AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What leak?”
“A journalist just came out with an allegation against Tasha. She alleges that Tasha bribed the sole witness in Vishal Agarwal’s case. She quoted Sia as saying that the ‘princess auntie’ gave her a lot of money.”
I rubbed the base of my skull where I felt the beginnings of a headache.
“Wait a minute. Tasha never introduced herself to Sia. None of us did. So how does she know that Tasha is a princess? Someone has been coaching her to say that.”
“That may be. But it doesn’t change the fact that our secret is out. Money did exchange hands,” Jaideep pointed out.
“That’s not what happened, and you know it,” I snapped.
“I know that, DV. But how do we convince the world? That journalist was very smart. She didn’t ask Sia why Tasha gave her the money. Because the real reason wouldn’t paint Tasha in such a bad light. She just showed her Tasha’s photograph and asked if she knew her. The child agreed and said this is the princess auntie who gave me a lot of money. The video pans out after that, and we have the journalist saying that Tasha has obviously paid off the sole witness in the case. Even if we present our side after this, who’s going to believe us?”
I cursed under my breath. He was right.
“I’ll have that self-righteous bastard transferred to a naxal area,” I growled.
It had to be Inspector Sawant. He was getting back at us for pulling rank.
“Jaideep, find that journalist. Ask her who gave her the lead about the child. Meanwhile, I’ll call the DGP and have him rip Sawant a new asshole for endangering their witness by revealing her identity to the press.”
I hung up and sent a text to the DGP because it was too early to call him. When I looked up from my phone, Tasha was standing in the doorway, staring at me with haunted eyes.
“Why does this keep blowing up in my face, DV?” she asked softly.
I had no answer for her. Inspector Sawant was playing with her life just to score points off of me. I had thought he was a decent officer under all that bluster, but it seemed like his years on the force had destroyed even the slightest remnants of a conscience.
Fuck this! I was going to rip him a new one myself. I rang his number and waited for him to answer.
“It wasn’t me, Mr Singh,” was his opening statement.
“Fuck you, Inspector,” I replied through clenched teeth. “You’ve messed with the wrong guy.”
“Stop making empty threats and listen to me. It wasn’t I who leaked the news. It was one of my constables. That journalist sweet-talked him into blabbing about the case,” he said with disgust. “He took her to meet the child and her mother. We’re trying to do damage control.”
I barked a laugh.
“The damage is all done now. There’s nothing left to control,” I said sarcastically.
“Strange as it may seem to you, Mr Singh, my priority right now is keeping that child safe. I don’t care if you and your girlfriend get dragged through the muck. You brought that on yourselves with your stupidity. But I have to make sure no one - and by that, I mean the murderer - gets at that little child.”
“If you don’t want to end up patrolling a naxal area, I suggest you do whatever you can to help us, Inspector. Tasha’s life might not matter to you, but it matters to me, and so help me, if you don’t cooperate with me, I will have your self-righteous ass sent to Chattisgarh in a bullock cart before this day is out,” I growled.
“Your threats don’t scare me, princeling. I don’t care if you own my DGP’s ass. I will do my duty wherever I get assigned, even if it is a naxal-infested shit-hole,” was his proud reply.
If I wasn’t so pissed at him, I would have admired his ballsy reply. But I realised that threatening him wasn’t going to get us anywhere. I spoke more calmly.
“I need ten minutes with your constable, Inspector. All I want to do is talk to him. This is not payback. This is just us investigating the matter from our end. If we want to bury this story, we need to know what he has said, and to whom.”
“Five minutes, and I will be sitting right next to him,” he replied irritably.
“Done! I’ll see you at the station at seven. Don’t be late,” I added, just to needle him.
“Fuck off,” he muttered before ending the call.
Tasha had been pacing up and down the small space. Now, she came over to me.
“I’m going with you,” she stated firmly.
