THE BEAUTIFUL MINDS

CHAPTER 19

"That's that" muttered Ronny.

Ronny deserved an explanation from Patrick. He was the only person in this whole wide world whom he'd trusted enough to confide about Ashley.

He raked his mind once more before dialling Patrick's number and asking him to summon in his precinct.

Had he betrayed his trust?

If not wilfully, by accident?

No.

Patrick was the only person who'll know. He'd told him how much he regretted for so foolishly faltering in life. He'd vented out all about the pain to Patrick. How hard it was trying to confess your sin to your wife and never be able to for fear of losing her.

Patrick had nodded so sympathetically back then. But now, how could he do this to him? How could he let a stranger know his deepest secret?

Deep down, something told Ronny that Patrick would never do such a thing. Besides being a co operative colleague, he's been a loyal friend.

But who could it be if it wasn't for him?

Ronny picked up the receiver and dialled the number.

His hands trembled at the thought of uttering Ashley's name. This happened so many years back that if Patrick hadn't done this, he would have probably forgotten about it by now.

Would questioning Patrick be a wise thing to do?

Would he be unnecessarily giving life to something that was long dead?

Was someone else involved in this?

As such questions whirled across Ronny's mind, Patrick and Sarah stormed in.

Sarah's eyes were wide and excited, the same way it does when she solves a su do ku puzzle.

"We found the stalker" she chimed.

For a second, Ronny's heart stopped.

"What?"

At the hotel.......

Patrick, Ronny and Sarah were staring into the camera.

Of the five, four suspects had been there.

They frowned. In all cases, unexpected events would actually reveal some clues. But, in this case, every event led to a dead end.

The harder they tried to solve, the tougher and confusing the case got.

"Let's not give up hope" encouraged, Sarah. "We could at least eliminate one, Derek"

"I knew it, right at the moment I saw him" Ronny asserted. Though he behaved suspiciously, he wasn't brave enough to even look into my eyes. His eyes were full of fear. And it wasn't the fear of getting caught. It was...."

Ronny shrunk his forehead as he rummaged his mind to rhetorically word his thoughts.

"I don't know. It was just something else"

"Look there" shrieked Patrick, pointing his forefinger to the laptop.

Angela was leaving to the rest room. She paused in the middle and suspiciously looked at someone dressed in black.

Sarah zoomed in to the face of the man.

"Is it Derek?" Queried Sarah.

"No it's not him" replied Patrick.

Ronny stared at those velvet brown eyes that was scrutinising the contents of the menu card.

"But, I've seen him somewhere" murmured he.

Angela walked out of the rest room nearly ten minutes later. She looked beautiful with all the extra touch of makeup that she'd done inside. Patrick couldn't help but stare at her.

Suddenly, something struck Ronny.

He retrieved the noises that he'd heard while talking to the stalker.

Twisting of a door knob, muffled voices and violin.

The reality played like a movie in his mind. The stalker had gone into the rest room to call and threaten him. And there, in the middle of the conversation, a few others had entered the rest room, twisting the knob. He'd heard the sound of violin that was played outside at that fraction of a second. And the muffled voices where from the people who entered.

It made sense.

Everything matched so perfectly well.

Could it be Angela?

Before Ronny could even consider the situation, David got up and went to use the rest room. A few minutes later, Rachel went in too followed by the man in black.

Veronica was the only person who didn't use the rest room till she left.

Ronny's head reeled. Just when he'd deciphered in one someone, the rest of the party walks in. Till date, there has been no killer elusive to Ronny. He just hoped this case wouldn't be contradictory.

"Maybe we should check out what happened outside the hotel, when the suspects were leaving for their respective homes" Sarah suggested.

"Yes. Hopefully, that would help us connect the dots. We can take a look at the surveillance fixed outside" added Patrick.

On their order the staff brought the surveillance that was at the hotel portals.

The family conveyed brief goodbyes to each other. After Rachel and Angela left, Veronica and David did some talking before getting into their car and speeding off.

There was no sign of the man in black.

Shortly afterward a tall guy walked into the hotel portals.

His long legs took firm steps and his eyes cautiously scrutinised the surroundings.

Sarah shot an amused stare at Ronny.

"It's Derek!"

They switched onto the camera inside the hotel only to see Derek and the man in black chatting together. And then, a few minutes later, Derek walked into the rest room too.

Suddenly, an idea dawned on Ronny's mind.

He could compare the time on his phone when he received the call with the time each of them used the rest room. That way, he'll decipher the stalker when the time matches.

But, to his dismay, the camera inside the hotel did not display the timings.

"Why isn't the camera displaying the time?" He asked one of the employees in the hotel.

"The surveillance is under service, sir. So, we've replaced it with an ordinary camera for the time being. We are sorry for the inconvenience, sir"

Darn!

"This is all so confusing" Patrick said, scratching his head.

"Take a picture of that man in black and circulate it in the office" commanded Ronny to Patrick. "Let's see if there is a match in the records"

Sarah knew Ronny was perturbed.

He wasn't being himself off late.

She wondered if it had anything to do with the calls from the stalker. She would dare to ask but she thought it wasn't right. Ronny would have told her by now if he really wanted her to know about it.

Was he hiding something?

Like her, has he got secrets too?

She looked out through the window. The sky was dark and clear.

A sharp, cold and humid breeze blew from the north.

There was an alarm in the air.

At the Louis ' mansion.....

That night, 10:30 pm

Rachel stretched out her muscles.

She felt tired and lazy. Her eyes craved for some sleep after all the cold wars that she had to fight with her step -mother- to-be.

She chucked her thoughts as soon as it crept into her mind. She didn't want those unpleasant thoughts nagging her when she was resting.

Involuntarily, her thoughts swivelled to Richard.

It's been more than a month since he died.

Did he really deserve to die?

A part of her was actually glad he was and she couldn't believe that herself. He'd inflicted so much of pain on her. He'd made her cry every night before she went to sleep.

Didn't she even deserve an explanation?

How can he just curtly walk away from her like that?

But, another part of her still loved him. It wished he were alive. Perhaps, one day, he would have realised that he was wrong and would have come back.

With so many thoughts and memories swirling through her tiny head, she took a sip of water from the glass on the lamp stand and lay down to sleep.

Inside her closet, safely stashed inside one of her drawers was a white cell phone.

And that was Angela’s.