Finally, Sharmishtha, Rohan and Roy arrived at Darjeeling. When they entered the hotel where Arjun was staying, he sitting in the lobby munching on some fruits. As the three walked up to Arjun, he pretended that he didn't notice them at all. Arjun making a fuss like this was nothing new to Roy and Sharmishtha. But, Rohan seemed confused as he had never seen Arjun acting like a disappointed child! Sharmishtha slowly walked up to Arjun and pulled out a packet of roll cake she bought from a nearby café. She waved the packet at Arjun. He glanced at the packet and his expressions changed from annoyed to delighted real quick. He looked like a child who was offered his favourite treat. Rohan was still staring at them with utter confusion. "Arjun is a food-motivated guy. He did travel and food blogs before joining the investigative department. Even though his blogging days are long gone, you can have him do anything if you bribe him with food," explained Roy seeing Rohan's baffled face.
Arjun snatched the packet from Sharmishtha's hands and said, "I was dying of boredom. You guys arrived so late. Unless you treat me to dinner, I won't give you any information." Rohan who had never seen Arjun act this petty was scratching his head in awe. 'Why is he behaving like those windows who work for both sides and only pay heed to money? Except Arjun Sir pays heed to food,' thought Rohan and sighed. Sharmishtha and Roy had seen a pettier and more immature Arjun so they were unbothered. This was rather a more entertaining episode for them. One would not believe this was the same Arjun who spoke with such respect and enthusiasm the other day!
Sharmishtha looked softly at Arjun and said, "Alright I will pay for your every meal as long as we are here. But you have to comply with us for the rest of the investigation and promise not to make a fuss anymore." Hearing Sharmishtha's words Arjun's face lit up.
Sharmishtha patted his head softly, "Get up we will have Naga Cuisine today, I know just the place!" Arjun quickly hurried outside. He had not tried Naga Cuisine yet. Whenever there was a new food to try, he was the most excited. Sharmishtha and Roy looked at each other. "What a child!" they exclaimed.
"You sure he is not just a random glutton?" asked Rohan staring at Arjun. Sharmishtha glared at Rohan and smacked him as usual.
As they were having dinner, Roy looked at their group. 'A random glutton, the Mr Punchline even I am beaten to death and one hell of a sarcastic aggressive woman with major emotion management issues!' he sighed. 'These people are going to crack this case! Quite unlikely, apart from him, there is no mature person in their team. Maybe that is why he is there in the first place. He goes nowhere near to Sharmishtha or even Arjun in the field of investigative journalism. Even Rohan has better analytical skills than him!'
"You alright Roy? You seem to be in a daze," asked Sharmishtha. Her question broke into his reverie. "Yes, I am fine. Just thinking about the case. Are we starting tonight?" asked Roy. He knew that starting today was almost impossible since they were already so late but he did not want to delay anymore.
"No, we will start tomorrow morning," said Sharmishtha calmly while enjoying the pork curry, fish with dried bamboo shoot, lentils, vegetables and rice. They were eating at a revolver restaurant. It was quite expensive so when Sharmishtha offered to pay for everyone Roy grinned at her, "Just how much money have you saved up?"
Sharmishtha smirked at him. Well, being a leading person in her company was enough to give out some information about her finances yet she didn't want to brag. She offered to pay for Arjun's dinner so it only seemed reasonable that she paid for everyone else's too; especially for Rohan who just joined a few months back and could not afford to pay for his own in such an expensive place.
"Morning? I thought we would start at midnight, " said Rohan. "Mhm," Sharmishtha nodded her head in negative. "We would check it out in the morning. I have some plans. I hope you have had a chat with Mihir already. Right, Arjun?"
Arjun had drowned himself in pork curry nodded in affirmative. "Who is Mihir?" asked Roy.
"Mihir, sorry Mihir Sengupta is the SP in charge of the Darjeeling district. He is a friend of mine. I was glad to know that he got a post here. It has made things easier."
Hearing that they had involved an SP, Rohan nearly jumped from his seat. In a shaky voice, he asked, "Are we expecting some action?"
"Not that much. Actually, I am expecting none at all," she stated. They did not have any idea whether it was horror or hoax so it was better that she would not scare the new member.
While gulping some pork curry with rice, Rohan suddenly turned to Sharmishtha and said, "Oh well weekend is about the corner so we will finish this in three days right?" Before Sharmishtha could answer Arjun smacked Rohan, "Already exhausted?"
It was more of a friendly smack that honestly hurt less than Sharmishtha's. "No! Her husband is coming," teased Rohan.
This statement got him two smacks from both Arjun and Sharmishtha. "Argh!" exclaimed Rohan. Roy sighed. As Roy and Arjun turned to Rohan to teach him some etiquettes and manners of talking to a senior, Sharmishtha got up from her seat and walked up to the washroom.
She then pulled out her phone to see a text that she had received from Rey. "Stop calling! I am busy. I will call you later when I can," it read.
She had called him five times since they last spoke but he didn't pick up any of her calls. When he texted Sharmishtha thought he would be more gentle with his words. She did not understand what was going on with him lately. He often seemed too annoyed or fed up with her as if she was being too nosy. As for his business it was unacceptable he was in Canada at the moment and it would be 7:30 am there. How could he be busy at this moment? She let out a long sigh. Just a day ago they shared such happy moments. 'I am overthinking I guess. It is making me anxious. I need my medicines.' Just at that moment, she received a text from Arjun breaking her deep thoughts. "Too busy with Hubby?" it read.
Sharmishtha, "..."
Though it seemed that Arjun warned Rohan against teasing her, he couldn't restrain himself. Sharmishtha sighed.
_________________________________
"They have arrived. I saw her getting off at the station. Should we proceed?" asked Ajay.
"No, wait for the right moment. It must happen inside the haunted mansion itself. Do not do anything rash," said a husky voice from the other side of the phone.
Ajay had been stalking the group from a café nearby the revolving restaurant. He dared not to get too close since Arjun now knew his face. He did not want unnecessary attention on him. He needed to finish this work without any hassle so he kept his distance. Due to this, he couldn't hear their conversation. 'Guess they will go there at night. I will get a note from Sengupta anyway.'
_________________________________
Roychowdhury looked at his phone. There was no text. He was expecting a reply from his wife who had seen his message but had not replied. He did not want to engage in a conversation with her on phone. He did not want her to get any hunch of his work. What if his tongue slipped? No, it was too dangerous. So he had been avoiding calling her for a few days and tried to behave a bit distant so he would engage in conversation too much. But, it seemed she got mad with his text and chose not to reply. He sighed. He was not doing it on purpose, it was happening because of that woman whom he did not know.
He did not know her name or face only knew that she was the reason he was dragged back into all this shit. He was not going to forgive her for this. He did not have any information about her family otherwise he would have killed everyone.
Why was she chasing them after all was something he could not understand ever. What would she gain from this? He heard that she was an investigative journalist. Journalists rarely get credit for investigations like these. So what else was she shooting for risking her own life like this? Was she forced too? 'No! What am I thinking! I must not sympathize with my enemy. I was living happily with my wife. And now because she got hands on some crucial information, I was dragged back into this. If they were threatening my life, I would not have cared but, they are threatening my wife's life. Worst, they threatened to tell her about my connections with them."
With an evil grin on his face, he thought about how he would make the woman he did not know pay for her interference into his life. Little did he know that she too had no idea about his involvement in the network but they were about to come face to face in a very short time!