The police were at our house at 7 pm flat to ask about Akash. They came in with Samarth. He gave me a tight-lipped smile on seeing me, but you could tell how much he hated his life right now. His bright hazel eyes were sunken with huge dark circles and he looked like he hadn't eaten in months. His hair looked disheveled and his tanned skin looked pale and sickly.

The Police Chief sat down on the large sofa in the family room to begin. Another one of his fellow officers connected a tape recorder to a podcast and switched it on.  Sam and I sat for a joint interview for the first time in this case.

Case: Missing-Akash Singh

Police Chief: So, Samarth? What do you have to say about this? 

Samarth: (Dryly) That depends on what you ask me.

PC: Ok then. How well did you know Dylan?

Samarth: We're best friends.

PC: Do you have any idea of how or why this could've happened to him?

Samarth: Nope. No idea.

PC: How did he get on at school?

Samarth: Well, er, he's somewhere in between a popular honcho and an outcast. But he's really pleasant and friendly and has tons of friends at school. He's a very loved guy. And as far as I know, quite a few girls were on the lookout for him as well. 

PC: So he didn't have any enemies?  Or any ego issues for that matter?

Samarth:  Sir please he wasn't the kind of egomaniacal little spoilt brat you're asking for. He was a genius at studies and the science topper of the stream, not to mention that he's good looking too so naturally, he was a magnet of jealousy up here. And speaking of enemies, something bad did happen to him once last year, but it wasn't his fault.

PC: What?

Sam: This guy at school really liked a girl called Amanda in our class. But she had a crush on Akash, so she turned down his proposal. Well, he got furious and sent vile texts to him full of obscene expletives, which I won't use here.  But his parents immediately complained to the Principal and the idiot was expelled. Then it was found out that he'd done it out of drunkenness, downing copious pegs for the sake of his Amanda which made matters even worse. He was put under legal action for underage drinking. Stupid fool.

PC: This guy's name?

Samarth: Rahul.

PC: Was Akash interested in this girl?

Sam: NO way. She was a typical little Powerpuff girl who always sucked up to any hunk in the block. She would hang out with her satellites who were all dumb girls like her. They made this clique for being silly over people. When I asked him if he was interested in her, he replied 'Nah brother. I don't do relationships.'  He turned down her proposal too.

PC: You have any idea of what Rahul is doing now?

Sam: No idea. Nobody in St. Carmel has heard of him since he was given the boot. I guess his parents moved out to save themselves from embarrassment. 

PC: Well, his sister is your girlfriend. How did he feel about that?

Samarth: Was. We're through. And no, he had no problem until you know, things between me and Antara started getting bad. It was-

PC: I'll ask you about that later. Now tell me, did he ever get into something that's bad or risky? Like you said, underage drinking for example? Any unwarranted activities on his part?

Samarth: Akash? He was often teased at school for being a "momma's boy". The most rule-abiding, obedient young man you'd ever met. In fact, Antara always poked fun at him for being a parson. Because at least, she had a date. He didn't have that too.

PC: Well then. That's all for now. Thank you, Mr. Kumar. We'll move on to Miss Maitreyi here.

PC: Now, what are your thoughts?

Me: I know Akash as good as Samarth here. All the details are exactly the same. I have nothing more to add to this.

PC: I see. When was the last time you saw her?

Me: A day before she disappeared, she came over to watch a TV show.

PC: Well, that's the end of Akash's questionnaire. We'll move on to Antara's investigation now.

Saying so, he fired up a new file on the podcast. This time, each of us had to sit for separate interviews, as obviously our relations with Anu were different. I was sent to my room while they began with Samarth. 

*****************************
A/N: The night before publishing. Reading, reviewing, editing, and re-editing chapters in my nightie 😆. So here are the dedications I now need to make Keep notes for:

1. karpuzxq
2. twinklebeauty29
3. SaiyamKhaneja
4. HEttinger
5. Dhrumi__singh
6. AvikVerma
7. weripple
8. Shiirah_n20
9. AnvilGottlieb
10. Geetzuka
11. Ami_dhi
12. SVT_707
13. livinlyf
14. _imagine_01
15. exo_kai_99 
16. raymac_eric 
17. Fangirlginger14
18. HeatherAllen017
19. BrodyPutnum

Thanks fam, for motivating me and keeping my spirits up! I couldn't be more grateful to you guys for the tremendous love I've got from you and I hope my dedications to you can return it back. 😍