Love or Retribution?

Chapter 14

"Calm down Raghavan,  please take a seat first", Madhavan said with mild irritation and concern looking at the erratic ex-high court judge.

"How can I calm down? I lost everything, 25 years of hard work, gone, poof.. down the drain, just like that", Raghavan said in a perplexed tone, sitting down on the couch in front of the police commissioner.

"I heard, so sorry about that, what happened?, why did you resign?" Madhavan asked with real concern.

Raghavan did not reply immediately, he stared at the wall hanging which depicted the famous scene from the epic Mahabharata, geetha ubadhesam.

"Karma happened", he finally said with a huge sigh.

Madhavan looked at him confused, but did not say anything.

"20 years ago, we committed a crime, we thought we got away with it, but now, it has come to bite us in the back", Raghavan said and looked at Madhavan who looked back at him with panic stricken face.

"Sshhh... what the hell Raghavan, we are not supposed to talk about it, do you want to get us killed?"

"Talking about it may or may not kill us, but not talking about it will definitely ruin us", Raghavan replied in a vexed tone

"I still don't understand, what does this have to do with your resignation? ", Madhavan asked confused.

"Some one knows what we did and now is out for our blood ", Raghavan added without minding Madhavan's question

"Who? " MAdhavan asked but Raghavan ignored him completely and continued talking

"You know, I was not their first target and we didn't even notice them taking us out, one after other, a clever plan executed to perfection", Raghavan said with a mixture of pride and irritation.

"No, no way, he was very clear, he said  he would make sure that none of it will come back to us, and it never did for 20 years, you are just trying to connect some imaginary dots to hide your failure", Madhavan almost screamed in fear and frustration.

"Oh! you think so, then check your mobile, I just sent you two links, read that and then let me know how imaginary my dots are ", Raghavan too screamed back with same level of frustration.

Madhavan looked at him for a second and then took his mobile and started reading the link's content.

Blood started draining from his face, making him as pale as possible.

"Aren't these two? "

"Yes Madhavan, those were the two witnesses from the prosecution's side who gave false testimony against you know who"

"Now do you see the dots or are they still imaginary? " Raghavan asked in a sarcastic tone.

"How? how did we not know  about any of this? who is doing this?, is it the wife? is she back? why now? why after 20 years? , or is it someone else? who? "  Madhavan paraded Raghavan with questions, his voice slightly trembling with fear of who might it be and what will happen if they expose him.

"In my years as criminal lawyer, I have defended number of criminals, which had made me a target in many occasions, so when I got tricked and was forced to resign, I thought it was a revenge for any of the criminal who walked because of me and almost went into depression, accepting it as my fate. But then, after few days,  my criminal attorney mind woke up again and I started digging and investigating the incidents surrounding my resignation and the more I dug, I started finding more connections ", Raghavan paused and stopped.

"Oh please, enough suspense, could you please tell me who it is? ", Madhavan asked helplessly.

"I will, in due course of time, I have invited the other two also, I want them to be here when I reveal it, but  before that I need to know something ", Raghavan asked with expectation.