Conflagration

Chapter 9: The Past Unfolds

Aryan parked his car in front of Bhaskar Times entrance. Arshad had called the Editor of Bhaskar Times who had confirmed that Imlie Mishra worked with them as a freelancer. The man had clammed up though when asked about her history and that was what had driven Aryan to make a visit personally to Bhaskar Times. Granted Arshad or one of the CIs could have done the job but he had to get some of his own questions answered. Was she as innocent and guile free as she appeared or was she a scheming manipulator?

Dressed in blue jeans and dark gray shirt, he cut a dashing figure, unaware of the appreciative glances thrown at him by the women milling in the lobby.

"I am here to meet Mr Rajesh Sharma, the Editor."

"Who should I say is waiting Sir?" asked the receptionist with a bright smile.

"ACP Aryan Singh Rathore" he said showing her his police badge. The smile dimmed a bit before she hastily snatched up the phone called Mr Sharma.

"Sir, Rajesh Sir is on his way down to meet you but he asked me to seat you in our conference room. Please follow me."

Aryan was shown into a spacious conference room and the receptionist left closing the door behind her.

Moments later a short, thin, white haired man in glasses walked in and crossed over to shake Aryan's hand before introducing himself.

"I am Rajesh Sharma, Editor in Chief, Bhaskar Times. How can I help you Sir?"

Aryan got straight to the point "I want all the details about one of your employees, a Ms Imlie Mishra.

Rajesh regarded him warily. Why all the sudden interest in Imlie? First the call from the police headquarters and now the ACP himself had come down. "May I ask why Sir?"

"She is a person of interest in a drug case we are investigating." Aryan said carefully watching the changes in Mr Sharma's expression.

"In that case you must be mistaken Sir, Imlie is one of the most honest and hard-working employees we have. She is definitely not involved with any drugs."

"How can you be so sure? After all you are just her employer, what she does outside of office hours is not under your purview."

"Imlie is like a daughter to me. She is straight forward and her upbringing is such that it will not allow her to stray."

Interesting choice of words thought Aryan. Sounds like Mr Sharma knew something about Imlie's upbringing. "What about her upbringing?"

Eager to clear Imlie's name Rajesh blurted out "her father and mother raised her the right way that's why. Satyakam would never teach his daughter to do wrong. He always stood for what's right and look at what that got him!"

As if suddenly aware that he had said too much, Rajesh stood up and leaned forward beseechingly "Sir, I have already said too much but please take it from someone who knows Imlie, that girl and her family is already suffering enough. She doesn't need to be persecuted for crimes she hasn't committed. I will send someone with her personnel file and you can take a look at it. Perhaps then you will understand what I meant."

Aryan stood up "I would like to meet with Ms Mishra as well before I leave."

"She has gone out with the team to scout a location. They should be back in an hour if you'd like to wait or I can ask her to return immediately."

Aryan shook his head "I need to get back to my office. Please fax her file to me and if I have any further questions I will reach out to you."

Sliding his shades on he walked past Mr Sharma and headed to his car. As he put on his seatbelt and prepared to reverse out of the parking spot, a Bhaskar Times van drew up in the space two spots away from him. While the cameraman and driver jumped out from the front, three people disembarked from the back.