Aadar Atreya

Drama

2.0  

Aadar Atreya

Drama

The Undertaker: Chapter 9

The Undertaker: Chapter 9

8 mins
155


Unexpected!


A huge map was hung on the wall. Khan sat with his back facing the very wall and was surrounded by the city SHO. Gabriel and Chetry sat in proximity with Khan. Khan informed his varied team about Jaan's last location and welcomed everybody to share their outcomes. The SHOs said that all the exit routes of the city have had been blocked. They told about covering the whole area around the Sakha restaurant and said that the maximum forces have been deployed there. Khan was not being characteristically the listener he was. State media houses irked him for hours while Gabriel and Chetry were away. They popped questions about Jaan Patnaik on a consistent basis. He was somehow successful at keeping them aloof from Patnaik's parents. Police concealed information about the case from the media. The media houses finally were content with the murder and massacre alone. Jaan was flashing at the television sets of the city. His regular photo along with the spectated looks were the main headlines doing the rounds perpetually. This helped the manager of Sakha to doubt the customer he encountered at 3 pm. When asked about the interaction by officials, some inimical details came up. He quoted to the officials "The guy came inside with a little puppy on his side. Looked at my eyes and asked for lots of food. He behaved nicely. I did not feel threatened or anything. In fact, better than the grumpy city people. His visage showed happiness and satisfaction. But, at the same time, he was doubtful. His clothes were dirty, face half-covered and he smelt bad like very bad. It was quite a paradox. We did not exchange many words but as he was about to leave, he said something... He said that he will be on TV very soon. It was an erratic ending. His tone of narcissism and blank face gave me the chill. When his photos started making the rounds, I doubted and called you people". The physical description given by the manager had the tuxedo of Mr. Sengupta fitting in common. The manager also could verify that the visibility of his nose and eyes matched with every speculated look given on the television. Words from him made one thing pristine before the police. They knew they dealt with an extremely psychopathic personality. Gabriel paid attention to the angle of the dog's involvement. Khan asked for Jha and dispersed the SHOs. Jha was done interviewing Mausam and the siblings. He greeted Khan in the most formal manner he could think of. Gabriel was not anybody very close to Jha and the recommendation was completely out of Jha's reputation. Jha, however, was pleased deeply for Gabriel's kindness and his smile replicated the same. "Jha, I really am awaiting for some useful information. Please take us through your session" Khan said. Jha felt the intensity of the manhunt as Khan did not greet him the way he did back when he was not the authority but guest at their academy. He nodded and looked at both of them before taking them through the session. Khan decided to keep the interaction similar to a clinical interview. He asked Gabriel to come up with queries and expansion following every detail being heard from Jha. "I first visited three of his siblings at the Patnaik's'. They knew nothing more than Jaan's parents. So, can I directly move to Mausam?" Jha asked. "Well, I will judge that!" Khan shouted loudly. Gabriel too was unhappy with the lack of affliction from his recommendation. A docile Jha decided to follow the senior and said "OK!". Khan, however, decided to make the setting comfortable and gave a soft apologizing look. Jha looked down and continued with more depth in his voice.“I first visited the siblings. The sister just kept blaming herself for all the actions of her younger brother. She talked about dumping him in thrash a night before and probably Jaan heard it. His brothers said about his deep interest in morbid true crime. Jaan visited different graveyards of the capital when his college was off. They did not know about the Theriocide stuff but told me about the Hybristophilia. He would talk about Dahmer so frequently that the name got stuck into their heads too” Jha gave his first account. “Any specific information that you found useful?” Khan asked Jha. He tried recollecting the meeting and procured every minor detail. He spoke up saying “Jaan’s brother said that Jaan was very excited about 29th December”. Gabriel noted the date in his notepad. “Does any family member or friend share this birthday?” Khan asked the question to both of them. Jha moved his head sideways. Gabriel thought for a while rubbing his eyebrows and said “Not any close person as per my knowledge. Did Mausam know anything special about the date?”. Jha said that Mausam too was unaware of the date but knew a lot more things. Khan asked him to speak about the second account. “Mausam was first reluctant to speak about Jaan. He is heavily concerned about his friend. The boy avoided me every way possible. I firstly made him sit in his room and talked about horror movies and games- saw wall posters of the same. Then, we had a cup of coffee. I told him Jaan’s situation explaining every minute detail of the case and the labyrinth his best friend is caught in. He calmly said the millennial phrase ‘Shit got real’. Then, he disclosed to me the important facts. He and Jaan did some urban exploring during the school days. They do not know about the city’s famous public spots like the rest of teenagers but everything about graveyards. In fact, one Halloween they slept all drunk in the St Xaviers cemetery. Jaan was not someone who knew his city’s roads and streets but only graveyards, the areas around his house, his school and a few places. In short, both are kind of outcasts. The most informative thing I got to know from Mausam was that Jaan has kept a list of juvenile homes in the state already” Jha ended both of his accounts. “This means Jaan won’t be able to go hunting at his intended victims’ home and most probably he is hiding at a graveyard. This is because no matter how mad one guy is, he will isolate himself as much as possible due to the lack of experience and the inevitable fear” Gabriel pointed out. Khan wanted to be sure of the leads and gave a notable opinion saying “He might have studied about his victims’ addresses before killing them and kept it from Mausam”. Jha, however, disagreed with his senior saying “Sir! As per my interview with Mausam, both of them met a day before the murders. Jaan did tell him he would evade from home if his marks came dissatisfactory but not anything regarding murders. And he has been with Jaan all through the years till the latter’s disappearance”. Gabriel acceded to his recommendation and was quite content with his skills. He was sure now that they were at par in terms of interrogation skills. Khan stood up and moved towards the map slowly. He brooded looking at the map as both Gabriel and Ronit waited for the response. Khan turned back and said out loud “Let us search this Undertaker”. A smile came on Gabriel’s face and he tapped Jha’s shoulders.


