Chapter 15: The Librarian

" What did you notice?," asked Shiva.

" He was secretly listening our discussion in the library," Mohan said.

" What?!," Raghav spoke.

" Yes, I observed him a few times but I ignored that, " Shiva said

" Really?," Raghav asked.

" And did you notice he started knocking when we heard the noise, that means he was standing there the whole," said Mohan.

" Do you mean that he followed us right from the Library and listened all the discussion that we had in the godown,"

" That's right,"

" No, it can't be, he's a good guy why would he spy on us?,"

" Maybe he's working with the killer or maybe...,"

" No, no, you're stretching your imagination too much,"

While Raghav and Mohan were discussing Shiva went into a deep thought.

" I'm just saying that we need to keep watch on him," said Mohan.

" What do you think Shiva?," asked Raghav.

Shiva looked at Raghav. " Don't know man, he's a good guy, he can't be involved with the killer,"

Just then Mohan's phone rings and he attends the call.

" What happened?," Shiva asked.

" Dad is calling us home, there is some work to do," said Mohan.

" Hmm, let's go then,"

" I shall leave too, we'll meet tomorrow," Raghav spoke.

" Yeah, see you tomorrow,"

Shiva and Mohan headed to their house while Raghav left for his. On the way the two boys met Mr. Pandey, he was not in his police uniform.

" Hey Shiva, Mohan!, enjoying in the village?," the Head Constable asked.

" Yes, enjoying a lot," replied Shiva.

" Great, good,"

" How's your shoulder now?,"

" It hurts a little bit,"

" Oh, I see, your night shift should be starting by now, right?,"

" Nah, I am on leave for a few days, my health's going down because of less sleep,"

" I see,"

" Have to take some rest now,"

" What about that constable, Mr. Gajanan?, any progress in his search?,"

" Yes, the search took three days and now is complete but Mr. Gajanan's body is not found,"

" Not found?,"

" Yes, whenever the spirit took someone with him he's never found again, this clearly proves the existence of the spirit,"

Shiva just stayed quiet and did not speak anything.

" What about Geeta's engagement?," asked the Head Constable.

" Ah, the engagement has been postponed,"

" I see, get it done as quickly as possible,"

" Yes, that's Ramkrushna uncle thinks,"

" I have to go, take care kids," the man said carrying a big smile while he kept his hand on Mohan's shoulder.

" Yeah, bye,"

The sun slowly went behind the tall mountains that stood at a far distance and shortly the yellowish-orange sky turned into black while the moon and stars accompanied it.

Raghav finished his study then he opens his drawer and looks at the medals that he won in the competitions. Although he knew that his parents wouldn't allow him to choose wrestling as a career he thought about telling his mother and requesting her.

He closes his books and goes in the kitchen.

" Hey Ma, what are you doing?," asks Raghav while taking water from the earthen pot.

" I'm making new missiles with potatoes and cauliflower, wanna help?,"

" Nice joke, great one," said Raghav stretching out his fake laugh.

" Is there something that you want?,"

" No, absolutely not, " Raghav hesitated to speak.

" Really?,"

Raghav looks down. " Ma, you know that I like wrestling, right?,"

" Yes, i do, and I also know that you wish make a career out of it,"

" Right, so why don't you talk to dad about it?, I know if you'll convince him he'll surely agree,"

" No, he'll not, from your childhood he wished making you the best sweet maker of this village," says his mother while she cut the potato.

" But what's the point if I have no interest in it?,"

" See, you can continue wrestling even after you become a sweet maker, you can do both things, right?,"

" But–,"

" Raghav, there's no way he would agree about choosing wrestling as a career,"

Raghav looked down.

" Now, go and help your dad in the store,"

" Yes,"

******

The night came to an end and the bright orange sun climbed up the mountains and spread its ray all over.

The nuisance outside the house drew Mohan out of his sleep, he opened the window to see that a crowd of people had gathered to a spot, he knew what it was, he immediately woke up Shiva.

" Wh-what happened?," asks Shiva after being suddenly woke up by Mohan.

" The crowd has gathered again, I think someone saw the spirit," Mohan pointed towards the crowd through the window.

" Let's see,"

The boys rushed out and made their way through the crowd to see the police was interrogating a man who was terribly scared.

" Who is it?," asked Shiva.

" Unable to see from here," said Mohan.

The boys moved forward to get a better view and saw the man was none other than the Librarian, Mr. Joshi.

" Mr. Joshi!," Shiva headed towards the Librarian but someone from the crowd held his had and pulled him back.

" What!?,"

He turned back to see it was Raghav.

" Stay here," Raghav spoke in a low voice.

" But Mr. Joshi–,"

" The police is interrogating him,"

" Interrogating him?, here?,"

" He's so scared that he didn't want to go anywhere so the cops decided to interrogate him here,"

Shiva looked worriedly at Mr. Joshi.

Just then Raghav shifted his gaze from the Librarian and his eyes fell on Geeta and Ramkrushna uncle who were standing at a distance. Raghav noticed a suspicious look on Geeta's face while she watched the Librarian. Raghav found that strange but he ignored that.

" I think the cops wouldn't allow us to meet him now," Raghav spoke.

" Then what shall we do?," asked Mohan.

" We'll meet him in the Library,"

The three boys went away from the crowd. Shiva briefly glanced towards the crowd before he went to his home.

The boys had freshen up, had their breakfast and made their way to the Mango tree.

