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"Hi Chic, Busy?" Inspector Devaki looked up from the file she was flipping through and a warm smile came to her as she looked at the grinning face of Inspector Raghavan, her mentor in her new job. "No, Pops," she said in her sweet Voice. "I am never busy when you need me," Inspector Devaki has only last week joined duty in this Madurai Police HQ as a Trainee and she was happy that a genial man like Raghavan was her mentor. He had been kind from the day she joined and gave her all the cooperation she needed in her training. He was in his late forties and his face showed the strain he had gone through all these years as an upstanding Police Officer. She has already gathered all information about him, how he started as a policeman and climbed the ladder rather slowly to this present position of Inspector, all because of his honesty and unwillingness to join forces with the evil in the department. "Thought you would like some action, Chic," Raghavan Said. " There is a man being interrogated for murder and I thought you would like to see how it is done," "Yes, of course, Pops" Devaki rose from her chair and continued, "better than sitting here flipping files," Still grinning, Raghavan watched the girl as she closed and placed the files in order getting ready to go with him. In her mid twenties the girl was rather innocent looking, tall and very beautiful. The tight fitting police uniform made her already blossoming youth more obvious. Yet there was strength in her, he could see and determination, a must for a successful Police Officer. She would go a long way, he thought and sighed as he also knew the perils that stood in her way, being a woman and so very beautiful. "Shall we go?" her voice brought him off his reverie and he led her without a word. As they went out of the room and passed along the long Office, faces turned to look at them, men with hungry eyes and women with jealously. Unmindful of the looks she was getting Devaki went with Raghavan, looking forward to the excitement. Raghavan stopped before a closed door that proclaimed "Interrogation Chamber." and looked at the girl. "It wonīt be easy on you chic," He said amiably. " Be prepared for the worst," Not waiting for her answer, he opened the door and stood aside so she could go in first. Devaki entered the Chamber and looked around. It was a spacious room with a few chairs. In the middle of the room a man was standing with his hands tied to chains that hung from the roof. He wore only a shorts and his naked, strong body glistened with perspiration. Three policemen stood about him laughing and chatting and two officers sat a little away from them watching the scene. The talking and laughter died as they entered and they looked curiously at the girl. The two officers rose when they saw her and smiled at her. " I brought her here so she would get acquainted with the procedures," Raghavan explained. "Hope you donīt mind," "If she can stand it, she is welcome," One of the officers grunted and with out waiting for an answer turned and nodded to the policemen. Turning swiftly, one of them struck his fist into the manīs stomach and another thrust his knee into his groin. The man yelped in pain but did not cry out. The third man swung his Lathi on him, beating him mercilessly. Devaki flinched, seeing this sudden violence and looked at the man pathetically. "Ready to confess? One of the officers barked and added, " You would better" The man looked contemptuously at them and spat. A fist landed squarely on his face and the policeman shouted "You bastard," A policeman splashed a bucket of cold water on the prisonerīs face and the man winced but was silent. Again the men beat him with fists and the lathi. "What now?" One of them asked when they finished. "I did not do it" the prisoner replied with determination Raghavan did not wait any longer. Ignoring the men in the room he took Devakiīs hand and ushered her out of the room and closed the door behind him. They were silent as they returned to their room. "Well, What do you think," Raghavan asked. "You think he might be guilty?" "No, I donīt," Devaki answered slowly and asked, "What is the case against him?" "Murder!" Raghavan replied, " Did you read about the woman who was found dead in a hotel room about a month ago, in the newspapers?" "Sasikala, is her name, is not it?" Devaki said and continued, "Yes, I read it." "This man was the last one seen talking to her and they have a lot of witnesses to that," Raghavan said slowly, "And at the time he was angry and the woman was crying. So you see, there is ground for suspicion," "What does he have to say about it?" "Nothing." Raghavan replied, "He has said it is personal," "Oh, I see" Devaki was thoughtful and Raghavan seeing he has made the girlīs day worse left her to her thoughts and with a nod went out. Devaki was thoughtful all that day and sat flipping though the files with out reading anything. Later that night when she was in bed, she again thought of the prisoner. He must be in his late twenties and is ruggedly handsome, she mused. He was tall almost 6 ft, may be 5 ft11 inches, had broad shoulders, a slim waist and long legs, a real athletic body, she thought. He had powerful muscles that swelled against the strain, she remembered and there was no fear in him. His answer had been curt and to the point. She thought of the expressions on his face. She thought