"You thought you got the wrong man? Hahaha!"

That shocks her.

What the hell!

Did she misunderstand Shyam? Is he the real culprit? The killer is in front of her and she couldn't even recognize him. Is he even the killer? Or is the killer manipulating her again?

Damn! He's a true player!

"Where's Shyam?" Khushi asks, startling everyone who was already informing DJ about Tina Dutta.

"Khushi, you said he was innocent, didn't you? He's out now. We've released him just a few minutes ago," DJ explains, scowling at Khushi.

Arnav is apprehensive about his wife now. He can understand she is anxious.

"What's wrong?" Arnav walks toward his wife.

"No. it's Shyam. I think, the killer.." she wasn't able to say anything. She massages her neck in nervousness.

"Just look at this," she gives her phone to him, sweating and breathing hard. Well, nervousness could make someone sweat. Khushi is nothing different.

Arnav looks at the phone. Well, he was in for a shock.

"What the hell is this?" he screams as his gaze fell on the message.

"I can't understand anything. Is the killer playing with us or Shyam is the killer for real?" she says to no one but herself, gulping.

Others get confused hearing her, and DJ walks to Arnav.

"What the hell is this?" DJ's reaction wasn't different from Arnav's.

This increases the curiosity of Akash, K, and Raina.

Lolark was out with some of the constables for investigating Arya's friends and business people, to know whom he met and when they last saw him. They just hoped it would be fruitful, unlike Vishal's and Nia's case.

"What has happened? Care to share," Akash questions raising his brows.

"Well, seems like Shyam is the real culprit and we let him go," DJ informs, already walking out of the room to command his constables and check on Shyam himself. He wouldn't be gone so far! Although Shyam, if he was a killer, wasn't a fool to leave messages to them just after minutes of his departure. He didn't want to rely on chances if there can be any.

DJ's thoughts are exactly on Arnav's mind, "Why would he leave this message just after a few minutes of his departure?"

"And he didn't have another phone with him. We thoroughly checked him when he was brought to custody." Akash remembers the morning, they had taken all his belongings.

"Well, if that can be considered, we have to consider Shyam must be the one who sent the coordinates when he was in our custody, without having his phone in his hand," Arnav points out. Well, that's another fact to be analyzed.

"What if the program was automated?" K passes the knowledge. He's a cyber expert after all. He knows that can be possible.

"Well, this is another possibility," Arnav agrees. Khushi was just lost in the message and came

"What if it's the Killer's manipulation?" K voices out his thoughts after a few minutes.

What if the killer was altogether another person and there is no automated program installed in the said devices from which they're sending the messages?

"This is another possibility now," Arnav agrees, his arms around his wife's shoulder. He knows his wife is anxious, and this isn't good for her.

This was probably a rare moment when he was just a husband to his wife inside the office.

"I don't know. But we can't take any chances," Khushi shrugs her husband's arms off her as she walks out following behind DJ.

"Khushi, listen to me," Arnav screams at his wife's behind and was about t walk out when he remembers Tina Dutta.

He stops and turns back, "Akash, call Tina Dutta and ensure her security. We need to keep her safe."

"Already on it," he takes out his phone and K gives him Tina's contact number he has collected a few minutes ago.

"Raina, try to find out the logic behind those words. Lolark will be here shortly, I'll go with DJ and Khushi," he already walked out on the face of Raina who was nodding her head at Arnav's orders.

Outside CBI Office,

DJ, Khushi, and Arnav were searching for Shyam with a photo of him. Some of the constables do their best to search for Shyam.

They roam in their car, slowly as they look at each and every corner of the premises surrounding the CBI office. And it wasn't an easy job. It took almost more than half an hour for them. And still, they weren't able to even have a glimpse of someone who could have seen Shyam.

Khushi was a lot more anxious than before when her phone beeped and her heart stops for a moment. She takes it out only to be left angrier than ever before. Even Arnav looked afraid of his wife, for him, he hadn't seen his wife that angrier ever in a long time now. This was one of the rarest moments where Khushi gets angrier than the mother of the dark.

