Death script

4

"So, let me just get this clear," Inspector Sanjay Dhillon chuckled. "You lost your girlfriend in a car crash recently and you all were playing a game of planning someone's murder. So to begin with all of you show the tell-tale signs of psychopaths"

Sanjay stood in a spacious living room which two other policemen thoroughly searched. Indrajit was a pale shaken figure. Signs of weariness and lack of sleep the entire night was evident in his body language and his droopy eyes. Rita sat on the sofa; her head buried in her hands. The police had arrived shortly after the body was found. One of the security guards had called on finding the body after rushing to the spot, hearing the scream. The entire night had been spent on the necessary formalities. The body had been taken for autopsy and the police had arrived after half an hour. Indrajit had called his friends as well but managed to reach only Rita. The mobile phones of the other three were switched off. He had called the others again in the morning, at about 6 and talked to them. All of them were shocked when they heard the news and promised to come over as quickly as possible. Rita had come over at about 3 A. M. and had been there since. It was 1:30 p.m on the blue analogue clock hanging on the east wall of the living room. The friends still hadn't arrived. Abhijit and Animesh had called. Abhijit promised to be at Indrajit's place right after an urgent video conference while Animesh said he had to make a quick urgent visit to his studio before coming. Ritesh had given no excuse and Indrajit kept wondering what was taking him so long.

Inspector had arrived only sometime ago to oversee the investigation. This was a curious case. A curious case indeed. The police had been carrying out investigations since morning, asking around to find what people had seen. The news that a poet had died in an apparent accident was quick to spread. At about 10 A.M. the news vans had started rolling in. Soon enough all the television channels were buzzing with the same news. A news that could hold the people's attention for two minutes and was granted the same airtime. After the crowd thinned out, and the curiosity ebbed, Inspector Sanjay Dhillon arrived. After talking to the landlord and being briefed about the findings of the day by head constable Moshtaque Ahmed, he had decided to inquire the key person in the investigation himself. Indrajit Sarkar.

"I had told you already, it's just a game," Indrajit said tiredly.

"A game about killing people?"

"It's-we used to play that when we were in school. I-I know it sounds strange but it isn't anything serious."

"Apparently it is serious if someone dies exactly according to the plan of the game."

Sanjay had spent almost fifteen minutes listening to Indrajit, gathering the pieces of what had happened that night. He had heard about Indrajit before. The inspector's seventeen-year-old son was obsessed with his novels. Besides he had read about the accident.

"Indrajit Sarkar," The inspector mumbled looking around the room. "How did that car accident happen?"

"What?" Indrajit asked completely baffled.
"The car accident. The one in which you lost your-"

"What has that got to do with this?" Indrajit snapped.

"Nothing. I am just curious."

"Well you can keep your curiosity to your-"

"The brakes," Rita spoke out, lifting up her
head. Her eyes were puffy. "The brakes failed."

"And only your girlfriend died?"

"The car had only a driver's side airbag," Rita answered denying Indrajit the chance to burst out. "But can we please not talk about that? We have lost another- and you-"

Rita couldn't control herself anymore. Her voice cracked and tears streamed down her eyes again. Indrajit sat down beside Rita and put an arm around her.