CID The Girl With Gun

Part 12

The officers mounted the car and followed the lady. True to her words, the horse galloped away blowing the sand beside her. And as the sand breeze cleared a palace made of red bricks appeared standing high with pride.

As Yukta guided the CID team inside, they started to study the surrounding piece by piece while Freddy stick to Vivek in fear. Yukta came to a halt in front of a big door, "this is the throne room, Kuwarsa and Rajmata are here." To her order, the guards opened the door and the officers looked at the Rajaputi interiors. 

On the spectacular golden throne sat an old woman oozing Rajput pride. She wore a sky blue saree kept secured on her shoulder with a diamond brooch. Her hairs all white tied in a bun and blue topaz sparkling on her ears. Fair wrinkled skin still showed the high pride. She didn't notice them coming and kept staring at her hand.

"Ranisa," Yukta called but she didn't answered. "Ranisa?" and now she looked up. 

"Yukta?" she said in a frail voice.

"Why are so tensed?" Yukta asked.

"Kaya is not well."

"Should I take her to the doctor?"

"May be tomorrow. Who are they?" Ranisa pointed towards the officers. Yukta introduced them and said they came to talk to Kuwarsa.

"I told you several times not to bother Maa sa with outside matters," a heavy voice came as a man emerged from behind the curtains on the left side. At least six feet and two inches tall, the man wore black shirt and blue jeans. His black hairs reached to his neck and the black eyes contained anger right now. ACP looked at him with a keen eye and then frowned. Was this the man behind all this?

"Kuwarsa, they are CID Mumbai." Yukta informed. "ACP sir, he is our crown prince, Rawal Singh Rathore," Yukta introduced. Rawal extended his hand to greet the CID team and asked, "How may I help you?" ACP studied him. He wasn't dressed as a prince. His attire was much like the common person. What was uncommon was the history of centuries attached with his name, and he carried that with very natural ease.

"Ashok is dead," Yukta intervened. A sudden shock arose in the prince's eyes, "Dead. What do you mean dead," he asked ACP.

"He died in your hotel, 13th floor room number 666," Abhijeet accused.

"My hotel? But the manager didn't inform me anything!"

"We asked him not to," when Abhijeet started to question Rawal informing the matters piece by piece, Purvi whispered to ACP, "Sir, look above the throne." ACP looked and saw an engraving that looked exactly the plant Akhil had shown them the picture of, saying it was the Rati plant. The actual plant was mostly like the other green plants but when this particular plant was concern, the three leaves emerging from either side of a single brown branch that was the part of the plant from which the poison was made. They indeed had arrived in the right place. ACP was about to accuse the prince again when the throne room door opened and a middle aged woman came rushing towards the queen, "Ranisa, the princess has fainted."

"What!" Ranisa stood up and they all rushed through the palace corridors. In the way, the CID team went on inspecting every inch of the large palace.

They halted in front of another door and the guards opened it. The team noticed the room; unlike the other palatial rooms, this had the best-modernised decorations. The exteriors though looked exactly out from the historical records but the inside of the palace was an acute picture of 21st century. The four people gathered around the bed. There were two other maids standing beside the bed. And on the bed slept a woman wearing some Rajasthani attires. "Rega, why is she wearing this again? I asked she should never go any near to these dresses, you very well know these belonged to Prachisa," Ranisa asked the woman. Hearing that name the officers look at each other. "I am sorry Ranisa, but she insisted," Rega said.