The next morning Sharmishtha along with Roy, Arjun and Rohan went to the Mansion without any prior notice to the SP. When Arjun asked, "You sure we won't need any backup?" Sharmishtha nodded in affirmation. She then handed Arjun a big handbag that seemed light at first but as Arjun got hold of it, he realized it was way heavier than it seemed. "Jeez Ms. Singh...are we carrying rocks to the site? I am pretty sure that there's plenty of rocks where we are going," joked Arjun.
Sharmishtha glared back at him. "Can't you open the zip to look inside?" said Sharmishtha quietly.
Arjun gasped in awe as he looked inside. There were several instruments inside the bag including wires, cameras with night vision, temperature recognizers and several other things that looked expensive but Arjun did not recognize those things. "Did you get this off from Amazon for your little paranormal adventure?" asked Arjun hastily.
Sharmishtha quietly walked up to Arjun and whispered in a deep voice, "No, but it all belongs to me and are quite expensive not to mention how hard these are to find. So if you break even one or so much scratch any of these, I will break your bones."
Arjun, "..."
She was not in a good mood. Something might have been bothering her. Arjun stopped talking. They walked up to Roy and Rohan to keep up the pace. Something was cooking up in her mind considering how fast she was walking leaving behind everyone. She had a weird ability to walk fast like she was some daily hiker or something. It was more prominent when she was annoyed, angry, thinking, depressed or all of that if anyone was convenient enough to make her do all of that. Anyone else would have to start running lightly to match her pace. Arjun sighed. As they were walking towards their destination something suddenly came to his mind. He didn't want to ask the scary lady marching to the broken fountain so he halted and grabbed Roy's hand without thinking twice. Roy looked at Arjun in surprise he almost thought that someone had launched an assault on him. "What is it?" grumped Roy.
'What's with him now? Did he catch Sharmishtha's grumpy mood disease? Is it contagious?' thought Arjun.
"What are you two doing? Are you two enjoying the romantic view while holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes? This isn't your honeymoon! Get moving," commented Rohan sharply gazing at Arjun's hand still holding Roy's wrist.
"Or maybe get a room," he again commented and ran to Sharmishtha. Both of them were speechless. Arjun quickly let go of Roy's wrist and then whispered into his ears so anyone else wouldn't hear them. "Who is the husband?"
"I don't know," said Roy in low voice.
"Well, you are as resourceful as ever," said Arjun sarcastically. Roy wanted to growl back but it felt stupid that he didn't ask her about her husband. 'Why didn't she mention it?' thought Roy. Just as they were going to get moving. A sneaky voice approached them, "What are you two lovebirds discussing?"
Arjun was ready to smack the man but then he realized it was Rohan.
"By the way, his name is Rey. He is in Canada and is supposed to be in Kolkata by the weekend. Also, he owns a big business and doesn't have a hunch of Boss's little adventure in the northern mountains," stated Rohan as a matter of fact.
"How do you know all of that?" asked Arjun eagerly.
"She told us a day ago in the evening but she never mentioned his name," said Roy intently. "How do you know his name?" asked Roy.
"Because I asked her. It is that easy. You should try that too instead of sneaking around like a newly-wed couple trying to avoid public attention," stated Rohan with a poker face.
"If you keep commenting like this then I will smack your face," said Arjun about to smack Rohan. When Roy clenched his shirt and he looked around. Three of them gulped as chills went down their spine. Sharmishtha was standing at the main gate, waiting for them or glaring at them furiously. "I guess she will break our bones first."
Rohan and Roy nodded and ran up to her. Arjun tagged along as well. But as they were about to enter, Sharmishtha quickly refrained Roy and Rohan from entering and instructed them to wait outside. Giving out a set of binoculars to Rohan and a DSLR to Roy, she instructed, "Roy, check out the surroundings. Rohan, you stay near the outside staircase and inform me if you see something or someone suspicious. Arjun and I will go ahead. Understood?"
