Intertwined Fates -- An IPKKND FanFic

Blindsided III

Ashamed, Arnav looked away from her. "The theory that the reason you were stalked, your photographs broadcast, kidnapped and almost killed...was because of me."

Khushi blinked. "Oh. Well, that makes sense, I guess."

Arnav looked at her. "Aren't you upset?"

"What's the point of being upset? Besides, at least I'm starting to get some answers." She looked at Lavanya. "It wasn't right of you to keep me in the dark for so long and I won't let you do it anymore. Tell me everything you know about my stalker and kidnapping."

"I need for you to remember on your own so--"

"Lavanya," Khushi interrupted, annoyed. "I don't care about your false memory crap. I need to know the truth."

The police officer raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Let your husband tell you the story." She nodded towards Arnav's food. "I'm hungry. Get me some of that, too."

As Anjali called for Hari Prasad again, Khushi turned to Arnav. He took a second to gather his thoughts, then told her about how they realized she was missing and how with Khushi's own help, Lavanya was able to find her in the farmhouse. When she pressed for more details, he told her how the kidnappers had tried to suffocate her and that she'd somehow managed to get out of the room on her own.

"That was very impressive," Lavanya interrupted. "You were able to get the ropes off and pick the lock despite the highly stressful situation you were in."

"Thanks," Khushi muttered dryly.

Lavanya picked up the story from here, filling Khushi in on the investigation.

"Now that we know who this man is potentially working for, we finally have a lead," Lavanya concluded. "I need to know everything about your Chacha--a name, a photograph, a location, possible motives--everything."

"His name was Daskh Malik. I think there might be a photograph in an old family album. It's in the store room; I'll go find it," Anjali said.

"The motive is obvious," Arnav said. "As soon as we were able, we opened up a case against him for illegal possession of our house in Lucknow. Not only did he lose the house, but when we took back possession, we found some evidence about some of the shady businesses he was involved in.

"We turned it over to the police and he was arrested. That's the last we saw or heard of him."

"What kind of shady businesses?" Lavanya asked.

"Poaching, mostly. Tiger skins, elephant tusks, whatever he could get his hands on. He had one or two shell companies, too, to help turn his black money white."

"Hmm," said Lavanya. "If he's arrested, he should be on file. But this man--Raju--I couldn't find him on the police database. Why wasn't he arrested alongside his boss?"

"I don't know," Arnav replied. "As far as I know, he's always been involved in Chacha's dealings."

"I'll figure it out," Lavanya said decisively.

"Here it is," Anjali said as she returned, an old black and white photo in her hand. She set it down and they all looked at it.

It was a family photo: Ratna on one side, holding onto a tiny bundle, Armaan next to her, holding a little girl and a smiling Dasksh next to him.

"That's you?" Khushi asked, pointing to the little girl.

"Yeah," Anjali replied. "And that's Chote in Mama's arms."

"You don't have a picture of your uncle alone?" Lavanya asked.

Anjali shook her head. "We were never close to him. He used to visit once in a while, but he usually stayed the night and left in the morning. He didn't play with us or anything. In fact, he didn't even come for our parents' funeral. He only arrived a few weeks after their deaths to kick us out."