SHORT STORIES FRIDAYS (26)

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN . (2) : A CRIME THRILLER SHORT STORY BY ME

Inspector Vishwas couldn’t digest the fact the murderer had openly challenged him to a battle of wits. Now he knew that Monica Aggrawal was behind the spate of murders in New Delhi. He was trying to formulate a plan to nab her. Sub-Inspector Gautam finished filing the final report for the day before he left the police station.

Gautam saw his senior immersed in deep thoughts. He approached him and said, ” Sir, you seem to be lost in thoughts. Is this about Monica Aggrawal case? Don’t give up hope. Even the cleverest of the criminals gets caught because he or she is bound to slip up at some point of time due to pure negligence.” Vishwas smiled at his positive attitude and optimistic words. He said, ” Let’s have a cup of tea before we go our separate ways.” They always enjoyed having tea at Shankar Tea Stall opposite the police station.

Six months passed and there were no more news of serial killing until the month of October. Inspector Vishwas was enjoying a family vacation at Manali. He received a phone call at midnight at his hotel suite. His wife, Shalini, hated to be disturbed while she was deep asleep. ” Is it your first wife?” she asked sarcastically. She always considered his police job as his first wife. He looked at her regretfully and answered, “I am sorry, dear. But I have to take this call.” She nodded and went back to sleep. Their son, 9-year-old Harish, slept peacefully unaware of the fact their vacation was to be cut short.

The caller was DSP Ramakant Chaudhary. He said, ” I wish I could avoid calling you. Especially since you deserve this holiday, but our criminal has come back to wreak havoc on adulterers and cheats. This time, we have discovered three dead bodies of men within a week. There’s a slight change in her MO. She has been more ruthless in case of handling men. Each of the deceased looked liked they had committed suicide. The first victim, Prasad Sharma, 30, was a habitual drinker and a wife abuser, was found dead in his bed. He seemed to have consumed pills like Gita. But the gruesome part is that his genital is missing. There’s no drop of blood anywhere in the crime scene and no fingerprints were discovered. The second victim, Ashok Himsagar, 45, had ended his life by shooting himself with his pistol for which he had license. He has left behind a suicide note claiming that his guilty conscience pricked him for his infidelity towards his wife of 15 years. His private part was also missing. Since he had shot himself, blood was splattered everywhere with parts of his brain also found on the wall. This took place a couple of days ago and yesterday we found Faisal Ahmed, 35, lying dead in his garden with foam around his mouth. According to his servant, he went to water his plants and accidentally stepped on a huge snake that bit him immediately and he died. His genital was chopped but there was no blood as usual. You see, we need your presence here for stopping the vigilante maniac.”

Inspector Vishwas promised to come back the next day and requested for the crime scene photos. He wondered how did Monica pick out her targets this time. Last time, she had gone through her sister-in-law’s mobile and discovered her true character. Monica was so furious that she had murdered all the six friends. He wondered whether these men knew each other.

Why did she wait for six months before striking back? Vishwas managed to convince his family that he would take them to Three hill stations, Mussourie, Dehradun and Nainital for a month long trip, once he apprehended the culprit. When they came back to their house, Vishwas found an envelope addressed to him. He opened it to find a single sheet of paper with ‘ Catch me if you can’ written on it. He clenched his fist and promised to put her behind bars for her audacity.

The next day, he attended a team briefing where Sub-Inspector Gautam showed the clippings of the recent Suicide-murders. As Vishwas concentrated on each victim, he couldn’t help but feel something familiar about them. These men may or may not have known each other but infidelity was common between them and one of them, physically and verbally abused his wife. As soon as the presentation ended, he decided to check the criminal database to see if they had any criminal record.

But the moment, he logged into the computer, he was astonished to find that a file containing the criminal reports had been deleted. He called the IT technicians who confirmed that his account had been hacked. He called Gautam and informed him that someone had managed to gain access to the criminal database and the records have been deleted. That bitch, Monica, had managed to fool the cops. He asked Gautam whether he had anyone suspicious lurking around the police station. He replied in negative but Constable Ramprasad’s face had lost his color. Vishwas was quick enough to spot him and asked, ” Why, Ramprasad, do you know how my system got hacked? “

The constable said, ” I am sorry, sir. It’s my fault. A lady barged into the police station and claimed to be an IT expert. She produced her ID card and said that you were her cousin and asked her to do update the system with the latest version of software for upgrading our crime records. I had no idea that she was a fraud and managed to go through our crime records.” Vishwas lost his temper but managed to resist the urge of slapping him. He gritted his teeth and said, ” Can you recollect how she looked like? ” Constable Ramprasad nodded. SI Gautam sent for the police artist. Ramprasad helped to draw her sketch. She had worn modern glasses and let her hair loose. Vishwas looked at the sketch. He was sure that it was Monica in disguise. He sought the help of IT expert, Manish Mehra. He uploaded the sketch to the computer and using special graphics, removed the glasses and mole on her right cheek and removed the additional make up.
Yes, it was Monica! She seemed to be enjoying her moments of victory over Inspector Vishwas. Why did she target him? Did she commit these crimes on purpose to humiliate him? Watch out for the next episode of Catch me if you can.

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