Chapter 13 - The Unraveling
January 17 - Mira City Police Archives, 6:42 AM
Detective Kabir Rane hadn't gone home in 72 hours. He looked at the pinboard on his wall - half empty now. Everything he thought he knew had been stripped away.
Victim: Arvind Malhotra.
Primary suspect: Aarya Malhotra - who turned out to be dead for years.
Current unknown: The woman they all believed was Aarya. She could be Raina. Or someone else entirely.
"She wore my face and they believed her."
That diary page haunted him. Not just for what it implied, but because it felt? familiar.
And then it hit him.
He'd seen that line before.
Not in the evidence, not in the crime scene? but in a letter he discarded from an earlier phase of the investigation.
A letter written in pink crayon, delivered without a return address. It had been dismissed as a prank.
He rummaged through his old case files - chaotic, scribbled, frenzied - and found it. Stuffed inside the folder marked: "HOUSEMAID WITNESS - RHEA KAPOOR."
The paper was childlike. Cartoon stickers on the envelope. Inside:
"She wore my face and they believed her.
Please don't let her come back.
- S"
He sat back.
"S. Sia?"
The realization knifed through his fatigue.
Someone inside Aarya's mind had tried to warn them.
.....................
Flashback - 2007, Mira Psychiatric Facility
Video surveillance footage.
Two girls sit beside each other. Identical hair, same eyes, different mannerisms.
One nervously peels a sticker off a notebook. The other stares blankly into the camera.
Doctor (offscreen): "And what do we do when Tara is angry?"
Girl 1: "We hide."
Doctor: "And where do you go?"
Girl 2 (smiling faintly): "The basement in our head. Only Sia has the key."
.....................
Kabir's Office - 8:13 AM
He called in Jadhav.
"Sir, I need all records from the Nestling Program. Particularly those tied to Project: Host Merge."
"Kabir, we shut that down. Half the documents were redacted."
"Unredact them."
"We can't."
"Then I'll go to the press. The public deserves to know if a government-funded psychological experiment created a fragmented killer."
A long pause.
Jadhav sighed.
"You have 24 hours. Then I pull you off the case."
.....................
10:55 AM - Clue Revisited: The Birthday Candle
One detail had nagged Kabir since Day One.
During the crime scene photos, a half-melted birthday candle was found in Arvind's kitchen drawer.
At first, it seemed irrelevant.
Arvind lived alone. No party. No celebration.
But now, as he looked again - he noticed the date on the cake order receipt from the fridge: May 27, 2007.
The same day as the final integration from the Nestling tape.
A birthday cake for whom?
A child? Or a new identity?
He pulled up Arvind's financials again.
That week, he had purchased:
? A pink bicycle
? A music box
? A necklace engraved: "For A."
Kabir felt cold.
Aarya wasn't adopted.
She was created.
.....................
1:30 PM - The Music Box
He retrieved the music box from evidence - a delicate porcelain item with ballerinas painted on the side.
It was locked.
Kabir fiddled with it, twisted the base, and heard it click. A tune played - Clair de Lune. Classical. Soothing.
Then the base popped open.
Inside: A folded photograph.
Four girls. All the same girl. Different expressions. Different names on the shirts: Aarya, Sia, Tara, Raina.
On the back of the photo, in child's handwriting:
"Only one of us gets out."
.....................
3:45 PM - Interview with Dr. Saloni Mehta (suspended)
Kabir met her at a private care facility - heavily guarded, psychiatric staff monitoring her medication.
Saloni looked hollow. Eyes ringed in grey. But her voice was steady.
"You're not here to ask about Arvind's murder, are you?"
Kabir shook his head.
"Tell me about the girl. The real girl."
Saloni closed her eyes.
"There was no real girl. That was the horror.
Nestling wasn't about therapy.
It was about crafting the perfect memory split - training each fragment to fulfill a different role: innocence, aggression, protector, and mirror."
"And the mirror was?"
