Chapter 20: I Found The Fifth!

In the hot summer Shiva was shivering with cold. He was shrouded by darkness. He rubbed his hands against each other but it was of not much help. He realized that his eyes were close. He managed to open them just to find that he was standing in front of his old house. But it was not burnt, intact it was as Shiva remembered it to be. Like it was in his childhood. He saw the front door open and a kid came out running followed by his mother and finally the mother caught the boy. " No, I don't want that, I will be fine in a few days," the boy cried. The mother held the boy up in her arms and said.", You'll be fine in a few only if you take your medicines correctly." The boy didn't seem to agree, he turned his face to the other side. The mother then brought the boy back to the ground and said," What about fresh Mangoes after the medicine? " The boy's face was instantly lit up with a smile," Mangoes?, really?," His mother then ruffled his hairs and said " Yes, mangoes."

Then the boy happily went inside the house and the door was closed now and by now Shiva felt no cold. He stared at the house but then his surroundings began to change. The day had turned into night and his house was taken over by the flames. People were screaming and shouting, running here and there." Shiva!, wake up!,", " Shiva!," Shiva woke up panting hard with his face damped with sweat. He looked around and found himself on his bed with Mohan standing next to him.

" Wh-what happened?," Shiva stammered.

" Nothing, we have to discuss the plan with Raghav,"

Shiva let out a sigh," Yeah,"

Just then something snapped Shiva.

" Mohan!, I think...., I think we are one step closer to find the killer,"

" What?, how?,"

" I think I got the third person,"

" What!?, and who is that?,"

" The Sarpanch, Mr. Gokhale,"

" Mr. Gokhale, really?, how can you say that?,"

" I cross checked the names and only two-three names were in common including Mr. Gokhale, I thought about it and then I came to realize that he could be the third person,"

" But how?,"

" Remember that day when we were doing our search and in our way we met Mr. Gokhale?,"

Mohan tried to recall it. " Yeah, then?,"

" He seemed to be in hurry or like he came from somewhere and wanted to go to his home quickly,"

Mohan nodded. " Yes,"

" This incident came to my mind and I thought about it and realized that it was the same day when Mr. Deshmukh went out of the village,"

" You mean to say that he went to meet Mr. Deshmukh?,"

" Exactly!, maybe to tell him to stay in touch or any other instructions,"

Mohan thought for a moment and said, " Yes, that could be!,"

" Now we will have to safeguard him before the killer gets him,"

" But how are we going to do that?, I mean even if we tell him that we know about the legend and four parts of the key, he will refuse to accept,"

" You're right, we will have to do it indirectly, without getting involved with him,"

" Do you have any plan?," asked Mohan hopefully.

" No, but we'll discuss with Raghav and surely get one,"

Shiva and Mohan were on their way to leave the house when Ramkrushna called them.

" Hey boys, where you guys going?," he asked.

" At Raghav's place," said Shiva briefly.

" Oh, would you like to join me for the meeting?,"

" Meeting?,"

" Yes, the village's meeting, now that the Pandit had mentioned that that the ritual will be held next month, all the villagers will be discussing about that and fix a date for the ritual,"

Shiva considered going to the meeting for a while.

" Should we?," he asked to Mohan.

" I think we should,"

" But we need to discuss with Raghav,"

" Yeah–, and what if the killer is present in the meeting, he'll surely get suspicious about us,"

Shiva thought for a moment and finally made his decision.

" Uhh, well, no, Raghav and we have some things to do today," he said

" Oh, okay then," said Ramkrushna

" Yeah," Shiva gave a weak smile.

The boys headed toward the Mango tree.

" Aren't we going to Raghav's house?," Mohan asked.

" No, I called him and told to meet at the tree,"

The boys shortly reached the Mango tree and waited for Raghav.

" There he is," said Mohan as he saw Raghav coming.

" Am I late?," asked Raghav.

" No, not at all,"

" Okay what are we going to do today?,"

Shiva looked at Mohan, he nodded.

