Chapter 11: Collecting The Clues

" Finding the killer in this village seems impossible,' said Mohan.

" Who said we are finding the killer?," Shiva spoke.

" Not the killer?, then who?,"

" Those persons who have the broken parts of the key, if we find and safeguard them then the killer shall get frustrated and will do some mistake and that will give us a chance to reach him,"

" That's right, there must some connection between these four people,"

" So let's see," said Shiva as he half sat on the ground."

Raghav and Mohan followed suit.

" There are four peoples and four parts, we know one of them," he said drawing a small line in the soil.

" One of them?, what about Mr. Deshmukh?," said Raghav.

" It's just our assumption, we're not sure about it,"

" Umm..., that's right,"

" So, if my father gave them those parts that means that they were close and trustworthy to him, more than anyone,"

" Yes, do you remember any close person to your father from your childhood?," asked Mohan.

" Unfortunately not, I don't remember much now,"

" That means we have no clue from the past," Raghav said.

" Yes," said Shiva." Let's look into present now,"

And again he drew a small line.

" If we take Mr. Deshmukh in the picture then it becomes easier," said Shiva.

" How?," Raghav asked.

" The connection between the Constable and Mr. Deshmukh. Mr. Pandey said that Mr. Deshmukh was like a big brother for the Constable, so it explains why Mr. Deshmukh should be having the part,"

" Yes, but the killer will not wait for Mr. Deshmukh to come back, he'll proceed with the next person," Raghav said.

" But how do we find the next person?," Mohan questioned.

" We'll have to find out who were the persons close with the Constable and Mr. Deshmukh that they could trust," said Shiva.

" How do we do that?,"

" By reading that book,"

" That one from the Library?,"

" Yup,"

" But you read it already, right?,"

" But I didn't paid much attention on other people, I'll reread it, I'm sure we'll find something in it,"

" Sounds right,"

" Yeah, let's visit the Library,"

******

" Hey, we're meeting once again!," said the Librarian.

" Be used to it now," said Shiva.

The three boys went to one of the many cupboard where the Librarian kept that book.

" N-no, not there,"

The Librarian took out the book from his drawer.

" I knew that you'll come again," said the old man.

" Thanks," said Shiva as the Librarian handed him the book.

" Enjoy," the Librarian said.

The Librarian then sat on his chair and the boys sitted at one of the tables.

" Isn't it strange that the writer hasn't revealed himself?," asked Mohan.

" Perhaps he wanted to let the people know that he wrote this book," Shiva spoke.

" But why?,"

Just then right at that moment a thought struck Shiva's mind and left his eyes wide open for a second but then he dismissed that thought.

" Don't know," said Shiva simply.

Then he opened the book and started reading the book carefully than before. Raghav and Mohan joined him.

While reading Shiva made several notes in his small diary.

" Hey Shiva, do you think it's safe to write these things in the diary?," asked Mohan.

" Why do you ask?,"

" I know it won't happen but what if the killer somehow finds your diary and reads it?,"

" Then it will be good for us anyways," Shiva smiled.

" Ehh?," said Mohan with a puzzled look on his face.

" Don't worry, I have some plans, but first we'll have to find the third person,"

" Yeah,"

Half an hour had passed and they were still reading the book.

Shiva took out his head from the book and spoke," According to this, the old Sarpanch of the village was the constable, Mr. Gajanan's father and there were elections going on in the village for the next Sarpanch,"

" Yes, and there were five candidates," Mohan spoke.

" That's right, and here the author has partially revealed himself saying that he was one of them,"

" Yes,' said Raghav.

" And leaving the rest, other two were Mr. Gokhale who obviously won the election and Mr. Deshmukh,"

" He wanted to be the Sarpanch," Raghav spoke to himself.

" And it is written that Mr. Gokhale was older than Mr. Deshmukh and they were good friends, there was a tough competition between them while the writer and the remaining two candidates were out of the race," said Shiva.

" And it is written that both of there votes were equal and only one voter was left to vote," said Raghav.

" And that was my father,he voted to Mr. Gokhale and Mr. Gokhale won and became the new Sarpanch,"

" The writer says that even after the election, the friendship of Mr. Gokhale and Mr. Deshmukh wasn't changed,"

" Do you think the writer has to do with all the things happening in the village?," Mohan asked.

" Don't know, we can't jump on any conclusions until we read this book completely," said Shiva.

" Yes,"

Two hours passed by and finally they reached the end of the book.

" Finally, we completed the book," Mohan spoke.

" For it's the first time in my life that I've completed any book," said Raghav.

" Feels like an achievement, right?," spoke Shiva.

" Yeah,"

" Here," said Shiva. " I've made a list of all the the people's close to my dad and Mr. Deshmukh according to this book, I didn't count Mr. Gajanan because he was too young at that time, almost of our age,"

" So now?," Mohan asked.

" I'll cross check the people who are close with both Mr. Deshmukh and my dad,"

" I hope we'll find the next person quickly," said Raghav.

" I hope so,"

" Yeah," Mohan said.

" Let's go home now, we'll meet tomorrow at the same place, the Mango tree,"

******

Once again the night started, all the doors got closed while Shiva and his family sat doing their dinner.

" Ramkrushna, what are the progress in Geeta's engagement program?," asked Girish.

Shiva hoped that the engagement program should be postponed as they would get more time to investigate on their case.

" Ah, the decorations agency's facing some problems with the transport of materials to our village so we decided to postpone the engagement," Ramkrushna spoke.

Shiva was relieved by the information.

" Bad luck," Girish said.

" Yeah, my wish is to celebrate Geeta's engagement with full potential, no compromise,"

" Yeah, that's right,"

Shiva looked at Mohan and found that he was too listening the conversation carefully, when their both eyes met they gave a notorious smile. It was a gesture which often the siblings would do.

The family done their dinner and shortly everybody went to sleep.

Shiva and Mohan were in their given room preparing their beds.

" Thank God the engagement has been postponed," said Mohan.

" Yeah, we'll now get enough time to investigate on our case," Shiva said.

" Yup, let's sleep now, we'll have to get up early tomorrow,"

" Yes, good night,"