'How could this be? The note was only seen by me and Kumaresan, no one else could have had access to it before we took it from the crime scenes. Could it really be the killer? I need to be mentally active now, there is no time to think all of this! Okay let's pretend like I don't have any idea of what he says for now' thought Suriya.

"Do you believe me now, Suriya? " said the voice as if it knew what Suriya had been thinking.

"Uh? I don't get what you are saying. Don't waste my time now. " Suriya said.

"You are a terrible liar, aren't you? " laughed the voice.

"Just come to the point, will you? " said Suriya.

"What's the hurry sir? You won't be able to solve this case any soon. " the voice taunted him.

"Look. Whoever this is, I am not in a mood for all of your crap. Either tell me quickly or I'm disconnecting the call. " Suriya told in a blunt tone.

"Well then I will tell you what I wanted to convey. As you might have known, there are two more deaths going to happen today. If you have the guts and the brain to stop them, then go ahead and do it. And now is thing that I want only you to know doctor " the voice said.

'Doctor?! Did he just say doctor? Was he referring to me? How on earth?! ' Suriya thought to himself.

"I know what you are thinking right now. We'll discuss that later. The first of the next two murders will happen in one hour from now. And one of the two murders will happen right in front of your eyes! " finished the voice.

"What?! " Suriya couldn't believe what he heard.

"You won't be able to stop it. Plus as a clue I'll tell you this : Jacob and Pandian were murdered by the same person but that person is not working alone. There are two of them. The other person will murder the next two victims. So good luck cop! " the call was disconnected.

Suriya called back but the number was not to be reached. He then called Kumaresan.

"Sir I'm on my way to the station. As soon as the reports are obtained come there" he said to Kumaresan

"Okay sir. Is there anything you want me to do? " asked Kumaresan

"Yes there is. But first I need the reports ASAP! " said Suriya and the call was disconnected.

-------

"So you are saying that the one that killed Jacob and Pandian is working for someone else? " asked Ameer

"Maybe or maybe not. " came the reply

"Yeah as if I can read your mind! " Ameer said as he threw his hands in the air, he then continued "then what are we going to do? Tell the cops that we overheard their conversation? "

"No that should wait. But I feel something isn't right! " Chezhiyan said.

"What is it? " Ameer asked curiously.

"If Jacob was murdered before Pandian then our theory that the murderer isn't acting on his own is most likely to be correct. " Chezhiyan said.

"How do you say so? " questioned Ameer.

"Earlier we deduced that Pandian didn't kill Jacob from the fact that he too was killed by the same person. So it's highly possible that James could be behind it but the order in which the bodies were found laid out the foundation for that assumption to be strong, didn't it? Now I'm beginning to think of the possibilities in which the murders might have took place. The already known fact of Jacob being murdered before Pandian is the one on which our theory is based. What if both of them were murdered simultaneously? " Chezhiyan asked as he entered them in the notepad in Ameer's laptop.

"Yeah. And what if Pandian was murdered before Jacob? " Ameer raised the question.

"That seems unlikely because if Pandian was attacked first then what might be the reason? That's one thing and also where would that leave James? This is getting nowhere! Now that you have asked, it too becomes a valid option. So we have two scenarios on our hands - 1) murders took place simultaneously or 2) Pandian was murdered first and then it was Jacob. Both these points are the cases when the already reported order is fake. "Concluded Chezhiyan.

"Why do we need to break our heads over this? It doesn't affect us anyway! We can't leave it either! Sh*t! " Ameer said he then continued " so what have we concluded now? I mean the result of this brainstorming? "

"Look at this" said Chezhiyan as he showed Ameer the notes he made in the notepad and began to explain them
"So we have two cases now on the basis of  the order of murders, that are to be probed. In total we have three cases including the one that we already know. Anyway we know that the killer is not working on his own as there is no motive for someone other than the trio of Pandian, Jacob and James to kill the three. So we can be sure on that front for now, also James would be the prime suspect here since the other two have been murdered and he has reasons to do it. In that case I can only think of two possibilities - either Pandian and Jacob working together didn't go well with James or he didn't commit the crime altogether. "

"What are you implying? " asked Ameer.

"Let's say James won't go the extent of murdering them just because they worked together under his nose. Then what else is the reason for him to kill them? Was he doing it for someone else? Maybe. But that's very much impossible. So the only scenario if James didn't murder them is this - someone else on the outside is doing all this. " finished Chezhiyan.

"Yeah that's possible too but how can we find out? " Ameer asked.

"The only way James could be cleared of suspicion is if he is murdered too. By doing that the killer would be either willing to show that he is an outsider or he is too stupid to blow the cover of framing James as the sinner. " told Chezhiyan as he munched a chocolate.

"We have two questions now to solve this case, right? One regarding the murderer and the other regarding the order in which the murders took place? " Ameer said.

"No. One regarding the murderer and the other regarding the motive. Findingthe order will just lead us to the murderer. " explained Chezhiyan and he continued
"The only way to clear these two doubts is.. "

"Is? " Ameer asked curiously.

"To visit the crime scenes in person " Chezhiyan finished.

"What?! " Ameer exclaimed

"Without letting anyone else know about this of course! " said Chezhiyan.
"That's okay. But how are we going to pull it off? Before getting to that, why should we go there in the first place?" Ameer asked.

"To gather clues! " said Chezhiyan.

"Hey don't you realise that we are not cops or someone in charge of this case? " Ameer told.

"Yes but we still don't know if the murderer is James or someone else and if it is someone else then is he working alone or on the orders of another person! " Chezhiyan said in a single breath.

"Why do you bother? " Ameer asked.

"Then what? Do you expect us to go to the cops and say that we overheard their conversation? " Chezhiyan became serious.

"No we can't do that! " Ameer said firmly

"Then we should find what this case is all about and then tell the cops our  findings so that they might catch the culprit. " Chezhiyan said.

"So you do all this to help the cops?" Ameer asked.

"Then do you expect us to catch the killer? Remember we are just 17 year olds? You said that yourself. " Chezhiyan made a point.

"Alright. We'll do it your way but with caution. " Ameer gave in.

"Yeah we will. " said Chezhiyan. 

*****

Hey people!

Sorry for the delay in updating the story.
Will upload the next part tomorrow or the day after.
If you like the story please recommend it to your friends.
Do comment your suggestions /corrections or anything you want me to know.
And thanks for your patience.

PEACE!