The Tenants Of Shanti Villa

Chapter 8: A shock like None!

The officer has been asking about the whereabouts of Mrs. Darshan on the day of the murder.

He seemed to also ask questions about the whereabouts of the residents at the time of the murder

Mrs. Gupta frowned upon the questions.

Why is he so interested in where the people of the apartment were at the time of the murder?

There is no point to the suspicion that one among us is the murderer.

The officer, now approached Mrs. Gupta.

"Hello Mrs. Gupta!"

"I would like to have a talk with you Son! A very vigilant lad I must say. He had noticed my dog Jerry, wandering off in your compound."

"And later, when I came to investigate something in the surroundings, he noticed me too.

I may have scared him though, by asking him to keep distance. It was only to keep a kid away from what was, strictly, undercover police business".

The officer laughed.

Mrs. Gupta was taken aback.

"So, that dog was yours officer?"

"Sridhar and Mr. Mittal went in search of the very person who was seen with that dog!"

The officer was surprised, his eyes and lips stalling as he tried to get a grip at the situation.

"Who you say? Went in search of me?"

"Well, I don't think they knew that was you. Mr. Mittal even informed me that he had asked the police, but they could offer no clue" Mrs. Gupta tried to make sense of the events.

"But I was there at the police station all the time since morning, and no one came to inquire anything of such sort mam!!"

Mrs. Gupta was flabbergasted. She knew not what was going on.

She began to feel very dubious, and then slowly terrified at the direction things seem to be taking a turn now.

Tensed, and unable to get a grasp on what to reply next she began to fiddle her hair.

The very next moment her face became pale, as she proceeded to nearly jump towards the officer in excitement.

"My Boy, Sridhar! Where could have they gone? Please find them Officer! Please!"

The officer held her hand in his grip, moving his hands in the air asking her to remain calm and composed as he thought about the situation

Seconds passed, his gaze pointed to the ground, arranging the dust with his boots in a semicircle, as he seemed to be chalking out a plan.

Everyone around them, all the families at Shanti Villa were stunned and puzzled beyond belief at the chain of occurrences they have just became aware of.

There were whispers and murmurs all around.

Finally, after nearly a minute of deep thought, The officer Twitched his head around and spoke with urgency.

"START THE CAR! WE NEED TO GO OUT IN SEARCH OF THE BOY RIGHT NOWW!!"

He blurted out in a commanding tone to the O.C., Prakash Davedkar, of the Chirkoot colony police station who was standing at the gate.

.

.

.

Sridhar was not exactly sure where they were going to.

For a fact they had left the city outskirts long behind them, and were now, at a fast pace moving towards the Dairy farms and storage go-downs near the highway.

Upon asking Mr. Mittal once about where were they going, there has been no reply.

The usual jolly and warm-faced Mr. Mittal had kept abruptly quite throughout their journey, making Sridhar feel even more awkward.

The Motorbike finally came to a halt in front of a large elongated building, not much of a giant in height, but extending over to the other side as long as Sridhar had a view.

From the paint scratched and dusty signboard, dangling at the front with the words "Manoj Diary" written over, it seemed to have been a large farmhouse before, now mostly abandoned and left without maintenance.

The paint and cement had wore out of the walls, with the bricks completely exposed at many places along with beams potruding out.

To Sridhar, the place seemed far from anything that could be called homely, and rather more of a perfect nest for the ghosts of his nightmares.

"Is the man hiding here, Mr. Mittal?"

Mr. Mittal smiled at the corner of lips, his face twitching, as if he did not take that question very seriously. Sridhar was a little take aback.

"Well....yes....yes...lets see if we find him, our sources definitely told us he could be here" He responded.

"Why don't you inform the police about this uncle?" Sridhar asked, lifting his eyes up with excitement.

Waiting for an answer from Mr. Mittal, his eyebrows furrowed as he felt something not adding up.

"We have" The answer came from the left, flowing out into Sridhar's ears who at first was very surprised.

However as he looked left-wards, he realized this was none other than the friend of Mr.Mittal who had accompanied them all the way.

There was a certain dominance in his deep, furnace grilled voice which made Sridhar avoid any further question and run up to catch Mr.Mittal who had already taken a few strides towards the building.

As he twerked his head around, he could see the bearded man follow them too, one of his hands inside the pocket while the other caressed the beard over his chin.