Chapter 16: The Mysterious Man

The boys again gathered under the Mango tree to discuss about the latest revelation made by Geeta.

" It's getting complicated now," said Shiva.

" What's happening in this damn village man," Raghav said.

" If Mr. Joshi went at Vasusthala Forest before yesterday then why didn't he saw the spirit then," said Shiva.

" Yeah, that's right!," Mohan said.

" And remember he said that he stayed in the Library for a night," Raghav spoke.

" Yeah, it was the same night at which Geeta saw that man," said Shiva.

" I can't believe this man,"

" Hey guys," said Mohan as he started speaking his thoughts. " What if the book that he gave us was a hoax?,"

" What do you mean?," said Shiva.

" What if he's the one who wrote that book?,"

" But why would he do that?," Raghav questioned.

" To misguide us," said Shiva.

" Exactly!," said Mohan. " The whole history of the village wrote in that journal was made up to distract us,"

" And by the way he was speaking today, it was clear that he tried to convince us that the spirit does exist so that we stop our investigation,"

" So what do we do now?," asked Raghav.

" I think we should stick to our plan of finding the third person who has the part of the key," said Shiva.

" Why?, now that we have an idea of who could be the killer so why should we wait?," asked Mohan.

" We don't have any evidence that he's the killer, we need to trap him then we'll be having some solid evidence,"

" And how do we do that?,"

" As I told, by finding out the third person,"

" But it's difficult now as the biggest source of information of ours is fake,"

" Yes, that's right, that would surely create a lot of difficulties for us,"

" But doesn't it looks so unreal that in order to deceive us he wrote that book as if he knew that you guys will be coming here to solve this mystery," said Raghav.

" It's just our assumption that he might be the killer, we have to keep watch on him and find the third person ad quickly as possible," Shiva said.

" So what do we do now?," Mohan questioned.

Shiva thought for a moment and said." Let's go back to the Library,"

" Why?,"

" I forgot to question Mr. Joshi about the spirit that where and how did he saw it, and about its appearance,"

" Okay, let's go,"

The three boys reached at the Library and made their way to Mr. Joshi.

" You guys again?, seems like you forgot to ask something, right?," Mr. Joshi said as he stood up welcoming them.

" Ahh yes, Mr. Joshi you know us very well," said Shiva.

" After a long I've got some friends man, and I value the friendship,"

" Surely you do,"

" So, what questions do you have?,"

" Can we sit there and talk?," said Shiva referring to the table.

" Yes, of course,"

The Librarian and the three boys sitted at the table and Shiva took out his diary.

" So at what time you went in the forest?," asked Shiva.

" It was nearly about 12 am,"

Shiva noted that in his diary.

" In which part of the forest did you see the spirit?,"

" The one near the Vasusthala temple ,"

" I see, it must've been very dark at that time, right?,"

" No, it wasn't as the day before that day was full moon night so the moon was shining enough to make most of the things visible,"

Shiva had asked this question to check whether the Librarian was lying to them or not as he was aware about the full moon night.

" Great, so where were the cops at that time?,"

" Ahh yes!, that was quite struggle,"

" Struggle?,"

" Yes," the Librarian said as he put his both arms together on the table." When I was going to enter the forest, right at that time the cops had came to patrol there, I had to wait for some time to let them go so I hid behind the bushes,"

" Oh, and after that?,"

" When the police left that place, I carefully made my way into the forest and after walking for some distance I heard some noise,"

" What noise?,"

" It sounded like someone was crying, crying for help,"

" Then what did you do?,"

" I walked some steps towards that sound then I shouted ' who's there? '. Then the voice suddenly stopped and I started walking in the direction from which the voice came," then he paused as if he was trying to remember something.

" Okay then?,"

The Librarian collected his thoughts and said." Then I smelled something weird,"

" Smell?,"

" Yes, within a few seconds the smell was spread across that area,"

" Smell..., that's weird,"

" Well, actually I've heard that wherever the spirit exist that area has a certain smell because of the spirit, "

Shiva looked at Raghav and Mohan.

" What kind of smell it was?,"

" I don't remember exactly but it was quite different than that of the forest, it was a weird one,"

Shiva noted that in his diary.

" Okay, and what happened after that?," asked Shiva.

" Then I started walking in the direction from which the voice came and with every step the smell grew stronger, and then again I heard someone crying, I had got scared by now and I was going to retreat and just then a shadowy figure came out of the bushes, it was very fast and as it came near me, I was on the verge of pissing my pants then I became unconscious and fell down,"

" Have you seen how the spirit looked like?,"

" No, it was so fast that I wasn't even able to catch a glimpse of it,"

Shiva thought about it for a moment.

" But–," the Librarian paused thinking something.

" What?,"

" It didn't felt like it was anything supernatural, I mean, the spirit is there but it didn't felt like that,"

" Are you sure?,"

" I'm still a little skeptical about it,"

" It happened near the Vasusthala Temple, right?,"

" Yes, a few yards away from it,"

" I see, thanks it was a great help,"

" Don't mention that kid," the Librarian said as he smiled with all of his muscles.

