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She crumpled like a used tissue.
“Fine. I was just trying to protect my source,” she said sullenly.
The Inspector laughed a little.
“Right now, please focus on protecting yourself, ma’am. I ask you again, who tipped you off about the child?”
Kirti Mehta fidgeted with the strap of her purse as she looked towards our window. I wondered if she knew we were standing here, spying on her.
She turned back to the Inspector.
“It was someone on a message board. I don’t know her. Or him. Because you never know who’s hiding behind a username on a forum.”
“Tell me more,” invited Inspector Sawant.
“I’m part of a few celebrity gossip forums. If someone drops any goss about a celeb, I reach out to them if I feel it will make a good story. Yesterday, someone posted about this murder case and said they knew for sure that Princess Tasha and her security team were actively trying to suppress a witness. And that there was a child involved. They refused to give any more details, so I messaged them privately. And all they were willing to say was that a child was in protective custody because she had witnessed something related to the murder.”
“What was this person’s name?”
“They go by PrincessBride007,” she replied. “I don’t know their real name, or if it’s a man or a woman. It could be anyone.”
“Can you show me their profile?” asked the Inspector.
He took her phone from a tray on the table and gave it to her.
Kirti Mehta’s fingers flew over her screen and frowned. Then, she turned the phone around to show the Inspector.
“It… it says that they’ve deleted their profile. But… wait! I have screenshots of our conversation.”
Her fingers flicked over the screen again, and she passed her phone to the Inspector, who read the screenshots with a frown on his weatherbeaten face.
“I’ll need copies of this screenshot,” he said. “Please stay here until we say you’re free to go. And thank you for your cooperation.”
The Inspector left the interrogation room and walked straight up to me. He frowned at me harshly.
“Ma’am, with all respect, who the hell have you pissed off on such a grand scale?” he asked.
His query surprised a laugh out of me. A mirthless laugh, full of bitterness.
“I’ve lost count, Inspector. Pissing people off seems to be my superpower,” I replied drily.
“Someone is deliberately trying to stitch you up for a crime that you didn’t commit, Miss Tasha. And there’s nothing funny about it.”
“So now you’re sure of our innocence, are you?” asked DV.
The Inspector waved that aside.
“If you weren’t innocent, you wouldn’t have tipped me off about the child having heard the victim talking to someone. You would have found a way to silence her yourself.”
“Took you long enough to admit that,” grunted DV.
“I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings in the pursuance of my duties, Your Highness,” said the Inspector sarcastically.
DV flipped him the bird, and I rolled my eyes at the two of them.
“Enough with the flirting, please. We have a problem,” I reminded them sternly. “It’s all very well for you guys to embark on your bromance, but I am in serious danger of being branded a murderess by the media. And I want to know what you’re going to do about it.”
The Inspector stroked his moustache thoughtfully.
