Cold Wars - a Lawyer-Cop Romance

Disgust at First Sight

She pushed one of the halves of the double doors. Assuming it was strong and thick, she pushed it with force.

Turned out they weren’t. Her push flung opened one of the doors and opened, since it had a spring, it just flung back and almost hit her in the face. It made a huge ‘thud’ noise all over the place. Maybe all over the building. She was sure that all the policemen she had just met and the receptionist had heard it.

‘Damn. I didn’t wanna come off as too rude, but that ship has sailed I guess.’ Shankaree thought.

‘Let's do this. Come on. Don’t let that door thing embarrass you.’ She gave a pep talk to herself in her mind.

She pushed one of the door halves, this time without so much force. Even with that slight force, it opened wide and she entered the room. She saw a man sitting on the ergonomic chair with his eyes pasted on the desktop computer in front of him.

‘Oh he’s not so old.’ She thought. ‘I’d say he’s too young for this post.’ She totally expected someone nearing retirement. Little did she expect such a young man. He had broad shoulders and his uniform fitted him like a second skin. He had the perfect jawline and it stood out well. The man in front of her was visually pleasing. Shankaree, for a second, wondered about his eyes, their colour, his height, his hair and, well, everything else. There was something about this man which sparked a curiosity in her. Was it some kind of spark? Lust? Or just instant hate? Hate it because of Chanda uncle’s issue. Nothing made sense to her right at that moment.

He turned his head and looked at her. She slapped herself in her mind. ‘You’re here for a job. You seriously can’t drool over him. He's on the opposite team.’ She said to herself.

She walked a few steps in and reached the table. He was still looking at her. She didn't sit, she was waiting for him to ask her to sit; she just looked at his face. He was also looking at her and their eyes locked for sometime. Neither of them talked or even moved. Even the air stood still in that room.

______________

Just like lawyers hated the police, police officers hated lawyers. They were a nuisance which always created problems for their whole department. Lawyers interfered in everything the police department did and didn’t let them do their job properly. Lawyers came out of nowhere to question police actions on behalf of their ‘clients’; their good for nothing clients.

Vishwanath heard the loud noise of the doors made and looked in that direction.

‘That must be that lawyer.’ He thought. ‘What kind of i***t can’t open a door properly? He must be a know-it-all. Isn’t that exactly what lawyers are? Know-it-all idiots.’ He scoffed.

He smirked and looked back into his computer screen. Inspector Raval, or simply Kunal as Vishwa called him, had informed him of a lawyer who wanted to talk to him about the recent raid in Joseph Street. Vishwa asked his subordinates to submit the report and arrest memo right after the arrest. He didn’t get it yet, but he was about to go to their seat and ask them personally. That was when he got a call from Kunal that there was a lawyer who wanted to meet with him. He didn’t say much, which only made Vishwa more suspicious. It was the first raid conducted after he joined the Anti-Narcotics. He was checking the older reports and other paperwork from the Anti-Narcotics department. There were many back logs in the whole department and it was quite different from the law-and-order wing he worked until recently. He wanted to clean up the city of drugs, but before that he wanted to learn about the drug past of this city to do his job properly.

He heard a person come in and turned his head towards the door.

‘Oh, the lawyer is a woman. Shouldn’t have assumed it was ‘he’. That was so sexist of me’, he thought.

She was walking towards Vishwanath. Vishwanath had some kind of pull towards her. The way she moved, a confident and powerful stride which Vishwa always liked in a woman. She had pressed her lips together and stiffened her cheeks, maybe to look intimidating. Vishwa smirked a bit because he knew how lawyers pretended to be offended to get their way with the police. He wasn’t gonna let that happen.

Her red painted lips were something he noticed. He could see it from afar, even before he could make out her face. His normally calm aura was making waves and Vishwa was bothered by it. The lawyer just came up to his desk and just stood there. With her power walk, he expected her to just drop down on the chair in front of him. But she just stood there and was looking at him.

‘What’s this? Shouldn’t she be saying what she wants?’ He thought.

‘The hell? Shouldn’t he be asking me what I want? And before that, to sit.’ She thought.

Shankaree raised her eyebrows. She silently asked him ‘You’re not gonna say anything?’

Vishwanath was smart enough to notice it and understand it as well.

“How may I help you?” he said and rolled his chair to face her.

‘He’s still not gonna ask me to sit? What a jerk’ Shankaree thought. His lack of manners only made her more furious. She initially thought of being polite with the man since he’s Deputy Commissioner. But now? Now she wasn’t going to pull her punches.

“I need to know why you have arrested an innocent man,” Shankaree said and folded her arms in front of her.

“Ah yes. Inspector Kunal informed me that you have a problem with the arrest.” Vishwa said.

“Of course, I do. You people have framed him and as his lawyer I won’t allow it.” Shankaree said dryly and crooked her eyebrows.

Vishwa was silent for a minute. He sat back in his chair and smiled at her.

“Ma’am, I don’t know why you think we would frame a person. Did it ever occur to you that he may have committed the crime? Hmm?” he was still smirking and Shankaree crooked her eyebrows further.

