Chapter Nineteen
Chapter
Nineteen
Naina’s laptop lay open in front of her, but her attention was elsewhere. On Tejas and Dhanush, to be precise, who were having some sort of intense conversation at their cubicles across the room.
It seemed the two men had developed a real friendship over the past few weeks.
Or was there more to it? Tejas was bi, and Dhanush had been out for years.
When Tejas thumped his hand against Dhanush’s back, almost in an affectionate “I’m proud of you” way, Naina tasted something sour in her mouth and swiveled her chair to the front.
Why should I care? Tejas can date whoever he wants.
If only she could talk to Anil about this, but he was still off on his lunch break, and knowing him, he wouldn’t be back for a while.
Chiding herself, she refreshed her email and went through the forensic report.
It confirmed everything they already knew: The meat knife used to kill Rohith Pai was from the small kitchenette in his trailer, Preethi’s fingerprints and DNA linked her to the crime scene, Rohith died sometime between eleven-thirty p.m. and one a.m., and his text conversation with Preethi happened a little before twelve, which was sufficient time for an argument or altercation to have happened between them before he got stabbed. Shit.
Then she read the next line: There were signs of struggle, like a blow to Rohith’s face and mild injuries to his windpipe, and the force of the knife attack indicated the killer was likely bigger or stronger than Rohith.
“Yes,” she breathed. Sure, Preethi was tall and muscular with a strict workout regimen, but could she have overpowered Rohith Pai enough to choke him, hit him, and stab him to death? As far as biology went, men were usually stronger than women, so this could work in their favor…
Naina opened her shared document with Tejas and typed in the findings, grinning from ear to ear. She’d just finished sending him an update on Teams when Dhanush stormed up to her, his jaw clenched. “Where the hell is your best friend?”
Her eyes went to the adjacent desk and Anil’s laptop, which was in sleep mode. “How would I know?” she retorted. “I’m not his mother, and he’s not a child.”
“I hate working with him,” Dhanush said, continuing his rant as he paced in front of Naina’s desk. “He leaves the office at six every evening, his lunch breaks are over an hour long, and he takes at least twenty minutes to reply to one email.”
Naina’s head hurt. As much as she wanted to jump to Anil’s defense, all of those things were true and generally considered unacceptable at AKC. “Did you try calling him?” she asked, forcing her eyes onto her own laptop.
Dhanush shoved his phone toward Naina, and she reluctantly looked at the text message exchange.
Dhanush
Where are you??? Pick up the damn phone
Anil
Late lunch, since I was busy replying to your 500 emails
Also FYI, I don’t pick up phone calls unless I’m given prior notice
The fuck?! We’re doing a case together, of course I’m gonna call you!
Aww you’re so obsessed with meeee
If only the feeling was mutual…
“Well, that’s Anil for you,” Naina said, trying to keep a straight face but failing.
“Don’t laugh,” Dhanush snapped. “Tell your best friend to get his act together, or I’ll tell my uncle what’s going on.”
Naina pinched the bridge of her nose, her stomach roiling. “I have to get back to work, Dhanush.”
“That makes two of us,” he grumbled, walking away with his hands on his hips.
Anil returned a few minutes later, looking forlorn. When Naina asked him where he’d been, he sighed. “Uh, I was at the bank…for a loan.”
“Oh my God,” Naina said, lowering her voice so nobody else would hear. “For your business?”
He swallowed. “Yeah. I thought about what you said earlier and decided to go for it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to surprise you and my grandmother with the news after the bank processed the loan, but they ended up denying my application.” He shook his head. “Apparently, there are too many catering businesses in Bangalore, and mine didn’t stand out enough.”
Naina cursed under her breath, then lifted a finger. “Wait, you could ask Appa for help. He worked at the bank for nearly thirty years, and his colleagues owe him a bunch of favors.”
Anil smiled ruefully, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Thanks, Nay. I might take you up on that.”
“By the way, Dhanush was here a while ago,” Naina added, swiveling back to face her desk, “ranting about how much he hates working with you.”
“He’s insufferable,” Anil complained. “I can’t wait to get out of this place.”
She hesitated, thinking about the texts on Dhanush’s phone, then asked, “He showed me your messages. Were you flirting with him, or was I sensing a vibe that doesn’t exist?”
