48 Chapter 48

Abdul was intrigued by the nature of the case. The body was mutilated beyond recognition. The I-card led him to the office where Stella Mendes worked. Upon entering the office, he could feel the glares of the people there. It was the first time they had seen police entering their premises, and the employees were scared but curious to know what brought the police there. Another hot topic for a few days to come! Abdul entered Mr. Gupta's office where he was greeted warmly. He had informed Gupta's secretary about his arrival.

Though Mr. Gupta greeted Abdul warmly, he was clearly uneasy. He knew it had to do with the sexual harassment case, but nothing had happened so far because of Stella's absence, so how could the police had entered the scenario?

"Good evening inspector," he said in an inquisitive manner. "What brings you to our office? I hope nothing serious." He chuckled nervously.

Abdul didn't waste time in revealing his mission. "There has been a murder of a lady whose body was dumped in the outskirts of City M. Her body was badly mutilated, but we found her I-card with her, which led us to your office. Her name is Stella Mendes."

Gupta was petrified. For a moment his head was reeling. He took control of the situation and soothed himself by drinking a glass of water. Stella had taken a few days leave after filing the sexual harassment suit against Rohan. However, her leave period was over and the office couldn't reach her or locate her. Her phone was switched off. But why would anyone murder her? Was Rohan involved? But that would have been the most stupid thing to do. Perhaps Stella was blackmailing Rohan…

"Sir, this is very strange. Stella was a nice girl who was dedicated to her job. I cannot imagine her being murdered. There is something wrong here."

Abdul wasn't satisfied, so he dug further. "I would like to know who her friends are and whom she interacted with outside the office. Please give us all the information you have about her. It would benefit all of us if you don't leave out any details," he added in an almost threatening tone.

Gupta talked for about thirty minutes. He gave all the necessary details to Abdul including the sexual harassment case that Stella had filed. This was an interesting angle to the whole crime and he wanted to meet Rohan. But Mr. Gupta informed him that Rohan had been transferred to San Francisco and that he was on extended leave until his appointment letter came. He had just got married.

Abdul then asked questions of the people in the office. One thing was sure - not many people liked Stella. Her character came out as one of a selfish girl who patronized people. With so many people speaking against her, she could have been on anybody's hit list. Suddenly the suspect count increased manifoldly! He had to be rational, but there was an overflow of information that had to be placed in sequence. He left the office after an hour and headed to the police station.

The case was clear. It was Rohan who had murdered Stella, so that he could get rid of her annoying presence. He started building the timeline by putting all the pieces of the puzzle in place. If Stella was blackmailing Rohan, then there should have been some telephone conversations between them. He ordered the policemen under him to fetch the details of conversations between Rohan and Stella. He also ordered them to inform her nearest relative of the situation. One of them had to identify the body.

As he thought more and more about the case, things started to seem ambiguous. He needed some rest. It was already 7pm, and he wanted to reach home to be with his wife and adorable seven-year-old daughter.