Keeping Secrets

Chapter 16

Arushi or Nikki had definitely been cautious to not reveal her real identity to Drake before meeting him, but unbeknownst to her, she was calling him to make a reservation at the villa. That's when they got to know about Nikki, 19, F: someone who was not tied down in an unhappy marriage like she had claimed. She was just another spoilt teen who was just playing with the feelings of innocent guys online.

Raghav was not making up an excuse to save himself. He believed in what he was saying. He went on to tell Gaurav about how dangerous girls like Nikki can be for unsuspecting guys online. She would tell them her sad story and get them to believe that she would rather be with them if it wasn't for their imaginary limitations. This time though, Asad and he had a plan. They were running out of ways to get money for drugs without anyone at home knowing about it. So they were positive they would at least confront Nikki and blackmail her about telling her friends her secret and showing them her pictures and voice notes from the app.

Gaurav took a deep breath and swallowed the urge to punch the entitled drug addict sitting before him, but he still had a lot to learn from him. He put on a straight face before leading his suspect on. "That's true. None of us had expected that she would turn out to be a catfish."

Luckily for him, Raghav bit the bait and took it as an opportunity to justify himself. He was either really stupid or just exhausted from the withdrawal. He went on to tell Gaurav how they had even slipped a Cletamyne tablet in her cocktail, but it had not worked the way they had expected it to. If Nikki's drink actually had any alcohol, it would just have made her very dizzy and given her about half an hour before she completely lost consciousness for a while, but all it did was got her more energetic. That's when he saw Maya and Anushka getting cosy under the blanket in the gazebo and decided to make some money off them.

By now, Gaurav was clenching his fists under the table. "Were the other guys in Asad's band in on the plan as well?"

"No, sir. We had got them involved to cover our own backs so that we wouldn't get associated."

"I'm glad that's going quite well so far because Asad has clearly told me that he saw you in the villa late at night when he and the others were smoking on the balcony."

Raghav looked at Gaurav suspiciously for a moment. "What? That's not true. I never went into the villa at night. This is my father's villa. I have my own suite at the end of this row of quarters. I'm sure there's been a misunderstanding."

Gaurav, however, did not feel obliged to tell the truth to the potential prime suspect. He stuck to his story but threw in some facts from his own findings to make it credible. "We have found all the chats on that app, Raghav. Asad, in fact, pointed out the difference between your chats to us. You clearly seem to be far more dangerous and sick. How many times did she tell you she is not very comfortable with all that perverted talk about sex involving her family? Asad told us he could not keep your tone up even for a day. In fact, they almost started dating as soon as you passed the baton," Gaurav wanted to test the unity of the two disgusting chauvinists who claimed they were about to blackmail a teenage girl with some sickening but consensual chats.

It worked. Raghav broke, "Sir, you have no idea. Asad has always been like that. People trust him. Even my parents would always be more than happy to send me anywhere with him. He knows how to make people do that. I am bitter and honest and impulsive, I'll agree to all of it, but I'm not the killer that you think I am. I had not even named that asshole in all this time of being locked up. Please believe me, Sir. I did not hurt Nikki or anyone else.

Gaurav shrugged. "Perhaps. I'll just need to replay the statement I recorded, but I'm pretty sure he gave me more facts. In fact, he even told me where he stashed the bottle." Gaurav was quite literally treading on a wire now and was ready for his plan to fall flat on its face.

"That's not possible. He doesn't even know... what he's talking about."

Raghav had already walked into the trap, but Gaurav wanted him to confess more directly, and given his impatience, he did not seem too far away from it.

"Okay. Let's believe you for a second, but do you have an alibi for that night."

"I... " Raghav angrily searched for the right words. "I was alone in my room. How can there be an alibi?"

"Too bad then, because everyone else does have theirs, including Asad. He also said that he came down to stay here because he did not trust you around Nikki. So, it's his word against yours, and you do not seem to have much to back you up."

Raghav just stared at the floor like a broken man, and Gaurav realized there was no point pushing him further. In fact, he wanted to let Raghav pickle in the conflict of his own thoughts and got up to leave him in his make-shift lock-up.

"Sir, where did he say he stashed the bottle?" Raghav's eyes welled up as he looked up at Gaurav.

Gaurav too wasn't one to give up very easily. "He said he flung it into the valley," he said, staring into Raghav's eyes without blinking. By now, Gaurav's men had searched the area enough times for him to make a wild guess. Gaurav also pulled out a box of cigarettes and placed it before Raghav: a small reminder of life as a free man, to make him feel even more anxious and desperate. He waited a few minutes before handing one out: an offer that Raghav pounced on.

A drop of tear made its way down Raghav's worn-out face, as he lit up the cigarette with trembling hands. His tobacco-stained teeth ground together before he could muster the words, "That was me."

"Why did you kill her?" Gaurav's heart sank into his stomach. He had had a terrible feeling about Raghav from the start.

"No. I did not kill anyone. I was the one who flung that bottle into the valley."

Now, that was something Gaurav was not ready for, "Why would you do that if you did not stab her."

"Because Asad came running to me, wrapped in one of the old rugs we had left on the balcony. I had fallen asleep waiting for him to.... to join me for our little fix. I could never have imagined that he would show up like that. He was anxious and out of breath. He just kept saying, 'She did not answer me, man'. I panicked too. I only saw the blood on him once he came into the light inside my room, but the minute I did, I knew exactly who he was talking about. I tried to ask for more details but he seemed... dazed. So, I decided to get rid of the bottle, that blanket and the hoodie he was wearing. I flung the bottle into the valley and paid my grocery delivery guy some money to get rid of the other two items on his way out early in the morning. I got Asad to take a few steps down the hill and into the forest to clean up so that there would be no trace of blood in any other washroom. I also watched him get back to his room. I was trying to save him all along. I never imagined... he would just.... throw me under the bus like that," for the first time Raghav looked like a victim: like someone who had been on the receiving end of betrayal.

"Why should I believe you?"

Raghav went silent for a few minutes like he had nothing to say. Then, he seemed to remember something, "Sir, it wouldn't be possible to stab someone with a broken bottle so many times without injuring yourself, right?"

Gaurav could not disagree with that. A bottle has no handle, so the blood can easily make the surface slippery if the shard was not long enough. "Yes, but how does it matter? There is no weapon left for us to know the size. Plus there are no gashes on either of your arms."

"That's because Asad's is a prosthetic arm."

Gaurav waited till he got back to the lunch room to collapse into a chair. He had not been ready for his wild guesses based on a gut feeling, and a tiny political tactic to lead him straight to the killer. He was following his gut feeling that Raghav knew something, but the truth looked like something else. Raghav's last statement was hard to refute, but the dimwit had also destroyed key evidence that could help his case.

Gaurav's team was running another thorough check on Raghav and Asad's room and belongings. This was not the first time they were doing so, but this time around they were certain they were going through a killer's things.

One of the young officers decided to delve a little deeper. She found an entire set of new strings in the pocket of Asad's guitar bag. Here's where it got interesting: one of the strings was missing.