DJ stops the car and turns behind looking at Khushi. Arnav's gaze was already on her.

She hears the audio message she received on her phone.

"How was the experience, running behind someone who's not the one you've been looking for? Yeah! You got me right. I was successful in manipulating you again," they hear him pause and laugh at him a little, a maniac one at that, he whispers, "just like you did!"

That shocks her. Somebody knows her secret. The secret she shared with nobody but Arnav.

A Secret that was a threat to her and her close ones!

CBI,

"Mom, please, not today," Nusrat was coming into the investigation room talking to her mother.

"Mom, look at my name and listen to it again, it sounds so nice. Why do you want to change my name now?" she was irritated now.

"But Mom, I'm successful and happy in my career. What does this destiny number can do to me apart from making my name sound so weird," she frowns imagining her new name.

"Mom, no thanks! I don't want to change anything and dada wouldn't even like it. I've work, let me go and bye," she mutters into the phone and ends the call.

"What's wrong?" Raina wonders looking at Nusrat's frown.

"My mother wants to change my name a little," she air quotes her words twisting her face.

"But why?" K asks raising his brows.

"Well, she thinks my name is not lucky for me," she sighs shrugging.

"Oh," Raina sighs.

K makes Oh face.

Akash, who has completed talking to Tina Dutta's secretary walks into the room and heard their conversation.

"Lucky name?" he chuckles.

"Yeah," Nusrat nods smiling a little.

"What about Tina Dutta? Did you talk to her?" K looks at Akash waiting for his answer.

"Not exactly. I had a conversation with her secretary. Tina Dutta is in her vanity van getting ready for the shoot. Her PI agreed to Security. I've called Ashwanth sir as well, security will be arranged for her soon," he informs them. He had a conversation with his boss's boss, Ashwanth Sir who is already arranging security for them.

"What's the status of these words puzzle?"

"Nothing yet," she just shrugs looking at all the notes she had made.

"I don't understand how come nobody noticed Arya Roya, famous business, gone missing," Lolark walks in muttering, loud enough for people to hear him.

"So, it was again a dead end, like in Nia's and Vishal's case?" Raina raises the question.

"Looks like one," Lolark is stressed. He takes out his cigarette to smoke, sitting on one of the chairs.

Raina looks at the whiteboard, sighs, and looks at the notes she made.

She furrows her brows looking at the Novels, "God! What do these words on different pages mean? It's okay if we assume he had just put the opposite of each other's but this Arya, why did he leave some words on the eleventh page instead of the fifth page?"

"We need to crack this," Akash sighs.

"Yeah, even though we guessed the next victim, it doesn't end the Killer's serial killings. We need to find him at any cost," K works on his iPad working on the unknown number and Shyam's number as well.

Khushi handed him the phone in the morning when she was about to go for Paschim Vihar and thanks to his presence of mind, he backed up the data from Shyam's phone to his iPad before handing it over to DJ. DJ handed it back to Shyam before relieving them from CBI.

"This guy's, Shyam's phone, and that unknown number, they're just inaccessible," he sighs keeping his iPad aside.

"Maybe they're switching it on only when needed and switching it off back," Akash supplies his guesses.

"Dude, even that's enough for a server to catch the network. It's enough for me to hack them, but no, he is hiding his IP Address with a VPN and I don't seem to catch his VPN server's IPA itself. He must have installed a physical chip, otherwise, the codes I or Khushi have written would have been enough to know his location," K explains.

"Okay, that's too much technical stuff for me. I'm sorry but can we change the topic? I'm weak at this," Akash smiles shrugging and walks to the board.

"Oh, here are they," Nusrat exclaims looking at very angry Khushi, a worried Arnav, and an anxious DJ.

What has happened to them?

"What has happened? Was Shyam caught?" Akash voices out Nusrat's thoughts.

"Shyam is not the killer," DJ passes the information.

Oh. Oh. They're back to the square again!

