Night Time Activities: Another Possible Victim

Adi could not stop himself but saying, "Mantisha! Why are you here?"

Listening him, Mantisha put on an embarrassed expression as she gave him an awkward smile. Adi could clearly sense that she was feeling shy, as well as guilty for something.

That young officer broke that awkward atmosphere by coughing slightly. Then he blurted out,

"Erm... She is the one who came here to testify."

"What?" Adi could not believe hia ears. What was this girl saying! Was she still in her right mind?!

"Miss..." Arthur wanted to ask something but he was not sure about her position to Adi yet. Thus he gulped back the words he was going to say and let them clear their quarries.

"Should we start now?" The officer in charge asked Mantisha.

"Sure. Why not."

"Wait." Adi became furious, "Don't tell me Tish, you are going to set free that Young Missy of the Smiths, just because something bad happened to her. Don't be so naïve, I am telling you."

"Erm... Sir, you can't say this you know. This could be considered as manipulating a testifier." That young officer tried to reason with Adi, clearly a little scared by his aura but still managed to remind him.

But as soon as he told that, he received an icy cold stare from Adi.

Another middle aged officer tugged his sleeves as he murmured, "Don't try to be a hero Sam. Here many of your superiors are present but nobody is telling anything. Learn to get the hint otherwise you will be the only scapegoat." He paused for a second, then continued, "Besides, it seems like they know each other well, and want each other to be happy. To be a good detective, you don't have to be brave always, try to focus on the unspoken words and attitudes of the people."

After listening his words, Sam looked towards Mantisha and then towards Adi again. To his relief, he sensed a vibe of genuine concern was coming from Adi.

Mantisha looked at Adi with mixed emotions. She thought he would be least bothered, but to her surprise, he really cared. She could sense that he already knew that she was the target. That's why he was behaving like this way. His concern touched her.

"Don't you worry Uncle. Trust me hmm?" Mantisha told with a reassuring smile and looked at him with eyes full of pleadings.

Adi clenched his hands in his pockets while he was staring at her intensely. How could he possibly shrug her off when he had already thought her as his next heiress, his daughter, besides she already had enough sharpness and sensibility. It was just, despite of being brave, she was still quite shy.

Adi let out a short breath as he nodded his head to her, then went out from the interrogation room with Arthur as the interrogation started.

Sam, the young officer took the lead as he started his questions.

"Your name?"

"Mantisha Sen."

"Were you invited to Mr. Adi Roy's party?"

"Yes. I mean... I guess so."

"What's with that attitude. Can't you just say it straight?"

"Mmm I mean I was asked to attend by the inviter, but I did not have any invitation card. Actually we are close enough to... Ahh I mean, Me and the Uncle Adi and mom... I mean Mister Roy and Madam Roy know me well. You can just ask them if you are having any doubt with me having any invitation or not..."

Mantisha hesitated a lot before coming here, but she made up her mind at last. She had prepared a thousand questions in her mind related to today's incident, but she completely forgot the part about her relationship with Adi. Thus when she was asked about her invitation, she entirely messed up her well prepared words.

Sam stopped for a moment and looked at her. She seemed quite confident a while ago, but now beads of sweats formed on her forehead. She looked at him with her big, round eyes, full of nervousness and expectations. She looked innocent and on guard altogether.

Sam would not deny if he was asked whether he was captivated by the vibe she was giving him now.

To brush off the feeling, Sam gave a light cough. He thought Mantisha's previous conversation with Adi as he remembered that Adi clearly knew her and also cared for her. So he continued.

"Let's get to the main point. What happened there?"

"I think everybody knows what exactly happened there. It happened in front of everyone's eyes after all. Still if I were to ask I would say, a waiter tripped over something and his tray full of drinks got splashed over a few ladies in the party. I was not present there. So I did not see that. But I learned it through the whispers of people and the things happened afterwards. Then they went to change their dresses from the spare clothes, came down, and got separated in the party. Miss Smith then came to the dance hall, where I was also present. There she gave a beautiful and perfect performance with her flawless moves."

Mantisha paused for a moment as she stared at Sam straight, then continued, "But I think I saw some weird vibe was dripping from her dance partner, and before I made sure my doubt was true, something happened and that man gestured to grab Miss Smith when it seemed like she was about to lost her footing. I saw that she managed to maintain her balance but that man still went closer to her, stepped on the hem of her dress as the dress got torn off."

She paused again and grab the glass full of water placed aside and gulped down a mouthful of water. Then looked back at a stunned face of Sam.

"I think it was a deliberate attempt, Miss Smith did not miss a beat throughout the whole song. But she lost her footing when the song was about to end. Besides, it is human's instinct to grab something by their hands when something is about to fall off, but that dance partner of Miss Smith used his legs first. That seemed like a deliberate attempt to me. And after the incident happened, nobody came to help her but a certain middle aged lady started to twist the facts and blame Miss Smith. She claimed that Miss Smith must have planned this beforehand to get people's attention. But one word of her made sense. That is, the dress was from Tasman Murad's. So it was not something to be ruined by a simple pull. So I guessed this matter was designed. Then someone tipped off Uncle Adi, I mean, Mr. Roy with a video. And that proved Someone else planned to gove a drug and kidnap her to send someone's bed to ruin a certain her reputation, and she also mentioned about this matter. It seemed like she was waiting for a show."

Sam was astonished by her depictions. How could someone's observation power be this strong! Moreover she was not only stating the facts, but it seemed like she also looked into the blanks between the matters.

"So, you are here to say Miss Lily Smith is the victim, and she is innocent."

Mantisha bit her lips, then stated slowly.

"No. I am telling she is the victim here, but it's your job to find whether she is innocent or not. Besides, I think there could be another victim too."

Sam raised his eyebrows, as he thought this was getting interesting.

"Another possible victim? Who is it?"

Mantisha stared straight to his eyes as she uttered.

"Me. Mantisha Sen."

--------------

Another possible admirer? I already like this young inspector. He is brave and upright, just like Judy. Isn't it?

Comment about your opinions and give this book your valuable reviews and votes.

Happy reading <3