there was a flicker of admiration when he saw her the first time that changed to indifference almost immediately. She liked the way he answered with such determination and blushed as she felt herself stirring inside thinking of him. She wondered if a man as this would have killed a woman in cold blood. Did not seem likely, at least to her. "Is this wishful thinking?" she wondered. She tried to shut out these thoughts and tried to sleep unsuccessfully. When she realized she is not going to sleep, she looked at the time. It was 10.30 P M. "will Raghavan be awake now?" Restless she decided to find out and lifted the phone on the bedside and dialed his number. "Hello," Raghavan took the phone almost immediately. "Sorry, if I am bothering you, Pops" Devaki began. "No, you arenīt bothering me, chic," Raghavan replied, "What is it?" " It is about that prisoner," Devaki began hesitantly. "Just what I thought," Raghavan responded, " Still thinking of him?" "Yes, he does not look guilty, Pops" Devaki said. " Know anything about him?" "A lot." Raghavan said, "His name is Sathya and he does not have a bad record, chic. Just a reckless youngster ready for anything kind; Has a decent job as Machine Operator in a workshop and has a good name in his circle too. Anybody needs help fighting, he is the man. What is more, women like him and he has never bothered women or girls to my knowledge." "Then, why canīt you do some thing?" Devaki demanded and before he answered she knew it herself. "I am not dealing the case, Chic," Raghavan said. " Besides, the Crime Branch SP dealing this case is not one who would listen to reason, not from a man like me" Devaki was silent for a while. She thought of Crime Branch SP Jagadish. She has seen him and knows a little about him already. The man is arrogant and his weaknesses were money and women or so they told her. He would do anything for money and women were not safe with him. The women in the HQ stayed clear of him, although he was a strikingly handsome man. He had a reputation as a tough officer and a man better left alone. "Alright pops, thanks for the information," Devaki said. "And sorry for troubling you at this hour." "It is okay, chic," He answered, " What ever you do, be very careful, he advised her before hanging up. Devaki was thinking for a long time and then deciding her course of action, at last went to sleep with the prisonerīs admiring look still in her mind. The next day she managed to get the Sasikala murder case files from the SPīs P A and went through it. The woman had checked into the room on her own on the fateful night and to the knowledge of the hotel staff, no one had visited her. The hotel staff knew her as a prostitute but had still given the room because she had visited the hotel many times with her customers and never had any problems before. She had always paid her bill in advance and her customers behaved themselves too. Postmortem report said she had died of knife injuries and there was no sign of sexual molestation or fresh semen. She was living alone in a small house in a slum area and had minded her own business not mingling with the neighbours either. Devaki also found information about the prisoner, address of the place he worked and the addresses of some of his friends and the places he usually hangs out at. She noted down some of the information she thought she might need and then returned the file. Raghavan seeing her interest gave a word of caution, "SP Jagadish does not like people meddling with his case, Chic. So be careful," That evening after her duty, she dressed in a simple saree and went to the place where the prisoner had worked. Introducing herself as a friend she has inquired about him and as luck would have it found a man who knew his relationship with the murdered woman. "Oh, Sasikala is his friends sister, Miss," the man Ramadas had said. " Sathya never went for women, he is not that kind, Miss. He respected women and women like him," Ramadas added. "Then where is Sasikalaīs brother?" She asked. "He is in the border," Ramadas said and added, " He is in the Army, miss and because of the war clouds, he could not come. That is what Sathya told me, when I saw him in the jail." "So you saw him in the jail and talked to him?" She asked. "Sure, miss, but he would not say anything else about the woman." Knowing she has collected all information possible from Ramadas she let him go and went home. On the way home, she decided she had to talk to Sathya if she wanted to find out more and she had a feeling he would talk to her. Seeing him was her next problem. After a lot of deliberation, she decided the only way to see Sathya alone would be with the permission of SP Jagadish and that, she knew would need tact. The next day she found out the time SP Jagadish went home for lunch and called him at his residence at that time from a public telephone booth. This she had to do so the people in the HQ would not misinterpret her intentions. On the phone he was as arrogant as she expected. When she said who she was his reaction was " Oh yeah, the fresh beauty or should I say smarty?" He was mocking she knew but holding back her anger answered in the affirmative. " Well, what ya want?" He was frosty. " Yesterday, I saw the man your men were interrogating with regard to the Sasikala murder case Sir," She said as politely as she could and continued, "I think, I will be able to get some information, that