"What? Again?" Akash huffs and looks away. Unbelievable!

Well, not exactly! They did guess it might be the manipulation of Killer. Their guess turned out right, after all.

"So, the killer manipulated us again?" Raina chuckles.

What a player is he! He knew they wouldn't leave Shyam if there is the slightest chance of him being the killer. He took the situation into his hands and manipulated them.

Smart Ass!

Akash chuckles and the silence left in the room after whatever Raina has said was enough for everyone to hear.

"What's the reason behind this now?" Arnav raised the question, wondering.

"No. I'm sorry. I was just thinking here we are thinking that this is his manipulation," he pauses slightly chucking, and continues after a few seconds, "and what if even this thinking session of ours is his manipulation?"

"We'd be just pawns in his game then," Khushi gulps.

There was a time when she played her game!

And here are the pawns getting her into the game she didn't wish to.

Quite an Irony!

Whatever Khushi said has left them in their own thoughts. If they get to know tomorrow that today was again a manipulation just like yesterday was, they're in a true mess and they need to brush up their minds to think with a fresh mind.

It's the worst feeling ever.

Someone is manipulating and you get manipulated only to know that the game of the whole manipulation is manipulation in itself. And who knows if two days later they'd be aware that the manipulation is again a manipulation and the killer is manipulating them in a way that they would not recognize what's manipulation and what's the truth.

Before they could get to that situation, they need to speed up. Just a little more than before.

"By the way, how did you get to know the killer is not Shyam?" K asks, wondering how did they get to know.

"Here is my phone, listen to it," Khushi shrugs playing the audio.

As everyone hears the audio, it only worsens their headache.

"What does he mean by just like you?" Akash raises the question. Well, that's the exact question wandering in and around the heads of other people.

"Honestly, I don't know," she lies. Well, even if she tells the truth, what's the use? It has no meaning and the killer is revenging her for nothing.

If there was any use in her truth, she would have figured it out by now.

"I need a coffee, very badly!" K presses his head.

God! These thoughts in their minds look so dangerous and one shouldn't be left surprised if they develop a headache.

"I'll call the peon. He would bring us some snacks and coffee. All of us need it very badly," Akash takes out his phone.

And soon enough, they hear a knock.

"Come in," DJ permits the boy to enter.

Arnav and Khushi sat beside each other analyzing the novels again, the pages which had two letters. As they already analyzed what was on the pages with more than two letters.

"What do these two letters mean?" Khushi thinks aloud. She isn't out of her anger yet.

"Any kind of logos or shortcut of any words?" Arnav guesses.

A young teenager, who is a peon, with a cap on his head, comes to their side to distribute the snacks and coffee. They thank him and he leaves soon.

"Possible, let's list out the brands they use or the pubs they go to," Khushi starts searching for the logos with the words in Nia's, Vishal's, and Arya's profiles.

Arnav searches for words with these letters.

"What's the status of security for Tina Dutta?" DJ raises the question, sipping his coffee to Akash, who was eating his snacks.

"Oh, our security is there in the film sets already," Akash looks at the message from Ashwanth's sir.

Security is arranged and they're on the field.

Ashwanth messages him the contacts and names of the men they've arranged for security. Akash shows it to DJ.

"Hmm, they're the best men," DJ agrees with the choice of Ashwanth's security panel.

Nusrat is restless as she remembers something. Akash wasn't behind in noticing that.

"What's wrong Nusrat," he questions her, and everyone's attention shifts towards Nusrat.

"I was thinking, we found the bodies of Nia and Vishal at the same time and even the differences between our coordinates weren't much, just mere seconds. What if Tina Dutta is already dead?" She says what has been bothering her for the past few minutes.

"But Khushi didn't get any coordinates yet," DJ states the fact.

As soon as the words are left by DJ, they hear a beep and this time from two mobiles.

Everything stills in for a second as Arnav and Khushi look at each other.

To be continued..,

Let me know what you think of the update!

Have a great day/night!

-polymath_land

-10/10/2022