"Thanks for the cooperation, Ms.Sahil," Detective Graham put on his cap, shaking my hand on the way out, "We may have to be in contact with you until the investigation is over."

I nodded my agreement. As soon as Detective Graham listened to my story earlier in the police station and watched the video, he was as shocked as I had expected him to be. He wanted to check the secret compartment himself. I knew I had to let Noah know about this but as he hadn't moved his things here yet, I had taken the liberty to let Detective Graham into his room. He checked the whole room once again along with the secret compartment. But he didn't find anything suspicious.

As Detective Graham got into the elevator, Noah stepped out of it carrying a big cardboard box in his hand. He looked to and fro between me and the tough-looking cop, raising his eyebrows in a question mark.

"Who's that? Has he just come from our apartment?"

"I'll tell you later. Gimme that," I took the box out of his hands, "you bring the remaining boxes."

He looked happy to get rid of the weight and turned back to get his remaining stuff. After half an hour, together we managed to get all his stuff into the apartment. He brought an espresso maker which brought a smile to my face immediately. Mitchell and I wanted one for so long. I was surprised to find most of his boxes consisted of his books. We spent most of the afternoon arranging his books in the bookshelf half-filled with my books.

"Hey, I forgot to ask. Who's that I saw coming out of the apartment earlier?" Noah asked. I knew we had to have this discussion one time or another. I had never talked about Mitchell with Noah. I didn't even know if he knew her or not.

"Yeah, about that.....he is a cop." I recounted him everything from Mitchell's murder to finding the SD card earlier and Detective Graham checking his room. I didn't tell him about the contents of the card though. He didn't need to know that. Noah listened to everything with surprising calmness.

"I'm sorry for letting him in without your permission. It was kind of an emergency. He insisted on checking the room immediately." I apologized.

"Hey, it's no big deal." He said and after a few seconds added, "I heard about her in the news. It caused a big sensation in the city. I can only imagine what you had to go through. That's why I have never asked about her."

I was grateful that Noah was so easy going about the whole thing. I could imagine a bunch of scenarios where he could freak out. I smiled at him and picked out a book from the box. History of Ancient cults and Brotherhoods was staring up at me.

Coincidence much huh?

I raised the book up reading out the title aloud.

"This doesn't look like a normal read. Got special interests in cults, do we?" I asked looking straight at him. Any other day, I wouldn't have given it a second thought but the recent events specifically, the video I watched lit my interest in cults. He slowly pulled the book out of my hands with nervous laughter.

"I'm just into this kind of stuff." He said, placing the book on the shelf. He didn't venture any more information and I didn't want to push him. But I had fixed in my mind to get my hands on that book some other time. I had a feeling this was not the last time I had to butt into Mitchell's case. After arranging the books, I disappeared into my room to get some of the school work done. Since Mitchell's murder, I must say I was not being the most attentive of the students. I was also not active in my book club. There was an assignment due Monday and I was only halfway done. By the time I was done, it was 5 pm. Some thought was nagging at the back of my head that I was forgetting something important. I couldn't remember what it was. What would be so important to do on a Saturday evening? Then it occurred to me. I had a meeting with Mrs.Lewis. I shut the laptop and strode purposefully towards the familiar apartment which was all of a sudden looking mysterious. I rang the doorbell and waited for the little old lady to open the door. After a few seconds, the door opened and Mrs.Lewis's face appeared behind it, friendly as ever. Anyone looking at her at the moment might think that we were there to exchange cookie recipes but not to discuss my dead roommate.

"Come in Naina," she ushered me in closing the door beside me. Tom was behind her wagging his tail enthusiastically.

"Missed me, boy?" I said scratching his belly. He gave me a sloppy lick before I released him and stood to face Mrs. Lewis. She led me to the couch in the living room.

"Sit down, darling. I'll bring something to eat." She said and quickly disappeared into the kitchen. I have been in this apartment before. Borrowing kitchen ingredients, wishing her for Christmas and stuff like that. But I never really observed it before. As I was sitting there alone without anything to do until Mrs.Lewis arrived, I started looking around her room. The apartment had the same geography as mine as did the rest of the apartments in the building. The apartment was quiet, dimly lit, and was smelling of baked goods. One of the living room walls was dominated by a big brass cross and another wall was dominated by a big bookshelf. Now, my biggest weakness was I couldn't control myself from going through the books whenever I see a big bookshelf. I stood up and slowly made my way towards the shelf.