would help solve this case Sir," "Going to use your charm on him or may be you going to show him what ya got?" there was venom in his tone and he laughed. "The bastard," she thought but said, " No sir, I just think I could talk him into give me some information" He was silent for a while and then said, " And you want the credit for cracking this case?" "No sir, I will pass on what ever information I collect and you can solve the case yourself," She assured him hiding her disgust of this man. Again he was silent for a while and then said "Alright, I will give instructions to my P A, but remember, you will have to return the favour some day," She detected the crude suggestion in his words but said, "I understand sir," and without waiting for his answer disconnected the phone. She was furious and did not want to go to the HQ immediately. So she went to the nearby Coffee bar, had a cup of coffee and then slowly went back to the HQ. In her room a message waited for her to see the SPīs P A immediately. She went and got her instructions and followed the Officer who took her to the Remand cell, where Sathya was kept. He looked up he when heard their footsteps but turned away. She saw the surprise in his face and the unmistakable admiration as well before he turned away. The officer opened the cell door, let her in and then locking the door once again, retired. She was blushing and waited till the manīs footsteps receded and then again looked at Sathya who still sat in the steel bench that served as both bench and bed. He did not get up and she went and sat down on the other end of the bench. " Mr. Sathya, I would like to talk to you, " she said quietly. He looked up at her expressionlessly and was silent. "Yesterday I met Ramadas, your friend. He told me who Sasikala is and I know you did not and would not kill her," She continued, "What I canīt understand is, whom you are protecting by being silent. "If you know who killed her and really want to protect that person, just say so and I will go away," she said, "On the other hand if you are trying to hide something just to protect the reputation of Sasikala, then you are allowing a murderer to escape and suffering for nothing, As she said this the tempo of her voice increased as she was getting angry at his silence. Hearing this Sathya sat upright and looked into the girlīs eyes. "What do you mean?" he broke the silence at last. "I mean if this woman meant anything to you then you must help find the killer," She said bluntly. He sat looking at her for a long time and then said; " I think I know who killed her, but not sure," Devaki knew she has scored and waited for him to continue. "On that day, she came to see me because her brother in law was again troubling her," He said slowly. "He is a bastard, and wanted to make money out of her. He wanted her to be a courtesan for some rich guy who was a known sadist. She did not want anything to do with that man, but that bastard wonīt understand and he had been bothering her for a long time," Devaki sensed the grief and anger in him and said nothing. And he continued, "On that fateful day the man had come in the morning and told her to be ready to go with him that night and he had threatened that he would forcefully take her away if she refused. She was scared and so I advised her to stay in the hotel that night and I promised I would find a safe place for her on the next day. But on the next day when I went to the hotel I found out she was killed and stayed away since I did not trust the police. If only I had let her stay in my place as she wanted?" "Why did not you let her stay in your place?" Devaki asked. " My mother did not like her being what she was and I did not want to take her home." "Will you give me the address of this man who is Sasikalaīs brother in law?" Devaki asked. Again he hesitated but then gave her the address of the man and the sadist. Devaki realized she has got all the information she wanted. She thanked Sathya and told him she would do all she can to get the true culprit. " Do that and I will do anything you want anytime," He promised grimly. With that Devaki left him. Devaki had no desire to meet SP Jagadish in person and so she wrote the whole thing as a report and sent it to Jagadish through Raghavan. Three days later, Sathya was released and the real killer was caught and the Newspapers were full of news as to how SP Jagadish had efficiently tracked and nabbed the killer. SP Jagadish got all the credit for her work. She only smiled when she read it and the HQ was buzzing with praise for him. Raghavan also knew the truth but he never opened his mouth. That night, Devaki had a phone call from SP Jagadish, "Hi Smarty, What ya say?" Jagadish asked in his arrogant manner. " Am I supposed to say some thing?" Devaki retorted innocently. "How about that hotel room?" he persisted. Devaki said firmly, "SP Sir, you did a favour when you permitted me to talk to Sathya. Now I have given you the clue you wanted that lead to the arrest of the real killer and you have all the credits. That makes it quits, donīt it?" "Ah, come on, you can do with a lay," he returned. "Go to hell" Devaki replied genially and slammed the phone on him. When the phone rang again, she let it ring and humming a tune went to sleep with Sathyaīs ruggedly handsome face staring at her. There it is folks, Inspector Devaki will be back soon.
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