" Hurry up," said Raghav.

" Yeah," Shiva replied.

The three boys rushed towards the Library to meet Mr. Joshi.

" Mr. Joshi!, are you okay?," asked Raghav.

" Why did you went outside in the night?," Shiva questioned.

The old man stood up." Relax, relax, come here, we'll sit and talk.

The Librarian led them to the table where the boys would always sit and discuss about their investigation and signed his assistant to sit at his table and do the work.

Shiva looked at his assistant.

" He's Devashish, very hard working boy, he's takes of the work when I'm not around, you can trust him, he'll not try to listen our discussion,"

" Okay, but why did you went out at night and where did you saw the spirit?," asked a worried Shiva.

" I saw it in the Vasusthala forest,"

" Vasusthala Forest?,"

" Yes,"

" But why did you went there and that also at night?,"

" To help you guys," the Librarian said simply.

" To help us?," Shiva narrowed his eyes.

" Remember when I came in the godown and you said if you want to help us then go in the forest at night,"

" What?!, I wasn't serious about that,"

" Yes, I know, but I was, I was seeing you guys work hard on your investigation, I just wanted to help you,"

" At least you should've informed us," Raghav spoke.

" Let it be, the important thing is that I was successful in helping you,"

" Huh, how?,"

" You guys were not sure about the existence of spirit, right?,"

" Yeah," said Shiva.

" The spirit does exists, I saw it, I'd almost piss my pants, it was horrible,"

" So the spirit is real?," asked Mohan.

" The thing that I saw yesterday, what should I call it, it must be the spirit, "

" That means we were wrong and there is no killer?," Raghav spoke.

" If the spirit does exist then that means there is no killer," said the Librarian.

" But what about the investigation that we did, it clearly say that–,"

" I don't know about your investigation but there is something, and it was very threatening,"

" Seems like you're not sure about the spirit, whether what you saw was really the spirit or not," Shiva spoke.

" I mean, yes, I'm not that sure but that thing could fly in the air, disappear and you know all those things–,"

The Librarian suddenly paused and thought about it for a moment.

" That means the spirit does exist," said Shiva.

" Yeah, it does," the Librarian said.

" How can we thank you for putting your life into risk just for helping us?,"

The Librarian chuckled softly." You can do that by bringing me some wine,"

" Ask Raghav for that," said Shiva as he let out a smile.

The boys left the Library and walked towards the Mango tree while Raghav was lost in his thoughts.

" Hey, Raghav, what are you thinking?," asked Shiva.

" When we were in the crowd, I noticed your sister, Geeta. She had a weird look on her face when she saw Mr. Joshi,"

" A weird look?,"

" Yes, like she knew something or like she had seen Mr. Joshi before,"

" Really?, let's go to her and ask,"

" Yeah, I think we should,"

The boys then headed toward the house and met Geeta.

" I noticed that look on your face when you saw Mr. Joshi, what was it about?, do you know something about him?" asked Raghav.

" Why do you ask?," said Geeta.

Raghav looked at Shiva and Mohan then he continued. " Nothing, I just found it strange and was curious,"

" I don't know what are you talking about I'm sure it must be your misunderstanding,"

" No, I'm sure it was not," Raghav insisted.

" What are you saying?, I didn't even knew who he was,"

" Really?," asked Shiva as he leaned forward and looked in her eyes.

" Okay, fine, but you'll have to promise me," said Geeta.

" What promise?,"

" Promise that you'll not tell anyone what I am going to tell you,"

" Okay, we promise," Shiva looked at Mohan and Raghav.

" Yeah, we too," they both said.

" So," Geeta started." It happened the night before yesterday's . It was almost 12.30, Abhishek video called me so I had to go on the terrace and talk to him,"

" You went out at night?, said Mohan.

" I had to,"

" Okay, okay, continue," interrupted Shiva.

" Yeah, so we finished talking and when I was on my way to go downstairs, I saw someone, he had covered himself with a blanket but his head was visible and luckily it was a full moon night so it became easy for me to see him,"

" I see, what was the man doing?,"

" He looked like a robber as he was looking here and there and walking briskly, so it was obvious that he was trying to make some robbery,"

" Could it be the same person whom Anjali aunty saw?," Mohan suggested.

" It could be," said Geeta.

Shiva thought for a moment and said." Okay, can you tell us where he was going?,"

" Don't know exactly but it seemed like he was going in the west from our house,"

" In the west," repeated Shiva as he made a note in his mind.

" Yeah,"

Shiva made a mental note of everything that Geeta told them so that he would copy it down in his diary since he couldn't write it in front of her.

" And what do you think who was that man?,"

" Mr. Joshi, the one who claimed that he saw the spirit,"

" What?!," exclaimed Raghav.

" Yes, his height and the face looked exactly the same," said Geeta.

" So are you trying to say that Mr. Joshi was lying about the spirit?,"

" It could be,"

" But why would he do it?,"

" I don't know, maybe he's one of them,"

" One of them?,"

" Yes, the one who are trying to cause unrest in the village,"

Raghav didn't say anything and decided to stay quiet.

" Okay," said Shiva." Thanks, it was great help,"

" But I don't understand why you guys are so curious about it?,"

" Speaking honestly you would never understand," said Shiva brushing off the question with the joke.

" Oh really," said Geeta stretching his cheeks.

" We'll leave now, we're at Raghav's house, see you later,"

" Yeah, bye,"