SMRITI RESIDENCE


Four policemen surrounded the Smriti residence. It was a little Assam type house situated in a large green field and the main gate was in a distance from the house. A big road laid before it which was an entrance for the biggest school in the city, the school of Jaan Patnaik. There were no houses in proximity within it. Two havildars were awake while two of them were dozing off. The moon seemed to be gazing at the fast asleep havildars. All that prevailed was tranquillity and one of them smoked an Indian bidi while enjoying the chilling dark night of December. The tranquillity was taken over by a noise of engine speeding till the main gate. The alert havildars immediately ran to the main gate. Two men dressed in some grey uniform and a grey cap halted with a package in their hands. One of them had a handkerchief wrapped in his face. “What? What are you guys doing at this hour?” one of the havildars enquired. A perspiring man stood in the front. “O..O.Order” he said in a stutter. The havildar, himself, a new recruit felt something odd about the situation. He looked at the perspiring person again and asked him to back off. The man looked at the havildar and said nothing. He blankly stared at the havildar before him. All the havildars came towards the unexpected guests in an aggressive manner. “The owners are sleeping and under special protection. Can’t let you go” declared the havildar. No response came from the opposite party and the perspiring man looked at his silent friend. His friend stood lifeless all the while whistled. The perspiring man threw the package at the havildars in quick successive motions. The havildars swung their sticks messily in the dark. They had blur vision in a dark night accompanied by severe burning eyes. Chilli powder doomed them out. The other guy took out a large bludgeon from his package and switched on the flashlight he held in his left hand. He struck his companion madly till the man succumbed. Similar blows followed around with the same fate. The moonlight seemed pale and the tranquillity turned to turmoil pretty quickly. The person removed the handkerchief from his face and gave a satisfying smirk. He looked towards the main door as an old woman stood with a jaw-dropping expression. “Should I say Good morning or Good night?” Jaan Patnaik asked his prey.


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