Just then, I heard Huma scream as she saw him.

"Oh my God, what is happening?"
She shouted, clutching her head in her hands and wailing loudly.

"Huma, relax and focus. This is not the time to lament and curse God. We have to leave this room as quickly as possible."
I told her, my mind going in overdrive thinking about what would happen if we get caught over here.

The chances of us getting away from here without getting caught were very slim, because my fingerprints were everywhere - on the body and on the wall. The previous ones must not have been omitted entirely, but still, if not the actual criminal, I could become a suspect in this case. As I was contemplating whether I must run away, or wait here and be honest and cooperative in the investigation, I heard the sirens of police cars, drawing closer and closer to the hotel.

"Shreya, what are you doing? The police has arrived! We must get out of here. Now!!"
Huma whisper-shouted at me, trying to tug me off of the dead man, but also getting terrified by looking at his face.

"No, we can't go now."
I said to her simply, as I struggled to get up from the dead body.

"WHAT?!! What are you talking about girl? Why can't we go? Do you want to die here?"
Huma panicked, and started throwing a volley of questions at me.

"We can't because the police is already here. Besides, my fingerprints and footprints are everywhere on the crime scene. But don't worry, I'll take everything on myself, you will not get into trouble."
I assured her.

"Are you serious right now? Is that what I'm worried about?"
She asked me while looking at me incredulously.

"I know, but still I'm telling you that-"
I couldn't even finish my sentence when I heard the sound of the door unlocking.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God...."
Huma started whispering continuously under her breath, thinking that God will come save her in this situation.

I gestured to her with my finger to keep quiet as her behaviour would only make them feel as if we are the real culprits. Just then, the door opened slowly and policemen armed with guns ran inside, trying to ambush the criminal, but then they saw us, in our night clothes which might pass of as clothes a homeless beggar would wear, with blood smeared all over my shirt and on my hands too. My hair was a mess while Huma's cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes were red. Her throat was dry and she looked terrified to the point that she could drop down unconscious any second.

"Sir, we found the culprit!"
One of the policeman shouted to someone standing outside, who replied with a "Coming!!" after which, I heard another set of footsteps.

Since it was still dark and the lights were off, I couldn't see his face the moment he entered, but I could make out his silhouette. He was tall, with well-built shoulders and had a normal shirt and pants on - no uniform. He had a gun in one hand and walked in such a cramped space effortlessly. His tall frame made the whole place look even more claustrophobic and as soon as he turned towards me and Huma to see who the culprits were, the light came back on. The small yellow bulb hanging from the ceiling illuminated his face perfectly - chiselled jaw, sharp brown eyes and jet black swept back hair. Although, I didn't like the look he was giving me because suddenly, I wanted to prove myself innocent to this person.

"Oh, so you both are the ones who killed the manager, Mr. Ashish Sharma. We will be arresting you both on the grounds that you have been found at the crime scene under questionable circumstances and whatever it is that you want to say to defend yourself, I'm sorry to say that you will have to suppress all of it till we reach the police station."

He said, in a deep, professional tone like he had said it a thousand times before. I wanted to deny all the allegations but couldn't bring myself to even realize the situation before me. He continued again,

"Oh, and by the way, I'm Akshay Seth, a senior investigation officer."

"Mr. Akshay, I have heard whatever you just said, but I would like it if you heard what I had to say right here, because it is related to the case and I won't be able to prove my innocence in the station."
I told him, coming back to my senses and proceeding as I had initially thought.

At that, he turned his head away from the dead body to look at me with a raised eyebrow and said,

"You understand English but you're still that dumb? We don't record anyone's statement outside the police station - except in special circumstances which don't fit on your situation. Because as far as I can see, you both are perfectly able to walk, hear, see and talk.... and also
commit a murder."

The moment he added that last part, everything in me snapped. This arrogant man thinks he can come to conclusions without even investigating the truth?

"Oh wow, what a statement! So you have already believed that we both have killed him, right? Then, what's even the need to record my statement? Just gag me with a cloth and put me in jail, why are you even working so hard if you don't really want to do anything?"
I said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"What. Do. You. Mean?"
He gritted every word out, feeling obviously irritated by the way I was speaking to him.

"I'm saying that I am not the culprit. I'm the one who came in right after this happened. But you have already formed an opinion against me and branded me as the criminal just because you found me in this room. Is it fair for me?"

"Oh so you are not the culprit. Then would you care to explain to me as to why were you in here and why didn't you call us?"
He asked me again, trying to intimidate me with his eyes, but I wasn't going to be fooled again.

"I came to this floor with my friend here to visit the public balcony at 11:55 pm. But the balcony was closed due to harsh weather and the area was deserted. The whole corridor and the rooms too were facing a power cut. I couldn't see anything in the dark and just as I was about to leave, my hand came in contact with the blood on the wall. You must have seen that before coming in here.

I got confused and then thought there must be something wrong that has happened. We took a u-turn and went towards this door. When we opened the door and went inside, it was suddenly locked from outside and we were trapped here. You must have seen the lock since your men were the ones who broke it."

