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Time: 3:02 AM
Location: Andheri West – "Ashray Apartments"
The street was silent—except for the screams.
Neighbors had gathered near the fourth floor of a dimly lit apartment building, where a woman had reportedly jumped from the balcony at exactly 2:58 AM. But when the police arrived… there was no body.
Just shattered glass, blood on the pavement—and a terrified night watchman swearing he saw her fall.
But he also swore something else:
> "Sir, she fell... and then... she walked back into the building."
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CID Bureau – 8:15 AM
ACP Pradyuman stood by the whiteboard, arms folded.
ACP Pradyuman: "A woman named Rhea Karnik—28 years old—was reported dead last night. But her body hasn't been found. Yet five different witnesses say they saw her fall. One saw her walk away."
Purvi (reading the report): "No signs of forced entry. No suicide note. Her flat was locked from inside."
Daya: "So it's a suicide with no body… and a ghost with house keys?"
Swami stepped forward, freshly dressed in his signature white shirt and black pants. He examined the building layout projected on the board.
Swami: "Not a suicide. Not a ghost. This is a stage. And every stage has trapdoors."
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Ashray Apartments – 10:20 AM
Swami, Purvi, and Abhijeet arrived on site.
Apartment 404 was sealed. Rhea Karnik's flat.
The lock was clean. No tampering. Swami examined the doorframe, then pulled out a thin flashlight and scanned the edges.
Swami: "Magnet residue on the lock housing. A duplicate magnetic override tool was used. Someone opened this door without a key. Silently."
Inside, the apartment was cold, undisturbed—except for one thing.
A tea cup. Half full.
Still warm.
Purvi: "She had tea before jumping?"
Swami: "Or someone wanted us to believe that."
He walked to the balcony. Glass shards still lay scattered from the broken railing. He knelt near the edge and examined the cement.
Then he smiled.
Swami: "Fake blood. Corn syrup base. This was staged."
Abhijeet: "You're saying she faked her own death?"
Swami: "No… I'm saying someone else faked it for her."
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Building Watchman's Statement – 11:45 AM
The old man trembled as he repeated his account.
Watchman: "I saw her fall, sir. She screamed. I ran. When I came back… I swear… she was walking into the lift. Head down. Calm. Like nothing happened."
Swami looked at him closely.
Swami: "Did she look injured?"
Watchman: "No sir… but her clothes were different. No nightgown. It looked like a… hospital uniform."
That changed everything.
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Back at CID Bureau – 1:20 PM
Purvi pulled hospital records based on the clue. Only one psychiatric facility within 5 kilometers had discharged a patient in a white gown the night before.
Purvi: "Rhea Karnik was never admitted. But another woman—Simran Kale—was discharged at 8:00 PM last night. She wore a similar hospital gown."
Swami: "Cross-check Simran's photo with building CCTV."
Five minutes later, the result was clear.
The woman who "walked back in" after the fall… wasn't Rhea Karnik. It was Simran Kale.
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Hospital – Psychiatric Wing – 3:10 PM
CID visited Simran's attending psychiatrist, Dr. Meenal Joshi.
Dr. Joshi: "Simran suffered from disassociative identity disorder. She believed she was Rhea Karnik for the past three months."
Purvi: "Why Rhea?"
Dr. Joshi: "That's the mystery. She had never met Rhea. But somehow, her mind constructed Rhea's identity. Her habits. Her handwriting. Her voice. Almost as if... she downloaded her."
Swami's eyes widened slightly. "Where is Simran now?"
Dr. Joshi: "She left last night. She hasn't come back."
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Evening – 6:00 PM – Abandoned Printing Press Basement (Again)
Acting on a hunch, Swami traced Simran's last cell signal to a printing press from Case II. There, in the basement, they found her.
Unconscious.
Surrounded by sketches of Rhea Karnik.
Dozens of them.
Each drawn in detail—before Rhea had ever gone missing.
Abhijeet (shocked): "How did she…?"
Swami (softly): "This isn't just mimicry. This is conditioning. Someone manipulated Simran—mentally, chemically, and emotionally—to become Rhea. They used her as a proxy."
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Next Morning – CID Bureau – 9:00 AM
The real Rhea Karnik's body was found.
Not in the apartment.
But in the backseat of a luxury car, parked two blocks away, wrapped in plastic, dead for nearly 48 hours.
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Case Conclusion:
Simran was manipulated by Rhea's husband, Aarav Karnik, who created a false psychiatric identity to replace his wife with someone who behaved just like her.
Rhea found out, and threatened to go to the police. He murdered her and staged her suicide using Simran as a puppet, planting false memories and sedatives.
Aarav was arrested, and Simran was sent for proper rehabilitation.
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CID Garden – That Evening
The case closed, Swami and Purvi sat on the bench again. This time, as husband and wife. She leaned against him silently.
Purvi: "That woman lived someone else's life. Without ever realizing it."
Swami: "That's why truth matters. Because when you lose it… people rewrite you."
Purvi (smiling): "Well, no one's rewriting our story."
Swami: "No. This one, we write together."
They looked out over the quiet CID compound—just as a new file landed on ACP Pradyuman's desk.
Another case was beginning.
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Next Case:
Case IV – Chapter 1: The Dead Man's Last Call
A man is murdered. But minutes after his death—he calls CID. His phone records… don't exist. His voice... shouldn't be alive.
To be continued…