Around midnight, when Nikhil and Ananya were in a deep sleep. Ananya's phone beeps with a notification.

Only if they weren't in a deep sleep, maybe they would've found who is the killer, or maybe not.

It is a new day. The hour hand and the minute hand in the clock are exactly opposite to each other. One's at 6 and the other is at 12. The sun had risen which awoke Ananya. Nikhil was still sleeping. She sighs looking at his face. His hand was on her waist and he was sleeping on his front. Ananya removes his hands and turns to get her phone from the bedside table. It's her habit. Checking for her phone in the early morning. She rubs her eyes and yawns as she grabs her phone only to see a notification on her lock screen.

"What's this notification, now? Hope not another coordinate!" Her drowsiness has gone now. She unlocks her phone, prepared for the worst to see.

She sighs.

It wasn't another coordinate.

It was a message from the same unknown number.

"Nothing has everything in it and I'd never prefer everything that comes in nothing." it read.

There were no messages after that. The message shocked her. Why wouldn't it? And in seconds, she gets furious. Why is this killer behind her?

Nikhil stirs up in his sleep murmuring, "Anu!"

Ananya looks at him and shakes him. He doesn't budge. Instead pulls her hand towards him and she slaps him with her phone on his back. He hissed, scowls, and opens his eyes only to look at his wife. Oh, not just a wife, an angry wife.

His frown deepens as he wonders what happened to her early in the morning.

"What happened?" he asked, yawning a few seconds later. He's still drowsy and wanted to sleep for a few more minutes.

"Look at this!" She thumps her phone on his face.

He sighs as he gets up and takes her phone with an unclear mind, dizziness still in his head.

He reads the message in her inbox.

"Now what is this? Do we need to code it and find the coordinate now?" he asks frowning.

She smacks his arms, looking at him angrily.

"Oww, what?" he asks rubbing the spot with his other hand.

Well, she looks thin doesn't mean her hits are weightless. They're so heavy that he couldn't help hissing from pain.

"Clear your head and read it again," she commands.

He huffs and reads the message again. And this time with a clear head.

"Hey, I read this quote somewhere." He tries to remember it after reading it again.

"Don't give the trouble to your br-" she was cut off by her husband.

"Yeah, I remember! It's a quote from your book Nirvana," he declares. He remembers it now.

"Exactly," she is angry and she is worried. Angry at the Killer and worried about the crimes he's trying to do.

"We'll look into this, together. Don't worry and please, don't get furious. We'll solve this," Nikhil comforts her side hugging her, and kissing her hair slightly.

Ananya nods. Her expression didn't change much.

"Let's get ready and go early today," he pats her shoulders.

"I'll go and prepare the breakfast," she gets up from the bed and freshens up while Nikhil has already messaged his team about another clue they've got and is going through his phone.

Ananya after freshening up goes to prepare breakfast for her and her husband.

It's already 7:20 AM by the time they have their breakfast. They, after another 20 minutes, started for the office. They usually meditate, jog, and exercise for an hour if not more. They're used to driving to the office at 9:00 AM. Half an hour was enough for them to get to CBI. And they would be in the office at the exact time. A day before was the day they were late and here are they, driving to their office so early. It's been two days since they've gone for their routine activity in the morning.

They arrive at a very silent office half an hour later. And as they get in, they see Akash and some of the constables.

"Akash, you're early?" Nikhil asks raising his brows.

"Yeah, had an early morning chase." He sighs.

"What does that mean," Ananya questions.

Akash's home,

Around the same time when Ananya woke up, Akash stirs in his sleep to a phone call.

He wakes up, takes his phone, and frowns at an unknown number yet lifts the call.

"Hello," his voice sounded a little husky as he just woke up.

"Sir, it's me," the caller whispers.

"Who is me?" he frowns.

"Arrey, sir. Neil's neighbor, you told me to inform you when he's back, isn't it?" the caller, who is Neil's neighbor says.

"Yeah, is Neil back?" Akash comes to the point.

"Yeah, sir. He has just arrived. I saw when I was about to go for a jog."

"Great. Keep me informed if he goes anywhere and try to keep him on the premises if possible." Akash has already jumped out of the bed. And in ten minutes, his SUV was seen barging out of the gates.

