I sit still for a moment, silently staring at the paper. This paper could have solved the matter, once and for all. But the motive behind the crime is clearly missing. And there is no evidence that Sandhya has done anything. So much of drama for nothing. I am at a dead-end again. I hate feeling stumped for a case.

My phone rings just then. The others in the hallway cast irritated glances at me as I fumble to make it silent.

"Where is the evidence? You know we don't have much time. We'll miss this opportunity to get some name in the competitive market..." the voice of my boss booms over the receiver.

"Sir," I struggle to keep my voice focused, "I'm trying to get more information. Our potential suspect is passed out and things here aren't seeking good." I wave the diary in front of my face, as if magically willing for the letters to appear.

"You girls are too soft and so not fit for the job," he sneers at the other end. I grit my teeth in response but don't say anything as he cut the call abruptly. I pocket the diary and stood up with a sigh.

"I heard that," someone says to me from behind.

I look over my shoulders and see a young woman in her early twenties with has shoulder-length black hair, exotic coffee skin and an eerie twinkle in her eyes. She cocks her head to one side and the lips painted in a dark maroon shade twists into a small smile.

"Don't let him walk all over you. Being a girl is your biggest strength," she whispers, coming closer just as I turn around.

"How did you know..."

"Shh..." she places a finger on my lips. I shiver involuntarily. There is something cold and merciless in her face. It is a deadly kind of beauty.

"The way you held your phone away from your ear made it clear to me that there was your boss. And the fact that the douchebag was shouting, made it clear over till here that he's a man." she smiles again.

"You're observant," I mumble, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that a stranger could have that kind of an influence on me. My heart is going in a staccato of beats.

"In our line of work, we need that keen sense and control over what we see." she falls into a step beside me as I turn back to the door again. What is her line of work ai wonder?

"I don't know you actually but thanks," I try a small smile that comes out rather weird.

"Shifana," she laughes.

"I'm..."

"Officer Vidya," Shifana chuckles, "You're a popular name around here."

"I-I-" I seal my lips because I don't have anything to say.

"A little piece of advice as a friend, Vidya," she leans down and whispers into my ear, "Don't go too deep into a case that you become the headlines the next day."

I freeze in the spot. She brushes past me, giving me a mock bow and pushes through the glass doors.

Great. Grumpy boss, inadequate pay and now I am having criminals trailing behind me. Can the case get any more complicated than throwing away my life at the stake for it? For a brief second, I consider quitting but the words of the girl keep ringing still in my ear.

"Being a girl is your biggest strength."

And here I am making a motto out of some words uttered by a criminal that wants to kill me. Great job, Vidya. The disappointment is pressing down even further. My much-needed break is long overdue.

I fire up the ignition with the random thoughts clogging up my head. I need to visit another hospital where my client actually is. Sanjh could've been killed that night. It is luckily that she survived a stabbing. The weapon was nowhere, no fingerprints. The only clue to the case is her next-door neighbour. But she is still out cold.

It is like a dead end at every turn. My random thoughts get a good jolt when I realise what I've been looking at all this while. On my rearview mirror is a sleek black car, it's headlights flashing now and then with a predatory gleam and it has been clearly following me.

To be very sure I attempt false turns and take winding routes but the car never loses track of me. It adjusts it's speed with mine too. The windows are tinted so I have no idea who could be inside but I nurture my doubts.

Finally, after narrowly missing being hit, I try to ignore the car and focus on the road. When I reach the hospital, I bring my car to a dead halt. The black devil whizzes past me without stopping, rounding the corner where the evening drops on it like a shroud, suddenly.

With my heart threatening to flutter out of my chest, I run into the lobby, flashing my card at the receptionist who nods in acknowledgement. I fly through the corridors and up the lift to room number three zero one. I knock slightly and the door is pulled open from inside.

My tongue feels dry, the speech lost from it. Shifana gives a small giggle and opens it wider, "Here officer. I was just leaving. Thanks for taking up the case for my friend."

"I..."

"Oh. You don't have to say it," she sniffs, feigning a sob, "poor girl had to go through a lot."

I enter the room, still in a daze.

"She's on that bed. It may be you next. Don't mess with the wrong people and the wrong case, Vidya," the cold voice lingers for a fraction of a second before Shifana has disappeared.

"Do you know her, Sanjh?" I ask pointedly to the girl in front of me.

"She's my school friend," Sanjh clutches her chest, struggling to sit up, "She heard about my condition from a common friend and came to visit."

