Her reaction had come as a surprise. That wasn't what he had anticipated nor even remotely considered. Khushi had screamed as if someone was after her life for several minutes and fainted. His legs were frozen for several seconds with Khushi's dead weight on him but he had recovered fast. He gently placed her on sofa and wet his handkerchief to wipe her face. She opened her eyes several moments later and stared at him intently.
"That was the second victim, wasn't she?" Khushi asked bleakly. Arnav nodded. "Her breasts were cut off and in their place red rose petals were bunched, right?" Arnav nodded again. He could see fire in her eyes. "You planned all this." It was a statement rather than a question.
Arnav took several steps back and leaned on the wall, looking at Khushi who was obviously angry at him.
"It wasn't a grand plan or anything. I just wanted to see your reaction; to observe the look on your face when you see the crime scene photographs which are more detailed than the ones you must have seen when you researched those murders for your book. The kind of details you wrote in your book was never released to media Khushi. Someone must have talked to you about these murders and the violence surrounding it which triggered you to write your bloody books." Arnav said bitterly.
"Is that what you think has happened here?" Khushi asked sitting up and glaring at him. Arnav shrugged.
"You have written two books spanning across five murders and the killer is still out there. I am guessing you are waiting to see how reality is going to unfold this year by the end of which your third book will come out." Arnav retorted.
"No wonder you readily invited me to help you out. When did you recognize who I was?" He couldn't recognize the emotion in her voice. It was probably because there were none. It took lot of practice and copious amount of cynicism to pull out such a toneless expression.
"I saw you first during your second book signing. You were sitting in a bookstore and signing your second book after a small speech. Shukla and I were at the mall, working actually, when we stopped when we heard your perception about psychology behind the crimes. You were saying that psychology was as accurate as predicting weather – the barb annoyed the hell out of Shukla but I half believed you then. You didn't have a vision on us, you were looking at the crowd directly in front of you and we were just standing in background. That evening I picked up both your books and I discovered to my horror, the content of your books." Arnav explained in an equally toneless expression. "The evening we met, I couldn't recognize you with your glasses. Once I was back in my room, it clicked."
Khushi chuckled mirthlessly. "You didn't have enough evidence that someone from your department had leaked the case files to me, did you? If you did, you would have blasted my front door and slapped a warrant on my face."
Arnav shrugged. "Nothing that drastic but I would have definitely confronted you. Besides crime scene, everything else in your books was different which I find it both odd and clever. I didn't have any credible basis to even knock on your door." Arnav replied holding her stare. Khushi didn't say anything for several moments.
"There was no need to lie to me when I asked you if we have met before?" There was accusation in her voice she said ignoring what he said.
"We have never really met. I saw you twenty feet away and I doubt you saw me that evening." Arnav replied blankly.
Khushi suddenly smiled and narrowed her eyes. Arnav was momentarily taken aback at her expression but maintained a blank stare.
"Isn't it strange officer?" She said getting up and picking the fallen photo.
"What is?" Arnav asked mechanically.
"Isn't it a tad bit strange that I know how Selena was killed? She was killed between six and seven in evening five days ago. She was alive when she was skinned and the killer took her skin with him. He used the knife from her kitchen and dropped it in sink after he was done. The girl was bound and gagged when he performed his ritual on her. Once he was done, he killed her with one swift cut through her throat. Her eyes were open when she was found." Arnav looked at her with open mouth. He had no idea who leaked this information to her but it would be easy to find out as the team which worked on the case was small.
"That's pretty neat Khushi. All of this is covered in preliminary report and someone must have emailed it to you." Arnav replied blandly.
"Oh, I wasn't done. Call your medical examiner officer and ask him the color of lipstick she was wearing before they were covered by duct tape. He would tell you that it was purple and it smelled like raspberry." Khushi said and walked out of the small room without waiting for a response.
Just to prove her wrong, Arnav called up medical examiner and asked the question Khushi wanted him to pose. To say that he was shocked at the answer was an understatement.
He collapsed on sofa in disbelief and wonderment.
He didn't know if Khushi had neatly psychoanalyzed the victim to predict her lipstick color or she knew it by means which he deemed unrealistic and phony.
He wondered if he could get truth out of Khushi anytime soon especially after acting like a total douche.
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