"Hey...Rai, are you alright?" Keshav asked glancing at her again worriedly. Radhika was looking out of the window of the car as they were going to Durgapur, a thousand thoughts jumbled up in her mind.
The last day was too hectic. Ishaan was arrested, she recognized Keshav, and then all that revelation to her team members. Though they didn't completely believe her they agreed to take the time in accepting everything.
They all concluded that Ishaan can't be the killer...he was too young at that time. Someone is. But as there was no actual evidence to prove him innocent, he will be under custody but the department will continue their search for other clues.
But that is going to be difficult when the police department had been surrounded by reporters and huge crowds of people protesting against the arrest of Ishaan. Radhika herself didn't know that her brother had such a big fan following.
On the other hand, she was disappointed that only Mr. Sen came to meet Ishaan. Did all her mother cares about her status?? Keshav decided to talk with her after coming back.
Mr. Das ordered Dhruv and Vaarsh to interrogate the remaining members of the Arc, Rishav was busy carrying out the tests, he took her and Keshav's blood for DNA testing also. And she and Keshav were ordered to get information about his parent's murder case from the Durgapur Police Station.
"Rai...you are making me worried," Keshav said making Radhika leave out a deep sigh.
"I don't know Avi; the case is getting more complicated daily and Ishaan is also not alright."
"The doctor gave him medicines; he will be in a stable condition for now but we have to find the killer soon. I don't know what he is trying to do by causing these murders."
Radhika looked at him seeing a worried expression on his face. Both of them were in the same situation now. Confusion and dilemma!! How are they going to find the killer? Her mother, Ishaan, Mr. Sen, Mrs. Langston everyone's life was in danger.
"So that Vaarsh....is he your boyfriend or something?" Keshav's question made her look at him in confusion.
"No...but why are you asking?"
"He has some problems with me....and he is overprotective of you."
Radhika coughs, "He is like that only from the time we met in college....and you did look suspicious."
"Then it's fine, otherwise I would have lost the chance...." Keshav said making her even more confused. She asked so many times but didn't get any replies.
"So...do you have a girlfriend?" Radhika threw the same question to him trying to get her answers differently.
"What?" Keshav looked at her shaking his head, "I never dated before."
"Huh!" Radhika huffed. "Don't lie...you look like a guy who can get any girl he wants."
Keshav shot her a lopsided grin. "It's true! I was waiting for someone."
"Who?"
"A girl I met ten years ago on teacher's day...."
Radhika nodded her head without thinking. Wait! Didn't she meet him on that day? Is he talking about her?" Her brain short-circuited and she started blushing making her look out of the window again.
A giggle from Keshav made her roll her eyes but the small smile didn't leave her lips. Just for a bit, her mind was taken away from the dark clouds looming in distance.
............
The town changed a lot in the past nine years. There were new establishments and much more. The only thing that didn't change was the pattern of the roads with trees on the side......
After getting all the investigation details from the police station they visited Keshav's house. The place was being constructed so the old houses in the locality were all broken down along with his.
But he stood in front of the construction site remembering his happy memories. Radhika came there for just one day but she never forgot the place.
Sometimes people leave behind many things and try their best to forget about them but those memories come back haunting them throughout their life. It's the same in their life too. For one person, so many lives were destroyed.
"Is that K-Keshav?" Someone asked making both of them turn around. Keshav stepped a few steps forward trying to recognize the person. It was dark so he couldn't see the person's face properly.
"Are you Keshav?" The person asked again walking a little closer to them. When she finally became visible under the streetlights Keshav understood at once.
"Gayatri dida!" Keshav went and hugged her. It had been so long. He couldn't even recognize her in those. She had aged so much.
"Where were you? Do you know how much-worried everyone was?" She asked as she held Keshav's face. "You have grown so much...."
Seeing Keshav smiling and meeting an old acquaintance, Radhika felt happy. She was again able to see that old seventeen-year guy in him. The guy that got lost due to those worst experiences, like her.
That old lady offered them dinner and her house to rest for the night. It was about 1 in the morning when Radhika came out on the lawn, unable to sleep. Too much was going through her mind for her to reign it in.
She wanted to be back in Kolkata, and investigate the case further. The thought of having to wait was making her restless. Perhaps that's why she didn't see Keshav sitting on the cemented slab at one corner of the lawn until he spoke, "Not being able to sleep too?"
"What the hell Keshav??" Radhika placed her hands over her chest, breathing heavily, "You turned the shit out of me!!"
"What? You only didn't see me."
"But who speaks like that...acting like a ghost."
"So, the great Radhika is also afraid of something..." Keshav teased making Radhika hit him on the arm, "I was thinking so I didn't see you.... don't scare me like that from the next time."
"Okay fine," Keshav said before looking up at the stars in the sky. Following his gaze, Radhika also looked up, while taking a seat beside him.
"So, why did you return suddenly after so many years?" Radhika asked.
"Last year when Ishaan went to the USA along with mam for the show, he showed me some photo albums," Keshav said looking back at her. "I saw your childhood pictures. Finally, everything set in, and I got answers to some of my questions... I found you.
Everything that I had found, fitted in. Our parents, Bristi, Mr. and Mrs. Langston, and Mr. Aditya were all part of the same magic group. So, either the culprit is someone among them or someone who has some kind of grudge on them."
Both of them looked at each other with the same thoughts in their head. Everyone's life was in danger. In the end, they will either face a very cruel truth or something that will change their life completely. They didn't know what was going to happen......
And when Radhika had already seen a dream of her death, she knew it will come true, one's fate can't be changed. But no matter what...she will fight till the end. Even if she dies, she will find out the killer. She can't step back after coming so far.
"The way I spent my life searching for a criminal, I think I could have been a police officer rather than a magician," Keshav said changing the topic and trying to loosen up the atmosphere.
"Yeah, you would look good." Radhika smiled.
From there, the light conversation continued between them, loosening their worries. Whispers and hushed laughter eased the tension looming around and allowed Radhika to rest her head on Keshav's left shoulder.
They sat there in a comforting silence till Radhika's eyes felt heavy, eyelashes fluttered slowly before finally closing down sending her to rest in a world free of troubles and pains leaving behind Keshav who continued to look at her sleeping figure, his eyes sweetly tracing the outline of her face.
YOU ARE READING
The Lines of Fate
Mystery / Thriller"But that smile on your face, that's the real magic." Radhika Sengupta had spent most of her life studying and training to be in the Criminal Investigation Department of Alipore, Kolkata so that she can solve her father's murder case. When she is fa...
