The Guilty Ones

Chapter 38

Days and weeks have passed and Khushi is at the end of her fourth month. She took out her laptop and started listing her findings.

Within these four months, she has managed to rule out the fact that Arnav is a murderer, she has enough proof to prove that he is not a drug dealer, and she has managed to reunite two brothers, because of her presence, Arnav has accepted LA in NK's life, and because she is not there with Akash all the time his relationship with Payal has improved a lot.

She couldn't find anything to support her investigation within these four months, nothing to link her parent's death to the AR group, no evidence or proof for anything. Basically, she has helped everyone else but herself. The only thing she did for herself is to get into an emotional relationship with Arnav. Even in that, she managed to hurt herself.

"Khushi, what are you doing? You only have less than two months on hand. It's high time you focus on what's important to you"

"But what am I going to do if there is nothing against him?"

"Do you want to marry him?"

Khushi was arguing with her own and the last question made her think and the answer shocked her. Her innersole is actually considering the possibility of her getting married to Arnav.

"Well, it's not a bad idea"

"But he is a criminal? How can you even think of getting married to him?"

"Correction, the alleged criminal. Innocent until proven guilty"

She was fighting with her own self while trying to prove his innocence. This attraction, these feelings she has for him are clouding her judgments. She is not the same Khushi who came to this house four months ago. 

There is a saying that when emotions come in the middle of anything it invalidates your common sense. She can now understand how true that is. Before, she was a heartless cold agent who didn't think twice before pulling the trigger. But now, she is acting like a lost puppy. 

Ever since the reunion Akash has announced he is pulling himself out from this investigation due to a conflict of interest. At least he had the courage to announce that unlike her. After much consideration, Khushi decided to talk to Arnav about her parents. She couldn't find anything related to her parents anywhere. 

She never tried some of the archived files. Her only hope is Arnav and as hard and risky as it may be she has to do it. She may end up failing as an agent but she is not going to fail as a daughter.

Khushi walked towards Arnav's office and knocked.

"Come in"

Arnav was reading a file and he asked her to come in without raising his head. But as soon as she entered he knew who is there. Still looking at the file he said,

"Yes Khushi, how may I help you?"

"I need your help"

"What? Did I hear correctly? The great Miss Khushi who can do everything by herself needs my help?"

"Very funny, but yes, I truly need your help"

The seriousness in her voice made Arnav close the file and look at her.

"Go on, you have my undivided attention"

"This is about my parents"

"Your parents? Khushi, you might need to explain more because I can't think of anything that would link me and your parents"

Khushi sat on the couch by his desk and explained how she found evidence linking her father's connection with the AR group and how she think he could have been one of their accountants.

"An accountant named Gupta, I am sorry Khushi but it doesn't ring a bell. According to your timeline, I could be around 13 or 14 years old at that time. So I should remember if we had an accountant named Gupta"

"Could he be some kind of a junior accountant or may be worked in a different department?"

"It could be. But the access you have should give you all the details of our current and former employees. If the name doesn't come up, the chances are pretty low. Is it possible you might have misliked the evidence you found?"

"The papers I saw clearly had your dad's name and his signature but the top part of the paper was damaged so I don't know what was in that paper"

"My dad's signature? It's impossible Khushi"

"How is having his signature is impossible? I know you don't want your dad to be the bad guy here but you have to admit, having his signature proves a lot"

"Khushi, Anand Pa was an illiterate person. He didn't have a signature. His thumbprint was his signature"

"What? Are you sure?"

"Khushi, why would I lie about something like that? He had close people like NK's dad around him to help him with his contracts. He only knew basic reading and writing"

Khushi took her file out and handed over the piece of paper that had Anand Singh Raizada's signature.

"See for yourself"

"Khushi, this has to be a forged document because I can vouch for you that Anand Pa didn't have a signature. But looking at this, it looks like we both have some diggings to do. Because it is clear someone was using my dad's name behind his back"

"What are we going to do Arnav?"

"Do you know what happened to your dad's personal belongings?"

"No, the social services handed me over to the orphanage after their death. I was allowed to leave the orphanage when I turned 18 and by that time my old house was turned into a cafe. No one knew what happened to the belongs of the house"

"Can you remember the baby sitters name who got arrested that night?"

"Not really, I can remember her face but not the name"

"Khushi, I feel like there is more to this than what we know. A fire at a party but no news or records about it anywhere, you never saw your parents' bodies, you never received their belongings. It looks like someone worked hard to hide something"

For Khushi, it's almost clear now that her parents didn't have a natural death but someone murdered them. A tear jumped out of her eyes. Arnav closed the gap between them in a few steps and hugged Khushi.

"Don't worry, Khushi, I will help you to dig deep and we will find out what happened to your parents. I will always be there for you"

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I am extremely sorry for not updating in two days. We had a last-minute camping planned on Friday night and spent the weekend at the camping ground without any technology.

It is actually good to unplug sometimes :)  A chance to appreciate nature.

Happy Reading!