The man rushed to the house with a sniper in his shoulder bag. He found his friend in the sofa watching TV. He kept his shoulder bag in a shelf and sat next to her.
The lady was Paigne, the daughter of Franklin.
She looked exhausted. She noticed the entry of her friend and waited for him to speak. Opposite to them there were a glass table and a jug of water. The man drank nearly half of it and said, "Mission completed." Paigne looked delighted and said "Did the boy shoot Franklin?"
The man laughed and said, "He was a fool! He thought of cheating me but I cheated him." Paigne looked doubtful and said, "What are you saying?"
The man stretched his legs and said, "He tricked me and shot up. But he did not know that I and my friend, Lima were there during the incident. When I found that he tricked me, I took my sniper and shot Franklin first and shot him second". Lima was the name of that tea stall owner.
The name of the man was Fatan Khan. He was the one who tricked Lavan and shot Franklin and Lavan.
"Did you shoot Lavan?" Paigne asked.
"Yeah. He was also has to be killed according to us. That's why I did." Fatan replied.
Paigne got to her feet. She looked happy. Her dad was dead. The time was around 10.00 pm. She decided to sleep. She went to her bedroom. On her way to the room, she glanced at the photo frame. It was the same photo which was hanging on the wall near to her kitchen.
She kept her right hand on the boy who was smiling in the photo. Tears trickled from her eyes. The boy was her son. He looked beautiful and his age would be
sixteen or seventeen. Next to him there was a man. The man was Paigne's husband. She stopped weeping and went to her room.
*********
INDUSTRIALIST FRANKLIN WAS SHOT DEAD
That was the headlines of every newspaper. Everyone in the city was shocked to see that. The policemen could not find who the murderer was as the CCTV cameras had stopped functioning when the murder happened.
Marin sat dumb struck in her room.
She couldn't make out anything which happened in her life yesterday night. She saw her grandfather die in front of her. She remembered how Franklin behaved with her before his death. He smiled always in the party and made funny jokes. He behaved like a father to Marin. He hugged her. When he was shot dead, Marin saw something in Franklin's eyes. She noticed him smiling a little when he was shot dead and closed his eyes.
Marin wept. All the family members wept. They lost their head of the house. Marin knew nothing about the man responsible for her grandfather's death. Moreover she didn't meet her bestie, Lavan yet. She didn't know whether Lavan knew this incident. When she contacted him, he was unreachable. She assumed that Lavan's father, Henry might have taken him anywhere.
Her birthday ended miserably. February 02 became Franklin's death day.
She decided to go to her grandfather's room. Some instincts told her to go there. She left her room and went there.
*********
Marin had visited Franklin's room only for several times. She admired the size of the room. There was a bed at the centre of the room. And there was a 32 inch TV opposite to it. She found a wardrobe near to the TV. She went closer to it. On her way, she found her grandfather's mobile lying on the bed. She ignored it and went
to the wardrobe. It was huge enough to keep the required clothes. She found many formal clothes. To her surprise, she found a photo.
The photo was old and it lost its color. But Marin could tell that it was a family photo. It was not her family. She recognized nearly four persons. She recognized the woman. It was Paigne. She saw her many times in the photo frame which was hanging on the wall near to a round clock in the hall. She didn't know who the man was standing near to Paigne. She guessed that the man would be the husband of Paigne and she hardly knew the name. Also she didn't know the name of their son. She kept the photo inside and closed the wardrobe.
She turned back and decided to move out. After a few steps, everything around her went dark. A power cut. She knew that the inverter had stopped functioning and she felt frightened. All around her was pitch black. She stood there as if she were a statue. After a couple of minutes, the power came back. Marin felt relieved and took her next step. Suddenly, she felt pain in her right foot. She bent down and took the thing in her hands.
She came to know that it was a dart.
She had seen darts in her books. She didn't know how it came to her grandfather's room. Then something landed in her mind. Her father said that Franklin went asleep when they got ready for the party. Marin understood.
Someone must have entered Franklin's room and they must have done that. She assumed that the same person or others must have shot Franklin at the Harry's restaurant.
She let out a deep breath and decided to go to the Harry's restaurant. Not for having food, to investigate.
*********
Marin reached the destination. The area was crowded. Marin found a tea stall, opposite to the hotel. Bottom of her heart told that she should not have come here. But, she believed that she would find something new.
She went to the stall. She found a tall man sitting inside. Interestingly, there were no customers there. The tea stall looked new. The man got to his feet on seeing Marin. He took her as a customer. He came near to her. Marin didn't come here to drink hot beverages.
"What do you want?" the man asked. The man was Lima. He didn't know that Marin was the friend of Lavan.
"I don't want anything. Do you know anything about yesterday's incident?" She seemed to ask in a casual way. She noticed the man staring at her. After a few seconds, he said, "Sorry. I've started this tea stall only today. I heard some people talking about a murder. I did not know anything about that." the man said casually.
But Marin didn't know that the man was lying to her.
"Thanks for your reply." Marin said and decided to go home.
"Can you tell me your name?"Lima asked.
"I'm Marin." Marin said and left the shop.
She knew that her decision became a failure.