House of Glass | Complete ✔

Chapter 11

*Flashbacks in bold*

Location: Budapest XIII. Police HQ

Time: 5.45 pm, 7 days after the murder

A regular day at the police precinct in Budapest's 12th district was nothing out of the ordinary. A couple of officers working their cases, noises of computers and coffee machines and the smell of rusted old filed lurking around. In between the systematic mayhem, Abigail and Ivan sat in a quiet room at one corner regurgitating whatever theories they could come up with. At the center of their investigation was Abigail's murder board, where a picture was moved from the potential witness column to the suspect column. Ali's.

"Okay but there could be so many alternative explanations of his cufflink in the bathroom." Ivan threw in. "I mean, the guy works there. He could've dropped it at any time before the murder."

"Yes, but what would he be doing in the master bathroom? He wasn't a part of a housekeeping staff. And even if he had dropped it before, why didn't he go back to get it? It's a white gold cufflink for God's sake."

A few wrinkles appeared on Ivan's face as he tried to think about it.

"When you met him that day, he was wearing both cufflinks?"

"Yes he was. It was identical to this one."

"He probably bought an extra."

Abigail dropped her hand on the table. "Exactly. Why would he need to buy another cufflink when he could just wait to retrieve it from the bathroom later? Unless he never wanted it to be found."

a few seconds had passed in silence before Ivan's face lit up, as if he just had a revelation.

"What it..." he sat up straight and faced Abigail. She turned her attention towards him too. "What if he was having an affair with Faiza Gilani?"

The tensed expression on her face eased as she threw herself back on the chair.

"Nope. That woman is too full of pride to be having an affair with a staff member."

Despite her dismissal, Ivan had gotten excited about his theory.

"But think about it this way, the rest of the staff said that Ali was the only person who had access to the master bedroom. She trusts him with the household. They even snuck out together the night of the party. Now what if, what if they were having an affair and Hafeez got to know about it through Kathaleen, and threatened to expose them? That's why they decided to kill him and frame Kathaleen."

He could see a flicker of doubt in Abigail's eyes but she still was not convinced. Nevertheless, it sparked his enthusiasm further. She scoffed at his conjecture and leaned forward.

"The killing and framing part, maybe. But I still don't think she was having an affair."

A smirk played on his face. "We'll see."

"Sure. But for now instead of coming up with wild theories, can we do some real work? I have to go to meet Kathaleen. Warden said she finally agreed to speak with the police. Wanna join?"

_________________________

That afternoon, after dropping off the parcel, Jamal had thought of meeting up with Tara and share the news with her. He wanted to see the look on her face in person when he told her, so he decided to ask her to come at the vada pav stall near Juhu beach, a place where they'd usually go together sometimes.