AN UNEXPECTED EVIL

CH-29

It took a minute for her words to sink in his mind.

"I am sorry.", he said softly. She took a breath and continued.

"They were ready to get divorced. And it was their last day together.", she paused and continued. "They were in the car, driving to Mom's favourite restaurant. Dad was driving and the functions of car lost control. The car crashed. Mom and Dad were taken to the nearby hospital. After half an hour, they were dead.", she stopped.

"Sonia, are you okay?", Raj asked. He was able to sense Sonia's feelings.

"Yeah, I am fine.", she replied and giving a smile. It was not a fake smile. She felt relief after talking with Raj. Then they talked with Ranjeet and told him about everything he needed for fighting Raj's case.

Raj was visited by everyone everyday. One day, Saavi brought Rima too. She thought that Rima can make him feel better as she was a Psychiatrist. "Hello Raj!", Rima greeted. Her voice was not deep, like Sonia. It was not too high pitched too, like Saavi. It was in the middle. Her accent was beautiful. 

But there were many things that Raj noticed about Rima. The glasses she wore, made her look more nerdy and whenever she took off the glasses, she would look pretty. Her hair was always messed up and wavy, which made her look different from the girls who use hairspray very often. Her lips were naturally pink and her cheeks were pink in the cold. Her eyes were blue-green and her nose pin was like the cherry on the top. He had never noticed such details in Sonia. 

"Hello Raj!", Rima greeted again. He was lost somewhere, in his dreams. "Hi Rima!", he greeted, blushing. "I hope you are fine here.", she didn't know what to speak. "As long as my psychiatrist is here, I am all fine!", he replied, coyly. "Oh, stop it!", she blushed. Her cheeks were super pink and her eyes were telling that she felt shy.

Saavi made him feel good, Chandan made him feel happy, Sonia made him feel comfortable and Rima made him smile. He felt that better times were approaching to him. He was thinking about everything that made him bad- drugs, alcohol, cigarette, Dad. He had just given his Dad some water to drink, he didn't poison him. So, who poisoned Harshvardhan? It was not Raj. Was it Saavi or Santosh? Or Preeti?

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"I am in Raj's favour. But we need to find the person who poisoned Mr. Malhotra.", spoke Ranjeet. He looked serious. "Maybe it's someone in the house who poisoned him.", said Chandan. "But I didn't poison Dad.", Saavi interrupted. "What about Santosh? Since when is she living with you?", Ranjeet asked. "Stop it, Ranjeet! How can you accuse Santosh?", said Saavi angrily. "Saavi, calm down. He is just asking. He's not accusing Santosh.", Sonia calmed her, stroking her back with her hands. Saavi drank some water. "She's been here for thirty five years.", she replied. "And is she trustworthy?", Ranjeet asked her. "She's like a family member. We trust her a lot.", she replied. 

"Where was she the night your Dad passed away?", he inquired. "She was in her room, sleeping.", she replied. "Everyone except Raj and Mr. Malhotra were sleeping that night. This is complicated.....", he sighed. "I think that Mr. Malhotra would've poisoned himself! He was drunk that night. Maybe he was in some pain, so he thought of drinking and of ending his life.", spoke Chandan.

 "Rima, you're a psychiatrist. What do you think about what Chandan said?", Sonia asked. "I think it's possible.", she replied, nodding. Then they all started to go back to their homes. 

Ranjeet and Sonia were in the hall. Suddenly Ranjeet saw something on the floor. He bent a handed it to Sonia. "Why are you giving it to me?", Sonia asked, puzzled. "Because it's yours!", Ranjeet replied. It was a pink ladies handkerchief. "Ranjeet, it's not mine!", she spoke back. "Maybe it's Saavi's.", Ranjeet said. "Well then, I'll go and return her.", Sonia said. 

After two minutes, Sonia returned from the room. "It's not Saavi's. It doesn't belong to anyone in the house, nor does it belong to Rima.", Sonia said, totally confused. "Ranjeet! Saavi told me that it was lying here for many days.", she remembered. "I'll take it with me for some clues.", he said, after thinking. "It's just a handkerchief, Ranjeet!", Sonia said back. "Maybe it's a clue or something. It can help.", he told her.