August Nightmares #8
She stayed still looking at me, never uttered a word or showed a reaction to my reply. And so was the inspector. I continued,
‘What? Are you surprised by the fact that we found out ourselves, or you lost the battle and gave up so that I spit every truth over here?’
I sat down in front of her as she smirked at me. “Continue!” she said, leaning back.
‘As you said, you were returning from work. You knew our investigation would lead to the I-T raid that was happening at the Hotel. So, this means you had gone to convince Pravin — all of this. You are Kabini. In fact, you had abundant time till morning to cover up the entire thing. The only government ID that you provided of yours and the victim are the passports which somehow you had time to forge. And not to forget the health records. You had Mrs. Pravin support you very well.
Pravin and you had been college friends but Deephika had been falling for him. You could not stand this. You got Pravin to help you with this murder. You knew Dog would be the hindrance and you got rid of it, with the help of Pravin. You knew that he may turn back because he has a family that he wanted to save. Although he helped you, he may or may not turn back. So, you overdosed his insulin. You stabbed Deephika. Before the police could act on, you had the help of someone high in the medical field to change all the records from Deephika to Kabini. If nothing matches and all the evidence is somehow botched, the case would be dissolved but you see, you cannot cheat the internet.’
She proudly smiled and said, “I am quite impressed, Mr. Sangeet! But how did you know I was Kabini?”
Tapped twice on the table and stood up to speak, ‘I knew it because you were not consistent on your cover. You said you were a chef but Deephika really is an artist. The creativity here is astounding. This is why you had planned your panicked reaction when you saw the knife when the CSI people took her in the stretcher. Back to the internet thing, Instagram has the history of usernames for an account. Turns out, you renamed DeeDraws to KayDraws. That shows how much of social media you knew. You folks were a pretty private couple so no photos online. And since Deephika initials as DK in all her drawings, it was pretty convenient on that part. Now, answer my question, Kabini.’ And I leaned in towards her.
‘You killed her because she fell for Pravin?’
“I could never answer that question. It was all…Quick!”
Ram — “That’s not good! Mr. Hasan, I think we have enough information now to get her into the trial. You’re done, Ms. Kabini! Thank you, Sangeet.”
We walked outside and she laughed out loud to say, “I hate to say this, Detective. You are wrong on so many levels. But I accept my crime. I’ll deal with you once I come back. This, is incomplete. The entire thing is a ruse!”
‘I understand you have seen so many Tamil movies. But I have already heard a lot of these dialogues. Goodbye, De..I mean Kabini.”
A few months later
Kabini is now in jail for double homicide. I had not taken up any cases after that. Jeffrey had been helping police with their investigations so it helps us keep the gig going every day. It was 6 AM and on Saturday, I went to my favorite cafe at the beach. They open up very early.
I had ordered a hot chocolate as I had been staying off caffeine for a month. Grabbing my drink, I walked outside and sat in my regular place where I used to sit along with Jeff to discuss the cases.
“So, this is how you celebrate your wins, Mr. Hasan!”
I turned around with a smile, ‘Yeah, none of the beaches sounds playlists on Spotify seem to work for me. And please, call me Sangeet! Have a seat and Happy Birthday!’
They sat down and kept their Tea on the table. “Thank you so much, Mr. Sangeet! I know I spoke to you over the phone. I know there may be wrongful doings on my side too but still, I’m glad. I promise to stay well. Well, you know me very well. Then why would I quit the high-paying job and start this cafe near the beach, if not for your advice.”
I looked briefly at the rising sun and said, ‘I never gave up on people who asked me for help. And I understood it was for your own good when you told me that Kabini and Pravin were in this together. It was hard but I hope promises are worth it, Deephika!’
THE END
