Early morning at five, I was at Media-House Studio where the podcast was to be recorded. I went all the way to Whitefield and travelling there was going a distance of a diameter of the city. At the station, the studio was being setup. I was seated there anticipating the interview.
Six hours later, all the preparations were complete. Everyone were in wait of her arrival. The studio had a complex design at the background wall, that had lights that would constantly keep changing between the primary colours. There were three mikes placed and a considerably large table and chairs where the guest would sit. I was nervous because it was my first ever live interview and the most I feared was messing it up.
I was driving back to the city. Avani was seated in the passenger seat. All through the way, there was an awkward silence that kept bothering me, but we exchanged no words after that scene.
At sundown, I was at my house, exhausted after sleepless nights and driving. I had a nice shower and covered the bruses as well as possible so that she wouldn't worry about it. Right at eight 'o clock she arrived and as usual I made us dinner, and made sure that she does not suspect anything.
After dinner, I began watching the news and spending my time. She asked about the progress of my investigation to which I had to say nothing much.
She came close to me, sat right beside me. We looked at each other, into our eyes, she got more closer. We kissed. She put her arms around my shoulders and continued until we laid back and she was above me. Her weight posed a problem to my injuries. I tried to change the position, butshe put her weight on my chest, hurting my injuries in the ribs. I groaned and pushed her.
'Are you alright?' She asked
'Yeah. Just a little strain in the muscles.' I lied
She unbuttoned my shirt and I immediately stopped her.
'What happend?' She asked, 'Did something happen?'
'I don't need it I'm fine.' I said
'I'll help you out, just lie down.' She said
'No it's fine. I'll just take rest.' I said
She knew that there was something wrong. She forceably started unbuttening my shirt despite me preventing her from doing it. When she unbuttoned the whole shirt, she saw all my bruses, which shocked her. She looked at me with deep concern in her eyes.
'What happened Rey? Why are you hurt like this?' She asked
'I-I kinda got into some fight. Its no big deal.' I said
'Tell me the truth what happened?' She said
'I was interviewing a Father Samuel who knew Mary well, but Avani went missing, so I had to get her out of there. Gururaj had abducted her and I ended up beating them.' I said
She looked at me with a serious look.
'Promise me Ray.' She said, 'Promise me that you won't get into any fights again.' She said softly
'I promise.' I said.
She put some ointment on those injuries to heal faster and went straight to bed.
The atmosphere was intense. I was sitting in the waiting room thinking how I was going to do it. The host came in to tell that Mary had arrived. I rushed to the studio and stood among the team to welcome her. I could hear footsteps approaching us. The manager came in, then the photographer and then the person herself.
She was dressed in a white shawl, and a red saree under it. She looked like a religious head of some sort. We welcomed her, a shawl as a sign of gratitude and took the photo for publicity.
The next day, I headed to Elegant Valley, where Rita lived. I knocked at the door twice and got no response. Then I noticed that the door was locked and there was nobody inside. The lock was dusty, the door handle seemed unused for quite a while. It seemed like they were running away, probably for protecting John.
I headed back to my car and rested my head on the sterring wheel and gave a deep sigh. I had hit a insurmountable brickwall with no way forward.
I just headed to Adams Street, hoping that I'd find something there apart from just those drugs. I broke into the flat and searched the house. The room with the pile of drugs was cleared, the house was kept clean and neat, unlike before. There was absolutely nothing there.
I headed to my office to meet Ladwa; at least there I could know something. To my dismay, he was out on some meeting and wouldn't be available for the day. These kind of days mess with my mind so much that I loose my temper.
Helplessly I headed back home alone where there was nothing to do. All my work was at standstill, just nowhere to go. All I could do was wait and watch untill things become clear. =========================================================================== TO BE CONTINUED...