Circle of Deceit- Chapter 13

Circle of Deceit- Chapter 13 (Level 2)

The Blogger Connection

This is the XIII chapter of  a mystery series in the “Game of Blogs”. Our team “Kalakaar Colony” is a part of #CelebrateBlogging campaign by Blogadda.   You can read the previous chapter here.

Shekar felt anxious as he decided to go to Mr. Gupta’s house and inform Tara of the new update. He was sure that having a photo of Roohi’s kidnapper would help in speeding up the investigation. This thought helped to ease the queasiness in his stomach that arose at the prospect of meeting his father-in-law.

He could vividly remember the contempt in Mr. Rameshwar Gupta’s face when they first met. His precious daughter had decided to marry a good for nothing writer whose only claim to fame till date was a 1000-word length column in a weekly magazine. And Mr. Gupta made no bones of the fact that he disliked his son-in-law and had acquiesced to Tara and Shekar’s marriage only for the sake of his daughter’s happiness.

 Shekar chided himself for thinking about such inconsequent differences between him and his father-in-law when Roohi’s life was on the line. He was sure that though Mr. Gupta did not give two hoots about his son-in-law, his granddaughter was precious and he would move heaven and earth to get her safely back home.

“Listen Jennifer, I have to go now. Are you sure that you would be ok here?” Shekar asked putting his laptop inside his bag.

“Yes, I am fine and thank you for all your help Mr. Dutta”, Jennifer replied.

“I should be thanking you for helping Roohi. Anyway, I’ll give you my cell number and if there is anything that you need or if you remember any other details about the man who took Roohi away, please call immediately.” Shekar and Jennifer exchanged their phone numbers and then Shekar left for Mr. Gupta’s house.

Very soon Jennifer was bored with the dull and dreary hospital corridors. She considered herself lucky that her leg was not fractured, but she had badly sprained her ankle and the doctor had advised her to rest for a few days. Jennifer was not used to sitting idle for such long hours and she was getting restless. She tried to sleep but the day’s events replayed in her mind as soon as she closed her eyes.

Finally with a sigh, she fished out her phone and opened the internet browser, in the hope of catching up on her reading.  Jennifer was a prolific blogger and her blog showcased her immense talent in photography. She also blogged randomly about the books she read or about the places she visited. But lately she was too busy with her work to check her blog, so she was happy that she had some time on her hands now. As she logged into her blogger account, she saw that there was a new blog post from a blogger she followed.

Source-http://www.illustrationsource.com/

She felt her dark mood lightening as she began to read a splendid book review which was posted in her favorite blog that she frequently read. Jennifer remembered that she had come across this personal blog a few months back when she was looking out for some new books to read and she had read a brilliant assessment of a James Hadley Chase thriller. She admired this blogger’s style of writing. An impeccable grasp of the language, a quirky sense of humor combined with a good knowledge of crime and law made the blog a hit with readers.

As Jenny finished reading the article, her memory unearthed an image that she had seen a few months back while perusing through the same blog that she was reading now. Her breath came in short gasps as she quickly clicked on older posts until she came to the post she was searching for. It was published quite a few months back and it showed a single image taken at a blogger’s meet. This picture showed an image of the blog owner, a rare photo since the writer never posted any pictures of himself.

Jenny’s eyes widened in disbelief as she recognized the man in the picture. He looked much younger and nonchalant but there was no mistaking the fact the blog Jenny was reading was owned by the same guy who had kidnapped Roohi. The man in the picture published on the blog and the guy in the photograph that Shekar had shown earlier to Jenny were same!

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Krishna had Roohi’s soft hands in his gangly one’s as they ran together.

Source- guardian.com

“Where are we going Krishna”, Roohi cried as her feet scraped on broken tree branches.

“To a safe place but for now you need to run faster, Roohi.  You don’t want to go back to the guy who kidnapped you, do you?” Krishna replied hoping that Roohi would run faster with the threat of returning to Cyrus.

Soon they reached Krishna’s bike and Roohi was thrown hastily onto the bike as Krishna revved up the engine and shot away at a breakneck speed. Roohi’s eyes welled up with tears as the little girl was overwhelmed with all the events happening to her within a short span of 24 hours. She was tired of the adventure and she just wanted to return to her cozy home. The strained environment of her home felt like bliss compared to the menacing expedition she seemed to be in.

Her naïve mind was confused and she looked up to see Krishna’s intense face focusing on the road ahead as he maneuvered his biked expertly through the curves and bends.

Of course Krishna was an ally but could she really trust him? Was he protecting Roohi or was poor Roohi’s situation just a clichéd example of ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’. Only time would tell!

Read the next part of the story here

“Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.