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H: So you think he is lying?

S: Do you think she is lying?

H: How would I know? Till now there has been limited evidence to suggest otherwise

S: But why would she? What does she have to gain?

H: Motivation could be anything. Money, insult, troubled past, mental instability or popularity?

S: Popularity? You must be kidding

H: No, I am just trying to be pragmatic in terms of all possible explanations

S: There was no one besides them. No evidence on the spot as per the forensics team. Two people with no mischievous past. Then what is the motivation for one of them to lie or do such a thing?

H: That puzzles me as well. But hey, the forensics part was a hogwash. If you report the crime the next day, after taking a bath then how can anyone help you. They were together for some days now. Liked each other. No violent history. Then what led to that incident?

S: To correct you, she found herself in the bathroom all wet and not that she took a bath. And there is no proof that they both liked each other. Maybe he liked her but no one is sure about her. Could it have been a moment of madness?

H: On who’s part?

S: I don’t know. Let’s revisit the entire episode. They both go out to have dinner, decide to walk back. Spend some time in the park and then in the morning, the girl claims that she found herself in the bathroom. She clearly remembers that he accompanied her to her house and she has instinctive feeling that he forced himself on her

H: The guy claims that they went their separate ways from the park. He also has an alibi. As per him he was at the park around 10 pm after leaving the restaurant around 9:30 pm, confirmed by the CCTV from the restaurant. The park is 1.8 kms from the restaurant so the time is more or less correct. They spent 15–20 mins at the park and then he was at a patient’s house at 11:30 pm. Patient’s house is roughly 4.5 kms from the park. His alibi of patient was also confirmed by the patient himself. So I don’t understand where the gap is in his story?

S: That makes complete sense. But what about her neighbours’ claim that they spotted him jogging in the vicinity in the morning

H: He is a marathon runner as per his social media profile. Police also said that he claimed he jogs 5 kms every day

S: How far is her house from his?

H: About 3 kms

S: Didn’t they first met at a coffee joint near her house in the morning?

H: Yeah. She had posted her first meeting photo on social media 3 weeks back, of when they first met at this cafe which is some 300 meters from her place. They look like a nice couple

S: They weren’t a couple. Atleast they didn’t publicly accept anything nor did anyone see them doing anything romantic ever. Yeah the guy surely looks a lot into her judging by his posts on social media. Anyway, how did they meet there? At the coffee joint?

H: Well as per his social media account, he drinks his morning coffee at this place. It says he spotted her there a couple of times before he actually introduced himself. He would have obviously known about her given how famous she is in our society

S: So he usually jogs in that area hence his being seen there that morning isn’t unusual

H: I guess so. But then why is she lying? She is not a drama loving kind of a person.

S: Though she is a social media addict. Who knows what lengths will people go to, for social media fandom. And not that she has not had any episode in her past. Remember when we saw her friends dragging her out of the bar one night and she was shouting on them, on top of her voice. Next day, she had unfriended many of them claiming they were a bad influence in her life

H: So another marathon under his belt. Sorry for the digression. Just got this notification on my wall that he has won his 3rd marathon after 1 year. Impressive timing. 21 kms in under 90 mins. 14 kmph. 7 kms in under half an hour, 3.5 kms in under 15 mins! Phew!!

S: Wait a minute, what was the distance between his patient’s and her house again?

H: Not sure. But as per information available on the social media, people claim that his patient lived very close to his house which is roughly 3 kms from her house as had been verified by the police

S: Are the park, her house and his patient’s house on a triangle or on a line?

H: Her house is between his patient’s house and park

S: How far is her house from the park?

H: About 1.5 kms as per public sources.

S: So if they left at 10:15 from the park, they could have reached her house by 10:37–10:38 pm and if he actually did go to her house and from there to his patient’s, he could have spent 7–8 minutes at her place. In what world are 7–8 minutes enough to commit the whole crime as explained by her?

H: Yeah if he walked. Lol!

S: What happened?

H: A funny idea crossed my mind. What if he jogged from her house to his patient’s. He could have covered the distance in 12–13 minutes given his marathon record

S: So he could have stayed at her place till 11:17–11:18 pm which means he could have spent more than 39–40 mins at her place. More than enough to do whatever she claimed, if he actually doped her. She claimed she was feeling dizzy right after she had the drink with him at her house. Surprising none of their neighbours saw them nor did any CCTV cameras captured them. All this make his case stronger.

H: Yeah. Just that she didn’t have many neighbours and there were no CCTV cameras in that area. Don’t you remember that robbery in her neighbourhood where police couldn’t capture any images due to absence of CCTVs. Also, don’t you remember this party she hosted where M went. She told us that the whole street is quite deserted except two houses where two elderly couples live. Anyway, aren’t you pushing the envelope too much now? Do you really think he could have planned all of this so minutely and not leave a trace behind?

S: Yeah that is what is puzzling. No evidence and all these are too fantastical

H: He comes across as a very determined and focussed guy. Do you know that he took up marathon running when he was losing his focus on his profession?

S: As in?

H: I just saw his interview on social media post his marathon victory. He was talking about what motivated him to become a runner in the first place. He had achieved great success in his profession by the time he was 30. Till then he focused all his energy on his profession to achieve the mastery that he has today. And then slowly he started losing his focus. He was losing his interest in his profession. That is when he started jogging to divert his attention. And started participating in charity runs. It started challenging him and he became serious and focus about his running. That focus also helped him focus better on his profession and helped him not only win a couple of marathons but also helped him regain his mastery at his profession. Until recently, when he started underperforming in his marathons but somehow all this negative publicity again pushed him to focus harder and that is what led to his recent win. It was like a blessing in disguising, a beautiful coincidence

S: It’s funny how a guy who is that focused can rely on coincidence or luck to turn the tide. I don’t know how he kept his focus though, with her around. Such a catch she was. Beautiful, bold, professionally successful. No wonder she is still unmarried. It’s difficult to find a suitable match for such a girl.

H: But she found him. Agreed he was not in her league. Though it mesmerises me why she would lie about such a thing. What did she achieve from this? Not that she needed publicity of any kind

S: You keep insisting that they were a couple like a possessed man but I am not even sure if they were a couple. I mean, yes they were out for dinner. Yes, they used to hang out a lot. But her social media doesn’t suggest that he was as special for her as she was for him

H: Yeah, she denied being in a relationship with him too as per police reports. Anyway, both of them something positive out of this mysterious episode. He won his first marathon in months. Her social media account is loaded with messages, followers and what not. Heard that she was being approached by a couple of editorials to essay her experience.

S: And all of us got an interesting story to read and talk about. Inspired by so many such stories yet very peculiar in its own way. Well if I believe her story and there was any evidence to incriminate him, it looks like a “one side love gone wrong” thing

H: You are way too influenced by movies and the silly dark love stories to come to that conclusion. You are right about it being in the league of ‘who did it’ or ‘who is lying?’ but the motivation and the end outcome is still a puzzle!

S: Don’t make fun of me.

H: No, I am not making fun of you. I am saying if her side of the story is true and he did commit a non traceable crime then his motive was not lust