Vodka on the rocks

Part - 5 | Unveiled

Ishq laaye ankhiyon mein aab soneya, 

Jeene nhi detein tere khaab soneya

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Pallavi shushed Farhad harshly, signalling with her hand in a swift motion when the latter was about to question Lakshmi. Farhad put his hand on his own mouth looking sheepishly at her while ACP Singh just sighed mentally. 

The three had been sitting in the car for the past three hours. The unmarked black SUV which they had parked far away in a blind spot, from where they had an easy view of the bungalow. When the Policewoman had informed Pallavi about the fact that the man she had freed that night from jail was one Mandar Deshmukh, the latter had dragged her out of her office and forcefully involved her in her personal mission of keeping a close track on the guy. 

Pallavi had had a very strong and unshakable gut feeling that there was definitely something very wrong with the situation. Knowing now that her psychotic former ex husband had been out of jail, with no police custody for one whole night, the same night which had upturned her entire world... that also on one Vedant Pillai's order.. all the dominos where falling too straight to be in mere coincidence.  

"I just know it Farhad. My intuition has.... never led me wrong...not most of the times anyways."

She had looked mildly disconcerted but completed the sentence anyways, feeling like a piece of her heart chip away at the realisation that only one time, her intuition might have led her completely astray... when she had agreed to give Raghav a second chance after what he had done with her and the Deshmukhs. Agreed, that circumstances were not that simple as she was seeing it now but... still. 

"Pallavi... are you sure we'll get something of value tonight? I mean, we have been keeping an eye on him since a week now, Mandar doesn't seem to do anything other than go out on alternate days for shopping and come back home by an hour at most."

Lakshmi asked finally, frustrated at the utter lack of action. Pallavi just kept staring keenly at the single window in the bungalow. She could not see inside unfortunately but for some reason she again had a strong feeling that she might end up discovering something of importance. 

"Have some patience Ms. Singh. These things take time.. I thought being a Police Officer you must be used to stake outs?"

She added saucily but not taking her eyes off the house for even a nanosecond. She heard the other woman grunt in the dark and Farhad sigh almost inaudibly and felt a teeny weeny bit bad for her friend. Farhad was stuck between two hostile forces, acting as the buffer wall. It would have been hilarious in a different situation. Suddenly as if rewarding her immense patience, she saw the door finally opening. 

Bingo!

They all leaned forward, excited and squinted in the dark. Pallavi snatched the binoculars off Farhad's hands in her hurry and looked through it to spot Mandar Deshmukh come out in the open and interestingly another shadow made itself appear in front of him. 

"That's Ved dammnit! He was supposed to be in jail! How.."

"Shhh!"

Pallavi shushed Lakshmi's indignant splutters and strained outside the car window, hoping to hear even a scratch of conversation if she could but it was nearly impossible to make out any words exchanged. Suddenly as if on cue, they shifted positions and in the single light bulb attached to the gate above, Pallavi could spot Mandar more clearly. 

And she gasped at the same time her two companions noticed what was the reason for her reaction. 

"That.. is that blood..on his chest?"