And when he reached Neil's house, he met Neil's neighbor, and when his gesture said Neil was in his home itself, he barges, shows his ID, and after a few chases, takes him into his custody.

And now he's here with Neil in their custody and some of the constables who came early on his orders to keep a check on Neil.

"Well, Neil is in our custody. His neighbor informed me he was in the home. I had to chase him when he tried to escape and he's here now, under our custody," he says shrugging.

"Oh, good!" Ananya says shrugging. Her expressions were the same. So, nobody would know what's in her mind except for her husband of course.

"I've some work. I am gonna get on it. Carry on," she says, walking to her cabin already.

Nikhil pats him on his arm, "Great job! Let's go and question him." He thinks Neil must be the one who sent the quote as well.

"No! We're not permitted. DJ Sir strictly said until he doesn't come, we shouldn't question Neil. I informed DJ Sir a while back," Akash says denying Nikhil.

"Shit," Nikhil curses. Does he need to wait for more than an hour to question Neil? Ridiculous!

That was his thought.

Nikhil walks to Ananya's cabin, he might help her with some of her codings. To trace the unknown number. Living with his wife, he knows some of the basics now.

He sees his wife working on her terminal already.

Well, what she is doing now is out of the little knowledge he has on 0 and 1's.

"Let's go to the investigation room. While you do this binary on your laptop, I'll try to decode the clues we've got until now." he makes a pleading face.

"Okay," she agrees and gets her laptop, iPad, and a few more devices turning the monitor off. Nikhil helps her in carrying them off.

Investigation Room,

Nikhil was analyzing the board after he added the quote Ananya got in her message. Ananya sat on a chair with her laptop on the desk engrossed in coding. And when she codes, she forgets the world.

"God! I'm sure this killer has his sim off or has a physical chip that denies me access. Why didn't I wake up at that time?" she regrets not waking up.

She's not able to trace the location. And when she's not able to trace the location, it meant two things, either his phone was dead or he had a physical chip installed in his phone that was manipulating her.

Ananya puts her laptop aside for some time. Her head is aching. It isn't a good sign in the morning.

"I'm going to get a coffee!" she screams at Nikhil walking towards the door.

"Get one for me too," he screams.

"I know," Ananya screams back closing back the door.

Nikhil is engrossed in the whiteboard when she comes back with two coffees.

She gives one to him as she stands behind him looking at the whiteboard. They sip their coffee and Ananya notices something.

"In Vishal's case, we have O, R, I, A, N on the fourth page, and on the fifth page, it's A, V. Right?" she says it aloud.

"Yeah," Nikhil agrees.

"And in Nia's case, we have N, A on the fourth page, and on the fifth page, it's L, H, A, V, I, S, K, R And it says Vishal-" she reads the information on the board.

"And K, R, and N, A are left," Nikhil adds.

"Observe this. In both cases, one of the pages has only two words and another one has more than two," she makes a point.

Nikhil notes it down.

"What is this K, R, and N, A then?" Nikhil thinks out loud.

"Victim's name is Vishal Sarkar right?" Ananya looks at Nikhil.

He nods.

"Then this K, R must mean Sarkar."

"What about S, R, and A? Single S, single R, and two A's are missing," Nikhil points out.

"But A and S are already letters," she explains.

"So, you think he hasn't repeated any letters twice?" Nikhil asks.

"Yes," she says and forms two words, "Vishal Sarkar!"

"What about N and A they are on a different page."

"No idea," she says.

"What if it's Nia?" Nikhil guesses.

"I letter is not there," she points out.

"But it's there is another page, right?" Nikhil asks.

"Yeah, but it's a different page," Ananya shakes her head looking at him.

"Okay, let's keep it aside. We've Vishal Sarkar on Nia's book's fifth page and this is one conclusion," he makes a point and notes it on the whiteboard.

"Maybe he's trying to leave a clue of the next victim in the present victim's case," Nikhil makes a guess.

"There's a possibility. Nia was dead before Vishal as you mentioned the difference between their deaths is almost 2 hours," Ananya agrees.

"Yeah, Nia's death has been noted for more than 14 hours and Vishal's 12 hours," he reminds her.

