Intertwined Fates -- An IPKKND FanFic

The Second Meeting

Glancing at her Devi Maiyya statue at her desk, she whispered a quick plea for inspiration before pulling up the police reports again to find other family members of the victims to question.

A few moments later, her phone rang and Khushi lifted her eyebrows in surprise when she saw that it was Pooja's sister, Mrs. Lashkari. "Hello?"

"Wakeel Saiba, I found a picture!"

***

Khushi nearly jumped out of her chair. "What?"

"I went through some boxes I had of Pooja's and I found a photo of Kabir! You were asking about it so I just had to let you know."

"You don't know how important this is, Mrs. Lashkari. Can you please scan and email it to me right away?"

A nail-biting fifteen minutes later, Khushi's laptop pinged. Excitedly, she downloaded the attachment only to be disappointed that it was only a side profile. She was sure that it was Shyam but it could just as likely not be him. She nearly screamed in frustration until the picture sparked an idea. Grabbing her phone, she dialed Lavanya and asked if she could borrow the services of a sketch artist.

As it wasn't official police business, Khushi agreed to pay him out of her own pocket. She set up a three-way conversation with the artist and Mrs. Lashkari and had him draw out Mrs. Lashkari's description of her late sister's husband.

She then did the same with Mr. Malhotra and then asked the artist to send her both sketches. This time, Khushi was not disappointed as both portraits looked exactly like Shyam Manohar Jha.

All of this still wasn't conclusive, but there was enough evidence to reopen a criminal investigation of him. It wouldn't be hard for police to track down other victim's family members and have them identify Shyam Manohar Jha.

But the more she thought about it, the more Khushi realized that if she went to the cops, she'd be completely immersed in the case. She'd deal with all affected parties and that would include the Raizadas. But appearing before the Raizadas would just scratch at old wounds and again throw all of them into emotional turmoil.

But how else could she save Anjali Ji's life?

****

"Hai Nand Kishore!" exclaimed Buaji as she took in the pile of Jalebi sitting on her counter. "What are you doing?"

Khushi didn't even look up as she carefully spooned out a freshly fried batch from the wok and immersed them into the sugary syrup she'd prepared.

"I thought I'd make some sweets for us, Buaji."

"For us or for the whole neighborhood?"

Khushi didn't answer, her mind turning the problem in her head over as quickly as her hands moved in front of her. She couldn't not pursue the case. But who could she trust to take it up in her stead? Mrs. Lashkari?

Khushi thought of all that the case would entail--intercity police communications, reinvestigations of cold cases that were years old and most importantly, the immediate arrest of Shyam Manohar Jha without bail so that he couldn't hurt Anjali Ji.

Now that she thought about it, Khushi herself couldn't do all this. No, that would require someone more powerful with both the resources and motivation. And as the name of such a person popped into her mind, for the second time that day, Khushi wanted to scream in frustration.

***

Arnav Singh Raizada was a busy person and as such, no one could ever see him without an appointment. He didn't have any this morning, so he'd settled in peacefully at his desk to go over some contracts. He was annoyed when a quarter of an hour later, his secretary called him to inform him that he had a visitor.

"Do they have an appointment?" he growled into the phone.

"No sir, but--"

"Are you not aware that I do not see people without appointments?"

"Yes sir, but--"

"Send them away."

"But sir--"

He slammed the phone down and went back to his work, forgetting all about the interruption until his door was unceremoniously flung open.

"What the--" he glared at the intruder, a wisp of a girl, marching into his space as if she had the right to be there. His secretary followed nervously after, hands fluttering here and there.

"I told her she couldn't, sir, but she just barged in."

Arnav stood up. "Get out before I call security."

"This is going to save your sister's life," said the girl confidently.

Arnav stared at her for a moment. "If this is some sort of a trick--" he left the threat hanging in the air.

She rolled her eyes, making his secretary gasp at her audacity. Stepping forward, she placed a file onto his desk. Tapping it twice with her forefinger, she said to him, "You need to take action as soon as possible," and with that, she briskly walked out of the room, leaving behind a dumbfounded Arnav Singh Raizada.

Translations:

Hai Nand Kishore: Oh Lord Krishna

Author's Note:

Surprise! I wasn't planning on updating today but this story has over 1,000 views and more than 100 votes. I am so touched that people are reading words that I've written and a surprise update was the best way that I could think of to show my gratefulness.

So, what do we think?

Next chapter will be posted this Sunday, October 13.

This chapter is dedicated to Arihasingh, for being the first person to comment her (correct) hunch that all the men on the marriage certificates were actually Shyam.

Thanks for reading.

Take care.