Page 49 of Born in Grief

“Mrs. Gokhale-“

She jumped again, her elbow clattering against the table. “Umm.” She rubbed at her aching elbow, swallowing hard in an attempt to wet her dry throat. “Could you please not call me by that name?”

His eyebrows shot up as he leaned back in his chair. “But itisyour name?”

Dhrithi rubbed the edge of her long-sleeved shirt between her fingers, a nervous tic from a lifetime ago.

“It is but it also isn’t.”

The cop smiled, a faint, blink and miss, smile that she was probably imagining. “That’s not vague at all. Should I look forward to more answers with the same level of clarity?”

Dhrithi made a weird, strangled sound. She dropped her head into her hands, muffled laughter escaping her. She struggled for some semblance of control before looking up at him over the tops of her hands.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. Technically that’s my name but it never fit. It was just a title. I was never Mrs. Gokhale. They never allowed me to be.”

“Could you explain a little bit more about that to me?”

Dhrithi sighed, the last of her amusement fading away. “I married Varun Gokhale because he was blackmailing me.” She traced a jagged line on the table with her finger, not looking up at the policeman. “First with a school friend’s secret, then withmy mother’s affair, and finally with my father’s terrible business sense that led the family to the brink of bankruptcy.”

“Did you tell your family that he was blackmailing you?”

She nodded, her eyes still on the lines carved into that battered table. They looked a lot like the lines Varun had carved into her, literally and figuratively.

“I told my father,” she said, exhaustion creeping up on her.

“And?”

Something in his tone told her that he already knew what she was going to say. She looked up at him and found the energy for a faint smirk.

“Three hundred crores, Inspector. Three. Hundred. Crores. What do you think he said?”

“He sold you.” The words were quiet but damning.

Dhrithi shrugged, the pain from her family’s betrayal so far in the past, she barely felt it anymore. There was so much that had come after.

“It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if your mother’s affair or your father’s bankruptcy had come out in the open, would it?”

“My brother Dhanush.” It was all she said.

The Inspector riffled through the notes he had on his desk. “He lives in America and is currently studying Aeronautical Engineering. My information says Varun Gokhale was funding his education.”

Dhrithi nodded. “My brother is autistic.”

“Ah.” The cop’s eyes softened with sympathy.

“He also tests on a very high intelligence spectrum, genius level actually. He’s good with facts and figures. He’s not good with emotions. Especially emotions he doesn’t understand.”

He didn’t say anything. He just watched her.

“I love my brother, Inspector. He is also the only person in this whole world who loves me. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”

“What do you know about Varun Gokhale’s business interests?”

“It’s a multi-industry business spanning automobiles, cement, and dairy.”

“That’s the respectable side. What about the others?”

She held his gaze steadily. “I know nothing about any others.”

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