Chapter-47
I didn't realize when I fell asleep on the bed of palm leaves that Kelvin had strewn over the cave floor; it was probably the side effect of the painkillers he had given me last night. I had expected to be frozen out of the cold by now, but it unusually felt warm. I opened my eyes to realize that I was swaddled in a comfy jacket. It was the same jacket Kelvin was wearing last night.
Did he wrap it around me after I fell asleep?
My eyes searched for him across the cave and finally found him sitting by the entrance, glancing outside in deep thought. He was rubbing the arms of his t-shirt with his palm to shake off the undisguised shiver.
Did he bear the cold all night so that I don't feel cold?
"Kelvin," I mumbled, catching his attention.
"Oh you're up," he muttered, glancing at me with a feeble smile.
"Didn't you sleep?" I asked, getting up.
"It's not really a safe place you know, someone had to stay awake," he replied, straining to restrain a yawn.
"Thanks for this," I whispered, looking at the leather jacket still enveloped around me.
I knew I should return it to him now, but I felt a strange longing to keep it to myself for a little more while. No particular reason. Well, that's what I told myself as an excuse.
"I've something for you," he apprised, rising up.
I checked my phone while he took out something from the bike's 'secret' chamber (well, of course, just detective stuff). The clock informed me that I had slept for around five hours, considering that I was definitely awake till three.
The morning sun was partially concealed by blue shades of dull cotton candy clouds, its less vibrant rays trying their best to filter the lustre glow over the cave. A gloomy weather to start the day with.
Kelvin returned with a file and a forensic bag in one hand and a bottle in the other. He first passed me the bottle to drink some water. I was indeed thirsty. The hunger didn't matter at that time though.
He sank down beside me and handed me the file without any word.
"What's this?" I asked, skimming through the pages.
I was left stunned for a moment as I realized what it was- Pappa's autopsy report. Something I never got a glance of.
"Your father didn't die of a heart attack," Kelvin spelled out, "I mean he did, but not naturally."
I felt a lump forming in my throat. What did he mean?
I checked the pages carefully once again.
At the bottom of the page, there it was:
'Cause of death: Heart attack'
'Narratives: overdosage of heart medicines.'
No, this couldn't be. I used to give Pappa his medicines myself every night. I couldn't commit that serious of a blunder in any way. Was I the cause of his heart attack-?
As I tried to explain it to Kelvin, he interrupted and clarified my disconcertment.
"See this."
He unzipped the forensic bag, revealing two identical medicine bottles. I instantly recognized the one that belonged to Pappa from the label that I had once added myself.
Kelvin spilled a few capsules from that bottle on my hand. I opened a capsule as he had asked me to, exposing the contents. He brought out another capsule from the second bottle and exposed its contents too. Mine had about thrice the amount of fillings than his.
So all these days Pappa was having capsules with thrice the amount of the original contents that he should be taking. And at one point, the overdosage got him...
Suddenly, every inch of my thoracic cavity wretched with agony. All these days I had been consoling myself that it was a natural death. The fact that Pappa was murdered hurt so much more, so much that it was almost ripping my soul into pieces.
Something clicked in my mind. It was Uncle Josh who had bought the medicines for Pappa the last time.
The puzzle pieces were all matching now. I felt a sudden surge of hatred building up inside me towards my uncle. I was not letting him go before avenging my father.
"You can use this as evidence against Uncle Josh," Kelvin whispered.
"How did you get it?" I inquired.
"Remember I went to the bureau yesterday after receiving a call?" he reminded me in a low voice.
So he had gone to get this.
"Did you know that Uncle Josh-?"
He remained quiet for a minute before exhaling a deep breath.
"After a point of time, yes. I was working on it."
How much more did he know? Did he know about Mr. Amberson too?
Before I could ask him, he spoke again, "I've something else for you too."
He took out a piece of folded parchment from his pocket and placed it on my palm, enclosing it with my fingers.
"You were asking last night if I will ever leave you," he breathed.
"You said you won't-" I blurted involuntarily.
He looked down with a feeble smile, but I could say that the smile was just for concealing a deep emotion behind it which he didn't want to show.
"I won't, but-"
"But what-?" I asked in consternation. "There's no but here."
"If someday I'm not here with you, then open this letter," he illuminated.
What was in it?
I prepared to unfold the letter to find it out right away, but he stopped me in the middle.
"Not now please," he interrupted. "Only at that time. Not before that."
"Kelvin, why are you-" my shattered voice came out.
What happened to him now?
My thought process was completely baffled.
"No particular reason," he tried to reply casually, but the water pooling in his eyes failed to escape my sight.
That was the excuse I always give myself.
"Just in case, you know," he added, preparing to rise.
He had to halt on his way when he realized that something was pulling him back; his wrist was in my clasp. I didn't want to let him go even inches away from me.
"Please never say like that-" I requested in a hushed tone.
My blue eyes searched in his green to find an answer to a question that I never asked. Did he feel the same for me?
Kelvin cupped my cheeks in his warm hands and looked at me the way he never looked before, as if completely lost inside me. He finally parted his lips to say something, but-
The wheeze of a car whooshing towards the cave interrupted in between.
What a timing. The car owner surely had a death wish.
"I'll go and check," Kelvin said in a hurry, breaking my grasp.
My heartbeat ceased for a moment as he drifted out of my vivid vision.
Something vibrated in my jeans pocket, sending seismic nerve impulses across my body. I carelessly took out my phone from my pocket. Why was it vibrating-
A call from Brian.
I almost dropped the phone from my hand as I hastily tried to pick up the call.
"How's Uncle Nick?" I asked anxiously before anything else.
"Still in coma, but the doctor assured us that he's out of danger now," he informed from the other side.
I breathed a sigh of relief. At least he was safe.
"And Aunt Nora?"
"She's better too."
"I tried to call you last night Amy, but it was unreachable. Are you alright?"
I gave him a brief explanation of last night's event. Thank god the network was better now.
"And still Uncle Josh isn't anywhere near the boundary of anyone's suspicions," Brian spoke sotto voce.
"But the attack on Uncle Nick should be a clear proof!" I almost screamed.
"Everyone believes it to be an accident," he uttered in a dejected tone. "And as long as Uncle Nick is in a coma, we have no evidence."
"What about the locker?" I reminded him.
He was supposed to get it today.
"There's no hope for the locker, Amy. It's not with Aunt Nora. And I'm kind of sure that it's not in the office."
"But Brian," I tried to reason, "where else can it be?"
"No idea," he mourned.
"I can't even go out to find it now. There's a high possibility that Uncle Josh might be planning a second attack on Uncle Nick so that no one ever gets a hint of his plan, so it's important that I keep a tight watch here."
"Yes, stay there," I advised as the call got disconnected because of the poor network.
I wasn't very satisfied regarding the locker. Was Brain hiding something from me? Didn't he trust me? Or worse, was he lying to me?
It had been quite a while since Kelvin had left. Why wasn't he returning?
"Amy!" Kelvin's voice called out.
I hastened to follow the trail of his footsteps which terminated in front of a red Ferrari.
It was Jonas.
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