The three boys stood up with Shiva as he put his diary into his small bag and then did a handshake with the Old man.

" It was great working with you," said Shiva.

" Ahh, now you're talking like a real detective!, I hope you should the mystery if there is any,"

" Yeah, that goes without saying!,"

As they both shaked their hands Shiva could feel an energy through his hand, it was a challenging one.

" We shall leave now," said Raghav.

" Wait, I am coming with you,"

" With us?,"

" Yeah, I have some work in the market and your house is on the way, so we'll go together,"

" Yeah, let's go," said Shiva.

" Yup, just a second,"

The Librarian put the Journal in his drawer and informs his assistant that he'll be going out for a while.

" Let's go," the Librarian said.

" Yeah,"

It was evening now. On the way, the three boys and Mr. Joshi met Mr. Pandey who was carrying something.

" Oh!, Mr. Joshi!, how are you doing?," asked the Head Constable.

" Fine, and how is your shoulder Mr. Pandey?," asked Mr. Joshi

" It's almost fine now, just a little medicine and it'll be as great as before," said Mr. Pandey.

" That's nice,"

" What about you guys?, where are you guys coming from?," Mr. Pandey asked to the boys.

" They were leaving the Library so I said let's go together, I had some work in the market," said the Librarian.

" I see, that's great,"

" What's this?," said Mr. Joshi referring to the sweet box that Mr. Pandey was holding.

" Oh this?!, this is prasaad from the Lord Hanuman's temple,"

( Note‐: Prasaad is an offering made to Gods in India.)

" Oh!, I forgot that today's Saturday, the day of Lord Hanuman!," Mr. Joshi spoke his realization.

" So what are you waiting for?, take this, eat this prasaad," said Mr. Pandey.

Just then a man came from behind.

" Mr. Pandey!, looks like you are enjoying your leaves huh?," said the Senior Inspector, Mr. Kadam.

" Yes sir, take this, have some prasaad," said Mr. Pandey as he gave one of the sweets to Mr. Kadam.

" I love this prasaad !, how do they make it?,"

" Mr. Kadam," said Raghav. " Prasaad for the Lord Hanuman's Temple comes from our shop,"

" Oh, I see, I'll have to visit your shop someday,"

" Hey kids, take this," said Mr. Pandey.

" Yes," said the three boys and took the prasaad.

" Mr. Joshi, take it, it's the last one,"

" Yeah, I too love this," said Mr. Joshi as he took the prasaad.

" Mr. Pandey," said the Senior Inspector.

" Yes?,"

" There's no contact with Mr. Deshmukh,"

Shiva was attention was drawn quickly and so did Raghav and Mohan's.

" This is not good," said Mr. Pandey.

" We can't say anything right now, let's see,"

" Yes,"

" Okay boys, I shall leave now, take care," said the Senior Inspector.

" I shall leave too," Mr. Pandey said to Mr. Joshi.

" Yeah, bye,"

******

The evening was too short and now the night had begun. This night was no different, all the doors were closed by 8 pm and the village was soon filled with the ghostly silence. The village seemed to be quite but this silence was not of peace, it was of the terror. Amidst of the terror, a man had stepped out, covering himself with a blanket and holding a metal rod walked briskly in the direction of the Vasusthala Forest.

Meanwhile in the other side of the village, the family had finished doing their dinner and now everyone was going to sleep. Shiva and Mohan were in their room and Shiva was checking up his diary.

" What are you doing brother?," asked Mohan.

" Just checking up the diary,"

" Mr. Joshi is so friendly man, do you think he could be the killer?,"

" Everyone in this village is good, but we know that the killer is one of them, we can't say anything by the behavior of people,"

" Yes, that's right,"

While checking the diary, a confused looked etched onto Shiva's face.

" What happened brother?," Mohan asked.

" This is strange,"

" What?," said Mohan as he came closer to Shiva.

" The names that we took, from them, the one who were close to my father, I still remember some of them,"

" Okay, so?,"

" And the names that we took from that Journal are exactly the same,"

" Really?,"

" Yes,"

" That means the information in this book is correct,"

" Perhaps," said Shiva scratching his head.

" This is becoming very complicated now, you heard them talking, right?,"

" Who?,"

" Mr. Kadam and Mr. Pandey,"

" Yeah, there's no contact with Mr. Deshmukh,"

" What if he the killer had got him,"

" We can't say anything right now, but we shall focus on finding the third person for now,"

" Yeah,"

" Don't worry, we shall sleep now,"

" Yeah, goodnight,"

While the entire village was asleep, a man was striding towards the Vasusthala forest. Just then he heard something, it were the cops. He hid himself behind the thick bushes. He could hear the footsteps of the cops. He waited for them to leave the area. The cops left and then the man stood, he removed the blanket and walked towards the forest as he swung the rod left and right. The mysterious man was none other than the Librarian.