Doosra Read Online Free Page B

kids to school?
    Lost in her thoughts she didn't realise when they arrived at their destination. Her reverie broke when Kuldeep opened the rear door for her to climb out.
    'Thanks,' she said before walking into the building. A familiar opera of the usual office noises greeted her: photocopiers, telephones, mobiles, clacking keyboards and people talking. A lot of people went hush-hush. Most people working in the building knew her. Those in the vicinity exchanged hellos and pleasantries. Fifteen minutes after entering the building she finally took the elevator to her office.
    As she was in early, none of her team — the old team she commanded — were in yet. With her cafetière not having been plugged in for months, she picked up a coffee from the nearest vending machine and hurried to Vinay Joshi's office on the floor above.

V inay Joshi, Joint Commissioner Mumbai Police, and the Head of Crime Branch wasn't as submissive as he appeared or led people to believe, which Rita had only discovered after dealing with him on the previous case. He let people around him believe they were in-charge, but there was no mistaking him for a teddy bear. He delegated authority to his immediate subordinates but that did not mean he relinquished his responsibility. Gentle and balding, he could easily play Hergé's Professor Calculus in the next Tintin film. The only apparent difference was that Joshi was a lot taller than his caricatured twin.
    'So, how's DCP Ferreira doing?' he started nonchalantly, getting up from behind his desk and walking up to Rita to shake her hand after she was done with her saluting. 'At ease, Rita.' He had always alternated between calling her Rita or DCP Ferreira depending on what he fancied that moment.
    I'm good sir, thanks. How are you?'
    'We're all fine. Although we missed you. Honestly.'
    Missed me? Really? Or was it the cold case that made you miss me?
    'It's good to have you back and not working on anything, or else Commissioner Saxena would have asked me for a favour and would have even issued a diktat for you if you had been involved in anything else at the moment.'
    'What case is it, sir?'
    'Though Commissioner Saxena would have liked to brief you personally, he isn't in today so, unfortunately, you'll have to listen to my mundane voice.' Joshi attempted humour at times. 'He's keen that you get involved in an international investigation. There was a larceny-cum-homicide in Brussels a few months back, and the investigators there believe the perpetrator is in India. In Mumbai.'
    'Why me?'
    'You are our best detective, India's best detective, and it's only right that you should be the one taking up this special challenge.'
    So, if I fail it's me; if I succeed you're the sponsor? Clever, Sexy. Great move.
    'Do you see any issue, any problems with the case?'
    'Do I have a problem? Not at all sir. It's an honour that Commissioner Saxena and you have confidence in me to take up a challenging assignment.'
    'But...?'
    'But what sir?'
    'No, I could subtly foresee a “but” coming from the tonality, even though you have verbally accepted the offer. So tell me, what bothers you about the case?'
    'Murder investigation — you know this more than I do, sir — is like snow on a steep slope of time. Even if you've lost forty-eight hours, all you find is nothing, and you just mentioned that the murder happened a few months ago?'
    'A little over three months ago to be precise, but that ism is for amateurs. You see Rita, I like you because you remind me of a younger me, taking up new challenges. I can see we're cut from the same fabric, as they say.'
    Rita swallowed hard, and nodded. Was she being set up for disaster? But, why would Sexy — that was what Commissioner Sanjay Saxena was referred to in absentia, not derisively, just for fun: Sexy — or Joshi do that? It wasn't that she in any way threatened them. On the contrary, in the months following the apprehending of the infamous serial killer, Sexy had been her