To Reach You (A Married for Money sequel)

Chapter 7

“There was a fire, Arul!”

“What! Where?”

“The record room.”

“How?” he asked with forced calm. She frowned and came to stand beside him.

“We think an electrical spark but that is not the issue. We lost all the data. Wiped clean. I have called the insurance company now.”

“I will be right there.”

Chapter 7

“And nothing remains?”

“Nope.”

Arul let a sigh go out. This was so unfortunate. Thinking about this was going to make him sleepless.

“Where is he?” he asked mildly.

“I called only you and the fire department.”

Arul nodded. They were waiting outside the record room, watching the sodden burnt remains of the files that had been patiently collected over the years. There had been very less to salvage.

A fireman trudged up to them, wet and sooty. He raised something in his gloved hands.

“We found these there, sir.”

Prakash frowned and bent to peek at it. Their jaw dropped collectively. His hands were full of cigarette butts!

*

“Arul, calm down!”

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” bellowed Arul, walking to and fro in the living room of his apartment. “This shouldn’t have happened, dad!”

“I know, but it did. We do not believe in getting back at our people and you know it.”

His mother coughed and Ani grimaced at her, looking shamefaced.

“Go on, honey. What else did the police say?” asked Anjali barely restraining her grin.

“The cigarettes were the reason for the fire. They were all on the window sill beside the oil lamp the watchman keeps. Can you believe it?”

“Why would he smoke inside the building? The entire watch area is his, isn’t it?” asked Aishu, outraged on his behalf.

“My question exactly. And where was he when the fire broke out?”

Ani nodded.

“What was he doing, abandoning the building on his duty?”

Arul ran his hands through his hair. “He has run away since the accident. We are trying to find him.”

“What are you going to do once you do?” asked Anjali worried.

“Nothing. We can’t prosecute him, of course, he has no money. We just need him to sign his termination letter.”

Anjali sighed in relief. “That means all we have to do is to redo the records now.”

Ani shook his head at her. “It is not that easy, dear. We have lost from the scratch. We have to think of some novel ways to put it all back.”

“Well, we have an excellent team for that,” Arul said, standing up and stretching, “Tomorrow is going to be a big day.”

Ani and Anjali got up too.