She stepped on to the threshold of Madhar's house but hesitated while knocking. Should she go inside? What could she say? Should she give the bouquet she brought? Questions such as these crossed her mind as she absent mindedly knocked on the door. Someone opened it and as Sarla saw his face, she was startled. It was Mr.Ajaydev himself. She was so used to Vamini opening the door that she half expected her to come and open it. "What do you want?" he barked at her gruffly. She could see he was trying to hide his tears and sadness.But his beard spoiled the look, making him look feelingless. And his plump and short figure made him look like a little dwarf working in the mines."I want to meet Madhar.." "We don't need any of your sympathy nonsense. But I could have some use for this bouquet," he said as he snatched it away from her. Sarla waited, puzzled, as he scrambled inside. He returned moments later with the same bouquet, the difference was it had a tag saying 'Congratulations! From the Iyer family.' The bouquet seemed much heavier than before. "Go give this to Mr Ghoshal around the next corner." Sarla knew Mr Ghoshal had a son recently but wasn't it too late to give a bouquet after a month.

Again, at the threshold of a house, but this time Mr Ghoshal's, Sarla knocked at the door. Before anyone came, she decided to take a peek inside the card. It was not a friendly message like you would expect it to be. It contained only 2 words,'Last parcel'. Mr Ghoshal opened the door and just in the nick of time, Sarla closed the card. Mr Ghoshal took the bouquet and slammed the door in her face without a word. Sarla went home and began prepping for her school the next day.

                                              ***        
"How are you feeling Madhar? I came to visit you yesterday but your father wouldn't let me in. How come you didn't know your mom was missing yet?" Sarla blabbed it all in one breath to Madhar. He was a curious looking boy. With eyes as round as tennis balls and such a plump figure, you could almost expect him to start buzzing at any moment. "Calm down! Calm down! You don't know how I feel! And you never will. I, an only child, have lost my mother. I didn't even talk to her properly and with respect the last time I saw her, let alone when I last talked to her. I had gone on a school trip to Shimla. I returned me the day my mom's body was found. I returned in the morning and thought she had gone for shopping. B.b.b.b.b.bu.bu.but........"Madhar put his head in his hand and started sobbing. Sarla felt a little jerk inside her at the sight of a son mourning over his mother's death. The detective had woken up.

                                             ***

As Sarla walked home, she couldn't help thinking about the case. Some things seemed to click right into place but at some places there were gaping holes where nothing seemed to fit.

When Sarla was crossing the road, she heard a commotion near the Ghoshal house. She turned a corner and saw an entire squad of police surrounding the it. The policemen were dragging Mrs.Ghoshal to the car, taking her to prison. Sarla asked an onlooker what was happening. He replied, "Mrs.Ghoshal is the main suspect of murder. She was the last person to visit Vamini before she went missing. So, the police are arresting her and resting the case." Sarla was surprised. How can the police be so short sighted! She thought. Everyone was innocent in her eyes till proven guilty. And there was no hard evidence against Mrs.Ghoshal. She needed to find a witness.

So, Sarla set off to the Iyer house. Her motive was to interrogate their watchman. As she approached the house, Sarla decided to spy on her witness for a little while. By the looks of it, the watchmen was a frail and old looking person. Sarla didn't know how he got the job of guarding such a rich man's house. A little while later, the household had came out and told the watchman not too let Mr Ghoshal inside, master's orders. What enemity could Mr Ghoshal and Mr Iyer have. Anyways, the watchman nodded, scared of the delicate household head. "Hmmmmm.... Can easily be intimidated," thought Sarla. After a few minutes Mr.Ghoshal came and told the watchman to let him in. But Ramesh, the watchman, followed his orders. Ghoshal looked red as a tomato, but controlled his temper and handed him a bundle of notes and bribed him."This is a little something for you if you let me enter." Mr Ghoshal said. "Is also greedy and can do anything for money." thought Sarla. Ok, she'd had enough of this spying. Time for some real action. She strode across to the Ramesh and said, "Ok, look here watchman. I am going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer them CORRECTLY. And no spilling the beans to master." The watchman nodded meekly. Sarla could be intimidating when she wanted to. "OK, so the first question, was Mrs Ghoshal the last one to visit before Mrs Vamini went missing," she said. "N.n.n.... Y.y.y.y.e.e.e.s" was the answer. "Hmmm...Tricky. He can either be saying the truth or he could have been threatened to lie." Sarla wondered. "How come you didn't know that Mrs.Vamini was missing?" asked Sarla. "Oh! The whole staff and me knew. It's just that she often goes on sudden trips like these of a few days. Except this time she told is to not tell anyone. We were starting to get worried. That's when the bombshell about her death dropped on us." said the watchman. Sarla thought for a while and said, "And you didn't think it necessary to tell that to the authorities."
"Oh we did, we seriously did but ma'am told us not to tell anyone or our lives would be in danger."
"Then why tell that to me?"
"Because I had to get it off my chest?"
"Grrrrrr....."
"OK ok. I don't think a little girl like you can much."
"Good. And remember, not a soul should know about my visit."
"O.o.o.o.k."
And Sarla left him there, shivering. If you would have looked at her at that time, you could almost think that she was a normal teenager, enjoying the frolics of life.