Crime Control Squad

Chapter 10

Realising that their inquest into the murder of Veerkaran was possibly going to take a steep turn, the Crime Control Squad listened attentively to their chief's conclusions. Heera, still holding a grudge against her boss, suddenly felt strangely nervous. She could sense her heart beat fast. What was that her boss observed, which she missed? Was that the reason her boss behaved insolently?

"I completely agree with Heera," Vedant opened his account politely. "Mina was definitely devastated with the death...with the murder of her husband. But beyond that, she was...scared..."

"Scared?" asked Vikram. "May be scared for her future without her husband...Feeling unprotected...Insecure"

"No!" denied Vedant outright. "This was a different kind of a fear. Let me explain...Say for example, we are a very close unit...I mean...we ARE a very close unit..." A smile flashed around everyone's face. "Supposedly I get mysteriously and brutally murdered by someone...What would your emotion or reaction be? Apart from say...sadness over my death."

The team looked intently at Vedant with equal puzzlement.

"I would want to find who killed you," answered Sagar, words paced slowly.

"Actually I would want to kill the guy who..." replied Vikram honestly. Vedant looked at Heera for her answer.

"I would definitely want to know who did that to you and bring them to justice," said Heera.

"Right," agreed Vedant. "That's the natural reaction to expect. Wanting to know who harmed your loved ones...BUT...When I asked Mrs Singh if she didn't want to find who killed her husband..."

"She said NO??" asked Sagar scandalized.

"No...She didn't say no...But...She ignored it, never answered it, and dodged it deliberately. Heera?" Vedant wanted Heera's opinion on the observation. Heera remembered the conversation. Vedant was right. Mina never once answered the question.

"Yes...She didn't answer it..." said Heera reluctantly.

"Not once...I asked her multiple times, directly and indirectly...But she never once said she wanted to find her husband's killer or punish them, which I find it really...really weird..."

"Why wouldn't she want to find her husband's killer?" asked Heera lost in thoughts. "It doesn't make sense."

"May she thinks they would harm her also?" reasoned Sagar.

"Or..." continued Vedant. "Or...Mina Singh already knows who killed her husband...and she doesn't want to tell us."

The team pondered over the theory. It wasn't impossible that Mina would hide such an important fact...actually the truth from them. She definitely looked jittery and behaved strangely.

"She doesn't seem to trust the police," said Heera. "May be she had a bad experience with them before and hence she didn't want to tell us?"

"Come on Heera! Her husband was in the Army," blurted out Vikram.

"There is more..." Vedant grabbed everyone's attention again. "Mina acted normally when we began the conversation, didn't she Heera? She didn't react extremely even when I said her husband was murdered, bludgeoned to death. She was surprisingly angry when I asked her help to find her husband's death. But when did she actually panic? She panicked when I brought in the topic of Threat...Protection...Her son..."

"Yes..." said Heera surprised. She completely missed that reaction.

"I am not saying she wasn't sad about her husband's death...but she seemed more preoccupied with something else. She said she knows how to handle threats. She said she had taken care of her son all these years and she knows what to do. She said she didn't want her son to be killed...which can only mean..."