Ananya adds something to his thoughts after a few seconds, "In that case, Vishal's book must have the clue for the next victim."

"Exactly!" Nikhil is already analyzing Vishal's book's clue.

"O, R, I, A, N, and A, V must form some words from Visha's book," Nikhil guesses the names already.

Ananya pauses his thoughts, "Leave A and V. They're on a different page. We don't have any clue for Nia's case for what these two letters are pointed."

Nikhil nods and thinks of just A, R, I, O, and N.

"Anrio?" Nikhil guesses.

Ananya frowns at the weird name

"It's an Asian Name and the only one I know," he adds looking at his wife, clarifying it to her.

"We cannot be sure but let's make a note of it," Ananya frowns.

Nikhil notes it down.

"Let us google what else we can form with these letters or better we write down all the possible combinations with these five letters," Ananya suggests and they are on it soon leaving the option.

The time passes as they work on combinations and their team walks in early, half an hour before their office timings.

"Nikhil and Ananya, DJ is calling you both. He's in the custody," Raina informs as she walks in.

"Oh," Ananya sighs.

Nikhil gets up and Ananya had to get up and they walk out. Raina gets in and starts her work.

Custody

"So, you say you're not the one killing people?" Nikhil and Ananya walk into the room in the nick of time only to hear DJ ask Neil the question they heard.

"No, why would I?" he asks gritting his teeth.

"And why the hell did you take me into custody? Where's your official order?" he asks angrily.

Nikhil is furious now.

"If you're forgetting you've got a criminal record already," Nikhil grits his teeth.

"Great! Just because of that, on that basis, you've taken me into custody?" he asks, disbelief written on his face.

"Aren't you the one sending locations to Ananya even after releasing from jail?" DJ asks.

"What? No, I stopped it long ago," he says.

"Don't you lie, you Bastard!" Nikhil was about to punch him but DJ held him back.

Ananya was just expressionless. Neil looks at her.

"Ananya, tell them I haven't sent you anything," he pleads to her.

"Why will she lie? I myself have seen your messages," Nikhil was on the verge of breaking Neil's head.

After all, he thinks Neil is the killer and the possessive husband in him is still on the board.

Ananya gets lost in her thoughts.

"Where's his phone?" she asks DJ after a few seconds.

DJ hands it over to her and she gets her iPad. Well, she carries her phone and laptop with her always. They're her partners.

On his phone, there's no trace of sending the messages. That doesn't mean he didn't send it. So, she connects it to her iPad and starts her work.

On the other DJ continues his interrogation, "So you aren't the one leaving clues on Ananya's Novel?"

"Ananya's Novel? Ananya has written a Novel?" He was surprised. He didn't know that.

Nikhil looks at him in disbelief.

And Ananya's phone beeps. She stops her work and takes out her phone.

Notification from Neil's number. She frowns. Neil's phone is with her and she got the coordinates from his number. How's that possible?

"It is another coordinate," she whispers nonetheless, location is important now.

"Trace the location fast," DJ commands and Ananya is already on it.

Ananya tracks the location of the coordinates.

"It's Paschim Vihar, 20 minutes away from Kirti Nagar," she says and starts tracking the unknown number again only to get disappointed. She's late by a few seconds.

She sighs and concentrates on the present condition.

"Let's go there," DJ announces after gesturing to constables to look after Neil.

Nikhil and Ananya were walking toward the door when Akash barges in.

"There's another murder that happened in Paschim Vihar," he informs them unaware that they already got the coordinate.

"How do you know? Did you get the coordinate?" Nikhil is curious.

"No. It's all over the media from the past 20 minutes." Akash takes out his phone to show them the news.

"Arya Roy, a famous businessman has been murdered," they heard the news reporter going on talking about the news.

"Clear the media. We need to go there as soon as possible," DJ commands.

Akash nods as they walk out of CBI.

Arya Roy, the Killer's third victim! Ananya fixes it in her mind.

To be continued..,

Let me know what you think about the update! 

A little late in publishing today's update. Office work was hectic! Apologies!

Happy Engineer's Day to everyone! 

Hope you had a great day!

-15/09/2022

-polymath_land