"Oh right. So how far do you remember about last night's assault?" I settle on the lone chair.

"I'm afraid my client can give you only fifteen minutes at best, officer," the duty nurse walks in, giving me a disapproving glance. "She needs to rest."

"I just need ten minutes of privacy with her and this will be vital to the case," I explain.

The nurse reattaches the IV line and checks the medication chart before shrugging and closing the door behind her.

"I remember only two black eyes full of hate." Sanjh pants.

"The face?"

"He or she was wearing a dupatta on his or her face. I think it was a woman though," she muses.

"Do you recognise the person?"

"I opened the door and got stabbed. She never gave me a chance," Sanjh winces at the memory.

"Aahh... Any suspects? Maybe your next-door neighbour?" I hint.

"Sandhya? Ho no-no," a genuine smile lights up on her face, "I hardly know her. As far as s I've read in the detective books, the crime needs to have a motive. She hardly has a motive to kill me."

"But you two look alike," I supply.

"You've met her?"

"She went to the hospital in the wee morning hours of three am and got herself admitted for a severe headache," I inform in a matter of fact way.

"Whoa! Then she must have left at almost the same time that my assailant came," Sanjh catches my hands suddenly, "Do you think she must have noticed?"

I carefully extract my hands from her grip, not wanting to break the news about the fact that her diary points all suspicion towards her. "Last question. What is your opinion on Shifana?" I inquire.

"That she's extremely hot and incredibly brilliant," Sanjh laughs, "She's a weird character. Withdrawn at times. She keeps to her own world. Her coming to visit me was a surprise actually. We were never on really good terms."

"Oh! What happened?" I can't believe the relief in my voice. Maybe I am finding some plausible clues after all.

"Her boyfriend of four years left her because of the religious barriers and family expectations. Dushyant's family then had some marriage talks with my family and we are actually about to be engaged soon," she informs, "not that I want to marry him."

"That's new," I mumble. And there's my motive for the attempted murder. Love is a dangerous game and a lot of stakes play out.

"I'd rather be with Zafar but you know, same issues. Zafar was mad at me because I accepted the marriage offer. I had told him that I was helpless. We had some fight. He hit drunk and shouted at me. He had even tried to hit me and we had broken up," Sanjh sighs, looking up at the ceiling, tears hanging precariously on the edge of her lower eyelid.

" Was he happy with it? "

"Not really. He said he'd never see us together as long as he's alive. I threatened to call the police on him."

My mind is spinning like a high-frequency Beyblade. So many new characters in the story and love clashes. Any one of them could've tried to have an attempt on her life.

Jafar
Shifana
Sandhya

I make a mental note and get up with a small smile, "Okay then. I'll see you soon."

She gives a tired smile and sinks back into bed.

All the clues are contradicting to what I had imagined the case to be. This is a thicker plot than I have imagined. So many unknown characters.

"Boral," I bark into my phone, manning the steering wheel with one hand.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Keep the criminal archives ready. I need some information on three people. Use your sources," I give my assistant a quick briefing on his job.

A moment later my phone pings and I veer the vehicle to the side of the road. Boral has sent me the address coordinates. I skim through them. Zafar's place is the nearest on the map and it seems like a good spot to start my investigation.

As I fire my engine, I realise that the black car is again in my rearview mirror. I am being followed - yet again.

Nevertheless, I drive to my destination and discover a run-down shack. It isn't even a house. Zafar's address is a hoax. But staying in the car wouldn't bring any clues so I step out carefully onto the pavement and make my way to the house. A big rusted lock hangs on the door. I look around for the black car but it is nowhere.

Carefully I step off the road and around the house. The big window isn't locked and a small chink of darkness is shining through the crack. I give it a small push and the window groaned open. I whip out my phone and the flashlight shows a moderately furnished room. Something gleams in the dark. I almost yelp as I see my own reflection in an old tarnished mirror. There is a layer of dust on it. The reflection appears ghostly and unreal. My entire being seems to be distorted into oblivion.

And something jumps at me from the dark. I scream and fall back as a grisly face appears for the briefest of the second and the window slams shut. I get up from the ground and scamper off in panic. Scrambling into the car, I start it in full panic mode.

I fumble with my phone, managing the steering with the other hand, placing a call to Boral. He needs to verify addresses before giving me, damn! He won't hear the end of it for sending me to that location. It could've cost me my life.

A sinister thought strikes me. What if he has deliberately sent me to that location? What if he is involved?

