Disha; only her thoughts mingled through my mind with each step I took towards that cabin in the darkness. This all was so damned confusing. Disha, she was like one of those perfectly crafted Bollywood beauties. Always charming and surprising, she made it sure to become a heartthrob of the opposite sex. She had a figure like a model right out of the fashion magazine. Her milky white skin tone was fairly tanned. She had small round face with high cheek bones, raven black eyes and an adorable smile that would make you forget almost anything. Her long dusky hair would always be left open as if she’d pity on the wind that whizzed by. She had a distinctive way of her own, like a seductive charisma that would make it impossible for anyone to hate her. Simple as it was, she was sculpted with everything a man could ever wish for and was meant to be loved.

What have you got yourself mixed into?

I moved closer to the cabin. There was some heated argument going on. I could barely make out the conversation which seemed like longitudinal waves; the intensity of voice ascending to screams and descending to whispers within regular intervals of time. But one thing was totally clear to the naked eyes, that this wasn’t about the company or anything related to work. It was something different, something personal. 

I stood behind in the darkness near the hinges of the door. The door was half open giving me a side view of everything inside. The room was brightly lit just like the office hours. Disha was sitting on an office chair, leaning ahead with her elbows on the glass table and holding her head in her palms. Singhania standing in front of her on the other side of the table was partly visible to me. His blood shot eyes emitted strong evil vibes. I could feel the tension in the atmosphere around. I wanted to go there, hold her hand and make her feel better.  I was going nuts.

Hell.

“You… you are sick...” Disha’s voice was merely a murmur. There was a capitulated frustration in that voice

Singhania moved from behind his table and came near Disha, now totally visible to me. Alerted like a hunted deer, she sprang up instantly but he held her by the elbow preventing her from leaving. Then he held her jaw in his palms and pulled her near.

“Don’t mess with me whore. I’ve paid you more than you deserve for you slutty service.”

I almost stumbled in the darkness. I felt a knot forming in my stomach. For one slight moment I went numb. Things were perfectly making sense now. Slowly everything dawned upon me. Best projects, company sponsored hotshot business tours, new flat; one thing was always common with her success graph: that bastard.

Now I know your success secret. You bloody bitch.

An intense rage seared within me. It was pure hatred. I felt like someone had stabbed me right through my heart.  I removed my cell phone and moved a bit closer. I held it in front myself and started video recording. He was still holding her close, his grip around her waist and her jaw in his right palm. For a few moments nothing happened. Then she said something and spat on his face. I couldn’t hear it and I was least interested in it. But right then he slapped her hard and she went a bit off balance, crashing on the office chair behind. He held by hair, placing a firm grip on her mouth preventing her from screaming. 

 “You Whore!”  He smashed her head on the hard glass table. Blood spattered out of her mouth with a desperate cry for help.  There was such an agony in her voice that it sent bone chilling reflexes down my spine. I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. But I didn’t flinch a bit. I moved closer for a better view through my cell camera.

You deserve this bitch.

She was passing out; the impact of that hard hit to her skull had done its job perfectly. Her mouth was open, blood and saliva running out of it as she struggled to fight back. Her motions were impassive. She lay on her back on the glass table. He struck her two blows and began to undress her as she fought back unsuccessfully, kicking him, scratching his face as he pinned her face down and fastened his grip on her.  He took his belt and fastened it around her neck and started strangling her. He was constantly hitting her while he ravaged her again and again. She was struggling with all her might but she couldn’t out do him. Her hands were flying all around, desperately trying to grope onto something. Right then she turned her head and in that split moment her eyes fell upon me and our gaze met. A surge of energy dashed through her. I saw it all in that moment as that flash of hope in her eyes cried and begged for help from me, I saw it all, that hope transform into despair and all her strength draining away in tears and blood. I just saw it. Finally her weak hands got hold of a metal pen holder. With all her might she heaved it in the air and landed the hit on his left shoulder blade. His grip loosened a bit as she tried to push him away but right then he pulled her down and smashed his right fist in her face. That hard blow knocked her unconscious. She gave up. Her naked body was bruised and battered in blood.

I backed off. I was shivering vigorously. I felt sweat beads trickling from my forehead. Slowly, I backed off few more steps and zoomed in on him. He was damned nervous, finally the animal within him had calmed down. He leaned over her, gently pressed his forefinger just below her earlobe on her neck. He seemed relieved, that meant she was still breathing. I put my cell in my pocket and swiftly moved towards the stairwell. I leaned back to the wall taking cover in the stairwell. Nothing happened for a while. I stooped ahead and peered in the dark corridor. He stood in the corridor. His deadly posture had transformed into total panic. He seemed to be calculating his next moves. Then he ran right towards me. I got in instantly and leaned back on the wall. I heard his heavy footsteps beating on the cement flooring as he whizzed past me. It all happened like some succeeding sequence; the elevator approached, the elevator door opened and closed, the corridor flooded with light and again plunged into darkness. NO doubt he was headed towards the security room. CCTV cameras.

