A suitable Man

Chapter 31

At first, extremely sorry for delaying this chapter, was very tied up with work on the home front. Thankyou for bearing with me. Your constant support keeps me going👍👍💐😊

Here is my new chapter

Chapter 31.

Smriti narrated the whole story her father had disclosed, but there was still a lot of information remaining from the day of Jagganath Shetty's murder. Smriti was talking non-stop and finally sighed and said,  " I was this close of taking out the information from Appa, but no, this girl here starts her swan song and top of it, her hero also comes down disguised as 'Batman' .....both of you don't want me to be the CID I am, Just imagine what a wonderful name it will be "CID Smriti Shetty", Smriti carried on animatedly. Mahendra was amusing himself with her antics, although he had listened to what information she had given, he just couldn't take his eyes off her irresistible lips, her very expressive eyes, her nonstop chatter.... she had so many things to say all at once. She was going on and on when he kissed her in to silence and said, " Ok, Ok,  my Lady Karamchand, I want you to be the greatest detective in the entire family, then I wont come here to disturb you, Will it be fine ?" He added mischievously. Smriti narrowed her eyes and looked at him, " Youu....Mahendra ...... such an imp you are, when did I say, you don't come here?.... naughty boy!!!!!
Mahendra raised a hand to sweep aside her tumbled hair, then resting it at her nape, pulled her to him. The kiss was long and mutual while she lay upon his chest and his hand caressed the silken softness of her shoulders.
" I will have to go now, else many tongues will start wagging,but I shall come again, when I don't know but for sure, your are too irresistible to keep away from" Mahendra whispered. "You keep an eye on your Appa", ok, now come on kiss me long enough to last till I meet you again", he smiled. He got up, garbed himself, kissed Smriti goodbye and went away as stealthily as he had come. Smriti sighed, she hoped this charade ended soon. It was too much for her to be away from her family life.

She crept back home through the back door and slept fitfully with a smile on her lips. She was very happy to meet Mahendra after so long, and the way things transpired between them, she blushed even at the thought of it. She had recorded the conversation with her father in her mobile. She saved it for use at an appropriate time.

She would again persuade her father to speak about the dreadful day when Jagganath Shetty was murdered. She had very less time on her hands, she needed to act fast and get out of here.  But where was Sheena. In the less time she had known him and seen him, she knew he was too shrewd to be bound in the clutches of law. She had seen his strength, he was not an easy man to maraud. And he had spite, malicious spite against everyone except Vasundhara. Smriti knew how he had changed in the presence of her mother in law. After all these years, he was still in love with her. She felt a pity for Sheena, love gives you a very different kind of power, but Sheena had misused his power, he had turned himself evil. Only Vasundhara could bring him to book, Smriti realised. She remembered how scorned her Amma had been that day. She would have shot Sheena, but for Mahendra, she didn't, she knew if given a chance she would not hesitate to do the same again. This time Sheena would not get away. She promised herself, this time she would do everything she could.
Koppa(Chickkamagalur district, Interior Karanataka)

Koppa, a small sleepy town in the tea estate district of Karanataka, was a budding tourist destination. It was on an off road from Mangalore, around 90 kms from Udupi. It was surrounded by forests on all sides and there were many tea estates adjoining to it.

High up on a hill, near a tea estate, a lone figure stood smoking, watching the sunset from his perch. For people around he could be identified as a common tea vendor, visiting the place for his business. But if looked carefully, he was a man taller than most of them in the town, so burly, that he could be mistaken for a wrestler. The menacing eyes masked behind glasses. Sheena was happy with himself, he had yet again escaped law. He was injured by the bullet in his left arm, but he managed to flee back to his home in Honavar. The police zeroed over him there too, he had disguised himself as a tea vendor and ran off in to a local bus to Udupi. From Udupi, with a little help from his aides at Udupi, he had reached Koppa. The police would be hot on his trail, but till then he had time on his hands to figure a way out of this. A man of his height and stature was easily identified, he knew that, so he walked with a stoop.
There was no point in returning to Kumta at this moment, he was sure sooner or later the police would trace him to Koppa. It would be better for him to flee the country, he had relations with people from the south east Asian countries where the demand for sandalwood had made him a kingpin in the trade. He could go to Thailand, or for that matter Indonesia
where he could stay low till the matter died out here. He was contemplating his moves, but again and again, a face flashed in front of him, the hatred in her eyes burned a hole in his soul. All these years he had women falling all over him, he had used them, always roughly, he had all the pleasures of life at his feet. But she was beyond everything, she was like a festered wound in his heart that refused to heal. Even after so many years, he had melted away in her presence. She had pointed a gun at him, he had tried to murder her son too, like her husband, how he wished all her near and dear ones just perished, so she would know how it would be to be left all alone. But he loved her, as he had never ever loved anyone before. He would have even taken the bullet from her gun and he would have still lived. At this age and time, the vehemence was the same as before.
Her thoughts muddled his brain. " Vasundhara, how you torment me even now...." Sheena sighed. Whatever wretched life he was living, he had to go on, he had to save his arse from the police. But there was a disadvantage, his long absence would be a huge loss to his business in the areas of North Karnataka. This would give an edge to Mahendra's business.