Raoul - Part 11

Earlier
After sometime, Lyana called out to Raoul, ' Would you please stop moving around? It is very disturbing to say the least'. Raoul looked at her and replied, 'I'll be gone for a few minutes, would come back soon'. Lyana gave him a quizzical glance and asked him, 'Where are you off to?' Let's sit, try and work it out.' Raoul sighed and responded, 'I need to give both of us some breathing time. I'll be back and I promise... nothing stupid', ending the sentence with a half-hearted smile.

Lyana stood looking at the retreating back of Raoul. This was the first time in their marriage tat Raoul had walked out of the house during a confrontation.

Lyana sat down and thought hard about the day. Suddenly she realised that her cousin had borrowed the car for some time tat day telling her that it was an emergency which required that the car be utilized since the cousin's own car was in the garage. Since this had been something which was commonplace between the two of them, Lyana had happily agreed.

The cousin had returned the car after about two hours, specifically mentioning that the car's tank had been refilled, since it had seen too much mileage for the day. Lyana had taken it as part of the general inane conversations often shared by people in order to explain themselves and had not given it much importance.
She knew her cousin to have idealistic inclinations but had never imagined that it could ever translate into a criminalised approach to things.

Of late, for sure, their conversations had tended to get heated with her cousin loosing the cool and venting all the pent up frustrations for opportunities lost on the government. According to her cousin, all the problems being faced by the native of the country could e resolved if only the Government was more sympathetic. Their local culture and values were being degraded in the name of becoming modern and living up with the times.

Lyana was still going over the conversations between herself and the cousin when Raoul entered. He appeared calm and and at peace with himself. Lyana looked at him and asked her to sit down next to her. Raoul sat down, looked at her, Lyana spoke, 'It might have been possible that the car was indeed used in the attempted heist. It had been taken by my cousin for a short while, which had become a few hours. I did not pay much heed since I was busy with my friend and given the traffic these days, it did not seem out of place.'

Raoul leaped up from his seat, digging out his phone from the pocket. He was about the punch the speed-dial, when Lyana stopped him, 'If my cousin was involved, calling up to confirm would only result in being more conscious on the cousin's part. And, if it turns out to be not the case, we might just end up loosing a good friend.'

He gave it some thought, and kept the phone on the table in front. Spreading his hands, he questioned her, 'Okay, so what do you suggest?'

.....to be continued....

Raoul - Part 10

Earlier
Lyana stared at Raoul, all the colour drained from her face. She stood gaping at him. Raoul finally lost his battle against his anger and had features which were in a contrast to Lyana's. His eye were blazing and seemed to be boring through Lyana.

Lyana could not think of anything to speak of which would help her to understand what Raoul had been implying at. Regaining her composure after a long time, she asked Raoul, 'What do you mean my car was the get-away vehicle? Do you even understand the implications of what you are saying? You are accusing me of something which I have no knowledge of!!'

Raoul spread his hands and said, 'I am saying what I have got to know. There is a story I have been working  upon and I found out that the car used belonged to us. All I want to know is, how much is your involvement in everything.'

Raoul thought to himself, 'I had never thought that my mystery/ adventure story is going to turn into a family drama... ' Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he looked at Lyana for an answer.

Their eyes were locked for a long time, each trying to make sense of what was happening and not succeeding. Finally Lyana asked, 'When did this so called incident happen which somehow involves me?' 

Raoul was relieved, he had always known that Lyana could not do anything like this, but he still had to be sure that he had been right in the choices he had made. Raoul told her that it had been a couple of days back, the same day that she had asked for Amelia to look after the kids.

Lyana tried to recall the events of that day and what she had been doing that day. She concentrated on recalling the minutest of details, which given the tendency of her forgetting what she had for breakfast, was indeed a difficult task. Her brain worked over-time trying to re-play a movie of the day's events.

Raoul paced in the room, feeling it difficult to stay calm any more. After about five minutes of waiting he said, 'And... what have you been able to recall by now.' Lyana looked at him and relied with a surprised and hurt look, which conveyed that she did not expect Raoul to behave as he was.

Raoul recoiled from the look and told her to take her time and continued with his restless pacing.

..... to be continued...Raoul-11