Enigma : A Tale Of Mystery - VI

Read --> Chapter 5.

Chapter 6

It was already afternoon when Jennifer and Ayesha were at the hospital inquiring the hospital staff. From the staff’s words they collected some information about the hospital manager Joshua.

'Joshua was deeply in love with Arianna. When he proposed his love to her she turned him down. Still he was continuously persuading her. Everyone in the hospital knows about him and his obsessive nature. He maybe cynical but I don't think he would go this extreme to kill Arianna.'

'We have to go by the doubts. That's our job,' said Ayesha after hearing it from Arianna's friend.

'Yeah right! We cannot have any loose ends,' said Jennifer. 'You may go.'

Ayesha called in Joshua. The guy who walked in seemed to be in his late 20s, well-built and looked quite weary. His eyes were blood shot. Ayesha asked some basic information about him and then asked, ‘So tell me about your connection with Arianna.'

Joshua was filled with tears, ‘I loved her so much but I was not aware why she refused me. Only later I found out she was having an affair with that doctor, f** Ravi.’ He tightened his knuckles at the mention of Ravi’s name. ‘I even warned her that he is married and not to go after him but she did not listen to me. I lost my temper and screamed at her couple of days back. That was the last time I saw her here. And yesterday she took her day off and today...’ his voice broken and couldn't continue.

An image of those mysterious red eyes which Meera was talking about flashed in front of Ayesha. She then said, ‘okay Joshua. Now you may go. But we will call you again anytime for the inquiry. So don’t leave the town’

Ayesha had a doubt if there could be any possibility of him involved in this murder. After he left the room, 
Jennifer scribbled down in her notepad: Suspect 1 - Dr. Ravi. Suspect 2 – Joshua.

‘I think we should keep him under surveillance..’ Ayesha said as she closed the files and got ready to leave.

‘Ah.. Now this case is even more tangled’, sighed Jennifer.

To be continued...

Read --> Chapter 7

Enigma : A Tale Of Mystery - V

Read --> Chapter 3 & 4

Chapter 5

‘He left the house last night. I was worried. It was not because he yelled at me. It was because I didn’t want to meet Alex,’ Leela sobbed as she explained things happened that night to chief detective Jennifer and Ayesha.

Without speaking a word, they both got up and walked to the door. Ayesha signaled Meera to meet her outside.

‘Meera,’ said Ayesha hesitantly, ‘Dr. Ravi has gone missing since last night. We have run a thorough check at the hospital. It seems that he did not even visit there and so did that dead woman. They both took their day off. Something fishy going around here.’

‘We assume he must have murdered this girl, er, whats her name..’, Jennifer looked at the papers for the name of the dead woman and continued, ‘um.. Arianna and he is gone hiding from the police. Looks like we need to trace him down soon. Only he can solve this mystery. We would need your help for the same. So don’t leave the town for next two days.’

‘But in what way I can be helpful?’ asked Meera.

Jennifer gave her a cold look, ‘We will get back to you, lady’ and left the place, without listening to Meera’s words, ‘I have nothing to do with this case...’

Ayesha followed the detective in a hurry. Jennifer said, ‘We should check with this Dr. Alex. I want his details on my table in an hour.’

Meera watched them discussing something from where she was standing. Jennifer seemed to be annoyed with her assistant while Ayesha kept her mouth sealed.

After a minute or two, Jennifer drove the car leaving Ayesha behind.

‘What’s wrong with her?’ Meera asked her as she saw Jennifer leaving the place.

‘She has got her own problems. Ignore her, Meera. Anyways, we need you to stay in town for a couple of days till we arrest Dr. Ravi’ said Ayesha.

‘Are you kidding? What if you don’t find him in two days? You know, I am supposed to vacate the town tomorrow. I’ve been assigned to be a part of the Food Programme that is going to take place in the nearby village for a period of five days. And then I will be leaving to Mauritius to attend a seminar on biodiversity for food and agriculture. Ugh.. I have hectic days ahead. Am I being held here just because I helped that poor lady? C’mon you know me. It’s not that easy, Ayesha, not to leave town just for the sake of solving an unknown murder mystery.’

Ayesha pacified her and said, ‘It's been sometime we catch up. I am so hungry now. Let's go grab a bite’. She literally dragged her and then they both drove to the nearby restaurant.

They ordered sandwiches and ate their breakfast in silence. After a few minutes, holding her steaming cup of hot coffee, Meera broke that awkward silence looking into Ayesha’s eyes and asked ‘Do I look like a murderer?’

