House of Glass | Complete ✔

Chapter 4

*Flashbacks in bold*

Location: Grand Hall, Gilani Residence

Time: 8:20 pm, 58 minutes after the murder

Most of the guests were too drunk to notice that their hosts went missing twice that night. Naushad and Faiza came back after discussing their plan and started mingling with everyone again. An hour or so had passed like that. Absolutely normal. The guests were enjoying and things were going as smooth as butter.

Ali, who had now cleaned up and changed into a fresh pair of uniform, was back to attending his chores. Kitchen supervision, security management, controlling foot traffic in and out of the residence as the waiters and caterers came in. All the staff was busy doing their part of the job. All except one.

Kathaleen carefully tiptoed her way up the back staircase that led to the second-floor corridor. That area had no camera so it was her safest bet. She had the duplicate master card was clenched tight in her fist. She wondered what the delay in their plan of action could be due to. Her boss had instructed her to be in the master bedroom sharp at 7:30, but then texted her a change of plan and made that into 9:30. She assumed he was probably going to set his plan in action later than they had discussed previously. It was a bit unusual, but she was being paid just to follow orders.

It took her about 4 minutes to reach the master bedroom. Most of the second floor corridor was also devoid of cameras. She swiped the card in just the way she had seen Ali do it and entered the room. She wasn't told the details but she was expecting a scene of crime, probably a theft when she went in. Strangely, there was no sign of such an occurrence. She looked left and right but the room was empty and cold.

For the next few minutes, she walked slowly across the room, checking a few things here and there. After a while when her patience began to thin down she started moving towards the dressing room. That too was empty. She was not expecting anyone there anyway. Then it occurred to her, maybe her boss had changed his plan entirely. Or maybe he got caught and was thrown out. The Gilani's had tight security which was handle by Naushad Gilani himself. She had done all her research before she came to the house. On her boss's orders of course.

Kathaleen became alert and hurried to leave the room, but while she was heading out something odd caught her eye. The door of the bathroom was slightly ajar. And the lights were on inside. Something told her she should check there, maybe a gut feeling. Maybe her building curiosity. She stood there and debated over it for a while before coming to a decision of going ahead.

Pushing the door she walked inside the lavish, renaissance inspired bathroom in small steps. At first, everything seemed normal. But it was only when she turned to leave that her eyes fell on the bloodied body lying in the bathtub and she screamed at the loudest voice possible.

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Tara tried to focus on her work but that day her mind kept going astray. Several thoughts raced through her mind. Mihir, doctors, college, work, Jankee. An unusual addition to that was a person. For the past few days, his thoughts came more frequently than she would like. She tried hard to immerse herself in work nevertheless, but that was easier said than done. Then her phone rang. It was an unknown number but when she picked up the voice on the other side was much too familiar.

"Hi Tara. Are you at your office?"

"Should I even act to be surprised by the fact that you have my number? Or has stalking me become a normal thing now?"