X: The Hunt Begins Page 9

  “Well, this breakfast is my way of thanking you both for the scoop of a lifetime.” She said, taking out a stack of bread loafs as she prepared to make french toast.

  There was a knock on the door. Aditya went to open it. Outside stood a young woman. Even dressed simply in a green salwar, she managed to look striking. But her good looks were overcast by a worry that was evident by the lines creasing her forehead.

  “Good morning.” She spoke in a low, pleasant voice that sounded slighty strained. “Is this where Virat Joshi lives?”

  “Yes.” Aditya moved aside to let the girl in, and Virat rose to his feet. The newcomer was of the same age as them.

  “I'm sorry for intruding on your private residence, inspector.” She spoke to Virat. “But I don't know where else to go. I don't think the police will take my problem seriously. My name is Diya Rajan, and I'm desperately in need of advice about my sister.” She looked beseechingly at Aditya as well as Virat, the cord of her handbag twisting nervously between her fingers.

  Virat nodded. “I'm not in an official capacity at the moment, but I'd be happy to give you any advice you might think you need.”

  “Have a seat on the sofa.” Aditya said. Their visitor lowered herself slowly onto the seat and glanced at Virat.

  “I read about your work in finding the selfie killer.” The girl said as Virat pulled up a chair opposite her and Payal joined her on the sofa. Aditya sat on the beanbag chair. “We have a couple of mutual friends on Facebook, including Jayant Kapoor. He was able to tell me where you lived.”

  “I'm glad you found me.” Virat said patiently. “So what exactly is the problem?”

  “It's my sister.” Diya said. “I think... I think she's in danger.”

  “What kind of a danger?” Virat asked.

  “I'm not sure.” Diya said slowly. “Lately we've been getting some anonymous phone calls...” Her voice trailed off. Virat waited for her to continue, but she fell quiet, staring at the kitchen table.

  “So you've been getting anonymous calls.” Aditya prompted. “Anything else?”

  “It's not just that.” Diya hesitated, then looked up at Aditya. “Do you believe in ESP?”

  Aditya gazed back at her dispassionately. “No, as a psychologist, I can't say I do.”

  “What's ESP?” Virat asked, looking from Diya to Aditya.

  “Extra sensory perception.” Aditya spoke without taking his eyes off Diya. “The belief that you can sense something beyond what your five senses tell you. It's often associated with twins who share a strong bond.”

  Diya nodded emphatically “Kavya and I have had that connection ever since we were children.” She said earnestly. “If she got sick, so would I. If she was sad, I could sense it, and then I'd be sad, too. The connection grew fainter as we got older, but I can still sense it when she's really disturbed.”

  “So do you feel your sister is sick?” Virat asked.

  “No.” Diya leaned forward, the lines of worry deepening on her forehead. “I think my sister is in danger. I'm afraid something bad is going to happen to her.”

  “What kind of danger?” Aditya asked with a frown, struck by the anxiety evident in Diya's voice. Despite his personal opinions about ESP, he could see the young woman seemed to believe in what she was saying.

  “I don't know what.” Diya looked at Aditya helplessly. “That's the problem. I just don't know anything definite. That's why I can't go to the police!” Her voice was rising with every sentence.

  “Okay, just relax.” Virat held up a reassuring hand. “We'll get to the bottom of this, but we need to talk about this calmly and reasonably.”

  “I'm sorry, I'm just tired.” Diya massaged her temple, smoothing out the lines on her forehead as she bent her head. “I had to lie to Kavya about going to work early to come here. I've been working up to meeting with you all morning. I couldn't eat anything because I was so nervous. ”

  “Well, we can fix that.” Aditya rose and went to the fridge. “An empty stomach doesn't help when you're under stress.” He opened the door of the fridge. It contained the leftover sabzi from three nights ago, and a piece of pastry that had forzen solid, along with a carton of orange juice. “Of course, food poisoning doesn't help stress either.”

  “Actually, could I have some juice?” Diya asked. Aditya filled a glass and handed it to her. He noticed her trembling fingers as she took the glass. “I'm just so glad you two aren't laughing at me. I was afraid you'd just tell me I was mad.” She drained the glass in three large gulps. Aditya refilled her glass and left the carton on the table next to her.

  “We don't know enough about the case to form as opinion yet.” Virat said in a neutral tone. “As for the ESP thing, I have heard of similar cases before. Animals who can sense earthquakes and flee before the tremors start. A mother knowing her child is sick before any of the symptoms appear.”

  “Or when you're thinking about someone and then immediately afterwards you get a phone call from that person.” Payal supplied. “That's happened to me a few times.”

  “You say you've always felt this connection?” Virat asked Diya.