Three of them nodded. Roy went around the house to explore the surroundings and Rohan went around the hillside to keep watch as Sharmishtha instructed. Since it was a tourist spot no one would be suspicious of their activities. Meanwhile, Arjun and Sharmishtha went inside to explore the house. "So what exactly is your plan?" asked Arjun.
"Can't you guess?" replied Sharmishtha. Of course, it wasn't hard to guess. Arjun turned to Sharmishtha and said, "So you want to set some traps around for other 'trespassers' to capture some evidence."
Sharmishtha nodded lightly. "But why now? We could have done it at night. We are so early. I haven't even had breakfast!" cried Arjun.
"Come on, you know I couldn't ask anyone else to accompany me on this, right?"
Arjun nodded. 'Obviously, Rohan is a kid. We can't tag him along right inside the lion's den. Since his observational and analytical skills are so high, Sharmishtha tagged him along. Maybe, she is testing whether he would be a good fit for the new investigating team or not. As for Roy, he is the back support. Generally, covering up for them, calling relevant authorities in an emergency, connecting puzzles...yes Roy is very good at connecting puzzles. He can't obtain information but if the information is given to Roy then he can quickly anticipate the situation in no time. Then why wasn't he suspicious of how fishy Sharmishtha has been lately. Especially about her husband. There was something fishy about not disclosing his full name to them. Is he famous?'
Arjun was in a daze. Sharmishtha tapped him on his shoulder lightly and he jumped to his feet. "You alright?" asked Sharmishtha.
"Yes, I am fine. It's just..."
"What is it?" Sharmishtha asked again.
"It's just that...you have a husband now," he said quietly looking down.
"It's alright," Sharmishtha said with a smile.
She knew what he was thinking. They were never going to risk the lives of Roy and Rohan. It was them who always played the scapegoat in any situation actually at first it was Arjun. Then, Sharmishtha came and tagged along. Even though she had a family, she didn't have good relations with them or that was what she felt until they died. After that, it was easier for her. Now, she had someone important in her life. But, she had already made up her mind. No matter what would happen in the future she would not back out. It was her who brought them into the case again so it would not be fair either.
After checking out all the rooms, they kneeled down on the floor and began to unpack their stuff. As Arjun pulled out all the instruments he realized that those weren't for paranormal investigation. So he glanced at Sharmishtha.
"Yes, those are specially prepared for hidden surveillance, we need proof. Sengupta won't take my word for it, neither would the prosecutors. Also, I can't trust my senses anymore, I believe you heard from Sengupta already," replied Sharmishtha.
Arjun remembered Sengupta's words about Sharmishtha's mental conditions. "Well, I didn't think those were true. How bad is it?"
"Bad enough to give me hallucinations," said Sharmishtha looking down. "That's why this would be my last investigation."
"What do you mean?" asked Arjun worriedly.
"I am retiring in the field, Arjun," she replied with a smile. "After that, you can roam freely."
Arjun looked down. He wasn't particularly happy about her retirement. He was busy setting up a hidden surveillance camera in a large room at the back of the house near the lake when he suddenly realized something. He called out Sharmishtha.
"Hey! Aren't these great for..."
"Honeytraps," Sharmishtha grinned as she completed his sentence.
"You did not," screamed Arjun in disbelief. "You wild woman. I hope you did not 'sting' anyone," said Arjun as he looked in amazement towards the 'wild woman'.
She laughed. "Of course not, I was in charge of the plan, research, analysis etc."
He sighed. It was almost a little too much for him. Then, suddenly he looked at Sharmishtha and his eyes widened in horror. "You are not!" he screamed.
"It is a plan, Arjun. Don't worry nothing will happen. I have thought out every possibility," replied Sharmishtha as she tried to calm down Arjun.
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"We will get there in the evening and prepare for the strike. You sure we will get the chance to have two strikes?" asked Ajay.
"Yes, they need to think that it would be alright. After all seeing ghosts are not as bad as seeing the truth," he smirked.
"What do you mean?" Ajay asked.