Page 64 of Shattered

Chapter 32

Reyansh

I pace the living room, struggling to keep my frustration in check. The moment Kavya came straight to my house from work, I knew something was wrong. And when she told me about Suman’s visit and Akash’s watch, I saw red. The thought that she might be working for someone responsible for all that was happening made my skin crawl. There is no way I am letting her set foot in his office again—but that’s a discussion for later. Right now, we needed answers.

That’s why I called Officer Viraj and Sidharth to my house to run through this new lead. Kavya tried reaching out to Suman but couldn’t get in touch with her. And when Sidharth sent his men to check Suman’s house, they reported back saying Suman hadsuddenlyleft the city without informing anyone about her whereabouts. What’s more frustrating is that the evidence against Akash was turning out to be weak. The whole damn situation felt like a tangled web which we were struggling to untangle.

“I still can’t believe that neither of you has answers for me while that asshole is walking around freely,” I snap at Officer Viraj and Sidharth, who are on the couch with their laptops, sifting through information. Meanwhile, Kavya is in my room.Damn! It was gut-wrenching not to have her within sight. But witnessing Kavya going stir-crazy, knowing that despite the clues, we’re falling short in catching the culprit, was even more difficult for me to handle. She needed a breather, and I couldn’t bear the thought of her adding more stress to her plate. That’s why I urged her to rest in my room while we continued our hunt for the truth.

“Something isn’t adding up,” Sidharth’s brow furrows in deep thought as he closes his laptop and rubs his temples. “We have done a thorough investigation, but Akash looks innocent,” he comments as I slump on the couch opposite them.

My gut too tells me we were missing something crucial. That what our eyes are seeing is not the whole picture; it’s like looking at the tip of the iceberg, knowing there’s more beneath the surface.It’s clear that someone is trying to throw us off the trail.But my only question is... who could it be and why?

“What about the damn watch Kavya found? Isn’t that enough proof?” I hiss, locking eyes with Sidharth.His neatly styled black hair and that perfectly tailored suit give him such aprofessional appearance, but right now, all I care about is answers.

“Yes, the watch does belong to Akash. However, our investigation found no evidence linking him to the accident.We’ve triple-checked everything,” Sidharth answers calmly, unfazed by my frustrated tone.

Officer Viraj leans forward, shutting his laptop, his hands on his knees. “I also agree with Mr. Sidharth. The watch proves it belongs to Mr. Akash, but it doesn’t prove he is the culprit.In fact, we found out thatthe watch was gifted to Mr. Akash by a secret admirer shortly after the accident.”

“So, it could’ve been planted by the real culprit tothrow us off,” Sidharth adds bluntly.

I run a frustrated hand over my face. “I don’t care; all I know is that we need to get to the bottom of this, no matter what.”

“And we will, we just need a bit more time. These things can’t be rushed, nor can wejust pin the blame on someone out of frustration. We just have to keep looking until we find the right answer,” Sidharth states flatly, his black eyes holding mine.

My body tenses, and I shoot him anirritatedglare. “We fucking can’t keep on searching endlessly. Don’t you understand? This person is capable of harming the woman I love. What if he reaches her before we can catch him?”

“But that doesn’t mean we can go after every single person we’re suspicious of,” he counters firmly, taking a breath. “Reyansh, Akash isn’t our guy.”

“Mr. Kundra, we’ll track down the culprit,” Officer Viraj states, repeating his usual mantra that only serves to fuel my frustration.

“Can you two stop making sense and just give me a damn answer?” Isnap, barely able to contain my impatience.

“Well, we don’t have a name yet, but we do have something for you,” Sidharth says, and I shoot him an impatient look, cursing him for putting me through an hour of torment and not saying it sooner.

I raise my eyebrows at him, my voice dripping with annoyance. “Do you mind telling me what it is?”

Sidharth takes a moment, then says,“After going over the video footage, we couldn’t make out the face, but we’ve identified the location. It was shot in the storage room at Nisha’s college.”

I throw my hands up in frustration.“How does that help?That doesn’t narrow anything down.It could be anyone from the college who has access, which means thousands of people, including students, teachers, and staff.”

“We’re not dealing with thousands of people here; our focus has narrowed down to the staff members,” Sidharth says.

“How can you be so sure we’re heading in the right direction?” I ask, my uncertainty evident in my tone.

“Come on, Reyansh,have some faith in me.I’ve got a reputation for cracking tough cases,” Sidharth quips.

“Can you fucking focus on the case and set aside the bragging?” I grumble.

“Fine, if you don’t want to hear my praise, I’ll stop. But mark my words, you’ll sing a different tune once I crack this case for you. You see, I’m…” he starts again, but I glare at him, daring him to continue his nonsense.He quickly lifts his hands in surrender.“Alright, alright, coming to the point, we found a staff ID badge fallout of the guy’s pocket in the video. It’s only partially visible, but we’re tracing it as we speak.”

“And when we checked the staff records, we discovered that one staff member was previously detained from college for inappropriate behaviour, although the college has yet to reveal his name,” Officer Viraj adds.

“This is a damn good lead,” I agree.

“It is, but don’t get your hopes up too high. We still don’t have the name. And the college won’t give us the name easily either.Apparently, they were paid a hefty amount to keep it under wraps. Also, the college didn’t want their reputation tarnished by that staff, so they secretly resolved the matter without getting the news out,” Sidharth cautions, tempering the hope with a dose of reality.

“We are currently questioning the students, staff,and anyone else who might know something. Hopefully, someone will be brave enough to provide answers,” Officer Viraj mentions soberly.The room falls silent for a moment before he rises to his feet and stretches slightly.“I think we are done for tonight. I will take my leave now,”

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