Chapter 3: An unwanted assignment
550 Words
The moment the office door closed behind me, an uncomfortable silence settled over the room.
Commissioner Rehan Qureshi sat behind his desk, his fingers steepled together.
Zayan Khan stood by the window.
Calm.
Unbothered.
As if being summoned to police headquarters was part of his daily routine.
I remained standing.
"Sir, you wanted to see me?"
The commissioner nodded.
"Sit down, Sofia."
I sat, but my eyes remained fixed on Zayan.
"What is this about?"
The commissioner exhaled heavily.
"The victim's family has agreed to cooperate with the investigation."
I frowned.
"That's good news."
"It would be," he said. "If the case were that simple."
My patience was already wearing thin.
"What aren't you telling me?"
The commissioner slid a file across the desk.
I opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Bank records.
Business transactions.
Property documents.
At first, none of it made sense.
Then I noticed one name appearing again and again.
Kamran Sheikh.
The victim.
My eyes moved across the pages.
The more I read, the more confused I became.
Finally, I looked up.
"These transactions are recent."
The commissioner nodded.
"Very recent."
"What's strange about that?"
For the first time, Zayan spoke.
"Kamran should have been dead six months ago."
I turned sharply toward him.
"What?"
His expression didn't change.
"He died six months ago."
A chill ran down my spine.
I looked back at the documents.
Then at the commissioner.
Then at Zayan.
"What kind of joke is this?"
"No joke," the commissioner replied.
I stared at him.
"You're telling me the victim died six months ago?"
"Officially, yes."
I blinked.
That made absolutely no sense.
The man whose body we found this morning had fingerprints.
Records.
Financial activity.
Witnesses who had seen him last week.
He had clearly been alive.
Yet according to official documents, he had been declared dead months ago.
I felt my detective instincts immediately come alive.
This wasn't just murder anymore.
This was something else.
Something much bigger.
I flipped through the file again.
"Who signed the death certificate?"
The commissioner exchanged a look with Zayan.
That single glance made me uneasy.
Very uneasy.
"There are things connected to this case that go beyond ordinary police investigations," the commissioner finally said.
I hated answers like that.
They usually meant trouble.
"What things?"
"That's what we're trying to find out."
I leaned back in my chair.
Nothing about this situation felt normal.
Nothing.
The victim was connected to the Khan family.
Official records said he was already dead.
And somehow Zayan Khan seemed far less surprised than he should have been.
My eyes narrowed.
"How much do you know?"
The question was directed at Zayan.
His dark gaze met mine.
"Enough to know someone is playing a dangerous game."
I wasn't satisfied with that answer.
Not even close.
But before I could push further, his phone rang.
The sound cut through the room.
Zayan glanced at the screen.
For the first time all day, something shifted in his expression.
Only for a second.
But I caught it.
Concern.
He answered immediately.
"Yes."
Silence.
Then his jaw tightened.
Slowly.
Dangerously.
The commissioner noticed too.
"What happened?"
Zayan lowered the phone.
His face had become unreadable again.
"My sister is missing."
The room went silent.
And suddenly, the murder investigation wasn't the biggest problem anymore.
- Writer