  “Ever since we were little.” Diya set down her glass and took out her mobile. She scrolled through the gallery and showed them a picture of herself with another girl, both identical except that one was slimmer and rather more fashionable dressed than the other. “When we were children and she fell down a well, no one noticed she'd disappeared. But I could sense something was wrong, and I kept crying until they sent out a search party and rescued her from the well.”

  “And when did you start getting the feeling she was in danger?” Aditya asked.

  “A few weeks ago.” Diya laced her fingers together. “I thought I was just sick at first. But then I remembered that feeling from childhood. It's... it's like a sickness creeping deep inside your stomach. I didn't say anything to Kavya because she didn't seem to feel anything strange. But I told Suraj to keep an eye on her-”

  “Suraj?” Virat inquired.

  “Kavya's boyfriend. I met him on at an expo a month ago and introduced him to Divya. They've been seeing each other ever since.”

  “And Suraj hasn't noticed anything strange?” Aditya asked.

  “No.” Diya shook her head slowly, but there was a hesitation in her voice. “At least... He doesn't say anything out loud. But I thought something about his manner seemed off lately. He'd often stare at Kavya when she wasn't looking. But not in a romantic way, more like he was thinking really hard about something. Also, in the past few days, we've had a couple of anonymous phone calls on the landline. Whenever we pick up the phone goes blank.”

  “How many people live in your house?” Virat asked.

  “Just me and my sister. Our parents died a few years ago and left us the house. A maid comes in the morning and evening, and sometimes the odd job man. We don't see a lot of people except Suraj.”

  Diya apperared to have finished her narrative and was looking hopefully at Virat.

  “I'm still not sure what you want us to do.” Virat said slowly. “Let's suppose you're right about your sister being in danger.” He glanced at Aditya, who shrugged slightly. “It's not nearly enough grounds to begin an investigation. And, if you don't mind me saying it, this sense of danger seems to be taking a greater toll on your health than your sister's.”

  “You think I'm making it up.” Diya's gaze lowered to the table.

  “I didn't say that.” Virat said quickly.

  “So you think it's all in my head?” Diya turned to look beseechingly at Aditya.

  “The only thing I think at this point is we need more data.” Aditya said, picking up the carton to refill her glass. “My suggestion would be to sit tight for a few days and keep a careful eye on your surroundings. There has to have been a trigger for your anxiety. Once we locate that trigger, we'll be a lot further on in this case.”

  Diya nodded slowly, picking up the glass to take another drink. “I suppose that's all I can do at this poi
nt.” She sighed, setting the glass down. “And I want to thank you both for not laughing at-” She had placed the glass too near the edge of the table and it fell into her lap, soaking her dress and splashing Payal and Aditya as well.

  “No, no, no!” Payal cried in frustation. “I just bought this salwar. And I ruined your floor, too. I'm so sorry.” She sounded on the verge of tears.

  “Relax, I'll clean it up with the wiper.” Virat assured her.

  “Why don't you come to my room?” Payal offered, laying a soothing hand on Diya's shoulder. “You can wash the stain and borrow something from my closet.”

  “Thank you.” She said gratefully. “I don't want to go to the office looking like this. And I'm really sorry about the floor, and for wasting your juice.”

  “Don't worry about it.” Virat said. He already had the wiper in hand. “Just go get cleaned up.”

  The two girls left. Virat looked at Aditya as he began to swab the floor. “So, what do you think?”

  Aditya shook his head, moving Diya's mobile on the table away from the juice stains. “I'm more worried about Diya than her sister. She's clearly suffering from a great deal of mental strain because of her worries.”

  “Bu you don't actually believe her fears are legitimate?” Virat asked.

  “I doubt it.” Aditya said drily. “Every person at some point in their lives becomes convinced they can sense the supernatural. Some people think they can see ghosts, some see the future. There's a whole section of research on the phenomenon of dejavu. And some think they have ESP.”

  “I have heard of similar cases before.” Virat observed. “My aunt believed she had the same kind of connection with her younger brother.” He sat back in his chair. “Let's go about this another way. If this girl came to you as a patient seeking advice from a psychologist, what would your diagnosis be?”

  Aditya frowned thoughtfully. “That's an interesting question. When you put it that way... my guess would actually be something that to a layman would seem very much like ESP. Mental suggestion.”

  “What's that?”

  “One can never discount the power of suggestion on the human mind.” Aditya said. “Diya already thinks she has ESP. The sisters gets anonymous phone calls, Diya becomes afraid for their safety, and she starts believing that the fear is due to her ESP and that it's a sign her twin is in danger. Often the promptings of the subconscious appear supernatural because in most cases people are not aware of the processes going on inside their mind at the deeper level. The blank phone calls to the sister's house. Some strange behaviour on the part of other people who visit the house, maybe. Something that her conscious mind forgot, but her unconscious mind remembered, and issued a warning: your sister is in danger...”

