32

When I began to like Susan, my co-detective from Dubai, I wanted the Aamir Khan sweater moment to happen, I just wanted it, I wanted to feel the experience and I was just going to make sure it happens. So one day I asked Susan if she wanted to see a bit of India with me and I could take her to the beautiful hill station of Coorg. I wanted to go with Susan to this beautiful place. So I went to her and said, “Hey Susan, how are you today?”

“I am fine Rahul, how are you?”

“I am very well. I was just wondering since not much is happening on the case right now, why don’t we take a much deserved small break for 2-3 days. What do you say?”

She asked with a suspicious smile, “We?”

I said, “Yes.”

“Holy creeps!! Are you actually asking me out to spend three days and three nights with you?” She had mischief in her eyes.

“Well, I never said three nights, but since you mentioned it, why not? In any case if we go out of town, and wherever we go, I cannot not make nights follow the day, so we would be together,” I answered with my fingers crossed. She smiled.

“Rahul, I don’t want you to misunderstand what happened the other night between us. I know we got carried away and kissed, but that’s it, I don’t think we have a future together and I don’t want you to get any ideas.”

There went the sweater all torn out of my hand in full motion and me tumbling down that mountain breaking all my bones. I was speechless for a moment, but gathered some courage, a defense play by the detective, “No Susan, You are misunderstanding me completely. I did not mean in any way that I wanted to take our relationship forward (liar, liar resounded in my mind). I just wanted to be a good host and show you a bit of beautiful India since you are here.” And then I added a Bollywood touch to it, “and of course we will be staying in two different rooms (bloody hell, resounded again in my mind). My intentions are pure and honest (of course).”

“Let me think about it.” She said. Now I had learned two things from Bollywood movies, that when a girl says no immediately, she is not wanting to say NO and second when she says let me think, she actually wants to say YES, and I wanted to believe in the Bollywood theory of love. So I said, ‘take your time, you have exactly 5 minutes to think’. Then she started smiling, lesson from Bollywood, kudi hasi to fasi (if a girl smiles, she is yours). She had such a beautiful smile, I just kept looking at her smile, her beautiful lips, once which I had touched, opening ever so graciously, parting from each other spreading across her cheeks to compliment her beautiful eyes smiling at the same time. I got lost looking at her and she realized that and got a bit uncomfortable, “Rahul, what are you looking at?”

I answered without realizing “your lips.”

“What?”

“Sorry, what I meant is your lips to say yes. Just waiting and counting time, but it seems time just stopped when I was looking at you.”

Susan blushed, “are all you Indians so romantic, or you are an exception?”

“Well, I can’t talk about other Indians, but what I can tell you is mein aashiq to nahin, magar e haseen, jab se dekha mene tujhko mujhko, aashiqui aa gayi.” (I am not a lover, but oh beautiful, since I have seen you, I have learned to love). What was happening to me, just like Arjun I was becoming a complete Bollywood buff.

She asked, “What does that mean?”

“I thought you understood Hindi well. Anyway, you are a detective, go find out now, and when you find the answer, come back and tell me whether you are going with me or no.”

It didn’t take her very long for the translation, she just had to walk out to my secretary Rose and get the answer. She came back in a flash and said, “OK, Mr Aashiq lets go, but remember your promise, we will book two rooms.”

I was ecstatic; the sweater was back in my hands again, take 2 I said. “Wow, that’s great, of course we will book two rooms (whoever said we will stay in two rooms, my mind kept resounding), and you have an Indian gentleman’s word for it.”

“Spill the beans, detective. Where are you taking me?”

“In my arms,” I said and saw her expression changing, so quipped in, “Just kidding, relax. As I said earlier, I am planning a place called Coorg which is in a South Indian State of Karnataka. It’s one of the best places in India you will see with rich tea gardens, amazing valleys and waterfalls, beautiful mountains, greenery all around. Trust me; you won’t regret your decision of going there.”

“I trust you Rahul and I am in your hands, take me where you want.”

This is what Susan was best at, having the ability to send contradictory messages and still feeling they are right. Till now the discussion was ‘we’, ‘separate rooms’, and changing expressions, and here she says she is in my hands and I can take her where I want. Why do women do this with us innocent men? In one moment they make us nervous, suddenly next moment we are on seventh heaven and if you respond, you are back to earth, and we men just keep following their command.

While I was lost in these thoughts, she said, “Just kidding, don’t start getting ideas now!!” There you are, wasn’t I expecting this?

“When are we going and what happens to this case we are working on?”

