Chapter 8: The Circle Begins to Close

The sky over Chennai had turned slate grey. Inside the Cold Case Unit’s office, silence hovered like a fog. A storm was coming — not outside, but within the four walls lined with photographs of dead girls and timelines that refused to make sense.

The whiteboard was beginning to fill up with more connections than coincidences. Names. Faces. Initials. Still, something was missing.

Pranav’s phone buzzed. Murali.

He picked up.

“Yes?”

Murali’s voice was flat. Measured. But behind it, trembled a truth that shook the room.

“Sir… Saravanan is dead.”

Pranav didn’t blink.

“How?”

“Hanging. Behind his house. Coimbatore rural police found him like an hour ago. No note. No signs of forced entry. They’re calling it suicide.”

Pranav was silent for a beat. Then, “Where are you now?”

“I’m still in Coimbatore, sir.”

“Good. I want you to go to Hyderabad next. Track down Irfan — the other guard on duty. Find out everything. The stay, the food, anything unusual. If the killer lived inside the complex for three days, someone had to know. Dig until you hit something.”

“Understood, sir. I’ll keep you posted.”

Pranav ended the call and turned toward Mitra.

“We’re going to Vaishali’s place.”

---

The 6th floor of the apartment was haunting. Pranav barely spoke as they entered the late Vaishali’s flat — the silence inside was suffocating.

Same setup. Same eerie stillness. But something different too.

No initials. No carved letters. Nothing.

But the CCTV cameras?

Disabled for exactly three days. Again.

Mitra looked over the balcony rail and scanned the street below. “Same pattern,” she murmured. “And again, two security guards — both resigned exactly three months after the incident.”

Pranav stood near the window, his eyes locked on the empty road.

“This is the end,” he said softly.

Mitra turned to him. “You mean… he’s done killing?”

Pranav nodded slowly. “This is the last one. No signature. No defiance. Just... silence.”

“How do we start from nothing?”

He glanced at her. “What do you think About serial killers, Mitra?.”

“Usually,” she said, “they escalate. They want attention. They crave a challenge. But this one... no pattern of escalation. Just... perfection. Clean, controlled kills. Maybe it got too easy.”

Pranav paced for a second before stopping.

“Or maybe,” he said, “these were the only people he ever intended to kill.”

Mitra’s eyes narrowed. “You’re saying this wasn’t a spree?”

“This was purposeful. A list. And now that it’s done, he’s done too.”

“But then why kill Saravanan?”

Pranav’s voice hardened. “Because he’s scared. He knows we’re closing in. Saravanan knew something, and that made him dangerous. So he panicked — and removed the threat.”

He turned to Thameem.

“Get all the victim photographs. Go to that typist at Adyar police station — the one who recorded the anonymous complaint before Ananya’s death. See if any of these girls filed a complaint before they died.”

Thameem grabbed the files and bolted out.

---

An hour later, Pranav stood at the whiteboard, staring at the case map when the door flung open. Thameem was breathless.

“Sir… the typist identified one of the girls. Her name was Suganya. She had come in weeks before Ananya. He remembers her distinctly.”

Pranav’s fingers tapped against the marker. He turned to Mitra.

“Let’s map every victim again. There must be something else.”

Mitra sat down and spread the case files. For ten minutes, silence. Then:

“Sir,” she whispered. “Look here. Every one of the victims studied at CR College of Arts and Commerce, Coimbatore. Different batches… but only a year apart. That means they were all on campus together.”

Pranav leaned in. “Different departments?”

“Yes. But every single one of them did B.Ed. That’s the common thread.”

Pranav’s phone rang again.

Murali. From Hyderabad.

“Sir, I found Irfan.”

“And?”

“He says he doesn’t know anything. He was on leave during those three days. No memory of the killer, nothing about food, clothes — he claims complete ignorance.”

Pranav exhaled.

“Collect all your notes. Head back to Coimbatore.”

“Why not Chennai, sir?”

“Because the killer is in Coimbatore.”

Murali was silent. “You’re sure?”

“If he killed Saravanan and not Irfan — it means he’s there. He couldn’t have traveled to Hyderabad and back in time to kill Irfan. He panicked locally. That confirms it.”

“And there’s more — we found a breakthrough,” Pranav continued. “All the victims studied at the same college. Get back fast. This is closing in.”

He ended the call and turned to Thameem, who had just returned.

“Sir, that name — Suganya — she’s also among the dead. Do we go visit her family?”

Pranav shook his head.

“No need. I don’t think the killer is near them. He’s near us. Or rather, where this started.”

He pointed at the whiteboard, right at the name: CR College of Arts and Commerce, Coimbatore.

“Pack up. We’re heading there — now.”

Thameem looked confused. “Sir, but we’ve combed through the cases. Why go there?”

Pranav’s eyes were sharp now. Deadly focused.

“Because we’re not looking for how he killed them anymore.”

“We’re going to find out who and why.”