To be continued...

Read --> Chapter 6

Enigma : A Tale Of Mystery - III & IV

Read --> Chapter 2.

Chapter 3

It was already 9 AM passed, when the post-mortem report of the dead woman reached the office. Collecting the report, Ayesha along with the chief detective Jennifer arrived at Leela’s house for a formal inquiry. Meera who was already there with Leela whispered on her ears, 'They are here..'

‘Mrs. Ravi, we are here to ask you a few questions,’ said Jennifer as she sat down.

‘Yeah sure... How can I help you? Meera, would you mind offering them a drink?’, said Leela.

‘No, its okay’ Jennifer stopped Meera who was about to get up, ‘We are fine. We don’t have time for that.’

Ayesha took a quick glance at the house and then asked Leela, ‘Are you and your husband living alone here?’

Leela replied, ‘We have our house maid but she is on leave now and has gone to her native 3 days back’

‘Okay.. So where is your husband?’

‘He must be on his way back home from the hospital,’ answered Leela.

‘Oh.. really? um.. but how come his vehicle is right there in your garage, huh?’ Ayesha shot out her question.

Keeping her calm, Leela replied, ‘He went by cab cos he was telling something about the punctured car tyre last night.’

Jennifer instructed something to her subordinate officer about calling the forensic department and turned to Leela, ‘Mrs. Ravi, we got the post mortem report and I am sorry to say that your husband, Dr. Ravi, is possibly behind this murder.’

Leela got tensed on hearing this, ‘What?? No way.. He is a doctor. He only saves life. I don’t believe you...’

Ayesha stood next to the glass window, staring outside thoughtfully. She sensed something odd as she was trying to solve the puzzle.

Jennifer then continued, ‘Well, the dead body had traces of his finger prints. So we need to inquire Dr. Ravi as a part of the investigation process.’ Jennifer said holding a paper in her hand, ‘We have a warrant to arrest your husband, Ma’m. Please cooperate with us and don’t hide anything. We are only trying to help you.’

Leela stood up and felt unbalanced after hearing that. Meera held her trembling hands and made her sit again. She asked Meera for a glass of water.

Ayesha now turned away from the window and asked, ‘When was the last time you were with your husband?’

..........................................................................................................................................................

Chapter 4

Leela and her husband, Dr. Ravi, were having a conversation over their dinner.

‘You remember Dr. Alex?’ asked Ravi as he gulped down his food.

‘Yeah,’ Leela took her food close to her mouth and said, ‘your friend from Ukraine.’

Ravi noticed Leela slipping her spoon spilling the food all over her, ‘Uh-oh, you slipped it again Leela,’, as he got up from his seat to clean it.

‘I’m sorry,’ Leela moved away a little so that Ravi could clean the mess. She then asked him, ‘How is he doing?’

‘Who?’

‘Alex.’

‘Ah yeah he is doing great. We have a good news dear..' he smiled happily, 'He is in town and we are going to meet him tomorrow.’

‘Er.. Tomorrow?’

‘Yeah, you heard me right.’ He frowned at Leela's hesitant reply.

‘But why... this Yoga therapy seems just fine to me after all.’

‘It’s been more than 6 months you are getting treated there. In fact I accepted that only for the sake of your happiness. But no slight improvement yet. We can’t simply go on like this, Leela. Now that we know Alex is a renowned eye surgeon. Last time when I talked to him, he said that he has a solution for your problem and he will let me know once he gets back from Ukraine. And he is here now.’

‘Uh.. No, I don’t want to meet him,’ Leela muttered.

Out of his irritation, Ravi spoke, ‘Are you mad? You’re going to get your sight back, you idiot! Can’t you hear what I’m saying? Are you experiencing temporary deafness along with your blindness, huh? We are going tomorrow, that’s it.’

‘No Ravi, I’m not coming.’ She sounded strong this time.

Ravi pushed the table aside and all the utensils that were on the table fell on the floor making clanking sound. He then asked in a louder tone, ‘Give me one convincing reason.’

‘I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to get my sight back. The world is filled with lies and I don’t want to see it again. I’m better this way. In fact, I’m starting to like the way I am right now. I don’t want things to get back to normal once again. Please understand me, Ravi. I want to live like this for few more days. Maybe if my thoughts change at a later stage I’ll let you know. But as for now I’ve made up my mind and this is final. We are not going tomorrow. So don’t force me. ’

Ravi walked to the door and opened it. The wailing sound of the wind made him to raise his tone, ‘I’m not convinced and I’m least concerned with what you have decided. We are going tomorrow. I have kept your dress on the bed. I’ll be back from the hospital by morning and I want you to be ready by the time I arrive. I don’t want to hear any excuses.’ 