Suddenly my car hits a small bump and the phone flies out of my hand and lands under the seat. Shit! I know better than to attempt to recover a phone while driving. And I glance at my windscreen at that opportune moment for one brief second before the white light blinds me.

I feel the impact before I hear the sound of glass shattering. My airbag punches me out of the face of the shard missiles but time seems to have slowed down to the space of a single heartbeat as I feel the car lose balance. I am aware of being thrown against the driver's side of the door and back to the seat and the other side, being tossed like a broken matchstick in a big box, as the car tumbles off the road.

My face feels wet and numb, probably from the glass lacerations and all the blood. My vision is clouding but my consciousness feels all the fear and the pain as the car bashes against a tree and comes to a jarring halt. My shaking fingers pry open the door as I tumble out and collapse on the ground. My eyelids feel heavy and things are moving in a slow-motion around me.

It is like I am seeing the world through a hazy filter. My whole body feels like it is on flames. I drag myself on the ground away from the car. The  I search for my phone and realise it is still in the car. I look back at the mangled car and there's no way I can get back in.

A black shadow blocks my vision. I blink at it and can only see a set of thin lips pressed into a grisly smile. There is a split second where something metallic glints in the dark and then I feel it stab into the space between my shoulders and the collar bone. I scream.

The assailant has either missed the target or...

The kick on my stomach comes out of nowhere as I sprawl to the ground on my back. My attacker moves in fast, raising the knife again and even in the dim light I realise it is aimed at my heart. The killer may have missed the spot with Sanjh, but there is no doubt the masked figure is bent on my death.

But in the turn of the second, something or someone hits my attacker on the side, knocking him off me. Shots scream through the night air followed by a feral cry and the world turns black for me.

_______________________

When my eyes flutter open I wince at the stark white lights. My body feels like Jell-O and my mind feels detached and floating. What has happened?

"The attack," I groan, as I force my eyes to open wider.

"Welcome back into consciousness, lady." a deep voice chuckles. I recognise the voice immediately.

"Shifana. What are you?"

Don't talk too much. You had a bad accident, officer, " I hear a chair sliding as her face appears in my field of vision, her keen eyes hovering menacingly.

" You attacked me... " I shudder.

" You had an accident where your car rolled off the road. I was right behind you, fortunately, and I brought you here," she shrugs.

"I was attacked," I say with unnecessary emphasis and immediately regret it as my breath catches in my throat.

"You had an accident and lost a lot of blood. Maybe the facts were addled up. You shouldn't stress your brain too much. Who knows, you may have had a concussion too," her voice is steel, "You were out cold for three days and multiple surgeries have been done on you."

"What no? The case..."

Shifana laughs, "You risked your life for a case, you almost died and again you want to go back to the case. Why?"

"Because I need to put criminals like you behind the bars." I suddenly realise I am alone with her and she can as well throttle me and I won't be able to utter a single word. But I feel like letting her know what my opinion about her is.

The door opens just then and the doctor walks in, followed by an entourage of students. I and Shifana groan together at the menace.

I wait patiently as the senior resident rants out a brief details of my case and I am surprised to hear that they are passing it off as an accident. "Excuse me," I interject, "I had been stabbed on my shoulders. It wasn't just the accident." Six pair of eyes turned to me.

"There was a large glass piece protruding out of that wound. The broken window was the culprit I presume," the resident rants out, nonchalantly. My face must have wore an expression of comical disbelief as I see Shifana out of the corner of my eyes. She is smirking at me. Am I really going crazy? Had that all been just a dream?

I fall back on the pillow, contemplating my next move as the doctors exit the room after advising me a brain CT for the 'amnesic issues' with my memory. As soon as they are gone, I turn my head slightly to Shifana.

"You've got the wrong person to blame." her voice is deep and there is something dark and ominous mixed in these words. I can't put a finger on the tone. It is a mix of dissapointment and regret.

"It really wasn't a random accident was it?" I almost smile in spite of the pain.

" No. You were deliberately hit by a truck. "

"And how do you know all that?"

Shifana offers me only silence. I sigh.

"Can I ask you something else?" I say finally.

"I'm not bound to answer any of your questions. You're sick and not on duty," she breathes.

"Someone really stabbed me, didn't they?" I blurt.

"You're a clever woman, Vidya and I'm sure the truth will come out soon," she geta up and paces to the door. She opens it and steps out, casting one glance at me. "Things aren't always what they seem to like and last night wasn't a dream. Good day officer."

And she is gone, just like that.

A/N Thanks U-Mean ShrodinSSB for helping me in completing this!