The worm sunlight graced me at the sundown, the employees started packing up and departing while the night shift employees took their place. I sat at the same table contemplating the scenarios of my suspects while sipping a fifth cup of tea for the day. Rita departed early than she usually does, perhaps she knew that I was waiting for her. She certainly knew something, specifically about Lata and Doctor Khan. The new piece in this puzzle was Aaron, who made it all the more absurd. I had to get the camera footage of those three days. I stood up from the chair and strecthed my hand wide open and cracked my joints, like a vampire waking up after a century of sleep.
The elevator took it's time coming down to the basement after halting on floors. The door opened and everyone stepped in, shoving their sholders, as though there was a treasure waiting for them. The elevator stopped at the fourth floor where the security head had his den. There was a long passage that led to a steel door; on either side there were paintings of philosophers and a quote that had a deep meaning. I personally like reading them, especially when I am in boredom and feeling sick of my life. I went sraight to the door and knocked it four times. There was no response. I knocked again, but this time more loudly. There was a sound of the chair squealing, slow-heavy footsteps approached the door and finally the door opened. There was a short man, about fifty, with grey hairs and a fat tummy which gave a funky vibe.
'Who are you?' He said in a deep and cracked voice, like he just woke up. I showed him my ID, like a typical CBI agent looking for a drugs bust.
'I need all camera footage from sixteenth, seventeenth and eithteenth of January.' I said.
'No', he replied arrogantly.
I pulled out my wallet and handed him five two-thousand rupee notes. He looked at it and then looked at me, surprised.
'Follow me.' he said.
He sat back on his chair. He opened files on his desktop, clicked open a file that had a long code. A new pop-up screen opened asking for password. He quickly punched in the password. The pop-up closed and a new file opened that had many different files with coded names. He scrolled down and clicked on a file that led to a catalogue of videos. I handed him a special pendrive that typically central intelligence agents use. He inserted it into the slot and transferred all the data of the file into it, then safely ejected it and gave it back to me. I put it in my tiny pocket inside my right pocket.
'One more thing,' I said, 'I was never here'
He nodded with a staggered face. I gradually started walking unsuspeciously and got into the elevator. There was a glass in the rare side of the elevator that gave a wide view of the hospital. On the basement there were three muscular bouncers walking around the elevator. I figured they were on the look out for someone, specifically, me. One of them stared at me in the elevator decending to the ground. I turned around and faced the doors. There was a loud beep and the doors opened. I walked with vigilant senses actively looking for threatning signs. There was a bouncer on the main gate standing still and staring at me, another at a distance outside and the third one walked right in my path and stood still, staring like the rest. I stopped and looked around. The one on my path started walking toward me and stopped about a foot infront. He slid his hand into his pocket. At this moment my adrenaline started pumping up and got my reflixes ready to defend myself. He slowly removed his phone from his pocket, dialed up a number and held it close to me.
'Good evening Mr. Joshi.' Said a voice. 'I would like to talk to you about Mary.'
I did not respond to it. It was too early for this shit.
'I know that you have the footage of those three days and that You're searching for Aaron. I can give you the answers. Just follow my men.'
'Three goons just to bring me to you. How afraid are you Aaron?' I said.
He gave a short giggle.
'You're smarter than I thought. I'm waiting.' He said.
The goon put his phone back in his pocket and raised his left arm to direct me to Aaron. Then, he tied a cloth around my head, making sure that I dont see anything. I was directed to the elevator, which stopped at the eight floor. I was taken to a chember which was twenty-three steps straight, thirty-two steps left and fourteen steps right from the elevator. I could feel the sent of an air freshner, lemon fresh sented perhaps, the ambience of the room suggested that it was probably a high-level manager's office, or more specifically, a records room.
One of the men unmasked me. The room was three-hundred square feet in area, large enough for an ACP's office. The room had a window that had shades closed on it, well lit by artificial lights and a television that was running on mute. There were lots of paper scrambled accross the table, the dustbin was filled with crumbled papers and plastic glasses, there was a book shelf in the corner and washroom in the other corner. Aaron stood on the other side of the table with his back facing me looking outside from the window, which opened to the busy road. He turned around, looked at the goones and nodded. They stood outside and closed the door giving us privacy.
'Have a seat.' He said. I sat.
'How's your invistigation going on, Mr. Joshi?'
'It's Cought some pace. Seems like you've hit a brick wall'
He looked at me and smiled, then sat down.
'How did you know I was Aaron?'
'When I asked for the list, your manager took an hour to attend to me. When I saw the catalogue, one of them had joined the hospital in 2007. But this hospital was established in 2008. So, they preapared a fake list of names and paid some money to them just to lie while I interrogate them, because if they refuse, I could bring an action. Also, the cameras had eyes fixed on me, from the very begining, which means someone does not want me here, perhaps an authoritative person. You're not a manager. You're an outsider just like me, looking for the culprit. Those books in the shelf are dominated by general books, Dictionaries and Encyclopedia, just to keep people out of suspision. Moreover, you're not a detective you're a cop or maybe CID. So, I don't want anyone to hinder my investigation.′
'You're good at your work. I thought of getting rid of you. But you impressed me.' He said 'I'm Vikram, retired ACP. I'm working with a detective to find Mary's killer. If you find any leads, contact me.'
He handed me his card.
'I needed Rita's address.' I said.
He typed on his keybord, went over to the shelf and pulled out a file and handed it to me. It had detailed biography of each employee. I turned the pages and found Rita's bio. '"#223, block One, Elegant Valley, Uppanagara, Bangaluru, 560001."'
'I'm afraid I can't tell you anything more.' He said.
'Thanks.' I said.
I straight away headed to the parking layout. It was dark already. I sat in my Quid and rushed home to scrutinize the recordings.
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