It took Hashwini several seconds to register the information. She had been so engrossed in Teen RV over the last two months that the night of the riot had regressed into a dusty corner of her memory.

“What? Why?”

“You made a call to the police using my mobile phone, remember?” Kaustubh made no attempt to hide his accusatory tone. “Of course they traced it back to me!”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them I lost my mobile phone two days before the riot.”

“Did they buy your story?”

“Initially, yes. But then my TV clip came out, the one with the MP. Did you catch it?”

Hashwini nodded. “But what has the TV clip got to do with it?”

“Someone who was on the bus that night recognised me. He went to the police and said I was with the undercover policewoman on the night of the riot.”

“What undercover policewoman?”

“You, idiot! You announced yourself as the police when you boarded the bus, remember?!”

Hashwini turned pallid. Details from the night of the riot were seeping out of the walls of her cranium like ghouls from the grave.

“The police came again. This time round, they demanded to view the CCTV recording on the night of the riot. That was how they discovered my lie.”

“What lie?”

“That I had lost my phone! Are you listening at all?” Kaustubh hissed in exasperation. “The CCTV clip showed you snatching the mobile phone out of my back pocket and making the call. So, obviously, I didn’t lose it two days ago.”

“How did you explain the lie?”

“I told them I did not know you, that you ran off with my phone and I never got to see you again, and that I didn’t want to get involved, so I lied about the phone,” Kaustubh said. “You need to back up my story when you go in.”

“What do you mean go in?”

“You are wanted by the police. They will ID you sooner or later through the CCTV clip. You might as well surrender yourself.”

Hashwini stood stunned.

“Well?” Kaustubh pressed.

“I don’t think I am ready to talk to the police,” Hashwini stammered. Oh, why had she shouted “Police!” when she boarded that bus? Would they charge her for impersonating a law enforcement officer?

“Don’t wait too long,” Kaustubh cautioned. “And remember…this discussion between us? Never happened.”

Chapter 8

Jessica simply could not believe her eyes.

There it was again, next to the entrance to the $2-an-item Daiso outlet, a life-size cardboard standee of Chong Jin in his tight-fitting operational STAR uniform. There was one at the neighbourhood lottery station and another flanking the ATM at the mall. Three sightings within one morning were simply too much!