Standing at the edge of the water, I saw the water glimmering under the Forenoon Sun.
In my arms, I found myself holding Raghav's clothes and items.
Who was currently standing on the submerged steps of the Ghat, waist deep in the water, and his hands in a praying position before his chest.
I watched him take dips in the water repeatedly, before taking some water in the palms of his hands and raising them above his head, before offering the water towards the Sun by tilting his hands forward.
Time seemed to slow down as I stared at his broad back and wide shoulders.
These were the shoulders that were carrying the weight of this world; yet despite that, they did not slouch in the slightest.
He didn't seem the least burdened by any of it; he glowed, bright enough to make the sun itself look like a small spark.
When his prayers finished, he turned around and began walking back up.
Our eyes met, and he reached towards me, and I handed him the towel that I had wrapped around my shoulder.
"Thank you."
That was all he said, before patting his head and face dry, before moving onto the rest of his body.
"Not to be disrespectful, but do we have time to take breathers like these?"
Raghav tied the towel around his hips before shaking his head.
"Honestly, no. But I had to clean myself, especially after the funeral I just attended."
He then walked over to the top of the steps and sat down, grabbing the socks from his shoes and putting them on first.
"I didn't take you to be the type to wear socks before pants."
"It is efficient."
He then stood up, took the pants from the pile of clothes in my hand and wore the pants over the towel, before taking the towel out of the pants and dropping it over his shoulder.
"My Items, please."
"Here."
I reached into the pocket of my coat and handed him his phone, earphones and keys.
He took the items and placed the phone in his right pocket and the others in his left before zipping them close.
"That is a neat feature of those pants. I remember dropping my phone a lot from my pants."
A gentle smile came across his face as he looked up at me and nodded.
"These were custom-tailored; I was running around a lot back on Earth and spent a lot of time in places with pickpockets. Helped not lose items every other day."
That makes more sense. I wonder what kind of cases he came across while working as a detective.
Before I could even think about all the possibilities, Raghav asked me a question, catching me completely off guard.
"Jacob, what is it exactly that we are doing here?"
Was it a tricky question or something else?
I must have taken a few minutes to think about what to answer, because by the time I looked back at Raghav, he was fully dressed.
From the inner pocket of his jacket, he pulled out a small spray bottle and sprayed water onto his clothes.
Once finished, he looked right at me, waiting for my answer.
So, without thinking anymore, I gave it to him as it was.
"We are looking into leads that could help us track down the remaining gang members and their accomplices."
A nod.
A single nod was all he gave before turning around and walking away from the Ghat.
I followed after him.
"What was the point of that question?"
He stopped in his tracks and turned around before joining his hands and gesturing at me.
"Nothing, I just wanted to check something, and as it would turn out, I was correct. You think too much, and it affects you a lot; you are stressed. It is practically written on your face."
I nodded, gesturing towards the city.
"Shin said the same thing, but what can I do? It's out of my control."
Raghav chuckled lightly, shaking his head.
"It is in your control; the reins to command your mind are loose within your hand; all you need to do is tighten your grip, and you will realise that the things bothering you are not important at all. We are Kshatriya. It is the Kshatriya Dharm to protect the truth and the innocent."
I felt his demeanour shift as the smile faded and a serious expression took over.
"Right now, this city needs us to bring the culprits hiding within her to justice. To do that, we need to focus; we cannot afford to miss anything. So, whenever there is something that bothers you or distracts you. Lay your queries on me, and I will lead you through them. You can count on me to help you in every situation. No matter how alone you find yourself. I will be there."
Never had I ever imagined that I would be in a situation like this; what I am feeling is something I've never felt before.
The way he speaks is as if he isn't just giving me his word, but instead he is telling me what will happen.
Certainty.
His words conveyed Absolute Certainty.
What have I done for this man to go this far for me, to give me so much attention?
Why is the one whom the world is relying on treating me with such care?
I have to know.
"Why would you do that for me? You don't even know me."
Raghav shook his head and clicked his tongue once.
"I am not doing this for you; I am doing this because someone asked me to look after you; they are worried about you. Besides, it is my nature to care for everyone."
"You would do it without reason?"
I don't know what I expected his answer to be, but it was not what I expected.
"Of course."
Doubt I could get a more satisfying answer to that question.
With that behind us, we moved forward to the laundry.
That was when I noticed.
"Where did you put the towel?"
Raghav looked at me before grabbing the left half of his brown jacket and opening it to show the towel neatly rolled into a small cylindrical shape and tied inside a plastic bag, which hung from a small hook.
That's resourceful.
The nearby workers must have recognised Raghav as they began to whisper amongst themselves.
Until they were blocked out by the door closing.
Raghav looked at me dead in the eye.
"How did you get the intel about this place? Was it a tip or did you look into it personally?"
"Leanor, my wife, went to attend a Satsang with her family, and I was left alone with Nathan, my six year old son. He made a mess out of the bedsheet, and I was not interested in washing them myself, so I came here and while I was bargaining around for a fair price."
"You noticed this shop asking ludicrously high prices and getting paid without as much as a whimper."
Raghav deduced where I was headed with my story and gave a precise summary, so I gave him a nod.
"Good, that means we need not look at the source of this Intel if it came from you yourself."
Now that was an excellent idea. The past day had shown how the corruption ran deep within the city and how trust was more expensive than ever.
We moved through the store before reaching the upper floor, where Raghav stopped for a moment to look at the statue of Indraksh.
The Ledger was pressed onto my chest as Raghav looked around.