To be continued... 

Read --> Chapter 5

Enigma : A Tale Of Mystery - II

Read -->  Chapter 1

Chapter 2

The crows’ unusual cawing sound from the garden and the murmurs from outside stirred Meera from her sleep who stayed back with Leela that night. She got up from the couch and found Leela still sleeping. Without disturbing her, Meera slowly walked to the window and saw some huge crows perching on the branches and a group of people standing near the lake which was located adjacent to the house. Among the crowd, couple of them appeared to be police officers with a huge German Shepherd sniffing around the lake. She jerked and turned around as the doorbell rang. She looked at Leela and the buzzing sound did not seem to wake her up from her sound sleep. Meera quickly reached the door and opened it. It was her friend Ayesha standing out there talking to someone over the phone.

‘Meera,’ Ayesha was surprised to see her coming out of Leela’s house, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’

Meera explained the whole scene that took place the night before. Looking at the situation at the lake, she asked curiously, ‘what’s going on?’

‘We have been reported a murder. We are in search of the dead body. That’s why I am here to ask if they have seen or heard anything.’ Ayesha, staring at the lake side, asked ‘Did you notice anything unusual at the lake last night?’

Meera thought for a second and said, ‘No, I mean, it was completely dark. I couldn't see anything other than what I just told you’

Ayesha heard someone calling her name. It was the chief detective Jennifer signaling her to come there. Meera accompanied Ayesha as she walked towards the murder scene. They saw the cops retrieving a dead body from the lake. It was a woman and the dark purple marks around her neck showed easily that she was strangled to death. And Meera could recognize her.

‘Ayesha, I have seen her before,’ Meera said in a lower tone, ‘She worked with Leela’s husband at the hospital.’

‘What?’ Ayesha turned to the chief detective and said, ‘We have a positive identification of the victim,’ and then signaled Meera to walk with her. ‘This is my friend, Meera’, Ayesha introduced to the chief detective, ‘and she stays nearby. She identifies the victim as the colleague of Leela’s husband.’

‘Er.. Leela.. who?’

‘Yeah.. that blind lady...um..’

‘Ah.. well, that made my job easier. So where is that woman now?’ the chief detective Jennifer asked before even she completed it.

Ayesha stared at her for a moment and then said, pointing to the house located adjacent to the lake, ‘She lives there’.

To be continued...

Read --> Chapter 3 & 4

Enigma : A Tale Of Mystery - I

Chapter 1

A loud thud from the next door shook Meera up from sleep. She turned on the lights and softly rubbing her eyes, she looked at the timepiece that lay on the bedside table, which displayed the time as 3:07 AM. She sensed something unusual and decided to check with the neighbors just to make sure that everything was normal. She searched for the torchlight and finally found it in her dresser. Carrying it in her hand, she stepped out in the darkness and marched towards her neighbor’s house... unaware of what’s in store for her there...

The howling wind sent chills down her spine. As she stepped out of her house, a lightning hit the road and then the entire place was completely engulfed in darkness. Her heart was thumping loud as she moved towards her neighbor’s house located few meters away from hers. The distant doleful cry of wolf made her shiver even more in fear. She turned on the flash light and walked at a hurried pace. When she reached their entrance, she found that the door was left ajar.

‘Hello, anybody there?’, she raised her voice a bit just to be audible due to the heavy wailing sound of the wind. Not getting any response, she pushed the door slowly and stepped inside. She glanced through the room holding the torch. There she found a lady, in her mid thirties, sitting in the corner of the room staring at the window that lay opposite to her. She touched her shoulders, ‘Is everything okay, Leela?’ That woman looked horrified as Meera could sense it the moment she looked at her pale face under the flash light. With a fixed gaze, Leela lifted her right hand and pointed to the window that lay in front of her.

Meera went closer to the window. Through the glass window, she could hardly see anything as it was pitch black outside. Then a lightning spark produced adequate amount of light for her to take a glimpse of the beautiful garden which only lasted a fraction of second. The next lightning spark made her to witness a red eyed creature standing at the garden staring blankly at her and smiling wide. She stood frozen at the sight of it. She had a weird feeling that someone was out there watching them. Seconds later, she heard a long guttural sound as she witnessed those eyes disappearing in the dark. She turned around and looked at Leela who was still sitting in fear, drenched in sweat. Being scared herself, Meera wondered what made Leela frightened when she couldn't even have noticed that creature behind the window as she was blind. Once again, when she turned back to look at the garden, she saw nothing but the darkness.

