Secrets of the Past (Completed)

6. The next victim

18th December 2019

In a remote place,

In a whisper

"Come to me my love; I would like to make love to you slowly, giving you all the pleasures. You wanted me, my life, now see I'm ready.

Where shall I start kissing first? Hand? Legs? Mouth? Choose it baby".

" Please, Don't. I'm sorry. It was years back. I didn't do anything. Why are you punishing me?"

"Don't cry my baby.. Tch tch, you wanted me to call you baby, love you like I loved my beloved in past. But I didn't give heed. Now see, I just love calling you that. Right baby?"

"Please. Look, I'll help you. I'll do whatever you want me to do. Please leave me".

"oh my baby, your this mouth is so tempting me. I've decided"

With a manic glint, the shadow neared it's prey.

*******

21st December 2019

It's been a month. Time flies so fast. Life in Raizada mansion had returned to normal. Arnav and Kushi had become friends. It was a good start for their future. Anjali visited the family whenever she was free. Her home was not that far, which an added bonus was.

Kushi had gradually taken over the duties of the house and fell into a normal routine. All was well. Or so they thought when NK came running into the house, terrified.

He was getting hysterical and no one was able to console him. Not knowing what to do, Kushi called Arnav and immediately informed him about NK.

Assuring his wife that he will be at home in few minutes, kept his necessary files and started home informing his PA to cancel his appointments for the day.

NK's parents were abroad and not wanting to worry them, the Raizada family called the doctor for an emergency.

By the time the doctor arrived, Arnav, Sid and Akash had come home to see their friend sitting like a statue.

********

The doctor injected NK so that he could calm down. After getting back to normal, NK wished to speak with his friends and Shyam, requesting the rest of the family members to give some privacy.

Not wanting to make him upset, the rest of the family went out.

Arnav- what happened NK. Is everything fine?

Not delaying further, NK asked his friends in a trembling voice

"Guys, do you know where Karan is?"

Guessing that something was wrong, Shyam asked

Shyam - he had gone to Mumbai for his business purpose right?

Arnav - no jiju, I told him to meet the land owner in Kanpur regarding the new factory building.

NK- he is neither in Mumbai nor in Kanpur

He,,. He . ..

NK started stuttering.

Giving him a glass of water, Akash sat by him.

NK - do you remember last month, after Arnav's marriage, Liza's body was found in his hotel room.

Arnav - what has that got to do with Karan? Come to the point NK, what are you implying?

NK - when was the last time you visited your private shed Arnav?

Not understanding where the conversation was heading, Shyam was about to ask him something when it struck him .

Was he thinking in the right way? If his assumptions were correct, then Arnav was in real trouble.

Guessing that Shyam had found out, NK felt drained.

Shyam, in a whisper - where is Karan's body NK?

Arnav and Akash - WHAT?

NK - in Arnav's shed jiju. I wanted some spare parts for a research. When I went there, I found Karan's body. It's.. It's horrible.

Rubbing his face, with a sigh, Shyam got up.

"I think it's time to inform the police."

*********

Once again, the Raizada name was on the newspaper. But this time, the reasons were different. A body in Arnav Singh Raizada's private shed, that too of his best friend's, was the hot topic. Police and the forensic department were doing their investigations respectively.

The family was gathered in the living room, everyone silent and dreading what would happen next.

Arnav was being interrogated in his study room. NK and Akash had already given their statements and were sitting with the family when Karan's parents barged in the mansion.

"What happened, how, he was in Kanpur for a deal, then how did he die?" Karan's mother, Mrs. Sheela Malhotra was getting hysterical. Her only son was dead and she was out of control. Raj Malhotra, the biggest real estate dealer, known for his shrewdness and cunningness, was not able to do anything.

The police commissioner had informed the family that they will be tightening the security for everyone, including Nandkishore Sharma aka NK, Siddharth Patel alias Sid and Akash Jaiswal's family.

*********

22nd December 2019

The post mortem report was the same. 90% burn injuries, each body part was burnt separately, a strong acid was force fed, resulting in the internal organs getting burnt. This gave a clear picture that both Liza and Karan were killed by the same person or the same group.

The only difference was that the killer had left a clue deliberately this time, which meant that this was all pre-planned and the killer was going to give a hard time to the police department.

The case was handed over to the CBI, and a separate team was assigned the task of finding out the culprit as soon as possible since this was a high profile case. They had to act fast before another murder took place.

*********

"Mr. Ranvijay Rathore, your record is impressive. You will head this team along with Ms. Vasundhara Rajvansh. Hope you guys succeed. All the best ".

Thanking his superior, both the able officers came out and started heading towards the conference hall where the rest of the team members were present.

The team comprised of 6 members, excluding these two.

Ms. Lavanya Kashyap, from the forensic department, Mr. Dev Handa, Ms. Sonakshi Bose and Mr. Ajay Pratap from the emergency force, Mr. Neil Bakshi and Ms. Sheetal Khanna from the technology department.

Each one was hand picked by Ranvijay and Vasundhara.

Without wasting any time in formalities, they started creating a chart to discuss further their game plan.

*********

Raizada mansion was silent. No one spoke anything except for occasional business conversations. The atmosphere was thick with tension and fear.

Kushi was the most affected in all this.

Arnav was quick to find this and had a good talk with her.