“Flirting with that man?” Anil scoffed from behind her, though his voice was a pitch higher than usual. “He’d probably be too clingy for my taste. You know I like the chase.”
Naina’s lips turned up. “You’re really toxic, you know that?”
“And proudly so,” he said, the clacking of his keyboard loud. “Are you still playing hard to get with Tejas?”
That wiped the smile off her face. “I’m not playing anything with him,” she said quickly. “We might have history…”
“And chemistry,” he prodded.
“Yes, that,” she agreed reluctantly as she read through a report, “but we’re colleagues, and no way am I changing that equation. Although I might be warming up to his existence. He’s…a good lawyer.”
Anil snorted. “This is a development I can get behind.”
“This will be the only development,” she said, giving him a sideways glance. “Now get to work, you.”
“On it,” he replied, returning to his laptop.
Naina’s Teams chimed with a message while she was answering emails about another one of her cases.
Tejas
Added my own notes to the document re: the forensic report.
We make a good team, huh?
She bit her lip, then typed back, a small smile on her face, Yeah. We do, actually.
“Not only did you come home from work on time,” Appa said, huffing and puffing as he brisk-walked on the treadmill, “but you’ve been smiling ever since? Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?”
Naina chuckled from the cycling machine beside Appa’s treadmill.
It was nine p.m., and they were at the small gym in the basement of their apartment building.
Naina usually got her workouts in early every morning while Appa did yoga at home, but the forensic report had her energized and restless enough for a second gym session with her father, who definitely could benefit from light cardio given his age.
“It was a good day at work,” she told him.
“I think we’re making some real headway on the case. ”
“We?” Appa slowed the treadmill as he grinned. “Care to finally tell me about this mysterious new colleague of yours?”
“It’s just some guy, Appa,” Naina grumbled, turning her face away so he wouldn’t see her reddening cheeks. “He’s a good lawyer. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Is he single?”
She scoffed. “I have no idea,” she lied.
“Then he’s either single or a cheater,” Appa said wisely. “A taken man who loves his woman would rave about her to every single person he met.”
Naina let out a sigh. “Good to know. How about we talk less and exercise more? You’re sixty-two, Appa, you need to be active.”
“Nice job changing the topic. We’ll discuss this later.” Laughing, Appa turned up the speed setting on the treadmill and resumed his jog.
Once Naina finished twenty minutes on the cycling machine, she went to the free weights section while Appa did his evening stretches in front of the mirror. She was on her second set of biceps curls when her phone chimed. Who was texting her after office hours? Did Anil want to grab a drink?
She put the weights aside and pulled her phone out of her leggings pocket.
Tejas
Hey
Tejas is typing…
Despite their history, this was Tejas’s first ever text message to Naina outside of Teams. She cleared her throat and snuck a peek at Appa to make sure he was still busy with his hip-opening stretches.
Her eyes fell on her reflection in the mirror.
The pink of her flushed face was most definitely because of the grueling workout and not Tejas’s name on her phone. Yep. No doubt about it.
What was he typing? Did he want to meet? Was this a “you up?” text? No, it was barely nine-fifteen. It was too early for a booty call, but then again, what did Naina know? Maybe Tejas went to bed early on work nights.
Her thumbs hovered over the screen as she debated what to text back.
“Hey” with the same smiling emoji, “Hey” with a period, or “Hey” with an exclamation point?
She didn’t want to copy the emoji, but an exclamation mark would be too much excitement, and a period would be too distant.
“Why am I overthinking this?” she mumbled to herself. “Just say anything, you fool.”
Naina
Hey, what’s up?
I think we should talk to some of the crew who were on set that day. Iqbal said he could arrange a meeting with the makeup artist and Jagannath’s PA tomorrow afternoon, you in?
“Huh,” Naina said. So this was about work, not…a booty call. Good. That was how their relationship ought to be anyway. Strictly professional. Sounds like a plan, she texted back. See you at the office tomorrow
See you!
Another emoji? This man had too much sunshine in him. Naina bit back a laugh, put her phone aside, and returned to her workout, keeping her focus on the weights in her hands and not that adorable smiling emoji that looked far too much like Tejas’s cheerful grins.