“We can leave on Thursday evening, take a flight to Mangalore and drive to Coorg. And don’t worry on the case, we will be in touch with the team for any developments, in any case there is not much happening right now. We need to wait for something to happen, some clue to surface and who knows maybe the clue is waiting for us to leave before it surfaces.”

“That sounds great, I am excited to leave and take a break. Thanks for planning this.”

“Me too,” I said and waited for Thursday to arrive.

The days went by very quickly, and it was Thursday. Nothing much had happened on the case during the last few days, it was a stalemate. We filed in an interim report suggesting that of all theories, the most plausible one was that of suicide. The Mumbai Crime Branch had accepted our report and needed a week to relook at all facts before closing the case as a suicide case. We were a bit disappointed that we were not able to solve this case, Susan in particular felt defeated. She felt her entire trip was to India had come to a nought. She needed this break to rejuvenate herself.

We had a last meeting with Arjun this afternoon to update him on the case. Of all the family members and friends, he was the only one who had consistently followed up with us for the case. It was astonishing that Mr Patel had shown almost no interest in the case as if he had already forgotten his child’s untimely death. That was one of the reasons he was a suspect in the case, no one had forgotten his words to Karishma that he could go to the extent of killing her for honor if she doesn’t leave Arjun forever.

Arjun’s love for Karishma even after she was gone was exemplary; he was a model to follow. It seemed even after Karishma’s death, his love had increased for her and he was sure it was not a suicide case; he wanted to make sure the perpetrators of this crime were hanged. He wanted revenge. We had to meet him today to update him of our decision to file the interim report on suicide, I knew that would break his already broken heart, but we had no choice. Love can be so cruel, and this was an ideal example of that.

Susan and I were awaiting him to come and we were discussing about Arjun’s love for Karishma when Rose informed us that Arjun had arrived. We braced for an emotional discussion, as Arjun entered the room.

“Hi Arjun, how are you today,” I started the conversation and Susan and I shook hands with him.

“I am living, that’s the breaking news from my side.” Susan always felt a bit of melodrama in Arjun’s words and I had explained to her that we Indians are indeed quite melodramatic.

I broke the news to Arjun, “Well we also have breaking news to give you (and I meant it pun intended). Brace yourself for this news. We have filed a report giving our recommendation that it appears to be a suicide case and unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, we will close the case as such.” For some strange reason, I wanted to see Arjun’s reaction, to study human behavior perhaps.

He didn’t react for a moment, there was a pause, as if he didn’t know what to say or do, and then two tears dropped down his eyes and he gasped for words, “I don’t know what to say or how to react, I know she will never take her life, but you are the experts on crime. I also do not see any reason why anyone would like to take her life, she was a wonderful person. What happens next?”

“We will wait for sometime before any evidence surfaces and if not, we will close the case as suicide. I am sorry Arjun, I can understand your feelings, but we have to go only by evidence and not by emotions. If indeed a crime has been committed, there is no evidence for the same, however, there is a very strong evidence in form of her letter that she is committing suicide. We did find some chemicals in her body, which led to her death and alongwith the letter she wrote, it’s a clear case as it appears now.”

Susan was quiet all the time, which was very queer for me. Either she was terribly disappointed that she had not been able to solve the case or there was some other mysterious reason for it. I was just hoping she was not thinking about cancelling our Coorg trip. She was making me lose focus on the case, which had never happened earlier to me. I was lost in these thoughts, and missed what Arjun said, and Susan nudged me as she realized I was not present in the moment.

“Sorry, Arjun can you repeat that please.”

“Does that mean that there will not be any further enquiry or investigation from your side?”

“I don’t think so,” I replied. “We have covered all possible aspects of the case, and at this moment, there is nothing further to be investigated.”

A visibly disappointed Arjun said, “Well, that’s it then. Is there anything else you want to discuss with me?”

“No Arjun, I think we can close this meeting Susan.” Susan just nodded her head. “We will contact you Arjun in case we need any further details from you, and you can contact me in case you come across something that we should know.”

Arjun got up to leave, we shook hands and he left the room. Susan finally said, “There is something about this case Rahul which I am not being able to put my hands on, I know there is something, but that something is escaping my attention for now. It’s like I can reach out to that now, but it’s just out of my reach. What is it Rahul?”

I was perplexed and had no clue what to say, “Well, if I knew it, the case would have been solved by now.” And we burst out laughing at my seemingly better sense of humour. That relaxed the atmosphere in the room. “Susan, we are flying out tomorrow morning, I will pick you up from your hotel around 7:00 AM as our flight is at 10:00 AM, and we should be at the airport 2 hours before the flight.”

“I hope you have booked two rooms,” Susan said with a mischievous smile.

“Do I have a choice Susan, your wish is my command.” I chuckled as well.

