Dark Secrets

8

Shreshtha took her phone and pretended to type something but she was alert and absorbing every word the constables were exchanging outside the police station.

"The party is rich. They are from Mumbai. If we tell them these bodies are their sons, then we can milk them for some money," said one of the constables.

"But they will find out these three aren't those three, then?" said the second.

"When they find out that it's not their sons' bodies we can always tell them that we were relaying what our seniors had told us.'

"Sounds like a plan. Let's have some tea first and then gets this plan rolling."

The constables traipsed off while Shreshtha messaged Shraddha:

COMING IN TWO MINUTES

She turned and went right into the police station.

"Has anyone registered a case of three boys going amiss about a year or so back ?" she asked the inspector in charge.

He looked up at Shreshtha , irritated. Why did this girl keep digging up old thing?

"Three boys from some respected family had gone missing in Tosh. Since they belonged to a few powerful families our asses have been on fire from the higher authorities. But how does it matter to you?"

"May I please look at their photographs?"

"Why?"

"I've stayed here for long. Maybe I'll recognize them," Shreshtha said.

The inspector gave her a long look before getting up. As he went to a steel almirah to bring out a file, she prayed that her hunch was wrong. The inspector came back to his seat and opened the file, taking out three photographs. He handed them to Shreshtha. She didn't have to look at all three. The first one was of the guy who had slapped her butt. She remembered him clearly. Her hands were shivering as she held the photograph. But not because she recognized the guy. It was the police report in front of her.

The first line of the report was about the call the police received at a certain time from an unknown person who claimed to be from the local area, but his phone number had been untraceable. It was the same first line in her rape report as well. A man had called, not a localite though, whose number had later been untraceable.

"Their bodies were never found?" Shreshtha asked.

"Not yet. At least we got a phone call from this unknown person who saw them by the Tosh river. Our conclusion is that they must have gotten so drunk that they got into the river and then were washed away. It has happened many times here and elsewhere nearby. But do you recognize any of them?"

"No. I'm sorry," Shreshtha said and walked out of the police station with one thought: kill them. Then call the police anonymously stating he saw them by the river. Knowing well they won't be found. But still the police would think they may have washed away by the river. Could this be a plan? And could the man be....

Shreshtha thought her heart would explode any moment. 

"What happened?" Shraddha asked.

"I'm not in the right state of mind to talk," Shreshtha said and remained silent throughout her journey knowing well she could be right, but she couldn't stop the tears which were a sign of a conscious conclusions her mind was making about Yuvansh. And she didn't want to believe one bit of it.

All though Dimpy's journey from Jalandhar to Delhi, she kept wondering what exactly she was doing. Snooping around people's houses and behind her once best- friend and forever love's back, but then her gut told her that something was wrong with Yuvansh. Something which she could have sensed earlier had  she been in touch with him more often. He had withdrawn even more after Shreshtha's death. Before that at least he used to be  traceable and somewhat within reach but in the last ten to twelve years she could count how many times they had talked on the phone forget about meeting each other. By the time she reached Delhi, she had convinced herself that she was right in doing so. For if Yuvansh was in any trouble, she could ward it off. But she knew Yuvansh himself wouldn't tell her about any of his problems. He never told her about this Shreshtha Srivastava of Tosh.

The first thing Dimpy did after reaching Delhi two days later was to call Aditya's home. She told them she wanted to talk about Aditya and his wife Shreshtha and thus wanted to meet the person who received the call. It was Aditya's elder brother, Akshat. He gave her the address purely out of curiosity. That evening, Dimpy visited Aditya's house in Rajendra Nagar.

A servant opened the door and ushered her into Akshat's cabin. The latter was a High Court advocate and operated from his house.

"How may I help you, Mrs Bagga?" he said, after offering her tea.

"I'm an old friend of a friend of Shreshtha's, Aditya's wife."

"Who is this friend of Shreshtha, if I may know please?"

"Yuvansh Singh Thakur."

"I don't think I've ever heard the name before."

"You must have not, but I have a feeling....."

"Wait a minute. I think he was the one who called us from the US, the day Shreshtha and Aditya met with the accident,"

Akshat was charged up. His memory helped solve one of Dimpy's questions without her asking. So, Yuvansh was there when this accident happened and he was also the one who called both the families, Dimpy made a mental note.

"In fact, he was kind enough to send us their ashes," Akshat said.

"What? The bodies were not seen by the families?" Dimpy couldn't suppress her shock..

Akshat said awkwardly, "Actually it was costing us almost 35 lakhs to get the two bodies from the US. And that time, couple of decades back, we couldn't afford it."

The fact that it costed that much money to get dead bodies from one country to another was news for Dimpy. She didn't have anything more to ask. After leaving Akshat, she called Yuvansh. A little chit-chat later, she asked, "I was planning to visit the US with Anubhav and Jasmine. Can you guide me a bit? I've never been there  before."

"That's wonderful. You share the itinerary with me, and I'll let you know. Not that I've travelled there much. I'd only been there when I was studying medicine."

"Oh, that's a long time ago. Shreshtha was there in the US then, right?"

"No. I haven't met her since she got married," Yuvansh said. The statement was part lie, part truth.

"Why not?"

"Just like that. We were never in each other's radar."

"Never mind. I'll share the itinerary once Anubhav prepares it. He's not good at these things."

Dimpy's hunch was right. There was something wrong. Otherwise Yuvansh would have never lied to her.