City of Sthapan, Present Day, 10:35 a.m.

Vani was walking out of one of the rooms on the top floor. The first thing that Omkar saw was the huge quote stuck on the door of the room, from which Vani had walked out. 'If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the precipitate.'

The kitchen was the worst—'Chemistry is like cooking. Just don't lick the spoon. '

Yup, Veena was known for that.

Even Mitran nearly chuckled, as he saw the one stuck outside Vidyut's room: 'The two most abundant elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.'

"She keeps sticking this outside my room." Vidyut started defensively as he saw Mitran looking at it.

"I did not ask anything." Yes, Mitran did manage that with a very straight face.

"Vani, I want to talk to you." Omkar interfered, though he had to admit that with all his tension, for a second, looking at Vidyut's home, he had almost forgotten all that.

She looked serious, and she nodded, coming forward. Today she was wearing a purple collared T-shirt and faded jeans, and she looked voluptuous as always. But Omkar could easily figure out what had changed between him and Vani. He used to get turned on just by being close to this woman.

She looked the same, but Omkar realized that he had changed. Someone else owned him. What had that techie done to him? No, Omkar had no idea. But somewhere in the past six months and even before that, Kriti had become his necessity. There were days in Omkar's life that were measured by the cases that he solved. He, after all, had nothing else. But then, since Kriti had walked into his life, his life was measured by her smile. Her genuine happiness as she saw him.

He had been a womanizer, a liar, a killer... a manipulator, anything that TTI required him to be.

But after Kriti, he was also a loved man.

That was probably why, beyond Kriti, he just did not find women attractive anymore. Could that actually happen? No, Omkar had no answers. But in his case, it had happened.

As soon as Vidyut waved the two of them towards the hall, Vani looked a little hesitant. She had a silly smile too, but she looked serious immediately.

When he came into the hall of Vidyut's house, Omkar saw that distinct surprise that replaced the apprehension in her features.

"Om." Omkar noticed the momentary flare in her eyes die down as her voice became soft.

It was at that second that Omkar knew that Vani had also moved on beyond him.

She had someone else in her life. She found someone special enough, and because of that, her break with Omkar was no longer something that bothered her. It looked like her second chance at life had allowed Vani to change a lot of things, including her perspective.

She had known about Kriti and Omkar even before, but she had never moved on.

This time, it seemed like she had.

Yes, that actually made Omkar happy, or relieved, or both.

She looked surprised as she looked at Mitran and then turned to Vidyut.

"You saw Ramesh's murder?" Omkar asked the question almost immediately.

She shivered, and her complexion turned a little ashen. That second, Omkar knew she was not pulling an act. He had actually seen Vani pull all sorts of brilliant whoppers, and she could convince anyone of anything. This was not it. "It was horrible. That masked man..." Her eyes turned dark. "That... agent...he... begged..."

"What did he want to know, Vani?" Omkar interrupted hastily. Seriously, Vani was not lying. Omkar had no intention of getting Vani to recollect all that or even know any of that. "What did the masked man want to know?"

Vani almost looked a little grateful and nodded at Omkar. She took a deep breath and controlled herself. "About where Ramesh was yesterday." She shook her head. "I did not understand what that meant. I could not even follow beyond that. The masked man wanted to know the places where Ramesh had gone to yesterday."

Omkar stared. Then he shook his head. "Go slow. Go from the beginning."

"I knew that Ramesh had got the original of the royals. My fence wanted it. He told me that Ramesh was not going to be at home yesterday, but was expected back any time." Vani took a deep breath. "The time before morning is the best time for it. Around 5:40 or so, I broke into his house. My fence had told me that he had a camera facing the front room. I was surprised because the camera had been disabled. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I exchanged the original with the duplicate I had. After that, I saw the backpack with old clothes on the sofa. I realized that Ramesh had come back." She sighed. "I knew I had to make good my escape as soon as possible, when I heard two continuous bullet shots from the inner room." Vani winced as Omkar caught her hands. "It was horrible! The man was whimpering and begging. Some asshole was asking about his routine..."

Vani shuddered. "I did not know what else to do. I had to escape, and I knew that if I stayed there, everybody was going to think I had hurt that agent..." She took another deep breath, and Omkar found her hands trembling. "Based on the questions that that masked man was asking and what Ramesh was whimpering, I realized that Ramesh was TTI." Vani looked at Omkar desperately. "If I put the original painting back, there was a chance I would have made some noise and alerted the killer. Ramesh had old paints in his house. It was in the hall where the painting was hanging. I used it on the fake painting which I had used to exchange with the real painting before I escaped." She vaguely nodded. "I had told you about the Sthapan Yellow. I hoped you remembered it and I hoped that you would understand that I had nothing to do with this." She nodded vaguely at Omkar. Vani leaned on him for support and nodded vaguely. What Omkar realized was that his initial suspicion was correct. Vani was telling the truth. Her pulse was almost zooming.

"From outside the house, I called the freaking cops and escaped from the place, even as I got inside my getaway vehicle." She shook her head and caught Omkar's hands with her trembling hands.

"Five minutes later, I saw the cops come to the street with their sirens blazing. I heard a loud gunshot from Ramesh's house. I drove away without looking back."

There was a silence for a few seconds.

Vani shook her head. "I couldn't save Ramesh, Om! There was nothing more I could do for him."

Omkar nodded at her. "You did right, Vani." Omkar meant it. "There was nothing you could have done for Ramesh. You were right in saving yourself, and you even tried to help him."

Vani nodded gratefully. "I just do not know why it was so important to kill a man to know where he had gone yesterday and the places that he had been to."

Omkar blinked. The way that Vani had put it, he couldn't believe the whole damned thing was staring at him and he had just not seen it. This answered all the questions from the morning, and he had only one shot, because it was not just the doc's life in question.