Rehan while on the ground held the sack on his head. He took it off immediately and looked around. At some distance, he saw a guy running away. Rehan wondered while looking at him,

Who the hell is that coward man?

Rehan stood up and held his back, feeling the pain.

What does he want from me?

Rehan heard his phone ringing. He answered the call from an unknown number,

“Hello?”

“This was a short glimpse of what we can do to you, Rehan.”

“Who is this? What do you want from me?”

“If you don’t stop from whatever you’re doing then you will face severe consequences. And I mean it.”

“Who are you?”

“That is not your concern. What you need to do is heed my advice. And that is to stop working on Mujhtaba’s case.”

“I will not,” Rehan answered bravely. “Do whatever you can.”

Rehan disconnected the call.

Next minute, his phone began to ring again. He recognised SHO Lashari’s cell number. He answered the call,

“Yes, Mr Lashari?”

“I have reached,” Mr. Lashari said from the other side. “I want you to come near the railway track.”

“Railway track? You mean the restaurant near the railway track.”

“Yes exactly, that’s exactly where I am.”

“Alright, give me a few minutes, I’ll be there.”

“And secondly come alone. Don’t bring your camera man along.”

“Okay, I’ll come alone, but why do you want to meet alone?”

“There is danger. People are getting harmed in this village.”

“Oh… Well, something just happened with me right now.”

“Right now?”

“Yes,” Rehan answered.

“Then don’t come to me. Because it means that you are being followed.”

“I know, so what should I do now?”

“Just text me your hotel’s address, I’ll come by myself.”

“Okay, I will.”

Rehan disconnected the call and typed a text message.

One hour later, SHO Lashari was standing outside the hotel. Rehan came out of the building walking towards SHO Lashari. The two shook hands.

They started walking together. Rehan began the conversation,

“Sir, I am being blackmailed, I have received notes and calls from these people.”

“I know, this happens.

Everybody who investigates this case is initially warned and then eventually…”

The SHO stopped speaking. Rehan asked him curiously,

“And eventually?”

“Eventually such investigators are murdered.”

“Murdered?”

“Don’t worry about that. Nothing will happen to you. But what we need to do is work faster. If we’ll reach them faster then we’ll be able to finish them quickly.”

“Or else we’ll be finished?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s what’s happening.”

“Okay fine, I will not worry about it. In fact, I’m not, my life is quite miserable. Therefore, I am not afraid of losing it.”

“Not afraid of losing your life? For God’s sake please don’t make me send you home.”

“Okay, let’s stop this conversation and come to the point.”

“Yeah.”

“I know a guy here who has shared plenty of information already. We can talk to him again if you want to.”

“We don’t need to do that. What we need to do is trace him.”

“Trace him? But nobody has seen him since a few years.”

“I know, we need to find him by all means. Or at least we need to figure out what happened.”

“You know what I think; I don’t think that he is alive.”

“We can’t rely on our assumptions. We need to put in some action.”

“Yes, I agree.”

“Here’s what we’ll do. I know an old guy here who probably knows where they are.”

“Who?”

“Mujhtaba, Abram and the woman.”

“Oh.”

“But we won’t go now, we’ll go tomorrow.”

“So, what about today then?” Rehan asked.

“I need to rest today.”

“Okay.” Rehan chuckled.

They had a little conversation and then they separated.

Few hours later, Rehan returned to his hotel room. He opened the door with the key and entered inside. He turned on the lights.

He looked at his bed and saw his partner, his camera guy lying on the bed with his eyes wide open and his tongue coming out. Rehan looked at him carefully and walked closer to him. As he touched his hand, he felt that the body was getting cold.

Oh my God.

He then touched his face.

He’s dead.

He walked backwards as he was really frightened.

He has been strangled to death by someone.

Rehan heard his cell phone ringing. He answered the call fearfully,

“Hello?”

“I hope you have understood by now. Now for the sake of yourself, pack your stuff and leave this village.”

“Listen to me, please.”

“No, you ask your police inspector to stop the investigation. Or else you’ll face even worse consequences.”

“Look, please listen to me whoever you are. Just tell us about Mujhtaba. Is he alive?”

“If you’ll ask about this one more time, you’ll be in great danger. Pack up your stuff and go back to where you came from.”

“Just hear me, please.”

The call got disconnected. Rehan said anxiously,

“Hello? Hello, are you there?”

Rehan realised that the caller had disconnected the call. He immediately made a phone call to SHO Lashari.

The bell kept on ringing but the call was not being answered. Rehan uttered,

Come on man, answer the call.

Rehan dialed his number again, after a minute and kept it on loud speaker. His call wasn’t getting answered despite calling him for several times. He uttered,

For the love of God! Please, answer my call.

As he realised that his call wasn’t going to be answered, he kept the phone back in his pocket.

He looked at his stuff that was kept outside. He went out and one after another picked all of his stuff. After picking up, he kept all the stuff back in his suitcase. He was panicking badly.

