Spies & Spice (Completed)

Chapter 21

"Monsters are real. Ghosts are too. They live inside of us, and sometimes, they win."

― Stephen King, The Shining

IB Headquarters, New Delhi.

Rajiv plucked up courage and spoke in a steady voice.

"Sir, I wasn't there when you spoke to Sharmila and Monty about the tragic incident at Villa, but I have a copy of their witness statements here. Can you please go through this and confirm if this is what they told you?"

"Rajiv, do you think I have time for all this? What is going on? Just state the facts, instead talking to me in this roundabout way!"

"Sure Sir, I will stick to the bare minimum facts and you can make your own conclusion. As per the statement here, Sharmila said that when she saw Victor, he was already injured in his elbow, shot by that Tanvir guy with AK47. And then she clearly said that, she kept shooting at Tanvir to give cover for Victor, so that he could escape from there towards the street. After Victor escaped, she heard not one, but multiple gunshots. Do you agree with me?"

Ajit Duval sighed and said "Yes I remember clearly, that's what she told me too."

"Now, here's the thing Sir, the surgeons who operated on Victor thankfully found just two bullets in his body, one in the elbow, and another just below the rib cage which luckily escaped most vital organs. And neither of those bullets match that of AK47. One bullet from a different gun is understandable, because Sharmila had already captured the AK47 from the gunman in the backyard, so whoever shot Victor in the street would have used a different gun. But both? And this is the interesting part. Victor's gun was found dumped in a ditch, few metres away from the Villa and both the bullets in Victor's body match those from his Gun. There was still one bullet left in his Gun"

"Victor's gun?" Ajit Duval asked with burrowed eyebrows, as he bent forward on his desk.

"Yes Sir." Rajiv let out a tiny sigh, glad that his boss wasn't dismissive anymore and waited for his reponse.

Ajit Duval picked up a paper weight on his table and spun it around for sometime, as his gaze became unfocused.

"Hmm... it may look strange but it is perfectly possible. All Sharmila said was, Victor was already injured when she saw him chased by that Tanvir guy with AK 47. So, she must have assumed that he was shot by the same gun. But, Victor might have been shot by his own gun after he was disarmed inside the villa. And the same person might have shot him again in the street too. What about the bullet in JP's body? Does it match any gun?"

"No Sir. We found no other gun at the crime scene except Victor's and Nanda Sir was shot by a different gun. I admit, what you said about Sharmila's assumption is a possibility too and that thought did cross my mind, but the other evidence at the crime scene made me change my opinion."

"What other evidence?"

"Blanks Shells sir, of all the things! There were 5 to 6 blank shells found on the street right next to the car and here's the most damning thing. That upstairs room where Monty was supposed to be fighting two other guys, that room had at least 7 or 8 blank shells too along with shells of real bullets from a different gun."

"What?" Ajit Duval's deep voice reverberated in the chamber.

"Exactly. Why would a criminal, who had taken so much pain to plan and kill Victor and let us assume Nanda Sir too, use blank bullets? It just doesn't make sense. And this is what put their whole evidence in doubt. What if they were fabricating the whole thing?"

"You mean... " Ajit Duval stopped himself, as if he didn't like where the conversation was going.
"I know it is very distasteful to think this way Sir, but as in charge of the internal investigation, it is my duty to suspect everybody till I am proven otherwise. At the moment I am doubting every statement that Sharmila and Monty have made. What if they were in league with the mole and tried to kill Victor. Perhaps Nanda Sir got in the way, and they had no choice but to kill him."