"People like Vasqe, they do not put down their dirty money in their own name; they use proxies and umbrella structures, where people who owe him favours or are pressured to do his bidding put the money here. Start reading the names of the clients, find who they work under and how much they stored or laundered here. The more dirt we can find, the longer their sentence."
Ah, I see, a fine strategy, one I am happy to get behind.
"Our main focus should be on finding the links to the major power players and ensuring their capture first. We can get the small fish to talk and turn on their masters. In exchange for freedom or redu..."
Tch!
Raghav clicked his tongue while simultaneously shaking his head.
"Everyone."
A nervous laugh escaped my mouth as I fumbled with my words.
"Wh...I don...I mea...what?"
"We bring in everyone; if we leave these small fishes around and about, they will clash with one another when we clean up the rest. There will be a power vacuum, and it will eventually one day be filled, because everything, no matter how good, must one day draw to a close, and it is things like these that end a city like this. But be rest assured for a long, long time. That vacuum shall remain as is."
Steadiness, Absolute steadiness, is what I would describe as Raghav's way of speaking.
He doesn't miss a beat or say something wrong; he always says the right thing.
But if he means to bring in everyone.
"Does it include Alu and Palu as well?"
I asked the question without fear; normally, I would dread asking such a question to someone who had even a fraction of the power and authority Raghav has.
Honestly, I was not even going to ask this question; it just came out on its own.
Maybe apologising would be a good idea. Yeah, I'll do that right away.
All I did was open my mouth wide before shutting it back down.
"No, it does not. They are my sharnagat; I have forgiven anything they did. They are innocent now."
And so the discussion came to a close as I simply nodded.
Sharnagat.
This word alone explained everything I needed to know, and it made sense.
Just like ancient India, in this world.
It becomes a sacred duty to protect someone who comes seeking protection or shelter from you.
But to have the authority to forgive them, I mean, Raghav most certainly does.
He is the Hero of Paneria and has close ties with The King, The Princess and The Duke.
No one would deny him if he asked to let those men free.
Yet I still can't wrap my head around how easily he forgave them; they ran a money laundering business and worked alongside gangsters.
Only one being can forgive something like that with such ease as if it's his nature.
Could it be?
"Focus on the task."
Raghav called out to me as all the thoughts in my head vanished, and I was drawn back to reality.
"Right."
Immediately, I looked down at the ledger and opened it.
Thud
I looked up and saw Raghav place a chair beside me and gesture toward it.
"Sit comfortably and read with focus. I will be taking a look around the premises."
With that, he left me, and I started going through the ledger.
It was beautifully detailed, the name, date, time, location of pickup and delivery were all here.
What could be the best way to tackle this task? Which sum should I follow?
The oldest, I should start with the most frequent and longtime customers, they will have submitted a larger sum till now as compared to new customers.
Let's see who we have on the naughty list here.
There were hundreds of names, some I recognised at first glance as people I have met before, some were shopkeepers in the bazaar (market), and some were members of the city watch.
But one thing was common amongst all: the people were divided based on the district they shared, and the thing about districts was that each district is under a lieutenant of a certain gang, meaning we can trace the money from each district to that gang.
Another thing that is common among them is that they always hire the same Dhobi.
That means....
Wait a damn minute, how the fuck does this work, why is this business even there?
This isn't Earth; there is no internet, you can't track transactions, and you can just pick a coin and spend it without a bill to put your name to it.
They come here, pay a ludicrous price for laundry service, then they just what... get their clothes delivered to them, and this laundry somehow gives them their money back.
Was I High when I got a lead on this?
"Raghav!"
I called out as he poked his head out of a hallway with his phone to his ear.
"Be there in a minute."
He then went back inside, and I heard a faint whisper before he came out with his phone in hand.
"Did you find something?"
I shook my head and leaned back on the chair, holding the ledger out in front of him so he could read it clearly.
"What am I supposed to find? I am an idiot. How can an independent store that is not owned by any criminal launder money for them? How do you even launder money when people just come here to pay you and then leave?"
Relieving me from the weight of this ledger, Raghav began reading it, and he only flipped two pages and loudly exhaled through his nose.
"They are just making the trail longer; the criminals use proxies who don't reach back to him to send his money here, and the laundry distributes the money amongst their own set of proxies and spends it at the criminal's legitimate business. I can see a few names that I read in their business files last night."
"You read their business files and remember the names in such a short time?"
Raghav nodded as he flipped through a few more pages, taking glances at them.
"I stayed up all night yesterday, and I have a perfect memory; I do not forget anything. That is not important; what is important is that this organisation only exists to stall an investigation. This is not the modern world; here any investigation needs to be done in person, and the longer the trail, the harder it is to keep the investigation going and finish it."
UGHHH!
Slouching on the chair, I let my hands drop to the side before bringing them back up to cover my mouth as I yawned.
"We were supposed to track down Vasqe and the members of Mineority. They are the only remaining targets. At this rate, we would be stuck chasing ghosts."
I looked up at Raghav, who was still flipping through the pages, before he suddenly stopped, and his eyes locked onto a certain section of the ledger.
"Maybe not quite; we have a new lead."
He then grabbed the ledger from the top with his left hand and spun it around to show me whatever it was he had found.
Right there under his index finger was a name that stood out like a sore thumb.
Recorded in an entry from a year ago, within the week of this business being set up.
One that was known throughout the entire city.
Owner of the lowest mine within the city and the owner of Alpha Mines.
Markus.