Susan left the office for her hotel, as I had to file in the papers relating to discussion with Arjun and other case papers, which I filed carefully in the safe, locked it and deposited the key with Rose. Rose seemed to be more excited about my trip to Coorg than Susan was.

“Sir, so you are all set for your romantic trip with the sexy detective,” Rose said. Rose knew about my flirtatious tendencies.

“I am not sure it’s going to be romantic, but I am ready for sure.”

I said bye to Rose and left for my residence to pack my bags, seemingly my steps bouncing ahead of my body. I had seen these steps before somewhere, couldn’t recall it where.

Next morning after a sleepless night, I called Susan at home to make sure she was ready and to inform I was leaving on the way to the hotel. I also told her what Rose had said about the trip, “Susan, Rose has wished me a very happy romantic trip with a sexy detective, what should I tell her.”

“Tell her Amen.”

The emotions of my heart were singing a tune of love which I had never heard before. Had I fallen in love with a sexy detective? On way to her hotel, I was humming along with a romantic song playing on the radio which was apt to my situation, “Pehla Nasha Pehla Khummar from the movie Joh Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.” This was the same song in which Aamir Khan throws his sweater in the air. Was it a sign of things to come, as this was the song which was becoming my love song and the Radio Channel had to play this just when I was going out with Susan for 3 days on a romantic trip? Susan believed in sixth sense, and probably this was my sixth sense. Anyway, I didn’t want to pull up my expectations considering the risk of being a heartbroken man. I had never been lucky in love and had given up hope till sometime back to find a soul mate for myself. But now life was giving me a chance, I had to take it as the chance may never come again.

I reached the hotel at sharp 7:00 AM and found Susan waiting for me in the reception; she was very always very punctual. This was the first time I was seeing her in a casual outfit, a beautiful white top laced with beautiful designs of flowers, and a tight fit blue jeans neatly ironed. Her clothes revealed the beautiful figure her body possessed, striking out the curves where they should. The slightly low cut of her top gave a glimpse of the curves which would extend out to form her breasts, and it raised a volcano of desire in my body. Her flowing hair falling to her shoulder in a neat pattern complimented her body beautifully. Her lips, painted red, matched the complexion of her face, how I wished I could remove the paint from her lips using my lips.

Rahul, you are in love, is what echoed in my heart. In a moment of looking at her, it seemed as if an eternity had passed and time had stopped the moment I looked at her. Her beauty together with the brains she possessed had me spellbound and made me feel like a teenager in love. This was a defining moment for me, this was the moment in which I knew I was in love, this was the moment when bells rang in my heart to the tune of love, this was the moment when I wanted to forget the world and live in the arms forever of this wonderful lady who possibly had the best combination of beauty with brains. I stood there, lost in time, as Susan approached me and said, “Rahul, what are you looking at, you seem lost.”

I was lost indeed, and just like as it happens in a Bollywood movie, the words which came out from me were a poem, a shayari,

“There are some moments in life

That are precious and rare

One wants to live in them forever

As if there is nothing else to care

These moments are lovely

And they are beautiful too

Because these are the moments

That I want to spend with you.”

Susan was dumbstruck, she didn’t know how to react, but I could see that she was blushing and she looked ever so beautiful when she did that. I didn’t want to lose the moment which I was going to cherish forever, so before she could say anything, I said, “Let’s go, shall we?” and we left on way to the airport.

It was an amazing drive to the airport. Susan and I were both sitting at the back in the taxi. It was a situation where we both knew what to expect but we still didn’t know how to express it, so silence were the only words spoken by both. But definitely there was a chemistry starting to happen between the two of us. It was an eerie silence, broken once in a while by either a small cough or a clearance of throat or by the regular honking of a Mumbai cabbie. I knew I was silent as I had realized I was in love and I was with the lady going for a short break with who I was in love with. This was something which had not happened to me before, so I didn’t know how to react. But why was she silent, was she falling in love with me as well, was she angry with me for the small poem I said impromptu to her, was she thinking about the case, was she not happy going out with me alone, maybe she didn’t like me? My mind was bombarded with thousand questions one after the other; I realized when a heart is in love, the mind works overtime thinking of so many things at the same time, building up so many scenarios. And the problem is no one answers these questions.

We reached the airport on the chariot of silence, and I being a chivalrous male, opened the door for her, which she liked. We checked in and realized that the flight was delayed by an hour. I broke the silence and asked her if she would like to play Scrabble. We settled in a café and ordered two coffees and sat next to each other so that we could play Scrabble. I knew she was good with words and we had a very interesting time making words. This game probably broke the ice and we started talking.