"Raina. The one who could mimic others. She was the final identity because she could adapt. She wore what the world wanted."
Kabir leaned in.
"So which one killed Arvind?"
Saloni blinked slowly.
"That's the thing, detective.
You're asking which one.
But what if it took all four?"
.....................
6:30 PM - Timeline Board (Final Reconstructed Version)
Kabir reworked the events.
? 8:45 PM - Security footage shows Aarya entering the house. Smiling. Calm.
? 9:10 PM - Neighbors report a woman screaming.
? 9:23 PM - Arvind sends a message to Viren: "She remembers. She's here."
? 9:40 PM - Silence.
? 9:58 PM - Aarya calls 911: "My father's been murdered."
But one anomaly:
? A child's voice is briefly heard on the 911 call whispering, "Don't let her come back."
Kabir replayed the audio for the fifth time, boosting the lower frequencies.
It wasn't a child.
It was the same voice as Aarya's? pitched higher.
.....................
8:50 PM - Aarya's Psychiatric File (Recovered)
Name on Admission: Raina D'Souza
Known Alters:
? Aarya - The mask, the survivor.
? Sia - The child, the memory keeper.
? Tara - The rage, the protector.
? Raina - The mirror, the manipulator.
Therapist Note:
*"Integration failed. Raina is dominant.
Tara appears only during perceived threats.
Sia has disappeared.
Aarya only surfaces in safety.
Patient unaware of real identity."*
.....................
10:02 PM - Kabir's Voice Memo
"The woman we know as Aarya is a living product of trauma and design.
And yet, somewhere beneath those layers, one of them tried to stop it.
One of them? warned me.
So maybe? she's not beyond saving."
Kabir turned off the recorder.
And stared at the final puzzle piece:
A photograph tucked inside the diary they recovered.
It was of Kabir. And a little girl, holding his hand. Dated 2007.
"To Uncle Kabir - Thank you for the music."
His blood ran cold.
"She remembers me?"
.....................
If all of them killed Arvind? which part of her is about to kill again?
January 17 - Mira City Police Archives, 6:42 AM
Detective Kabir Rane hadn't gone home in 72 hours. He looked at the pinboard on his wall - half empty now. Everything he thought he knew had been stripped away.
Victim: Arvind Malhotra.
Primary suspect: Aarya Malhotra - who turned out to be dead for years.
Current unknown: The woman they all believed was Aarya. She could be Raina. Or someone else entirely.
"She wore my face and they believed her."
That diary page haunted him. Not just for what it implied, but because it felt? familiar.
And then it hit him.
He'd seen that line before.
Not in the evidence, not in the crime scene? but in a letter he discarded from an earlier phase of the investigation.
A letter written in pink crayon, delivered without a return address. It had been dismissed as a prank.
He rummaged through his old case files - chaotic, scribbled, frenzied - and found it. Stuffed inside the folder marked: "HOUSEMAID WITNESS - RHEA KAPOOR."
The paper was childlike. Cartoon stickers on the envelope. Inside:
"She wore my face and they believed her.
Please don't let her come back.
- S"
He sat back.
"S. Sia?"
The realization knifed through his fatigue.
Someone inside Aarya's mind had tried to warn them.
.....................
Flashback - 2007, Mira Psychiatric Facility
Video surveillance footage.
Two girls sit beside each other. Identical hair, same eyes, different mannerisms.
One nervously peels a sticker off a notebook. The other stares blankly into the camera.
Doctor (offscreen): "And what do we do when Tara is angry?"
Girl 1: "We hide."
Doctor: "And where do you go?"
Girl 2 (smiling faintly): "The basement in our head. Only Sia has the key."
.....................
Kabir's Office - 8:13 AM
He called in Jadhav.
"Sir, I need all records from the Nestling Program. Particularly those tied to Project: Host Merge."
"Kabir, we shut that down. Half the documents were redacted."
"Unredact them."
"We can't."
"Then I'll go to the press. The public deserves to know if a government-funded psychological experiment created a fragmented killer."
