Mystery : Cozy Mystery: Forsaken (shocking, mystery, thriller, cozy, short stories) (suspense, short reads, detective, murder)

Forsaken

Athena Dorsey

Copyright 2016b
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Athena Dorsey

All Right Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval Systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Forsaken

The sky was colored in crimson , the birds were chirping and returning to their nests , the waves were busy dashing against the shore but Mansi was staring into the oblivion ; into the endless sea where the mighty sky and the humble earth meet or rather appear to meet. She was unperturbed and indifferent to everything around.

She was distracted by her ringing phone.

“Where are you Mansi ? When are you coming home “

“Soon” she replied

“Its 9 PM we are waiting for dinner” the voice on the other side of the phone said.

“On my way. Bye”

Mansi stood up and dusted herself and saw at the last call – Rajiv 53 seconds.

She knew Rajiv since childhood days. Their parents were friends. When Mansi's parents died, Rajiv's father , MohanLal brought Mansi to his home. She was of the same age as Rajiv's sister Surili. Rajiv's mother died a few years later due to a prolonged illness . Rajiv's elder sister Shweta took care of Surili , Mansi and Rajiv like her own kids.

Shweta was married some years later and Mansi now lived with his father figure Mohanlal , her best friend Surili and the love of her life and her fiance Rajiv.

Today at work while working on a case she found out that the person behind money fraud was no other than her client's husband. There were cases everyday in their Detective agency of cheating , frauds and murders and every time a husband , wife ,relative or lover was convicted she was left disappointed and sad. She kept pondering on how someone you once loved with all your heart turn so bitter. It reminded her of a Cozy Mystery Short Story she'd read a while ago where the antagonist turned the life of his love upside down for revenge. Maybe real life is no different.

In thoughts of love and Rajiv and how life changes , she reached home.

After the silent dinner she went to Surili's room. Surili was staring at the things in her cupboard.

Boxes of jewelry , Silk saris and her wedding attire lay there. Mansi tapped her shoulders to register her presence in the room.

“Whats the matter? Are you ok? “ Mansi paused for a moment . “ Are you happy ? “ she continued.

Surili nodded with teary eyes and turned. The decision was made and everyone had agreed to it . There was no point in discussing it just a week before the wedding. And afterall her fiancee, Gaurav was not a stranger.

She knew him. She knew him well. After all she was also the husband of her elder sister, Shweta.

Many years into marriage and Shweta was not able to bear children. Talks of Gaurav's remarriage were doing the rounds. Few days later her father spoke to her about the proposal of marrying Gaurav. Remarriage he said was inevitable but what better than Surili going in that house. If this happens , Gaurav said he would keep Shweta in his house too and not abandon her. It was the best for both his daughters Mohanlal thought. Also with Surili's crippled leg and unpleasing exterior looks , he considered it to be a good step.

A new day dawned and everyone left the home for work except Surili. She had somehow reconciled and accepted this as her destiny. She decided to tell her father and brother that she would participate whole heartedly in the event for the sake of her sister's happiness and honor of the family. She called Mansi .

“ At what time will you be free today? I have to pick my ring from the jeweler's “

“ I’ll come whenever you tell me” Mansi said feeling happy on sensing the excitement in Surili's voice and sad about this sacrifice.

“ 5'o clock ill pick you up then” Surili hung up the phone.

It was still 4:30 but Surili was excited to be with Mansi . It was afterall her best friend's wedding and with the newly found happiness she hoped to be a part of Surili's special preparations with full enthusiasm.

It was 5:15 and there was no sign of Surili. Mansi called her. There was no answer. She kept calling but no there was no response. It was 7 pm and Mansi decided to go home.

Surili was not at home too. Now this was serious. Mansi called Rajiv and explained. Rajiv reached home. They called all friends and relatives to check about Mansi but she was nowhere to be found. Gaurav and Shweta were called at home too. Mohanlal was reluctant to file a police complaint. The honor of the two families would be at stake he said.

Mansi was puzzled. Had this incident happened a day before , she would have understood it was Surili's unwillingness for marriage which would've led her to leave the house , but today she seemed fine with the marriage thing. The night passed in anticipation. Early in the morning , Gaurav and Shweta who slept in Surili's room at night , spotted Surili's cell phone. Gaurav took the phone to everyone . There were umpteen missed calls by Mansi , Mohanlal and Rajiv.

“ If the phone was there in the house then why did we not hear the ring? “ Mansi took the phone in her hands. “ It is not on silent mode too then what...... “ She was interrupted by a loud shout.

The house maid came running and was panting and crying “ Surili Surili “ and pointed towards the backyard. Everyone rushed there. Surili was lying on the ground lifeless. Mansi started crying and sat on the floor close to Surili's body. There were some signs of strangulation she could easily conclude as per her sleuthing experience of over a decade. Things looked odd to Mansi. 

