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I strode up to her and pulled her into my arms. She was shaking like a leaf.
“What happened?” I asked.
She pointed to the vase.
“That… that came crashing down from the roof!”
“Impossible!” I replied. “I saw those vases on the floor of the roof. They couldn’t have fallen off.”
She gave me an odd look and pulled away.
“Can we go home, please? I… I don’t feel safe here.”
“Sure,” I said, taking her by the hand.
She was still shaking. There was no one around to tell me what had happened. Maybe it was a vase from one of the lower floors. But who would place such a big vase on the edge of a balustrade anyway? It was an accident waiting to happen. If it hadn’t missed Tasha, she would be dead right now. The horrible thought made me stop in my tracks and pull her into my arms for a tight hug.
“You could have died,” I murmured into her hair.
She gave a little sob and then pulled away from me.
“Yes, too bad you missed,” she said gently, tears sparkling in her beautiful eyes.
* * *
It took me a few seconds to register her words. But they finally penetrated my dense brain, and I stared at her in shock.
“Excuse me?”
Tasha stuck her jaw out and crossed her arms across her chest.
“I said it was too bad you missed, DV.”
“Missed what?”
“Missed your target. Your vase didn’t hit me. It missed me by a few inches.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I asked softly.
“I think I’m finally coming to my senses,” she said, with a nasty smile. “It was always you, wasn’t it? The dead chicken showed up in my bed on the very day that you dropped by at the commune. I don’t know how you convinced Vishal to put it there, but you did. And I don’t know why, but it was you who killed him. You gave me an alibi for that night, but as you rightly pointed out, you also gave yourself one. That’s what it was about, wasn’t it? None of that crap about protecting me was true. You wanted to humiliate me.”
I took a deep breath and tried not to let my brain explode.
“Tasha, are you listening to yourself? Why would I want to humiliate you? I l…”
“Don’t say it! Don’t you dare say that word,” she interrupted me loudly, tears rolling down her face.
“Iloveyou,” I said, despite her unwillingness to hear it.
I had to say it now because I didn’t know if I’d ever get another chance to do so.
“Is that why you did it?” she asked sadly. “The Inspector said whoever was behind this is obsessed with me. Are you obsessed with me, DV?”
She gave me a twisted smile as she said it. The one that had always driven me crazy. Only this time, it broke my heart.
“I’m obsessed with you, body and soul, Tasha. But I swear I had nothing to do with this. I swear on your beautiful head.”
I tried to grab her hand, but she flinched as I reached out to her.
