DEDUCTION OF THE THEATRICS

As Dhruv started spilling the beans Shiv started to get a clearer picture of the entire theatrics. For a really long time, he was going around this case with a vague theory about everything. He now knew the motive and with that, he started deducing. It didn't take him long to understand how exactly everything was executed. Although he already had everything deduced perfectly from the beginning of time but every time something was missing but now as the pieces of the puzzles were laid in front of his eyes, solving it became a child's play for him.

He was happy to finally receive the truth he wanted, he was happy that he finally had solved his case, he was happy that he will now be able to serve justice to the dead. But the pain was still there, and it was far greater than the joy he was experiencing. For a long time he had kept his emotions in a bottle, he played the cheeky unbothered straightforward police officer to get Dhruv to talk to him. But how long could have a father held his tears? At the end of the day, he loved his son even with his flaws. The room again experienced a deafening silence as Shiv tried to hold on to his tears. It was overwhelming, even for a cold-hearted person like Dhruv.

Dhruv: There's no point in crying, Officer!

Rathod: I am not crying!

Shiv wipes his tears and looks up

Dhruv: And I am in Disneyland!

Rathod: What?

Dhruv: I thought, we were seeing who can lie better?

Rathod: Ha... I was conjecturing the information.

Dhruv: Oh, is it? Well, go on! I am listening.

Rathod: They were trying to get rid of you because every glimpse of you was just making their lives harder. First with a letter, then a question paper, and at the end, beating you up! All of it their desperate attempts of getting rid of you! And I can understand the other things too, but Pooja's involvement in this entire thing still doesn't make sense, why would you get pooja killed? What's she got to do with all of this? And how did you get that pack blades? We took everything from you when I first took you in for interrogation!

Dhruv: The person whom Vikram called that day was Pooja! Vikram told me that it was she who advised him to kill my father. I was going to surrender after killing Vikram, but after getting the information about Pooja being the mysterious advisor, I had to change the plans!

Rathod: He told it was her? So. that's why you went to such great lengths to get her into all this mess. FUCK!

Dhruv: That's right! And well about the blades, I received them from a friend in the cell! And there was one more reason to frame her. I knew Pooja saw me at the school when I jumped inside again to take my cap that day, but coincidently I spotted her too!

Rathod: So that way you knew, she will rat you out someday. And as you received the information about their meeting, you started making your plan. You analyzed the whole building, finding all the possible entry points and blank spots to save yourself from the camera. You kept an eye on Pooja on 16th January. You let her go inside and waited till she came out and as she did, you cut off the power, disabling the camera.

Dhruv: That's correct, go on!

Rathod: Then you entered the house and the opened door made it easier for you to enter. As you entered the apartment Vikram was probably standing with his back facing you and then you hit Vikram with the same spanner used for your father. The first stick was powerful enough to get him to the ground, he continued hitting him to the point where his skull would make more noise than him. As he was finally dead you took care of any possible evidence you could have placed and then you threw the spanner out of the window making it look like the work of an amateur. I mean why would anyone with a little common sense leave the murder weapon close to the crime scene. But you wanted us to find it, as you had very wisely implanted Pooja's fingerprints on that spanner, making her the only suspect possible.

Dhruv: I love it when you are right!

Rathod: Believe me, I love it even more! Well, talking about the crime scene, you purposely left some blood drops near the window and the grills, literally forcing us to look outside. And you knew, after 16th Jan's meeting Pooja and Vikram had, Pooja will come running to us. To point a target on your back, so that she could clear herself. But the girl got manipulated even without knowing it. Then, you come here and confessed to your crimes just so that you could put Pooja on our radar. And you also made sure that you present us with all the evidence we need to make her the killer. Evidence which was created by you. You even uploaded the pictures before coming here. My colleagues said you took some time to get ready and it wasn't french roast, right Dhruv?

Dhruv: Absolutamente correcto!

Rathod: I see you know Spanish too! You took time because you were uploading Pooja's pictures online and not because you were eating some fucking toast! And you used it against her as you got her all to yourself... WHAT A PLAN!! (Slow claps) You played everyone, Dhruv!

Dhruv: I wasn't uploading her pictures. There's this site, I found it on the dark web. The website's sole purpose is distribution, if I don't login on to the site for a destined time limit everything gets out. What I was doing was setting the timer for the next login, so as long as you decided to keep me here Pooja's chances at life were decreasing. And I didn't play anyone!.... I just controlled everything! There's a difference! Every individual had their own will and they could have turned everything upside down but it didn't happen! And that's control! I controlled everything that had been happening, every situation, every person's choices, literally every fucking thing!! And it will continue, even after this! I WAS THE PUPPETEER AND YOU MY FRIEND,… WERE ONE OF MY

PUPPET! In fact, the favorite one! And yeah, I took time because of those pictures, I was using the website to hide erase my involvement, just for your information the accounts that posted those pictures are bots, you can never trace me through it!

Rathod: I just need two things Dhruv! First, the name of that 7th teenager, and second, the evidence that will help me press charges against you!

Dhruv: You will find that 7th teen as soon as I die! (Chuckles) And well, I can still give you the evidence you want! I have all the clothes I wore between all of this, some of them soaked in blood. And a hard disk containing the video of me torturing those boys and them confessing to my father's murder! I buried it after returning from your house, I stayed there till dawn and returned home the morning, it was 5 A.M. I guess, yeah it was five o'clock. I remember meeting that annoying neighbor of mine, doing his jogging. I'll give you that hard disk and all but…. I gave most of them a choice, I will give you a choice too!... Either take all that evidence or stay with the decision of finding that 7th teen!.... CHOOSE

WISELY!

Rathod: Fine! I'll take the evidence. But I'll find that friend of yours!!... So,

where is this evidence you are speaking about?

Dhruv: Same place where my father was killed! Near that pole that crashed my father's car!

Rathod: What?!... Irony never leaves your back killer!

Dhruv: It certainly doesn't!

Rathod: Ok, we will go there after some time! And you are coming with us! I have to look after the mess you created,… that poor girl!

Dhruv: Seems like the end is near?

Rathod: IT IS!

Rathod left the room, leaving Dhruv alone again. Dhruv was smiling as if he was finally satisfied! He kept his head on the table. Finally taking that nap he was trying to get for a long time. He was in peace.