Pest Control- 9

Read part 8 - here

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It was neither enjoyable nor absorbing. It was, in fact, laborious to sit through an entire day worth of video footage sans sound in unsaturated sepia tint that Uma kept fast forwarding to investigate the more critical parts which might give her a hint as to how those photographs made their way into the mailboxes the day before.

She’d condensed that entire day into a one-hour marathon fastidiously rewinding, forwarding, rewatching and finally finding what she’d been looking for.

A particular car not too exceptional nor too obvious but one that stood out because it didn’t look to have ever been washed had parked itself right in front of the apartment and a short man had hurriedly exited from the drivers' side and disappeared through the gates.

It was a fleeting glimpse but enough for Uma to recognize the bastard. He’d the ability to stick out like a sore thumb in hell let alone a quiet compound of ten apartment blocks. 

She’d paused on every frame to not as much ensure as to feed her fury because the bastard hadn’t seemed to change. Of course, he hadn’t.

The quality of the video recording was restricted due to its character as a simple CCTV security camera and its efficacy hindered due to its angle but freezing every moment of the three minutes had provided her with enough information.

The bastard had grown stockier, his features though incomprehensible were no puzzle and must have if anything only got uglier.

He held a small packet in one hand and a cigarette dangled on the other. His pace was quick, darting in and out in a matter of moments and suddenly he’d driven out of the frame and into another which showed all the cars exiting.

A small search corresponding to the vehicle number in the registered guest log had informed her that he’d given some arbitrary building number to visit a made-up friend and he’d been let in through the main gates.

There should be some system of interrogation, even torture in such events Uma mused and quietly exited through the far eastern gate of her residential compound that opened to an unfrequented by-lane mostly inhabited by solitude seeking dog walkers.

Listening to Uma’s voice had ignited a furnace within him; either that or the generous imbibing of myriad spirits had inflamed his need to try to see her which is why he soon found himself lighting a nonchalant cigarette a couple hundred yards away from the main compound gate.

It was easy to keep a vigil from the parking space on the side of the road which was right across the residential complex where Uma lived. The traffic was sparse in this location and his car stood inconspicuously amongst other parked cars from where he quietly observed everyone who went in or came out through the gates.

He’d been doing this for more than a month now and knew the timings when Uma’s husband left and returned from work, what time her in-laws went out for their evening walks and had even ascertained the timings when the compound guards changed their duties.

Uma’s sightings though rare since she didn’t seem to follow a pattern were absolute on weekends when each morning she went to buy groceries.

She didn’t know it, of course, she didn’t that he’d followed her every Saturday for the past month to the local superstore. Keeping an eye on her from a safe distance, always hidden in her blind spot, the bastard violently pined for her while she picked eggs and milk.

He could have easily crept on her any day but there was always this fear that she’d panic and he wanted to slowly corner her in a state of overwhelming fear which he’d succeeded in doing.

The bastard lit another cigarette and watched amusedly the somewhat brisk pace of an elderly couple who seemed to be making their way to a nearby park.

He watched them walk with intent and purpose, engaged in small bursts of animated conversation before falling back into their focused walk that he decided perhaps he’d like to stretch out his legs too.

He walked in a haze of smoke with thick plumes of white fog following in his wake and from a distance Uma watched him slowly trudge after her in-laws for a distance.

What on earth is he doing?

Only one way to find out.

She fell back in a spiritless stroll, trailing the man she had been all these years trying to forget.

Her knees wanted to buckle but Uma wanted to run up to him and kick him in the face and drag his limp body over to a quiet area and maybe bury him alive. Wouldn’t that be a just punishment for this bastard who seemed unperturbed by his abhorrent actions because he didn’t recognize them to be even remotely disturbing? This seemed to be his way of life; another mundane routine thing to do, following people around, stalking, harassing, beating if need be. 

The long decade had not been kind to him. The bastard had gained a fair amount of chunk and a good many more garish rings on his fingers. He’d not lost his habit of living in like an ashtray and his clothes though new looked to be about the same of what he’d always worn. Ill-fitting, dated and inelegant. 

He was an unnecessary burden on evolution.

The maggots squirmed on her body, she felt them spilling out of her with each heavy step she took tracing his path, surprising herself with the courage to do so. 

Uma hadn’t expected to find the bastard almost immediately that day. She’d guessed his probable location but suddenly seeing his ghoulish profile in the rare view mirror of his car while he parked, the past came flooding in a series of flashbacks readying to suffocate her in a catatonic embrace but she groped around to find her diffident resolution and ripped out the fear that was planted deep within to follow his gaze that had stayed on the gates.

She felt weak and shook with nervousness as she quietly walked speculating his reasons for following her in-laws. What did he intend to do? 

He sat on a bench in the park lighting another cigarette, stubbing the previous one a sign that said No smoking and whipped out a small hip flask with a grunt draining its contents with a satisfied smirk followed by a hideous snarl that he threw at joggers who’d clearly been displeased by an annoying smoker.

The bastard sat there quietly watching Uma’s in-laws finish their few rounds of a brisk evening walk around the periphery of the small park and slowly followed them until he was back in his car and they’d entered the compound through the gates.

He was smiling. 

A few days ago he had surreptitiously followed Uma’s husband to his office up until the floor where he worked and today her in-laws.

It was fun, knowing what people were up to without them knowing about him. 

These were pieces of valuable information adding up in his cache of knowledge to gain control over Uma because he didn’t want to bargain with her, it was not his style.

He didn’t even bargain with his idiot wife who wanted to take him to court over his little extracurricular activities.

He wondered how she felt about it now? Now that she was in the hospital and would be for the most part of her life.

Today felt like he’d accomplished something. It needed to be celebrated and so he called Uma just to say hi, even though he’d spoken to her earlier that day.

Bastard calling.

Uma ignored the phone steadying her steering wheel following the bastard who’d momentarily slowed down to make a phone call.

He thought of calling her again once he reached home and so the bastard hastened unawares that he was being followed.