“I do not want to think why you would frame a person, I just want him out of jail.” Shankaree made sure to maintain her low voice but she was stern in her stand. She wasn’t going to leave this room without him releasing Chanda uncle.

“You can apply for bail when we present in court.” Vishwa said.

“And when is that? When you torture him into making a false confession?” She said sarcastically.

“Excuse me?” Vishwa raised his eyebrows now.

“Oh please, we all know what happens around you policemen.” She said and scoffed. This conversation, which Shankaree meant to keep calm and cordial, was turning into something else.

“Do you realize you’re in the very place where you said we policemen torture people?” Vishwa said.

He wanted so much to keep calm but this woman was getting on his nerves. She just insulted the whole system he works for. The thing which he dedicated his whole life to.

“And that is supposed to have what kind of effect on me?” Shankaree raised her head and said. She was looking down on him, literally and figuratively.

‘Wow, this woman has absolutely no fear.’ He thought.

People, well women more often, were scared of police stations. It’s a fact and Vishwa always made sure to make people comfortable and secure in a police station. He was among the several officers who strived to make police stations friendly to citizens. If anyone saw this exchange between them two, they would be scarred for life by police stations. A lawyer yelling at a Commissioner and the Commissioner subtly claiming they are at a place where police torture people.

‘I have to take it down a notch. Should be respectful to anyone who comes to the police seeking help or whatever she is doing right now.’ Vishwa thought. Vishwa lowered his eyes for a second and sat back further in his chair.

“Ma’am, you still haven’t told me what you want me to do,” he said politely.

“Weren’t you listening? I want you to let him out without any charges and..” She said, and before she finished her sentence Vishwa interfered.

“And how do you suggest we do that? I let him go just like that? Without taking the evidence we found into consideration? And the arrest records we have? What do you want us to do? Burn all of it?” Vishwnath spoke hastily but maintained his calm demeanor.

Shankaree still had her arms crossed across her stomach. She tightened her arms further, anymore tightening and she would’ve suffocated herself. Releasing all her frustration, she said, “It’s interesting that you say burn it. You policemen do destroy evidence, am I right?”

Before she even finished the sentence, Vishwanath banged both his hands on the table and jumped up on his feet. He was fuming with rage. Shankaree gasped and almost moved back. She felt like taking a step or two back but didn’t let her instincts win. She stood her ground, crooked her eyebrows more and just stared at him.

‘Hands on the table, hunched over, but he still reaches my eye level. How tall is this guy?’ Shankaree thought. She didn’t let it show on her face what she was thinking, instead kept a steady face and starred back at the man who was shooting daggers at her.

This was the closest Vishwa saw her face. He didn’t even know her name, but she was as pretty as she was annoying. Those brooding eyes and sharp cheekbones made him forget why he was angry at her for a second.

‘Focus’, he chided himself in his mind. He looked down, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt the need to be calm when he looked at her. For the first time in his life, he felt self-control shredding within him.

He looked at her and said, “Ma’am, I understand your agony, but what exactly do you suggest I do?”

And he smiled at her. A fakest of the fake smile but still, a smile. Vishwa wanted to call a truce on this ridiculous exchange they were having and wanted to keep it peaceful, if not respectful.

‘Great. He is willing to listen now,’ Shankaree thought.

“Good that you ask. I learned from eye witnesses that the raid was conducted in less than 5 minutes. I mean I get it, it’s a small shop, not a mall; you don’t need hours and hours, but you’ve got to agree that it is totally suspicious. The police just came in, took the stuff, arrested the man and left all in those few minutes. That man has been running that shop ever since he was a boy. He hasn’t been in any trouble with the law in all the four decades he has been in business. And money, he makes enough money without getting his hands dirty from that stall.”

Vishwa listened patiently to all this without interfering with Shankaree. ‘The raid was that short? Why?’ he wondered.

When she stopped speaking, he said, "Ma’am..” he noticed that he was still hunching over his table, so he straightened and continued.

“..All these are speculations. And these speculations are of no value here because we have arrested the person upon evidence. Also, with money, a person can be greedy anytime. That’s not enough reason to let him go.”

“Then look into it again,” Shankaree said with pleading eyes. “Please. He’s an honest man.”

He decided to speak with the officers about Chanda’s case because it was the right thing to do. Double checking never did anyone harm. He looked at the lawyer and she still had hope in her eyes. He realized he had the upper hand at that point.

“Look into it? Now, why would I do that?” He wanted to bring her down further. He wanted to make her request again for some reason. But that plan backfired when all that ‘please’ in her eyes disappeared and she almost yelled at him.

“Because right now you haven’t convinced anyone that this arrest was legit. At least convince me so that I can get out of your hair.”

“Fine. I’ll look into it.” Vishwa said and that brought a smile to Shankaree’s face. “Just to make you stop.” He finished.

Vishwa started towards the inspector’s cabin to learn more about the case. In between, something struck him ‘Did she just annoy me into getting what she wanted?’.