  Suddenly Diya's phone rang. Virat and Aditya looked at each other. They leaned over the screen of the mobile. The incoming call was from Kavya. The phone rang several times before stopping. Then immediately it started ringing again. Virat hesitated, then picked up the phone and put it on speaker.

  “Diya? Where are you? For god's sake, where are you?” The whispered voice on the other end was slightly high pitched. It was also deeply frightened.

  “Kavya, this is Virat Joshi.” Virat spoke loudly into the phone. “I'm a police inspector. Your sister is with us. Is something wrong?”

  “There's a man outside my house.” The voice broke on the phone. “Please help me. He's breaking down the window.”

  “Kavya, we need you to stay calm and describe the attacker.” Aditya now spoke into the phone.

  “He's... he's...” The voice paused. “I'm not sure. I'm so scared. Please...”

  “Kavya, listen to me, you cannot panic right now. It is very important that you describe the attacker to us. You need to hide somewhere and tell us as much as you can. We're sending the police to your house.” Aditya was already on the phone talking to Shahid.

  “He's... He's a tall man.” The voice spoke tremblingly. “Very dark. And he's wearing a gold chain. He's got a beard and a mustache.He's wearing a black kurta. He's got a scar down his neck.” There were sounds of disturbance at the other end. A scraping, rustling noise, and something falling on the ground.

  Virat and Aditya were frozen in place, unable to do anything but listen with helpless anxiety. The sound of a scream, quickly muffled. Then silence.

  “Kavya? Kavya, can you hear me?” Virat's voice grew louder and more urgent, but there was no reponse.

  The two raced up to Payal's apartment and hammered on the door. Payal opened the door and looked startled when she saw the expression on their faces. “What's the matter?”

  “Where's Diya?” Virat asked urgently as the two entered the room.

  “She's washing the stain off in the basin. What happened?”

  Virat was telling Payal about the phone call when Diya emerged from the bathroom wearing one of Payal's dresses and holding her salwar. She noticed the look on the faces of the three and something of their worry appeared on her face. “What's the matter?”

  “We need to get to your house at once.” Aditya said, holding out her purse and mobile.

  “My house? Why? What's wrong?” The fear was evident in Diya's voice as she surveyed the two grim faced men. She still had not moved, her eyes going from one to the other as the lines creased her forehead.

  “We'll explain on the way.” Aditya said, taking her hand and steering her towards the door.

  * * *

  Diya rode behind Virat on his bike, while Aditya followed them on a tempo. Virat had given Diya a brief description of what had occurred in their apartment after she had left. Diya now sat in dazed silence, holding tightly onto Virat as she stared unseeingly forward.

  “Where now?” Virat asked as they rounded a corner to find themselves in Gupta Colony.

  “The first left turn.” Diya said in a trembling voice. They took the turn, and Diya pointed to a large, well maintained house to the left.

  As they neared the house, Diya gave a choking cry. The window next to the doorway had been smashed, leaving a large hole in the middle. Diya got off the bike before Virat had fully stopped. She ran towards the door, fumbling in her purse for the keys. Aditya had arrived at the house as well. He handed the driver a fifty rupee note and sprinted after Virat and Diya inside the house.

  “Kavya!” Diya's voice rang throughout the house, but there was no reponse. “Kavya, where are you?” She ran through the living room where broken glass lay scattered on the floor, calling for her sister. They entered the darkened bedroom, and suddenly Diya gave a choking cry and fell to the ground. Most of the room was in shadows, but they could make out a bed with a large cupboard next to it. Lying on the floor in front of Diya was a body. A dark liquid was seeping out onto the carpet from the body. Aditya took Diya by her shoulders and helped her get to her feet and sit on the bed. Virat had found the switch and flicked it on, bathing the room in light. He stepped towards the body. It was facing up, and he felt a chill crawl up his spine as he found himself staring at a blank, unblinking face, the same face that had come to them that morning asking for help.

  “She's... she's...” Diya'd voice was shaking uncontrollably, her eyes filled with tears as she gazed at her sister. Aditya was still holding her by her shoulders as Virat placed his fingers on Kavya's neck. The lock on the cupboard had been broken, and the door was partially open. Aditya spied a phone on the floor near them, a few feet from the crumpled body. He imagined the scene as it must have taken place. Kavya running into the bedroom to hide, the phone still in her hand, with the attacker in pursuit. And then?