Within Her Threads- A Murder Mystery

Chapter 12. The Vagrant

The picture my mom had hung of Shuchi was a simple small frame, which I had trained my eyes to avoid whenever I passed through the hall. But the picture, dad brought home was hard to avoid by anyone but a blind. If you pass the hall you would be automatically drawn to the photo and the leading example of this was mom who every now and then would go over to the picture and clean it with her napkin. Her tears had stopped for some days now and it was a relief to see her coping back to her normal life but for last two days, I think she retreated to the beginning. Dad was also feeling guilty of seeing mom like this, he suggested putting back the old frame but mom warned him against touching the picture. 'It stays on that wall Vinay,' she said in a tone which my dad knew better not to ignore. Bhaskara hadn't called or texted so I took it that there weren't any more developments on the case. But still there wasn't any peace because whenever I sat alone my mind barged me with the questions, everything that happened so far from Shuchi's arrival in London to her death to her linking with Raghav, to Black Swan, everything repeated in my mind like a film and no matter what I did I wasn't able to evade the visuals- especially the visual of Shuchi's arrival in London- her wet tresses had begun to harass me.

However, I found relief in Nikita. I had finally got her number that day and most of my time now went away in talking to her. Throughout the night we chatted like we used to do before and she didn't mind staying awake with me till three in the night. We talked on everything from life in two years to what's happening now, I even told her about Meghna which I think she took it very subtly but still did not mention about Shuchi's mysterious death. I wanted to get it out of my system, it was first thing on my mind to share it with Nikita but every time, something inside me, held my tongue.

On Thursday night, when I had just managed to close my eyes after a long talk with Nikita, I woke up to the sound of heavy sirens. As it always happens, in times like this your mind thinks the worst of the worst and my mind no better than an average person, jumped up reasoning if anything happened to mom or dad. I pushed away the sheets and without wearing slippers, rushed outside but slowed down finding mom and dad standing on the porch.

'Mom,' I called.

'Neil, come here,' she beckoned me.

'What's happening? What's all this?' I asked peeking at the clock in the hall. It was two in the morning.

'I don't know. It's Mr. D'Souza next door. I think he saw something,' my dad said, squinting as he had left his glasses back in bedroom.

There was a police jeep, with its blazing red light standing outside. Mr. D' Souza who lives next to us with his wife and old mother was gesticulating and pointing towards our house animatedly. I saw the policeman asking questions to his mother and then as if half-satisfied, turned towards us. He had just entered our gates when one more police jeep swivelled outside and out jumped Bhaskara in civil clothes.

'What is happening?' he asked the police officer who stopped at the gates.

'I will check mom,' I said, indicating my parents that they should stay back at the house, but my mother ignoring my direction, accompanied me.

'What's happening Bhaskara?' I asked.

'Mr. D'Souza's mother saw someone outside your house, snooping in at the windows.'

'What? But then they should have called us,' said my mother indignantly.

'Well...She is eighty years old, she can't see clearly so she thought it was just a shadow. But interestingly Mrs. D'Souza, the daughter-in-law, also saw someone prowling about your house.' 'When was this?' my dad asked, joining our little group.