All the books were of the black hardcover. I ran my hands on the spines reading the titles of the books. They were mostly religious books. A large section of them consisted of books about Christianity. I knew Mrs.Lewis was a very religious lady and an active member of the local church community. But what surprised me most was the collection of books on other religions. She had books about Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and many other religions that I had never heard of. I raised my head to see the top shelf was filled with some more old books in it.

One of those books attracted my attention. It was the biggest of all. The Satanic Bible was written on its spine with red lettering. It was an understatement to say I was surprised. Now, I knew very little about Christianity and Satan but even I knew that devout Christians like Mrs.Lewis don't involve themselves with the devil and his literature. I looked behind me to see if Mrs.Lewis was coming out. But there was no sign of her. My hand hovered over the book before pulling it out. The book was lighter than I expected it to be. The book cover consisted of the title written simply on it, with a red pentagram on it.

Hollywood had taught me enough to understand that inverted pentagram is a symbol of the devil worshipers and I thought Mrs.Lewis was one of the last people in the world to be one of them, until then. I couldn't understand what all these conflicting books were doing in the same house and that too in the house of a friendly-looking old lady.

"I guess you are confused right now." Mrs.Lewis's voice from behind me causing me to almost drop down the book. I immediately placed the book in its original position and turned to face Mrs.Lewis, with two cups of coffee and a plate of cookies in a tray. I was relieved to see she was still smiling and was not angered by my snooping.

"Yeah. I am." I walked to the couch and took my previous seat. She took a seat facing me placing the tray on the coffee table in the center. The apartment was unusually quiet with Tom stopping his barking. I wanted to ask her what that book was doing in her house but I thought better of it and stayed silent. We were here to discuss Mitchell, not the lady's religious preferences.

"Have some coffee, Naina." She pushed the cup towards me. I took the cup politely without actually drinking it.

"Why did you warn me to not go into her room, Mrs.Lewis?" I repeated the question I asked her last night, only now fully sober.

She lifted a cup from the tray and sipped a little coffee before speaking.

"My father was a pastor in the church as was my husband, Naina. Those books were my husband's. You may be wondering why do we have books about the devil in our home," she paused to see if I was listening. I nodded.

"There is an opposite to everything and to understand something you have to understand the opposition to it. In the same way, to understand God you have to understand the devil," She said to me. I was sitting there wondering where she was going with this.

"I knew the devil and his ways since my childhood and when I see someone associated with him, I can sense it. I thought Mitchell was one of them." She stopped, trying to gauge my reaction. She must have caught the skeptic expression on my face so she hastily added, "I know how this sounds to you. You must think this is a bunch of hocus pocus and I am a nutcase. But I could feel it, Naina. You have to trust me."

I didn't know what to say to her. I didn't want to hurt her feelings and I didn't want to believe my roommate was a devil worshiper. Even if she was, Mrs.Lewis had no right to be mean to her about her choices.

Sensing I was not going to say anything Mrs.Lewis continued, "It is never wise to meddle with the things of such people. You never know what can be dangerous. That's why I didn't want you to go into her room. Please tell your new roommate not to touch any of her things if he stumbles upon them."

"I understand your concern, Mrs.Lewis. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me." I said standing up to leave. I had a lot to think and I wanted to be alone.

"It's relieving to finally confess about this to you, Naina. Let me walk you out." She said standing up. She opened the door for me and I walked out.

"I hope this doesn't change anything between us," Mrs.Lewis said looking at me hopefully.

"Of course, Mrs.Lewis." I said smiling for the first time since we talked that day. She was just an old lady with her own beliefs and fears. She was always good to me. I must not be too hard on her.

I went back into my apartment and fell on my bed thinking about the things Mrs.Lewis had just said and how it fitted with the video I found in Mitchell's closet. I didn't think of it that way but now the whole ritual seemed like something religious and ancient.

Was Mitchell really a devil worshiper? Even if she was what did it have to do with her murder? I thought back to remember if Mitchell had made any religious preferences I knew of. We never made a really big deal about Christmas and Thanksgiving in our apartment. Kevin used to take her out and I hung out with Jane and some other friends who didn't go to visit their parents. Kevin, the biggest missing piece of the puzzle.

I didn't know when but I slowly slipped into a nap, thinking.