I better leave this hotel immediately.

He closed the zip of his bag but then thought,

I will not leave this village. I will not run away. I will not go from here.

He felt his cell phone ringing. He took his phone out from his pocket and then checked the caller ID. It was SHO Lashari’s call. He answered the call desperately,

“Hello?”

“Yes, Rehan, what is it?”

“Sir, where are you?”

“What?”

“I’m asking where are you, sir?”

“I can’t hear you, Rehan! Can you hear me?”

“Yes, I can hear you. Tell me where you are.”

The call got disconnected. Rehan looked at his phone and realised that the signals were weak. Rehan tried to make the phone call but failed.

Oh my God, what am I going to do?

He waited for a while and said,

I cannot waste my time here. I better leave this hotel. But I won’t leave the village unless I find the truth. The truth matters more than anything else at the moment.

He picked up his stuff and immediately left the room.

*************

Back in Karachi, Kevin Rollins was sitting alone at his home. He was thinking about Rehan and Maria’s life. He realised that they were living miserable lives and they might stay like this for the rest of their lives. He wondered,

I believe that it is the silence that is creating misunderstandings in their hearts. They need to break this silence in order to get closer to each other again. And Rehan needs to tell her the truth. It won’t be easy for him, he’ll have to gain some courage to do that.

He stopped thinking for a while and then after a minute wondered,

Is there anything I can do to bring them closer to each other? Or should I stay out of their personal matter?

He shook his head and then thought,

Rehan has way bigger things to worry about and I’m thinking about his family life. Rehan is playing with his own life. He is risking his life in this Mujhtaba’s mystery case.

He sat down and continued thinking,

Rehan is not an easy person to understand. I just don’t understand how I can convince him. How can I make him understand that he is being used?

He stood up and finally said,

I cannot do this. I can’t just wait here and expect him to understand the matter by himself. I better leave for that village and drag him over here. Otherwise he’ll die leaving behind a widow.

Meanwhile, Maria at her home was watching the latest episode of Crimes at Corners on television. She seemed happy while looking at her husband on his show. After a moment, she whispered to herself,

I wish things could be the same as they were before.

*************

Next day, Rehan was lying on the footpath. He was sleeping with his head resting on his suitcase. He opened his eyes as the sun was shining on his face. He woke up and then immediately remembered what he was going through.

He sat up and said to himself,

What should I do now? An innocent man has been murdered inside the room I was staying.

He took out his cell phone from his pocket and made a phone call to SHO Lashari. Surprisingly for him, the call was answered immediately,

“Hello? Yes, Rehan?”

“Sir, where are you?”

“I’m here at some distance from your hotel.”

“Sir, listen to me please, my cameraman has been murdered.”

“Oh no, really?”

“Yes, he has been strangled to death.”

“Oh, my God! Where are you?”

“I have escaped from the hotel.”

“Escaped from the hotel?” SHO Lashari asked.

“Yes.”

“But why?”

“I had to…I had no other option.”

“Alright, it’s okay. You should come here right now.”

“I will…Just send me your address.”

“Okay, I’ll dictate it to you, just note it down.”

“Okay, okay.”

That very moment, Rehan’s cell phone’s battery died and the mobile switched off. Rehan looked at his phone and the moment he realised what had happened, he uttered,

Oh no, this had to happen now?

He then stood up and after dusting the mud off his clothes, he thought,

Things are just getting worse. Now before I get stuck here forever, I need to find a solution for this problem.

He picked up his bag and wondered,

Now where can I find a way out of this place? There are hardly any buses or vehicles that I can step on to go far from this place.

He saw someone going by. He rushed towards that guy and asked desperately,

“Excuse me sir, do you have a phone? I need to make an urgent phone call.”

“I do have a phone,” the man replied. “But I do not have any credit.”

“No problem, I have credit in my sim card.”

“Okay, help yourself,” he said handing over his phone to Rehan.

Rehan borrowed the phone. He immediately exchanged the batteries. The villager asked him,

“May I ask what kind of emergency this is?”

“Well, someone has been murdered. I need to inform the police so that I won’t get into any trouble.”

“Oh, don’t worry dear. Nobody gets in trouble for this. At least not in this city.”

“What do you mean?”

“A lot of people have been murdered in this city before. Even siblings have murdered each other here. But you don’t need to worry about it. The police never takes any action. Trust me.”

“How can you be so sure?” Rehan asked turning on the cell phone after everything was ready.

“Trust me, I’ve been living here for 10 years. In fact 12 years, and I haven’t seen anything like justice here. Trust me, you won’t be in trouble, nor would the guy who has committed the murder.”

Rehan got interested in the conversation and asked,

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Please tell me what do you know about the crimes at this place?”

“This is not a village, this is a city.”

“Alright, just tell me is there any hideout of criminals here or any house of that sort?”

Rehan heard the phone ringing. He realised it was SHO Lashari’s call. He answered it,

“Hello?”

to be continued...