The Black Flames

Chapter 10 - The Blurred Truth

It was a little too much to take. Ved turned around and made his way back to Kiara's cottage. As he entered and went around to speak to her, a smile broke through his grim expression. She was drooling over her shoulder, fast asleep. He stepped in closer and was about to wipe the drool off her face when she woke up with a start.

"Daddy!" she called out, fresh out of her half baked dream. Ved's outstretched hand near her face caught her eye before she pushed her head back to look at him.

"Sorry," Ved pulled his hand back, "You were drooling all over your shoulder."

Kiara shifted in her chair. She wiped her face with her bare hands, leaving a dirt trail on her right cheek. Ved noticed but didn't say anything.

"So, what was going on there?"

Ved sat on the arm of the couch and narrated the complete exchange to her. Kiara was silent for a while and then asked him,

"Did they find any fingerprints?"

"No. The thief was quite thorough," Ved told her.

They both sat silently before Kiara spilled,

"Do you think the man who survived this crash, the one they pulled out of the plane, will have some answers for us?"

It had skipped Ved's mind for a while. Kiara's question got him thinking.

"Maybe. But he was in a coma. We don't know when he will wake up."

A new chain of thoughts got Ved thinking hard, staring blankly at the floor, something he feared saying out loud.

"What is it?" Kiara interrupted his trance.

Ved gave her a quick glance before returning to gawking at the broken television on the floor before him. A minute later, he spoke his mind,

"I was thinking...if Automne Care could get a police car robbed at a crime scene... what will they do when they realise someone may wake up anytime and out them?"

The thought was scary but true. That man from the plane was everyone's last hope, especially Kiara's, who needed answers.

"Should we speak to Dan about it?"

Ved kept silent; his last discussion with Dan dented his confidence. He wondered if he should be the one to talk about a possible witness' life being in danger.

Reading his thoughts, Kiara offered,

"You have been doing so much running around....for me. Let me take this one."

She put her weight on the arms of the wheelchair and pulled her left leg closer to lean on as she tried to stand.

Ved rushed to her side, "What are you doing?"

"It's fine! The pain subsided after I took the medicine. And then, I hate being dependent on the wheels. Let me just go and have a chat with Dan."

She limped to the door with Ved tagging behind her in case she needed him. As she lowered herself to the first step down, he brushed her arm to let her know he was there to hold her. She could feel his anxiety as she half-tumbled her way down the rest of the steps.

Once she got off the last step, she held her ground and turned around. Ved's knotted eyebrows made her stomach flutter.

Suppressing a grin, she reassured him, "I am fine! You please go inside, and I'll be back as soon as possible."

Awkwardly, Ved took a step back but stayed put, unsure if he should leave Kiara on her own with an injured leg. Kiara tried to subdue her limp, but her leg retaliated. She decided to take it slow and started faltering towards the forensic team.