I waited for a moment and went towards the cabin and peeped in. Disha’s naked body lay on his couch. There was an empty bottle of whiskey on the glass table. The room had a strong stench of alcohol. Her belongings were missing and she was thoroughly cleansed. He had used alcohol to wipe out all the finger prints and each speck of clue that would link her to him. But there seemed a lot of work yet to be done. Right then the lights went off and the corridor was robbed of whatever sparse illumination it had. Now there was nothing but numb darkness and brittle silence.

Power cut. Smart asshole.  Better than shutting down the CCTV system.

I closed my eyes, tried to calm down and think clearly. Luckily there was no camera in the elevator. But the parking lot had a couple of them. I had to get out of there without being noticed.  Stairs were the only one way up and down. That was the problem. I walked past the cabin towards the rest room, got in and waited, waited for the bloody silence to crack with the noise of his footsteps.

Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes. Each minute as it burned down seemed like a life time.

I was sweating profusely. My breath was heavy, my lungs burnt. The bitter silence that plagued the whole place felt like it would go on forever. Then two things happened. The corridor echoed with a strange sound, like something metallic thing hitting the floor. After that few minutes elapsed in silence. Then my ears caught the sound for which I yearned. Footsteps. But this time there were two distinct footsteps approaching towards me. I felt my heart beats rising as the adrenalin kicked in. Suddenly the noise died again. I got out. The door to the cabin was closed. I tiptoed past the cabin, got to the stairwell and ran down seven floors. I got to the parking lot, started my bike and got the hell out of there. As I passed out of the parking lot I saw the empty chair of the security guard.

Two distinctive footsteps…

 My roommates were asleep. I took a cold water bath and made some coffee. Sleep didn’t pity me. An hour passed by as I sat alone in the darkness of my room, pondering upon the thing I had witnessed, the thing I had done. Then as I started to think clearly, the value of what I possessed striked me real hard. I had a trump card. This was my opportunity. My moment. Everything I wanted was just in front of me. All I had to do was to claim it and grab it. I wasted no time and began to formulate my plan. I turned on my laptop, plugged in my cell phone and made several copies of the video. I uploaded the video and saved it in my mail drafts.

I made myself  more coffee and stood in the balcony of my room, staring at the big red ball of fire as he rose mighty from the east and painted the blue sky in a carmine wash.  Everything was ready. I just had to wait till the iron got perfectly red hot.

It was around twenty past twelve in the afternoon that my cell phone buzzed.  I looked at the name as it vibrated in my hand. It was Preeti, the receptionist at the office.   

“Hello.” I answered in a calm voice.

“Ajay…umm there’s some serious problem here. You need to come to the office right now.”

“What happened?”

“Turn on the television you will know. It’s about Disha. I can’t tell anymore. Just come here as soon as possible.”

“Come on Preeti. Tell me what is it?”  I asked persuasively.

“Ummm,” she paused for a moment.  “It’s awful. Disha was found at her flat today morning. Aggravated sexual assault.  She was strangled. The doctors said it cut off oxygen supply to her brain,” I sensed she was sobbing, “She... She slipped into coma. Cops are already at the office. Everyone’s been summoned for interrogation. So be here as soon as possible.”

“Alright. I will be there.”  I hung up. The game had begun.

There was a team of five cops. Two senior male and female officers, two male constables and a female constable. Everyone was made to wait in the lobby on the first floor. The constables were busy with all the paper work while the two senior cops questioned and drilled each of the employees for hours. After three hours of waiting and five cups of strong cappuccino finally I was escorted by a constable to the arena.  The conference room was turned into the interrogation room for the male employees. The cops had ruined the conference room. The big table was moved somewhere. There was just a four legged wooden table with two plastic chairs on its either side. The wooden table had an ashtray on it.  Cigarette smell dominated the atmosphere of the air-conditioned room.

“Wait here.” The constable commanded in gruff voice. He left me there locking the door behind him as if I was about to run away. I sat on a chair waiting for my interrogator. After fifteen minutes of waiting I heard the click on the door behind me. I glanced back to see a huge figure, nearly 6 to 6’2” tall, dark with a thin athletic built. He was dressed in a dark tweed shirt and black jeans and carried few registers in his hands. There was shoulder holster clasped around his upper body with two handguns resting below his armpits. Clean shaved, with thinning hair, he seemed somewhere towards late thirties. He had dark brown eyes that seemed to pierce me as soon as he laid his gaze on me. There was something in his presence that commanded attention. He sat opposite to me and dumped the registers on the table. He kept a voice-recorder at the centre of the table and pressed the play button as he fixed his hawk eyes on me.

“Let’s get started.” His voice was calm and definitive.

“Ummm… yeah...sure.” I stammered out abruptly.

“Ajay,” he looked at me for a long moment as he lit a cigarette, “Have one.” He offered me a cigarette. I took one and lit it. What I didn’t notice was that I was shivering like hell.

“You alright?” He asked as he blew off the smoke.

“Yes it’s… it’s just too cold.” I said looking at him. He was making me quite uncomfortable. He was reading my mind.

 “Perhaps…” he took a dramatic pause locking his eyes into mine as his lips curved into a wicked grin, “you are nervous…”

To be continued