Crime Control Squad

Chapter 16

"What? Come on!" Vedant was at the top of his voice. He was seated in his room at the office when he had received a call from the Commissioner. The loud exclaim instinctively gathered attention from the rest of the officers in the squad room. Vedant was pacing up and down now displaying his unhappiness openly to his team, unintentionally. He never closed his room.

Heera and Charith, who were going through the diaries looked keenly at their boss. Agastya, his hands still punching the keyboard, had a part of his mind on his boss. Something must have definitely happened for their boss to lose his cool. And if their boss had lost his cool, things should be worse that worst.

"But why? Why is it necessary? We are in the middle of the investigation and you want vital evidence to be sent to another team and wait for their results? We don't have time for all that, Jay...You very well know that. Why do you want to complicate our process?" Vedant listened impatiently to the other side before he spoke again. "No! I can't let this happen. The other team can investigate their case however they want and whenever they want. I am not going to make my team sit and watch POGO till then. The other team can have the files...but I need a copy sent to my team immediately. No...No...I am not taking a No, Jay. You know how important those files are for our investigation! I understand you might be under some pressure from the top...But I am sorry, I have my duty. Send orders for a copy of the files to reach my office....I request you Jay."

Another silence from his side while he listened. "Yes. I preferred the media to be there at the prison. It wasn't for any press conference or publicity. I want our progress to be on the news, simple as that. I don't want to be accused of running a secret investigation."

Another silence. He gritted his teeth as he let the words from the other side pass through his ear and camp in his mind. As much as he hated following orders, he was bound to pursue it because of protocol. He was answerable to his seniors and his seniors had all rights to question him. But he wasn't blindly going to be following orders especially if that was going to affect his team's morale in addition to his investigation.

"Yes Sir. I understand. That's a chance I am prepared to take," he was back to addressing the Commissioner as Sir. He was addressing the Commissioner as a friend before. They had that understanding. Pressing the red button on his smart phone, he noticed all eyes on him. He took a deep breath and shook his head in disbelief as he walked into the squad room and slumped into an empty chair, fatigued.

Vikram and Ruby entered the squad room and found the deadly silence unnerving. Particularly Vikram. He had never seen his team so quiet as a still sea. He blinked tensely, moving his eyes to be fixed regularly at every officer, trying to measure their reaction.

"Is everything alright?" asked Ruby before Vikram could deduct the reason on his own. He was annoyed at the early initiative.

Everyone craned their necks towards the door to look at the new known guests. Vikram and Ruby walked into the room, looking for any signal from their boss. A nod of the head to begin with. With no signal, they decided to settle down.

"Where is Sagar?" asked Vedant.

"At the cells. He has arrested Vincent. There he is..." Vikram replied as Sagar walked in briskly. He realised a meeting was in progress and took a seat silently without a word. That was so unusual, everyone else thought. Sagar entered, exited and lived with his one-liners.

"Files of AC Constructions are sent to the local police," began Vedant. Everyone sat wide eyed with astonishment. They were investigating AC Constructions and files relating to them were very significant for their investigation. They knew the company was related to the murder in some way apart from renting the construction site for murder. The files were their only lucky door.