A long pause.
Jadhav sighed.
"You have 24 hours. Then I pull you off the case."
.....................
10:55 AM - Clue Revisited: The Birthday Candle
One detail had nagged Kabir since Day One.
During the crime scene photos, a half-melted birthday candle was found in Arvind's kitchen drawer.
At first, it seemed irrelevant.
Arvind lived alone. No party. No celebration.
But now, as he looked again - he noticed the date on the cake order receipt from the fridge: May 27, 2007.
The same day as the final integration from the Nestling tape.
A birthday cake for whom?
A child? Or a new identity?
He pulled up Arvind's financials again.
That week, he had purchased:
? A pink bicycle
? A music box
? A necklace engraved: "For A."
Kabir felt cold.
Aarya wasn't adopted.
She was created.
.....................
1:30 PM - The Music Box
He retrieved the music box from evidence - a delicate porcelain item with ballerinas painted on the side.
It was locked.
Kabir fiddled with it, twisted the base, and heard it click. A tune played - Clair de Lune. Classical. Soothing.
Then the base popped open.
Inside: A folded photograph.
Four girls. All the same girl. Different expressions. Different names on the shirts: Aarya, Sia, Tara, Raina.
On the back of the photo, in child's handwriting:
"Only one of us gets out."
.....................
3:45 PM - Interview with Dr. Saloni Mehta (suspended)
Kabir met her at a private care facility - heavily guarded, psychiatric staff monitoring her medication.
Saloni looked hollow. Eyes ringed in grey. But her voice was steady.
"You're not here to ask about Arvind's murder, are you?"
Kabir shook his head.
"Tell me about the girl. The real girl."
Saloni closed her eyes.
"There was no real girl. That was the horror.
Nestling wasn't about therapy.
It was about crafting the perfect memory split - training each fragment to fulfill a different role: innocence, aggression, protector, and mirror."
"And the mirror was?"
"Raina. The one who could mimic others. She was the final identity because she could adapt. She wore what the world wanted."
Kabir leaned in.
"So which one killed Arvind?"
Saloni blinked slowly.
"That's the thing, detective.
You're asking which one.
But what if it took all four?"
.....................
6:30 PM - Timeline Board (Final Reconstructed Version)
Kabir reworked the events.
? 8:45 PM - Security footage shows Aarya entering the house. Smiling. Calm.
? 9:10 PM - Neighbors report a woman screaming.
? 9:23 PM - Arvind sends a message to Viren: "She remembers. She's here."
? 9:40 PM - Silence.
? 9:58 PM - Aarya calls 911: "My father's been murdered."
But one anomaly:
? A child's voice is briefly heard on the 911 call whispering, "Don't let her come back."
Kabir replayed the audio for the fifth time, boosting the lower frequencies.
It wasn't a child.
It was the same voice as Aarya's? pitched higher.
.....................
8:50 PM - Aarya's Psychiatric File (Recovered)
Name on Admission: Raina D'Souza
Known Alters:
? Aarya - The mask, the survivor.
? Sia - The child, the memory keeper.
? Tara - The rage, the protector.
? Raina - The mirror, the manipulator.
Therapist Note:
*"Integration failed. Raina is dominant.
Tara appears only during perceived threats.
Sia has disappeared.
Aarya only surfaces in safety.
Patient unaware of real identity."*
.....................
10:02 PM - Kabir's Voice Memo
"The woman we know as Aarya is a living product of trauma and design.
And yet, somewhere beneath those layers, one of them tried to stop it.
One of them? warned me.
So maybe? she's not beyond saving."
Kabir turned off the recorder.
And stared at the final puzzle piece:
A photograph tucked inside the diary they recovered.
It was of Kabir. And a little girl, holding his hand. Dated 2007.
"To Uncle Kabir - Thank you for the music."
His blood ran cold.
"She remembers me?"
.....................
If all of them killed Arvind? which part of her is about to kill again?
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