The Black Flames

Chapter 9 - Stolen

After spending around forty-five minutes in silence, Kiara made a request to Ved, hesitatingly,

"Possible for you to go and check if they found something?"

"Yeah, sure."

Ved stepped out to speak with Officer Dan, who was crouching next to the back door of their police car. Pritam was a few feet away from the car, clicking pictures of something on the ground.

"Any luck?" asked Ved as he approached Dan, who looked up at Ved for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the bottom of the car. Without looking at him, Dan told Ved,

"None. I was hoping to find some fingerprints or anything the thief may have left behind. But the car is clean."

Ved turned towards Pritam, who was engrossed in checking the mud.

"Is Officer Pritam looking for footprints?" Ved asked Dan.

"Yes. That's our best bet." Dan told him.

Ved wondered if he should discuss the conclusion Kiara and he had reached with Dan. Surely, Dan would have worked it out on his own. Involving the police was their best bet as of now, so he decided to go ahead.

"Officer, there is something I would like to discuss with you."

Dan looked at him and stood up,

"Yes?"

"Kiara told me about the box, how it belonged to her father, and she could crack it open with her birth date. She also told me that the box she had seen years ago with her father contained some life saving medicines. If the box contained the same life saving drugs, is it possible the box was the target of the plane crash? That someone planned this plane crash to destroy the medicines?"

Dan sighed and looked at the plane. Then, he looked back at Ved and responded,

"Yes, it looks like it."

"Then, whosoever did it realised the box was still intact even after the crash. But we don't have any media here. Maybe someone tipped them off about it?" With arms crossed at his chest, Ved thought aloud as ideas came to him.

Dan looked around and then back at him.

"You know someone here who would do it?"

It was Ved's turn to sweep his gaze across the perimeter. He couldn't point out anyone who stood out or looked suspicious.

"What about you?" Dan was looking straight at him.

Ved's heart skipped a beat. What was Dan suggesting?

He pushed his arms down and looked Dan in the eye, "What do you mean, officer?"

"You know what I mean. You have been spending a lot of time with Ms. Sharma. You know her from before?"

Ved went silent but maintained his poker face. He couldn't believe Officer Dan was accusing him of stealing evidence.

His heart thrumming in his chest, he replied calmly,

"No, Officer. I met her today at the crash site. I was visiting my brother, Abhishek, who lives in that village," he jutted his chin towards the village, "He is the one who was thrown a few feet away while trying to douse the black flames with water," he took a second's break and shot back, "and no, I did not tip anyone off. I did not steal the evidence. I was with you when it was stolen, remember?"

"You could have had help." Dan was not backing down now, "If you met Ms. Sharma today, how come she told you about her father's box. As far as I could tell, she treated it as confidential and wasn't sure about it. Why would she share such information with someone she just met?"