Chapter 24 Dark Secrets

They were driving back home. Debjit and Advait were discussing the incident. Debjit was in a deep thought, he was curious to know about the mastermind behind the attack. They wanted to investigate further but didn’t know where to start from. Advait was re-reading the diary belonging to Avinash in the hope of finding any lead from there. He kept glancing through the pages, again and again.

“Advait, call the informer. Ask him about the bomb explosion, he might know something,” Debjit asked him, and Advait immediately made the call. It kept ringing, but he didn’t pick it up instead he sent a text. ‘ Call you tomorrow.’ Both of them could do nothing but wait till tomorrow to continue the investigation. It was 6 p.m., and were late to go back home. Debjit took a turn towards Vaishali, to drop off Advait.

On the way, they stopped at a traffic signal. Debjit was looking at a couple playing with their daughter in a restaurant. He kept looking at them and smiled. He felt good to see that family enjoying themselves and he recalled something which made him smile again. He was so lost in his thought that he didn’t see the light turn green. Advait nudged him to get his attention back on the road.

“Sorry buddy, I was thinking of something,” He apologized.

“No worries Sir, it happens sometimes.”

After dropping off Advait, Debjit drove back home. He was getting a call from his wife. He didn’t pick it up as he was about to reach his home. He arrived home and saw that his wife was waiting for him at the dining table with a cup of tea. He ignored her and went straight towards the bathroom to fresh up. He came out and took his medicines. His wife had asked him about the new case given to him. He only said that it was going well. Then, Debjit took a short nap. He woke up one hour later when he noticed his wife watching a T.V. show.

He went inside the kitchen to prepare dinner. His wife followed him.

“ I’ll make the chhapati for you. Dal is ready,” she said. Debjit didn’t pay any heed to her. He took out the atta from the stand and started making the chapatis for himself. He heated the dal in the microwave, took the meal inside to his room and ate it.

His wife went to sleep after some time, but Debjit was in no mood to sleep. He took out his mobile and looked at his lost daughter’s photo and cried. He was carrying her favorite teddy bear in his hands. He started to play with it. Like her daughter did. He hugged it and cried in pain.

..

Debjit Sir was sitting on his chair and preparing the evidence file of Avinash Sampath. He collected every detail he could find about Avinash, starting from his childhood till the day of his disappearance. He gathered everything he found from his house, photos, bag, clothes, utility items, and was thoroughly examining it. He kept every important detail he could find close by and had it pasted on the evidence board. Advait entered.

“Good morning Advait, You are here early,” Debjit exclaimed

“Yes Sir” Advait replied. “Good.”

“What are doing Sir” Advait asked.

“I am trying to figure out, why did Avinash had to choose this path. There has to be a motive behind all of this,” Debjit said.

“Revenge could be a motive, right Sir?” Advait said.

“Yes, it could be,” Debjit said. They both were talking about the case. When Advait received a call from the informer.

“Hello,”

“Khan bhai, can you tell us who was behind the incident? “ Advait questioned him immediately.

“Yes, it was all Avinash’s plan. He wanted to use Pratham as a human bomb for the explosion,” of the news didn’t shock them. They already had a feeling this was the case but wanted to confirm it.

“Do you know where he is right now?” Advait asked. “No I don’t, but I will tell you as soon as I do,” He said

and hung up. Now, all could they do was wait for the call. But until then, they had to carry on with the investigation. Advait opened and started reading Avinash’s diary again. He read about Chhavi and wanted to talk with her.

“Sir, can we get in contact Chhavi. I know that she isn’t here in the later parts of the diary. But I think she could become a great asset to this case,” Advait suggested to Debjit.

“Yes, she could be.”

“But where can we find her?” Advait asked.

“There is an event today in Collaba. A prayer ceremony in St. Steven’s Church, there is a possibility that she could be there.”, Debjit said

“Sure Sir, let’s go then,” they packed up the evidence and kept it in the evidence wardrobe and locked it. Then, they left for the Collaba. As they were about to reach the Church. People in thousands flooded the street with candles in their hands. They were moving slowly and in silence. Debjit parked his car five kilometers away from the spot, cause of the crowd. Both of them followed the people, leading to the Church. Of the thousands of healthy people, there wasn’t even one person with a smile, only sadness on their faces. Everyone’s head was down, and were mourning the deadly attack yesterday. Both reached the main church complex after twenty-five minutes, both of them started looking for Chhavi. There were a lot of people there and they couldn’t find her in the crowd. At one point Advait, saw a girl standing next to the main stage, he moved towards her. He nudged her from back and she turned. But she wasn’t Chhavi.

“Oh Sorry ma’am, I was mistaken. I thought you were someone else,” Advait said.

“No issues,” The girl said as she moved on ahead.

After looking for her for some time, Debjit and Advait made the conclusion that maybe she had not come to attend the event. But this didn’t stop them from gathering information. Through some sources, they found out Chhavi’s old house address. They drove towards it in the hope they could find her there. The house was locked and no one was inside. They both inquired from the neighbors. An old lady from an adjoining house was walking down the street. Debjit asked her.

“Hello ma’am. Sorry to bother you. But do you know where we can find Chhavi Basu? She was your neighbor,”

“Chhavi, oh yes. Her family shifted to Navi, Mumbai five months back,” the lady replied. A thought ran through Debjit’s mind. She moved five months back, wasn’t it around the same time when Avinash had begun his killing spree. His brain started connecting the dots and he knew that it was all connected.

“Okay, ma’am, could you please give her address?” “Sure, why not?”