SOMETHING – CHAPTER 7 : ‘FOUR TIMES THREE’

Till now you have read that Zara insists on investigating Ira’s house which is opposed by Shankar Mittal. Will this investigation, after Ira’s death be of any use? Keep reading to find out…

Happy reading…

Zara got the permission to investigate Ira’s house after a week of her funeral. Though Zara wanted to search Ira’s house, she didn’t wanted to make her surroundings chaotic. If she went to Ira’s house with full force and officials in uniform, it could have surely caused confusion and fear to rise again. Zara wanted her investigation to go smooth, unaltered and undisturbed. She wanted to absorb every detail, every point, big or small.

Morgan had accompanied Zara and her two juniors to her home. She was living in the guest house of the investigation department. In about two week’s time, she’ll be flying to Berlin, to her sister’s  house.
As the officials got inside, Morgan sat on the couch in the living room, allowing them to investigate whatever they wanted to.

As Ira’s funeral had taken place finally, reality had struck her, that her daughter was gone forever. The brave face that she had worn till the funeral, completely shattered as the Priest mumbled last prayers over Ira’s coffin. She was only miserable now. Zara felt very sorry for her. She felt guilty, she felt that Ira could be saved in time. She knew that now Morgan didn’t care about the investigation. She didn’t care about life any more. Her only treasure was gone.
Morgan had lost her husband too, years before. Zara had came to know this before she was going to turn up at Ira’s house for questioning her, that unfortunate Sunday on which Ira was kidnapped.
After Zara’s investigation in the house would be over, the house would be emptied. Morgan had told Zara this morning between her sobs,
“I… I can’t live in that house anymore…when Joe died (Ira’s father)…I had little Ira to hold on to…to get over that horrible times…now I lost her too…that house has nothing but memories… memories of moments that I have lost forever…”
And Zara completely understood. She started with her work straight away.

The officials started searching for the other parts of house while Zara stepped inside Ira’s room. Morgan was moved out of the place a few hours after Ira’s disappearance and the house was locked until this day. Hence everything was kept as it was on that Sunday.
The room was not very big. There were no fancy wall papers or stuffed toys placed on the racks or bed. Everything was normal. The bed sheets were crumbled a bit, Zara remembered Ira had slept in her room on Saturday night. She went near the pillows. They were cold as they were left unused for many days now. There was a small book lying on the floor beside the bed. Zara picked it up. ‘Trigonometry’ the book read. Zara placed it in a bag she had brought along.
Next, she moved near the book shelf. Books were arranged randomly on the racks. Zara went through each rack. Ira was in high school, mathematics was her major.
The study table was clear. Ira hadn’t used it on Saturday it seemed. A pen stand, a clock, a frame in which there was a photograph of Ira and her mother and a sticky note pad was kept there. Zara noticed that Ira scribbled a lot on the table. There were formulas, some to-do list scribbled in one corner, some geometric shapes drawn. Nothing fancy, nothing comical. No smilies, no cartoons, nothing that any other seventeen year old will dream about. “She was quite focused…” Zara mumbled.
There was a closet on the other side of the room. Zara opened it. There were clothes hanging, some kept folded on the rack. There was her school bag on the rack below. Zara pulled it out and emptied the contents inside it. She surveyed each and every thing kept in it, her books, notes, school diary… everything. She was a brilliant student. Zara could tell by seeing the remarks and the grades on her diary. She was about to keep it back when her hands slipped on something hard in the bag. Zara pulled it out. It was a small phone, with a tiny note sticked on the back, ‘four times three’.