The Adventures of a Dumb Detective and his Wily Mate.

Untitled Part 13

Chapter 13

'Babu-shona, there's a phone call for you. Come down and take it.' His mother's voice rang out from downstairs.

Rudra jerked up in bed, rushed downstairs and picked up the receiver.

Sameer screamed into his ear, 'Were you Sleeping?? It's nearly 9!'

Rudra picked at the crust in the corner of his eyes and mumbled, 'get to the point.'

'Ah, such a sweet temperament you have. Sorry to disturb you at the crack of dawn. I've found out a little bit about Inspector Parr and made an appointment with his sub of that time. He's now the asst commissioner at Lalbazar. It's at 3.30. Come to my Thana and we'll go together.'

'Mm, ok.' Rudra hung up.

'Come back in 10 minutes for your breakfast. Your Dada has already eaten and left.' His mother's voice rang out from the kitchen.

Rudra went back upstairs and wondered how he'd avoid a one-on-one conversation with his mother.

He needn't have bothered. She was unusually quiet. She just eyed him, pursed her lips and served him rice. Breakfast time was over. He was getting lunch now. He sighed, looking at the rice, dal, vegetables and fish curry he'd have to eat for breakfast but ate without a single protest. He dared not start a war with her.

At 10, Rudra left for the Ghoshals although he didn't call to make an appointment.

When he reached, he was surprised to see a small crowd standing on the pavement, just milling around, doing nothing.

He heard a female voice from somewhere inside the small jumble let out a piercing shriek.

'Climb down, down, I said. Come down, right now. I will pluck you like cotton. I will skin you alive. I swear to the Gods, I will make a drum out of your skin today. I have reached the end of my tether with you. I will roast you alive when I get my hands on you. Just you see.'

Agni stood with his arm around Sunita's shoulder. She continued screaming threats. Her entire being radiated panic as she stared up as if not daring to tear her eyes away from the sight.

Rudra reached her and touched her shoulder. Sunita turned to him unseeingly.

She said, 'he won't listen to me. Why won't he listen to me?' Tears broke the dam of her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. She wiped her face and sniffed back. Then she threw her head back and screamed again. 'Ronnniiiieeeeee!! Please!!!'

Rudra looked up at the spot where the rest of the crowd had been staring at. He spotted the kid. He'd climbed up the pipe which was hugging the side of the building and was now settling on the window sill of the top floor. He sat nonchalantly swinging his legs, ignoring the crowd 4 floors below him.

Rudra passed his leather case to Agni and walked up to the pipe and tugged at it. It was a solid metal pipe, kept firmly in place with metal brackets. He started shimmying up. The crowd gasped and someone called him name but he wasn't focusing on that.

In a minute, he'd reached the top. Ronnie had been watching his assent with a bored expression on his face. Rudra clung to the pipe and said, 'Can you move over a little bit and make some room for me?' The boy moved to his right expressionlessly.

Rudra pulled himself up and settled into the spot. 'Wow! What a view!' he exclaimed.

From this vantage point, he could see the maidan stretched out in front of him with the Shahid minar looming over the canopy, the Howrah bridge was visible to the right and Victoria memorial's top was visible to the left. He sat for a moment in silence and took it all in. The boy did the same.