At this, he remains silent for a while and then, starts laughing and clapping loudly. Then, he says,

"Wow, what a story. So, you randomly decide to visit this place not knowing that it's not open tonight. And then.... you decide to go back and investigate once you find blood on your hands and then you get trapped here and find a dead body, by itself. Did you really think I was going to believe you?"
He asked with a sardonic smile on his face.

He really has a habit of making people feel like shit. It is kinda a good trait, since real criminals must have wanted to confess about all their crimes just so they couldn't see that expression on his face - that's how risible he looked right now.

I scoffed at his 'genius' logic.

"Do you really think that I would have waited for you voluntarily over here so that you could come and catch me and make your task easy? Do I look that much of an idiot to you?"

"Its not that you didn't want to run away, it's that you couldn't run away, miss. You can't fool the police."
He said, sounding extremely smug with his perception yet again.

"You know, I literally entered this room about..."
I looked at my watch to check the time which read 12:15 am, and returned to look at him,

"Fifteen minutes ago, at exactly 12:00 am. And right now its 12:15 am. Trust me, I had plenty of time to run away."

At that, he went completely silent, and that brought a lot of gratification in my eyes, which made him go insane. I could see he was desperately in pursuit of one little slip-up or weakness of mine that he could use against me. I never knew up until this moment, that people can abhor a complete stranger to a point where they are ready to throw them in jail for no reason.

He then suddenly pointed towards me and said,
"Your clothes are all bloody, so are your hands. But somehow, you don't seem to be fazed by it. You look like... all of this is natural for you."

This man was seriously going to make me break my rule of never swearing. How can he come up with such an excuse to accuse me? I was about to say something but Huma jumped in front of me and went crazy, literally.

"Look here mister, who the fuck do you think you are huh? How dare you keep on accusing my best friend of murder when she clearly wanted to help someone in danger? I begged her to go back but she didn't even regard my fears or her safety and kept going in this direction. By now, the real culprit must have fled from the crime scene but all you are concerned about is the one person who can help you catch the actual culprit. Just how did you become a police officer huh???"

She was in full ferocious mode now, shouting at the top of her lungs while fire was dripping from her eyes. This was the first time in many years that I had seen her this angry.

I decided to take matters in my hands because no matter how much I loathed this man, he still had more powers than us. I put my hand on her shoulder and told her silently to calm down. She finally calmed down after a few minutes with much difficulty and I told her to sit in one corner to regain her breath, while the officer just cocked his head side to side and observed us.

I then turned to him again and responded to his question with my characteristic icy glare,

"Why do you think me not being woozy at the sight of blood makes me the murderer? By that risible logic of yours, there must be many criminals in this hotel alone."

At this, he smirked that annoying smirk of his.... again. Man, I was really getting tired of his repetitive and lame questions.

"Your behaviour shows me that you are extremely defensive. Is it because you are just stressed or because you... have something to hide?"

"I am defensive, because I'm innocent. If you don't want me to be defensive, then you will have to drop that dubious tone of yours when you are talking to me, and not make me feel like you are interrogating me."

I told him clearly, which put an extremely shocked expression on his face. Since he's a senior officer, it wasn't easy to spot that expression; but I am a psychological professor, so nothing can be hidden from me.

"You are a smart woman. May I ask your profession?"
He finally asked me properly, with normal confusion sounding in his voice.

"You will know shortly, once I give you my analysis of this murder."
I said, making his eyebrows reach the sky. This man was fond of all the odd habits. Very expressive.

I walked towards the body and examined the deadly wound and any other signs of defense or struggle. There were small scars on his face - one starting from his eyebrow and going all the way down to his jaw, and the other on his other cheek.

"Looks like the murderer didn't come at him with a weapon initially, it could be a friendly conversation that turned into a heated argument which caused the culprit to draw a weapon. Though, I can't say what weapon it could be."

"Hmm...it sounds very convincing. But the weapon used isn't very heavy, something like a kitchen knife. We still haven't found it so we can't be certain about it. Anyways, go ahead."
He told me.

"The door that got locked on us from outside. It means someone was waiting for an innocent person to come and fall in their trap. They must have been watching us the whole time in the hallway."
I mused, making him finally nod his head.

"And what about your footprints in the hallway?"
He asked me, to which I replied confidently,

"I couldn't have murdered him outside and then come inside with bloody shoes. Someone came here before me, killed him and fled from here, which is why their footprints are on the floor. I just happened to retrace them back to this room, because it was dark."

"Let's go outside and check this fact."
Mr. Akshay finally agreed to me and quickly opened the door and went outside.

Some of his men, Huma and I followed suit. There you could see clearly, the footprints which were clearly smaller than mine underneath my footprints. They were seen pointing in the direction of the elevator, while mine went back to the room.

"See, what did I tell you?"
I said, a smirk now forming on my face despite the grave situation. I had suddenly developed a strong urge to compete with this conceited but smart man, and beat him.

"Now, can you tell me your profession?"
He asked again.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Akshay. I'm Dr. Shreya Singh, professor of Psychology in Mumbai University."

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