Dreamy Red

Episode 13 - Mishap at Airport

Karan and I were heading toward the airport. Ravi was on his way to the airport too. It was mid-noon already. We alerted the airport officials to prevent Sidhanshu and Christina from boarding the plane. Unfortunately, we missed our chance by a few minutes. The plane had left just before we had called. So we requested them to keep the CCTV footage ready and also asked them to instruct the London police to capture Sidhanshu and Christina there. We had to search for Armaan too as there was no sign of him. He had dropped off Nishanthi's family long back. He should have returned, but Arush informed us that Armaan was not back home. And we could not contact him as his phone was switched off.

*****

At the airport, Ravi was leaning on his police jeep in the parking lot when we reached. He was waiting for us excitedly unaware of the fact that we had met his sister a while ago and knew things which he didn't want to share with us. He smiled at us. But both of us didn't attempt to smile back or at least walk over to him. We stood there looking at each other waiting for the other to make a decision.

Then I saw Ashutosh standing beside Ravi. That spurred me to take the step first. Karan followed. Ravi looked at us in turns. He must have realised that something was not right. Ashutosh was the police in charge at the airport. He had the same build as Ravi but was a serene and generous gentleman. He studied along with me in college. We were not that good with each other at that time. But since we entered the same field, we got acquainted. "Hai, Ashutosh. How are you?", I asked him when I got closer. "Hi, I'm good. How are you? It's been a long time since we met. The last we met was when one of my friends was murdered", he said shaking his head in distress.

Ashutosh led the way inside toward the control room. Ravi followed too. The entire short journey passed silently. The control room was painted white in colour and had many monitors embedded on one side of the walls with the console. The other side had iron shelves with technical stuff and wires. A man in a formal white shirt and black pants was sitting on a revolving chair in front of the monitors with a mouse and keyboard within reach. Ashutosh spoke to him eagerly, "Show them what we saw." The guy was showing his back to me in such a way that I couldn't see his face. He pointed his fingers to one of the screens.

The time was 09:50 AM on the monitor. I spotted Armaan. It was the entrance of the airport. Nishanthi's parents waved him goodbye and he was turning to leave. The operator paused and zoomed in on Armaan. Ashutosh spoke, "Now watch carefully. I bet this could help you a lot with your investigations." The man resumed the video, the focus still on Armaan. A masked man wearing a blue shirt and funny red pants, just like how the twins described, appeared right in front of Armaan. That means, their Spiderman was for real and was the villain. I asked the operator to pause. He paused it and zoomed in on the masked man. I didn't ask him to zoom in on the masked man. But he did it. Smart guy, I thought.

The mask worn by Spiderman was a weird-looking mask made of silicon that covered his whole face. It was grey in colour with the design of spider webs and black patches. His hairs were perfectly straight black hair looked more like an artificial wig. I noticed that his complexion was light and he wore no rings nor bracelets in his hands that could have gotten him caught. His boots were burgundy and looked expensive. From the looks of it, it should have made marks on the damp mud near Nishanthi's bedroom window. But there weren't any as I could recall. The operator resumed the video even without me asking for it.

In the video, the masked man shook hands with Armaan and they spoke for a while. Then Armaan walked along with him without a word. He must have known the guy very well. And they vanished from the screen. Armaan was the next victim. I felt terribly bad that I was a little late to save poor Armaan.

While we were looking at them fade away from the screen, Ravi's phone rang. He walked out to talk. Ashutosh asked me, "What do you think?" I was quite speechless. We had no idea what could have happened in real. Before I could reply, Ashutosh got a call too. He spoke in a rough and bold voice, "Hello, Ashutosh speaking... Ya, tell Vikram... Is it?... Oh. How is it even possible? We saw them board the plane... Ok, if they say so... Bye, Good Day." And he heaved a sigh while he kept his mobile in his pocket.

He said disappointedly, "It seems like Sidhanshu and Christina never took the plane. The air hostess has told Vikram that they never even boarded. But we saw them take their passes and get in. There is no way they could have been misled." Sidhanshu must have known that we were tracking him and would have escaped. But where to and how? The masked man could have been him! He could have changed his clothes somewhere and he would have taken Armaan away. Anyhow, I asked Ashutosh to check the footage of them boarding thoroughly and let me know if he finds something.

Karan spoke in an austere tone, "Thank you" to Ashutosh and walked out. It was weird. His mood was completely off after seeing Trisha. He wasn't excited as usual though we got a lead in the case.

Ravi returned while Karan was walking out with his head bent down facing the ground. He saw Karan but spoke to me directly without questioning him, "Bibbi, bad news. My team found both Naveen and Arpitha's bodies in the midst of the forest beside the highway. They must have been running away from the killer, but must have been shot dead." He said with a broken heart. What would we tell Mrs Kannan? She will be heartbroken. She had a lot of expectations from us.

I asked Ravi to inform Mrs Kannan via Arush and to take the bodies to the lab. "I won't be able to come to the spot because I have to meet Karthik. There is not much time left", I told him while looking at my watch. "So secure the area and check for boot prints or any other evidence", I instructed Ravi. "Ya sure, Bibbi. I'll do my best", he said.

"I'll reach the spot once I'm done talking to him. Hopefully, it won't take long. And your loyal constable sir might have some wonderful insight, make a note of that as well", I said laughing. Ravi laughed too and left for the forest while I rode home after bidding goodbye to Ashutosh. Karan might have gone home because he was not to be seen anywhere. My phone was dead or else I would have rung him up.

*****

At home, I gave Sashwath the headphones. He hugged me with excitement and said, "Thanks a lot, didi." I smiled, patted his shoulders and left for my room. I was happy that I made him happy.

I dressed up in my favourite body-hugging blue denim jeans and a pure white tank top with two layers and frills. It had a lace strip with some white beads stitched on the neck. I was ashamed of myself as I was getting too dressy to meet Karthik though he was a suspect. I had to be careful as well. So I pulled out my licensed gun from my dresser drawer and put it in my sling bag and strode off to the cafe.

*****

I reached the cafe ten minutes earlier. I waited impatiently for Karthik at a table in the corner. Twenty minutes passed. Yet there was no sign of him. I should have given him a call before starting from home. Also, I had left my phone at home in a hurry. If he had tried calling me to cancel the plan, I wouldn't have known. Disappointed, I decided to leave. I drank some water and stood to leave.