucet. Since coffee was liquid gold around the CBI, she filled it to the brim.

"Needed a change of scenery?"

Sara turned around with the coffee pot in her hand and saw that Vansh had just entered the room. She smiled and held up the pot full of water. "I needed a pick-me-up."

He nodded and walked to the kettle on the stove. "We had the same idea."

While she poured the water into the coffee maker and added in the grounds, Vansh filled up his kettle with water and put it on the stove. He removed his teacup from the cabinet and set it on the table with a teabag.

"I haven't found anything useful yet," Sara said once her only job now was to wait for the coffee to brew. "How about you?"

"Not sure," he said, "Still looking."

She nodded a little. It seemed that was all they were doing, looking. When would they actually catch a real lead? For Riddhima’s sake, she wanted this whole thing to be over.

"Did you see Riddhima today?" she asked.

Vansh nodded and let out an affirmative sound.

"How's she doing? Any better?"

"I hope so," he said.

"You could go see her again," she said, "I mean, I hate the idea of her being there alone."

"She's not, her brother is with her."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Sara said, drumming her fingers on her arms.

"Besides, I know she would hate the idea of all us standing in a vigil by her bedside."

"You're probably right," she said while ducking her head down. She didn't like the way Vansh was probing at her with his gaze. Thankfully, the coffee pot gurgled to signal that it was finished. She turned around and removed it so she could fill up her cup.

"Why haven't you gone to see Riddhima?"

The coffee sloshed out the pot so fast that it spilled outside the cup, pooling on the counter. She let out a murmured curse and grabbed a wad of paper towels to clean up the mess. "I'm just busy," she said.

"Mm," Vansh let out his sound of disapproval, "You're normally a much better liar, Sara."

There was no use in pretending with Vansh. He knew your secrets just by looking at you. She sighed and poured the excess coffee from her cup into the sink. "I don't like seeing her like this."