"Sathya? " called Suriya as he entered the Muthialpet police station.

"Sir? " Sathya came out of a room and stood before his superior.

Though he was just in his twenties, he had faced many stiff challenges not many could boast of. While not many in the police station could predict the way in which Suriya would think, Sathya could do it with relative ease. Suriya shared a great rapport with only two officers in then station, they were Kumaresan and Sathya.

"Did you gather the files on Jacob and Pandian? " asked Suriya.

"Yes sir. They are kept in your workplace. What happened at Pandian's sir?  " asked Sathya.

"He is also dead. " said Suriya.

"What?! How is that possible?" exclaimed Sathya.

"Yeah it was pretty shocking for me too and what about James? Where is he? " enquired Suriya.

"He is upstairs sir. Is there any lead, sir? " asked Sathya.

"Yes but not a convincing one. " said Suriya as he checked his wrist watch.

"May I know what is it? " Sathya asked.

"I could figure out that both the murders were done by the same person. " said Suriya.

"On what basis, sir? " questioned Sathya.

"Uh? It's just my gut feeling. " said Suriya taking extra caution to not reveal anything about the notes or the phone call.

"Gut feeling? That's not like you sir! " said Sathya.

"No not like the way you think. But I've got a strong feeling that who ever killed Jacob must have killed Pandian too. If it is not what I think it is, then we are nowhere near the killer plus I couldn't find any thing suspicious in the crime scenes either. " finished Suriya.

"Is there anything I can do, sir? " asked Sathya.

"Yeah. Ask James to come down and meet me, then call Kumaresan sir and ask whether he has collected the autopsy reports. Also gather your views of this case  in the form of a report and submit it to me once you are done with it" Suriya told him. 

"Sure sir. I will give my report in a while " said Sathya and he continued "Can I have a talk with you, sir? "

"Yes.. yeah of course. Why not? " said Suriya as he entered his room,
Sathya followed him into his room.
Both of them sat down.
Sathya took out a paper from his pocket notepad and showed it to Suriya.

"This is what I think about this case. I would have reserved it for later but the moment you mentioned about Pandian's death and the possibility of both the murders being committed by the same person, I thought I might as well tell you what I think of this case. " told Sathya.

"Yeah I too wanted to brainstorm with either you or Kumaresan sir. So no problem. " said Suriya.

"I'll keep it short. When Jacob was first murdered who would anyone knowing the twins suspect of being the killer? Pandian right? And when we went to apprehend him, he was found murdered. Isn't it obvious? The killer would have probably wanted us to think that these murders weren't any coincidence. It seems that he wants to challenge us. If not then why would anyone want to do this? This is too good to be a coincidence after all. But if it was done in such a way that we would head straight to Pandian's house won't it be clear that someone who knew of the twins was the culprit? That's where I am stuck. " completed Sathya.

"No it is not a problem. If you look it like this - what would happen if someone you know gets murdered and that person had a feud with someone else before getting murdered? What would you think?"Asked Suriya.

"The person who had the feud with the victim would be suspected of being the killer. That's what I would think in such a situation. Isn't that a bit too obvious? " replied Sathya.

"Well that's what the killer is playing with. He wants us to find him but at the same time he doesn't want us to get close to him. " explained Suriya.

"I don't get it. " said Sathya.

"Let's say that a person has murdered both Jacob and Pandian. This person does want the cops to chase him but at the same time he doesn't want any sort of interference by them in his further actions. To put it simple, he wants us to tail him but not catch him. He just wants to toy with us and win. Thus he plans to humiliate us in the end by making us feel confident of catching him all the while "
said a visibly thoughtful Suriya.

"Won't that mean we get to watch all his moves? " asked Sathya.

"Well either he wants our attention focused on him so that something else might happen or he deliberately wants us to see what he is doing and prove that we can't do anything to stop him. " said Suriya.

"I see. Who would want to do such things? Especially in this era? I mean if it is like the second scenario then why would he dig his own grave by taking on us, the police? " asked Sathya.

"You are not getting the actual motive, are you? He knows who he is up against and it would be foolish from our side to underestimate this person. He clearly has something to prove to us. Maybe he is a psychopath but we can't be sure of that either. " said Suriya.

"How can you say that this will be the motive behind these murders? " asked Sathya.

"I am not saying that this is the motive behind the killings for sure but it couldn't be otherwise as well, I am very confident of this being one of the killer's ideas if not the only idea. " said Suriya.

There was a short pause.

"Do you suspect anyone? " asked Suriya.

"Nope" said Sathya.

"James? " suggested Suriya.

"It's highly unlikely that he would have killed both. Had it been only Pandian, I might have suspected him but as you said both Jacob and Pandian are dead, it must be the work of someone from the outside.  So I think he is not the one. " answered Sathya.

"Maybe or maybe not. Let's see how this ends. " said Suriya and he continued "Okay. It's time for us to investigate this with even more intent. We'll start with James. "

"Sure. I'll get him here once you are ready to enquire him. " said Sathya to which Suriya nodded.

After some five minutes or so, Sathya went upstairs.

To his surprise James was not to be found. He searched for him frantically.
He begun to suspect that James was also killed.
Fear began to grip him as he went about with the search.
In a room to the left of the stairs he could find James lying down.
With a sigh of relief he went near him.
As he went, he could see him surrounded by blood.
He had been stabbed in his throat. Twice.
Two knives pierced through his throat.
Sathya immediately called out for Suriya.
Suriya came rushing on hearing such a shrill call from Sathya.
He almost fell down on seeing James.
"What do we do now, sir? " asked Sathya...