To be continued...

Read --> Chapter 2

Enigma : A Tale Of Mystery - Trailer

Hello Buddies,

Being a nibbling Rat, I have been pondering with a story in my mind for quite some time now but I was lack of words to pen it down properly. Well many ideas are there inside my head but this one in particular I felt that I should mould it and give it a shape. When I shared this idea to my Writer friend Ashwin from My World... My Words, he was excited and came forth to pen it down. Now here I am planning to publish it as a new ‘short’ series in my blog. Thanks Ashwin for helping me in transforming my ‘dream’ into reality. ;)

Here it is... Take a sneak peak of the story yet to be published... Hope you will enjoy this read as much as we enjoyed developing it. We are waiting for your feedback.

Happy Reading!

Chapter 1

A loud thud from the next door shook Meera up from sleep. She turned on the lights and softly rubbing her eyes, she looked at the timepiece that lay on the bedside table, which displayed the time as 3:07 AM. She sensed something unusual and decided to check with the neighbors just to make sure that everything was normal. She searched for the torchlight and finally found it in her dresser. Carrying it in her hand, she stepped out in the darkness and marched towards her neighbor’s house... unaware of what’s in store for her there...

Poster Designed By Ashwin Kumar.

Read --> Chapter 1

A Precious Love

Living in the dark, I'm torn between my lust and desire...

Smitten by your beauty, I hold and protect you with a possessive touch...

And whispering sweet nothings to you, my beloved grudge...

Bitten by my greed, I wonder if it is your love or my obsession...

Yet you are the sole reason for my survival,

For I am Gollum and you are My Precious...!

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

A Dawn At Dusk

My friend Em Cee is back again after quite sometime with his brilliant lines and a beautiful sketch. Hope you all like it. Thank you Em Cee, for sharing this with us.

Btw, if you haven't met Em Cee before, then don't miss to read his previous work - Excerpt From The Diary Of An Insomniac and Weightless.

Happy Reading..! J

Sketch by Em Cee

Benign skies bring me to life,

And the sun bids goodbye with a strife,

Casting, in crimson waves, clairvoyant rays,

That speak of jubilant days,

And nights of wonder with bountiful dreams,

And a doting moon with merrier schemes!

                                                            - Em Cee

2014 - A Beginning

I was pondering too much last year, ‘what's in store for me’ and blabbered a lot with my random thoughts dancing inside my head. Well, now that those set of 365 days ended on a happy note and yet another set of my days just begun. Even though I had a mixed feeling in my personal life whereas my nibbles here kept me happy through out and I hope it brought some cheer to you as well.

You know, I am not that fond of celebrating the first day of the year as something special while we can find many reasons to celebrate every day we wake up from our sleep. Each day comes as blessing to us to repent for our sins, to correct our mistakes and make our lives better in many ways. We can not go back and erase of our bad memories but we can move forward as every day comes as a new beginning - a choice is being offered to us to make things pleasant and to discover the new self within us. Like that I discovered my writing one day, now I am glad that at least I am aware that I have the courage to put my feelings into words. (Well, if not all...)

Like I said, I may not rejoice the New Year celebration but I surely don’t want to miss going out and have fun with my friends and family like any other evening. Here are some fireworks from Manchester, UK clicked by my Brainy Friend .aka. Crazy Guy. I am glad that you shared with me the glimpse of what you saw and enjoyed. J

Thank you everyone for journeying with me, for being a part of my life. And now that I can’t wait to find out how this year is going to treat me and what my nibbles are going to offer you. Let me see, what’s in store for me in the yet to come days of the year 2014. *keeping my fingers and toes crossed* I wish this to be a beginning for many good things in my life and yours. May God bless us all.

Each morning as the sun spreads its rays over the globe giving a new beginning to all the living beings, we can witness a new hope is blooming within us. This dawn can only help brightening our inner self. So let us all be thankful for the day we are offered and look upon our family and friends with smile and cheer and stay happy that they are by our side, unconditionally sharing the special thing called love.

Spread your love. Stay happy. Keep smiling. Enjoy your blessed days ahead! 

This post is shared in Writer's Tribe's Wednesday prompt 'New Year'.