I and Vardhan had been following Tom all morning, hopping from one street to another, keeping his distance while trying to stay close enough to observe his every move. As we made his way through a narrow alleyway, Vardhan noticed two men in suits, one tall and the other short, walking towards him. They had a suspicious look on their faces, and Vardhan had a feeling that they were following him.
Quickly, he decided to turn around and walk in the opposite direction. As he turned, he caught the two men looking at him, and Vardhan’s instincts told him that these men were up to no good, so he started to walk faster. I kept following trying to understand what was happening.
Vardhan said “Disperse and look out for people keeping an eye over you.”
The two men, who were now picking up their pace, began to close in on Vardhan. He could hear their footsteps getting louder and louder as they approached him. Suddenly, Vardhan turned sharply to his right and took off running, with the two men following him closely behind.
As he ran through the alleyways, Vardhan quickly assessed the situation and realized that he needed to lose the two men before they caught up with him. He took a sharp left turn, sprinting down a narrow street. He could hear the two men getting closer and closer, their footsteps pounding the pavement behind him.
Vardhan quickly glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the tall man was gaining on him. He knew that he had to act fast if he wanted to get away. He spotted a pile of boxes stacked up against the wall of a building up ahead and came up with a plan.
He sprinted towards the boxes and jumped onto them, using them he launched himself into the roof of the small bungalow. The two men, who had been caught off guard by Vardhan’s sudden manoeuvre, stopped in their tracks and looked up at him in disbelief.
Vardhan ran across the roof of the bungalow and jumped onto another and then another. He zigzagged his way across the rooftops, knowing that the two men would never be able to catch up with him now.
After several minutes, Vardhan was able to lose the two men, and he made his way back to the mansion, where I was waiting for him. He quickly changed out of his disguise and into some fresh clothes. As he sat down to catch his breath, he could not help but smile at the thought of how he had outsmarted his pursuers.
Vardhan: “We all are being followed. I earlier thought the two men were following you but I was wrong, it was me they were looking for.”
Oliver: “Following me? Who would have followed me?”
Vardhan: “I don’t know yet but, I am sure I will find the person soon. The other day Maria was also being followed. But offcourse, you know that already, don’t you?.”
I sat there without reacting to it.
The next day we set out on our journey to know more about Tom. This event had already registered more suspicion over Tom. I and Vardhan were walking around the city. When Vardhan noticed a young boy approaching him from the opposite end. The boy was walking fast, almost running, and seemed to be looking over his shoulder. Vardhan stepped aside to let him pass, but the boy abruptly stopped in front of him and thrust a crumpled piece of paper into his hand. Before Vardhan could react, the boy darted away and disappeared into the crowd.
Vardhan looked down at the note in his hand, his heart racing. It was a short message scrawled in hurried handwriting: “Walk away from the case or you’ll regret it.”
Suddenly, Vardhan felt a chill run down his spine. He knew that he was getting too close to the truth, and whoever had left him the note was desperate to stop him. But Vardhan was not one to back down from a challenge, especially when games were being played.
He quickly folded the note and put it in his pocket, making a mental note to investigate the address later. As he walked away, he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of the mysterious man who had delivered the message. But the crowd had swallowed him up, and Vardhan and I stood there feeling more determined than ever to get to the bottom of the case.