" Raghav, we found the third person,"

" What!, really?, who is that?,"

" The Sarpanch, Mr. Gokhale,"

" He is the third person?,but how?,"

Shiva explained everything that he told Mohan before.

" Okay..," said Raghav. " If he's the third person then what are we doing here?, he's life is in threat,"

" There's a meeting at his house now, so he's safe foe now but we'll have to think about a plan,"

" What plan?,"

" The plan to safeguard Mr. Gokhale and use him to catch the killer,"

" What?, we are going to use him to catch the killer?," asked Mohan.

" Yeah, that's the only way,"

" Oh, like we use goat for trapping the tiger, right?,"

" No, not in that way but something like that,"

" Okay..., I get it know,"

" Apart from that, I have another theory,"

" What theory?," asked Mohan.

Shiva looked at both of them as they waited for him to speak.

" There's a fifth part of the key," said Shiva sternly.

" What!?,"

" Fifth part?," repeated Mohan in disbelief.

" Yes, a fifth part with the fifth person,"

" What are saying Shiva?," said Raghav. " We all know that the key was broke into four parts, then from where could this fifth part came from?,"

" Is it that the key was broke into five parts?," Mohan asked.

" No, it isn't like that," Shiva clarified.

" Then how could be there a fifth part?,"

" I'll explain," saying that Shiva half sat and began scribbling on the soil with his fingers.

Mohan and Raghav bent forward to see.

" This is the key," said Shiva as he finished the drawing. " And this is the fifth part,"

" Okay..., and?,"

" As we know my father gave those four parts to four people but I think one of those four parts was fake,"

" Fake?,"asked Raghav.

" Yes, I think he was aware that somebody knows about the key and in order to protect it he made a copy of one of the part,"

" So, if you're right then..., where's the original part?,"

" It could be either with my dad or with the somebody very close to him, and as we know my dad..., he's not anymore, "

" That means we'll have to find the fifth person?,"

" Yes,"

" But it's just a theory, right?, it could be wrong too,"

" Yes, I agree it could be wrong but we can use this theory to catch the killer,"

" And how are we going to do that?,"

" By finding the fifth person or someone potential of being it,"

" What, I don't get it,"

" Yeah, me too,"

" See, it's simple, we'll follow the same plan which we were going to do with Mr. Gokhale,"

" Using him as the goat?,"

" Yeah but with the fifth person. We'll find him and in some way, we'll send this information to the killer and when he's gonna come out we will catch him,"

" Sounds right but how do we find the fifth person?, the situation remains the same,"

" No it doesn't, because I know who could be that fifth person,"

" What!?, you know?,"

" But how?,"

" Yeah, I thought you were looking for the third person all this time,"

" Yes actually I was and eventually found the fifth,"

" Okay, okay," said Raghav as he took a deep breath. " So, who is that?,"

" The writer of the Vasupur Journal,"

" What!?,"

" The writer?,"

" How?,"

Meanwhile at the other side of the village everybody gathered around the house of Mr. Gokhale where the meeting was held but to their surprise the Sarpanch was not there. Ramkrushna reached the place and saw that the door was closed from outside with no look.

Everybody started murmuring, some of them tried to call him but hid phone was switched off.

" Shit!," said Ramkrushna after making an unsuccessful attempt to contact Mr. Gokhale.

Raghav's father, Mr. Ranjeet walked to him." No use, we've tried,"

" He must have gone for some work in hurry and forgot to charge his phone," said Ramkrushna.

" I hope so,"

" Should we inform to police," One of the man spoke.

" I think we should wait for some time," Another man said.

" Yeah, he must've gone out for some work," said an old man.

" What about the Pandit?, where is he," asked one the man.

" He's out of the village right now," said Mr. Ranjeet.

" We should contact the police," suggested on of the man.

" Yes, you're right," agreed the other man.

The murmuring and whispering stopped as one of the man contacted the police and began explaining the situation.

The man then hung up the phone and told others." Mr. Kadam will be arriving here soon,"