Saturday, 8 AM

Abhijeet and Tarika reached their first stop - the house of Aarushi Khanna, their first suspect. After a few minutes of wait, they were let in. 

"We are from Crime Branch. I am ACP Abhijeet and she is Dr Tarika. We are here to ask a few questions," Abhijeet stated the purpose of their visit.  Aarushi looked at the officers and requested them to sit. Taking a seat in front of them, she asked, "I thought that my family's murder case was closed due to lack of evidences?" "It's not about your family. You must have heard about the murder of four gynecologists in the city. We want to talk about them," said Abhijeet. Tarika placed the photographs of the four doctors. 

Aarushi looked at the photographs. "Dr D'Souza. She had helped my family with abortion," said the lady. Abhijeet leaned forward and said, "You surely are not happy with her help." Aarushi chuckled, "A mother can never be happy after killing her child. You don't know how difficult it was. I lost my everything within a span of six months."

Abhijeet nodded and spoke after a short pause, "There are two more ladies, whose families were killed in a similar manner. Do you recognize any of them?" Abhijeet placed the photographs in front of her. Aarushi shook her head after a minute or so. Realizing something, Tarika asked, "What do you do for your living?" "My husband has left me enough wealth to live the rest of my life," was her simple reply.

"Where were you when your family and the doctors were killed?" asked the ACP. Aarushi closed her eyes. "I had gone to a temple. I used to go there everyday. Stopped after that incident. And as for the doctors, I don't leave my house officers. I like staying here, where my family last lived."

Abhijeet nodded. He gestured Tarika and the two of them left the house.

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Refusing to share his thoughts about their interview with Aarushi Khanna, Abhijeet led Tarika to their next stop - the house of Babita Chatterjee. She recognized Dr Sheena Mishra as the doctor who had killed her unborn child. Her demeanor was a little tough. 

"I work as a nurse. And I am not someone who takes leaves. So I must have been on my job," she replied when Tarika asked the source of her livelihood. She also could not recognize the other two ladies.

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The last and final destination of the officers was the house of Chandani Mehta. She was a trained cosmetologists and though she did not practice on a large scale, she did provide services to her close friends and family. She seemed to be afraid of the officers and took a lot of time to open up. She recognized Dr Ranjit Verma but when asked about the other two ladies, she said, "I can never forget the face of this doctor. He..he killed my child. But otherwise I am not very good with faces. I don't remember them."

Abhijeet and Tarika left her place after assuring her that they were not about to arrest her.

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In The Car

"Abhi, at least now tell what you think about these ladies," insisted Tarika. Abhijeet smiled at her restlessness. He said, "All of them were lying. In fact, the only truth they said was when they recognized the doctors and when they were telling about their source of livelihood." Tarika frowned. "You mean they know each other?" she asked. "Yes." "How can you be so sure?" she asked again.

Abhijeet smiled at her curiosity. "They had to make efforts to look calm and composed. They had to make efforts to look into our eyes when answering our questions. They were compressing their lips, rubbing their hands, cracking their knuckles. All these are signs of nervousness. Why were they nervous? Because they had something to hide."

Tarika smiled impressively and said, "I must say Abhi, you are a good officer." Abhijeet chuckled and made a bow.

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~Purnima