THE IMPORTANT QUESTION

17TH JAN, 2017; 2.55 P.M.

Shiv's new eye witness made him overconfident. In a way or other he thought that he had already defeated Dhruv, but he forgot that he still hadn't figured out the motive behind his stupid game. Without figuring out what it meant, it was a partial victory. The thought of finally being able to take revenge for his son's death made him very happy, so much so that he completely ignored any other possibility of the incident. From the last 3 hours all he was doing was talking to Dhruv and trying to find out his motive behind killing those three boys, in hopes of figuring out what happened with his son. His overconfidence affected the case in ways that he himself didn't see. Vijay whom he distrusted the most regarding cases was looking after his son's case as he was busy with Dhruv, the interviews of neighbors weren't conducted yet, building's CCTV footage weren't checked, the results to the finger prints weren't back from lab apart from those of Dhruv's, and all this mess up was taking place in front of Shiv's eyes and he was ignorant of it all. Dhruv became the most important aspect for him. The truth that he was trying to seek was just out of his grasp and he was being stupid by relying everything on this one kid.

He was inside the interrogation room for a minute and there was someone knocking the door already, it was one of the constables standing. Shiv went out to see what the matter was. As he started talking with constable, Shiv had a big bright smile on his face. And Dhruv noticed it as sat on his chair and stayed witness to the first red flag he was anticipating. After exchanging a few words, Shiv left Dhruv in the interrogation room and went somewhere. Dhruv was a bit confused as to why he left that way? He waited for some time until his patience gave up. He started shouting and calling for his beloved "OFFICER". As soon as Dhruv's annoying screams reached Shiv, he had no other option but to come back.

Rathod: WHAT!! Can't you wait a little?

Dhruv: How long? I mean didn't I give you a break earlier! What are you doing anyway?

Rathod: Making sure that I win this last round of your game. But seems like you are really impatient but I guess I have got everything I wanted! Let's continue then, shall we?

Dhruv: Ahhh! Now that's exciting! I am all in!

Rathod: So I was telling that he found his body in the..

Dhruv: BASEMENT OF MY SCHOOL!! Yeah yeah I know! Just fast forward and tell me what proofs did you get and what's your theory on how exactly was the crime committed.

Rathod: Well with fingerprints, hairs and DNA samples, we got nothing again. So we looked up the place, found out that your school has CCTV in its corridors but unfortunately no cameras near the one that has your basement door. And when asked the management of your school, it seems as if they were into some unnecessary business because they didn't seem to have a proper answer. You said that the basement was made for dance practices and all, then for your information, basements are not made for that purpose! The door to the basement was built 10 feet away from that backside gate, yeah the one you guys use to bunk classes. The gate was made there so that if anything is brought from the back-gate they can store it in the basement directly, so yeah it was used to store school commodities. And the reason your school gave for 'not putting cameras' there was that there's a girl's toilet and it would have been inappropriate, which I feel is lie!

Dhruv: IT IS! Our principal's brother is into some steel business, so the guy uses the basement for storage purposes. Nearly everyone in school knows about it but no one speaks about it. And our Principal doesn't want anyone outside of the school to know as there are people above him that he has to answer, and THAT'S the reason there's no camera.

Rathod: Thank you for that information, Killer! It will be very helpful. Well continuing with that, we were able to time the incident. Shreyash stayed half an hour extra after the school, he should have left his class by 2.30 but stayed in his class till 3 and after that he went straight up that corridor with no cameras. And well as we know his time of death was somewhere around 3.30 to 4.30, which also explains the amount of time you spent with him in the basement. We checked the camera in class, Shreyash never had a phone with him so I was confused why he went there..

Dhruv: I guess like Raj you again don't know why he went to that corridor in the first place! So you lose again and I…

Rathod: Wait a second! I haven't finished yet! We checked his phone, and we found something. It contained some videos. Apparently your little friend used to keep his phone in the girls bathroom and used to shoot them in…ahh..in.. some..

Dhruv: Inappropriate situations?

Rathod: Yeah yeah, that's what I meant to say! He used to shoot girls in some inappropriate situations! And the last video in his phone has a timestamp of 3.07 P.M. that's the time he topped the video and that is exactly near the time you got to him in your all black "thief costume"! And according to me what happened exactly was, Shreyash waited till everyone left so that he could take his phone from Girl's toilet, and as soon as he was done with that you were waiting for him as you knew he would show up. And as you guys met, you both got into a fist fight, you got the upper hand, knocked him; took him to the basement as it was just a few feet away. Tied him up to a pillar, tortured him, poisoned him and killed him! Got out of the school from that back-gate, jumped the fence and you were done with it! So?.... I win! Tell me… WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVE?

Dhruv: Did you really win? I mean, you left to mention something. Where did I get the info about his camera trick, huh?

Rathod: Isn't it obvious? You were classmates, you would have known it!

Dhruv: Rathod Saheb! If this kinky secret of Shreyash had been known to anyone, then his perverted tricks would have been ended a long time ago. He would have never kept his phone there if anyone knew about it! Now tell me, HOW DO I KNOW?

Dhruv's question took Shiv by shock, he thought he had covered everything necessary and he was prepared for this. But his over confidence just took him down with a punch in the face. He misinterpreted the situations and went for the obvious answer, but he forgot that this 17 year old have outwitted him for few times already and he shouldn't take anything to be as simple as it seems. But for now, he was angry and frustrated about how he approached the situation.

Rathod(Shouting): FUCKKKKKKKK!!!!!

Dhruv: Seems like you lost the last chance to find out the complete truth!

Rathod: Can't believe I missed that! So as always tell me how you got that information and also that stupid story of yours.

Dhruv: You were just a bit unlucky this time, you early had me there. You will just get only the story this time, I won't correct you this time. I can't give you everything you want, can I? Giving you every information will put me in a losing spot, and believe me when I say,… I DON'T LIKE TO LOSE!

Rathod: You can't do that! We had a deal!

Dhruv: Not really! What I said was "I may correct a few of your mistakes" and in this case there's only one and I choose not to correct it.

Rathod: FUCK YOU!! I am not doing this anymore, it's fine if you don't tell your motive, it doesn't really matter anymore. I have everything I want to put you behind the bars.

Dhruv: If you listen to this last story, I'll give you the clue to find out that one missing link.

Rathod: And why would you do that?

Dhruv: Because I want you to find the truth behind everything and everyone! If you leave this here and do any further investigation without knowing the entire truth then you are no better than those corrupt cops.

Rathod: What are you implying?

Dhruv: Same as any other corrupt cop, all you will be doing is serving everyone a version of the truth that suits you instead of giving them THE TRUTH THEY DESERVE! And what does it make you? A LIAR!

Rathod: I AM NOT A LIAR!!!

Dhruv: Then I guess you are listening.

Shiv was helpless. He could have moved forward with whatever he had but he knew that he needed the complete story, the complete truth. He owed it to the parents of the kids that died. And he also knew, that a single hole in the case might just destroy his chance of making Dhruv pay for his crimes. He had no choice but to agree listen to the last story Dhruv had for him.

Rathod: FUCK!...Go on, tell the last story of your day!

Dhruv: Last? Well if that's what you think!... So the incident that made Shreyash so special for me happened the same day as the question paper theft happened, 14th October 2016..