C IS FOR CIRCUITOUS
For the 2018 #AtoZChallenge, my theme is the A-Z of Descriptive Emotions beginning Sunday, April 1, 2018.
C is for CIRCUITOUS
NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE
By Neel Anil Panicker
“With due respect Sir, I think you are being circuitous…”.
‘No, I am not being so. If you ask me I am being straight. Extremely straight, in fact. I have told you all that I know, all that needs to be told. I have positively identified…’
“Sorry to correct you Sir, you ‘positively identified’ the body as your wife’s only after Mrs Lekha Muthuswamy, I mean your mother-in-law did so and that too only after the DNA test results proved so that the dead woman whose body parts were strewn all over Cochin city were that of Anjali.”
For the next few seconds an eerie silence, heavy as a bat’s wings, hung all over the large drawing room of the single story duplex State Guest House at Edappaly as the two men, one, Rajesh Yadav, Deputy Collector of Ernakuman City, and the other, Isaac John, City Police Chief Superintendent of Police (SP), as the two sized each other, weighing the options at their disposal.
Finally, it was the IAS officer who broke flanks.
“Listen, Mr John, i don’t think you need to be reminded of set protocol and rules of courtesy when interacting with an IAS officer.”
Momentarily taken aback by the sting in the last few of words of the Deputy Collector, SP Isaac John leaned forward to say something only to find himself again stopped in his tracks.
“I repeat, I have nothing more to say on this. And now, if you excuse me I have to make the necessary arrangements for our flight which leaves in a couple of hours. As you may be aware I am taking my wife’s…body to Benaras.”
Reluctantly, SP John got up from the sofa and half proffered his hand and then reminding himself of protocol quickly touched the peak of his police cap, and half bowing his head in deference, left the room.
A few minutes later as the white coloured siren blaring Police Jeep winged its way past the gated bungalow and wormed its way out of the palm lined promenade and much later as it sped through the morning rush hour traffic that had become the bane of any bustling metropolis, SP John ran his large swarthy hands over his heavy handle moustache and pondered over the conversation that had taken place.
Within moments his mind’s slate lashed out.
The lying bastard. These Johnny Come Latelies. The new generation. The way they speak. Have no respect. Brash to the core. Who does he think he is? An IAS officer? Well, he may be one but this is Kerala. Here things work differently. Here life is a class struggle where struggle is more valued than class. I will teach him a class he will never ever forget.
As the vehicle turned the final roundabout before entering past the vast portals of the vast British era City Police Office, SP John had made up his decision.
His fingers stabbed the numbers that flashed in his mind.
#neelanilpanicker #fiction #A-Zchallenge2018 #circuitous #episode#03
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neelwritesblog 
I hope he stops him at the airport before he can get on the plane. Definitely smacks of guilty.
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It’s a duel. Let’s see how it plays out. Thanks for joining me in my A-Z Challenge, Kelly.
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