tales of Suchita

Now that Radha had figured Sagar had something to do with the events of the past three months, it was like a bee in his bonnet. He couldn’t stop thinking about it but at the same time he didn’t know what to do either. He didn’t have enough evidence apart from a strong gut feeling. Times like these he wished Mr. Holmes was real so he could go to the detective and pick his brain on how to gather evidence.

The answer to his unasked question, however, came from the most unlikely source. Had he not been aware, he would have completely missed it. But since he was desperate, when Jyothi miss said something about how to solve a math problem, it felt to him like she was talking about his problem and not math!

So he decided to take her advice. Her advice had been simple – break down the problem. Start with the bits you understand. Once you get answers to those, you can plug them into the other equations to solve the ultimate question. Radha was shocked to note that geometry and finding the value of an angle could be the answer.

Once he had broken down the problem of finding some shred of evidence that could tell him if Sagar was involved – he knew the law said that an accused was innocent until proven guilty, in light of the overwhelming evidence of his gut, he was comfortable in ignoring it altogether – he knew exactly what he had to do.

Though he detested the idea of going through his friend’s bag, he had no choice. Five minutes into the sports period, sir had completely lost interest in Radha and his presence. He took the opportunity and ran up the stairs and into his classroom. He shut the door behind him. Though it was miserably hot, he didn’t take the risk of switching on a fan – what if a teacher or a student passing by heard it?

In the sweltering heat he approached Sagar’s bag, sweat forming on his forehead and armpits, wary like he was approaching a bomb ready to explore. I’m sorry but I need to know, he said and kneeled in front of the bag. He opened the zip. It sounded so loud in the eerily silent classroom he turned around to check if anyone had caught him. It was strange how he was the one who was feeling the need to hide what he was doing.

Radha methodically went through Sagar’s bag but found nothing incriminating. Sighing with frustration and guilt he was about to zip it close when a thought struck him. Nobody would keep evidence lying around for him to find it so conveniently. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine what Sagar would do – where would he hide something he was trying to hide?

He dug into the bag again, found Sagar’s English notebook and opened it. He flipped through but no lose leaf of paper jumped out. There were no bits and pieces hiding in the crevices of the notebook either. Rapidly losing hope, he opened the notebook again and the title of an essay caught his attention. It read ‘friends turned enemies.’ He couldn’t really read what had been written because of all the red marks Gayatri miss had made across the page.

Radha started to go through the notebook, page by page. All of them had the same red marks – they looked vicious, like a scratch across a dry arm. Then he came to a page with no red marks, excepting words of praise. Surprised, he turned a few more pages. Again the red marks. Confused, he flipped through the pages again, this time slowly. He noticed that there were two distinct sections: one with and one without red marks.

He opened the essay without the red marks and began to read. What he read sent a chill down his spine. Something niggled at his memory; something powerful. So close…he was so close…the words…the handwriting…the…

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Radha started guiltily but was relieved to see it was only Mayur. “Nothing,” he said and slammed the notebook shut. He shoved it back into the bag and zipped it close.

“What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” said Mayur, nodding towards Sagar’s bag. “Did you find anything?”

“Mayur…”

“We both know it is him Radha. You were simply fooling…”

“Wasn’t it only a few days ago you were convinced it was Priyanka who was our prankster,” asked Radha.

Mayur flinched. Radha continued, “It’s not him. It’s…it’s not him.”

The hated the look of pity on Mayur’s face and turned away, staring into the distance. Something was not adding up, it just wasn’t! There was more…something more. He turned back and it was as if he was seeing Mayur for the first time. “What are you doing here?”

“I followed you.”

“Why?”

“You have been acting strange since that little fight yesterday. I wanted to know what was up.”

Radha nodded in understanding. “There is something more Mayur. I just…I think…I need to…” Radha’s eyes suddenly turned huge.

“Oh no,” he said.

…to be continued.

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This is the twenty-third post in the series. To know more about Radha, click here.