“ It was a suicide. She didn't want to marry me . She should have just said no “ sobbed Gaurav.

Mohanlal decided to get the funeral done the same day. He did not want the news of suicide to spread and told everyone to report it as an accident.

But Mansi wanted more. She wanted a detailed postmortem report as she was suspicious of the series of events which took place. It couldn't have been a suicide as Surili was happy that day.

The reason of the death was probably falling off from the terrace in the backyard but Surili never went to the terrace by herself owing to her crippled leg. There was a link missing which would connect these stories and Mansi had to find that.

When she spoke to Mohanlal and Rajiv about this , they dismissed this at once and told her not to mix her profession with events of the personal life. It was a suicide they believed. Nothing could convince them and Mansi decided to search for the truth on her own.

She couldn't seek help from her colleagues because her family was involved and it was not a registered case but a suicide case which was closed by the police.

She thought of taking help from some old contacts. She called up Raju , an ex police officer and a friend of hers who had helped her in many cases earlier. There are certain kinds of information which are not easy to find because of influence of the powerful people but Raju always helped Mansi in finding out the truth.

“ The phone location and records and the postmortem report should give us a fair clue of what would've happened” told Raju when Mansi narrated him the series of events.

That night when Mansi came home she went to Surili's room . Memories from childhood flashed in front of her eyes. She couldn't believe that her best friend was no more in this world. She rose to lock her room . Her eyes fell on a earring lying on the floor. She opened Surili's cupboard to put it back. Something was missing in the cupboard : The jewelry boxes. Mansi kept quite about this infront of the family and called Raju. 

Raju met her the next day with Surili's phone call records. On the day of the murder there were 18 calls between 12pm to 3 pm between Surili and two other numbers. When Mansi dialed those numbers they came out to be Shweta's and Gaurav's . Mansi took out Surili's phone but couldn't find the call log in the mobile phone. There were other calls but not these. Raju also told that the phone traveled to a location near LB Road. LB road was where Gaurav and Shweta lived and also where Gaurav's office was. 

Mansi came back home and asked people from the neighborhood if they had seen anyone entering the home on the day of the murder. No one had a clue. Mansi then caught hold of a beggar who wandered their streets. She showed photos of Gaurav, Shweta and Surili and he told that he had seen all three of them entering or leaving the house that day. Mansi tipped him with money for the information as promised. 

Raju called Mansi “ The postmortem reports show that she died at around 4:30 and there are signs of struggle before the death”

Mansi knew that Shweta and Gaurav would lead her to the murderer. She called up Shweta and asked her to meet her. “ It is not possible for today. Gaurav is leaving for a business tour. I need to help him pack.” Shweta informed.

Mansi understood Gaurav was escaping. She connected the dots rushed to their house in no time along with Raju dressed up in police uniform. She called Mohanlal and Rajiv at Gaurav's home .

While everyone stood there. Mansi started narrating the sequence of that day.

Shweta visited Surili and then they carried a big bag and left.

After an hour or so Surili came back alone without the bag.

Then Gaurav came . Stayed for a while and then left at around 4:30 which was the time Surili was killed.

Gaurav dismissed these claims and said he was late and wanted to leave. Mansi asked Raju to search Gaurav's bag . When the bag was opened , Surili's jewelry and cash were found. Raju held Gaurav and shoved him on the chair.

Shweta started crying and started narrating the events of that day.

“ I called Surili that day because Gaurav had told me that if I get the money and jewelry from Surili then he would not remarry and be with me. I thought it will save both Surili and me. Surili would not have to marry him and ill be able to save my marriage. I told this to Surili and she agreed. We had come to the house to pick up the jewelry and cash and we gave it to him in his office. After that what happened I don't know”

Raju threatened Gaurav and asked him to continue.

“ Surili then called me and she said that she had now given him the desired things and that he should now keep her sister happy . I went to the house to meet her after that and we went to the terrace from where she slipped into the courtyard” 

“ Then why were there bruises on her body “ Mansi asked.

On nudging further Gaurav said “ I had gone to her home to threaten her that she should not tell this to anyone and cancel the marriage from her side. I then...........then I felt like forcing myself upon her. She ran for help. I grabbed her and tried to assault her physically . She ran to the terrace for help and in this chase fell off and died.”

Everyone was shocked and speechless.

He continued “ When I came that day after you called reporting that she was missing , we slept in her room where I deleted the calls from her phone. Her phone was off probably due to no charge. I started it and deleted the calls.”

There was an outburst of anger , sorrow and dejection in the room. Raju handed Gaurav to the police with the evidence.

Shweta lamented to have thought that Gaurav would love him after all this. He was in fact planning to run away with the valuables away from Shweta.

The storm had settled now and things looked clearer. Mansi had solved many cases as a sleuth but this certainly was the most crucial and disheartening. It was once again the story where love lost and greed won.

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