Crossroads

Chapter 1

IT is also dedicated to CRAZYBOUTREADING.

Love you, buddy.

CHAPTER 1

"Shanaya, the Senator's wife and son are here." Mike, my partner said to me.

I got up and made my way towards the victim’s next of kin. My phone vibrated but I ignored it, I have a murder to solve and the faster I can finish my work for tonight, the faster I can go home to my niece and nephew.

Man, it’s still very difficult for me to come to the fact that my cousin, Mehr, and her husband, Siddhanth, are dead. It has been three months and I am still struggling with it. How is it possible? How can someone die while standing in a queue inside a coffee shop? How can someone drive so carelessly that they drive right inside the shop, running over at least seven people? And look at the odds, the only two people out of seven who were announced dead even before the ambulance came- thanks to the doctor sitting inside the shop, far away from the scene of accident- were Mehr and Siddhanth.

My vision became a bit blurry and I realized that I had started crying. Again.

I cannot afford to break down here, in the middle of the most controversial deaths of the year. Suck it up, Naya. You can do it. You can get past any hurdle. Gosh, I can hear her beautifully soothing voice in my head. She used to say the exact same thing to me every time I found myself in front of a wall and just about ready to give up.

Shit, right at this moment I needed her more than I ever did.

I walked right to the entrance of the FBI building in New York where the Senator’s wife and son were standing. Mrs. Sharon Hodges was in shock. I think. I mean there were no tears on her face but there wasn’t any glazed over expression as well. Weird.

The son, however, looked like a son grieving for his father. Smith Hodges had red, puffy eyes and his nose was a bit runny. He looked totally haggard while wearing top notch clothes. Well, that’s a talent.

While the son looked haggard, Sharon Hodges, on the other hand, personified the word ‘sophistication.’ What with her blond hair swooped up into a French twist and her red chiffon knee length dress with a white sweater. Her ring glittered under the light and the rock made me catch a breath. That’s way too expensive for a government worker’s wife. Way too expensive.

“Ma’am,” I raised my hand to shake hers. “I am Special Agent Shanaya Singhania, I am sorry for your loss. Would you please follow me? We would like you to identify the body for us.”

“Sharon Hodges,” She shook my hand briefly.  “I think the whole world knows it by now that he is dead. What is the point of this? I really don’t want to see a dead body. I mean,” she caught herself and said a bit hesitantly, “I don’t like the smell of morgues.”

“It’s a formality ma’am,” I replied. “It will take only a few minutes.”

I take them up to the morgue where they both see the body and identify. It was very unusual because Sharon was not even putting up a show for our benefit. She seriously seemed indifferent to the fact that her husband just up and died.

On the other hand, Smith was now openly howling. At first I had felt for the kid, he lost his dear, beloved father. I berated myself, rather harshly, when I saw him sniffling and a laugh almost escaped me. Then I had to pinch myself so that I can stop myself from asking Smith if he wanted a chocolate as he was behaving exactly like 4 year old. It was then that a tube light flickered on, inside my head. He was overacting. He has to. You don’t start acting like a 4 year old if you are genuinely distressed about something.