by BS Murthy
As he was inclined to take her brief, she offered to take him to her place in her Alto, and reckoning that with her at the wheel, he would be able to assess her better, he went with her idea. On their drive to Spandan watching her closely all the way, he came to the view that her visage suggested that she was innocent, and as if reading his thoughts, she asked him if
he really believed she was not involved as the cops thought she was. He said that though personally he believed she might not have had any hand in the murder, he would not be worth his salt as a detective if he took her at the face value. Pleased with his approach, she asked him if he cared to tell her about any intriguing murder that he might have solved, and he said that her query made him recall a case in cracking which Mithya, his late wife, played a crucial role. When she acquired a grave look for form's sake, he said that it was her sudden death a year back that prompted him to release that ad.
At that, Kavya wondered whether he would have selected her, even if she had called on him at the right time, he said that, if only she were inclined, time still beckoned her. While she kept quiet, as a prorogue to his narrative, he asked her if she could recall the serial killings of wealthy middle-aged women in the Langar Hauz area that shook the Hyderabadis five years back. Nodding her head, she said that she followed the intriguing killings in the press thinking then that some psychopathic misogamist, jilted by a wealthy woman, might have been behind them, and added that she always wondered what came out the case, as it never came to be reported.
He said that Mithya preferred to view those mysterious murders from the kaleidoscope of illicit affairs and so moved into that are Maya, the estranged wife of a wealthy man. When she befriended the gossiping housewives of the locality and as the response from them was on expected lines, soon she had drawn a list of cheating spouses, males and females alike, in that area. Since the resumes of the illicit couples that she presented hadn't revealed the nerves of a killer as he was not inclined to pursue that investigative course, she shifted gears to get acquainted with the abused women of the area, and came to know about Haritha a middle-aged widow and Ramya her young step-daughter, both of whom in some way were constrained by an unusual will and testament that was still talked about then.
Shortly before his death, the deceased had bequeathed his considerable wealth, lo, to the would-be-born children of Ramya, his five-year old daughter from his first wife and made Haritha, his childless second wife, her guardian with an entitlement to enjoy the property. Venting his apathy towards his young wife, he willed that she would be entitled for a meager maintenance once Ramya bore a child, but were she to die childless then an orphanage he named would benefit out of his wealth. Adding insult to his wife's injury, he conditioned his will, rather cruelly, that upon being widowed, were she to enter into a fresh nuptial, she would cease to be the Ramya's guardian and all that goes with it. Well, as that will underscored mistrust and spelled malice, Mithya befriended Ramya, who in a moment of weakness made her privy to her intriguing life.
Widowed, at barely thirty, Haritha though seethed with a hapless rage at seeing the death-knell of a will, in time, to get even with the situation, she applied her mind to browbeat the imposition, and came up with an ingenious solution to bypass the will's proposition. She brainwashed Ramya, six then, about the need to have a male in the
house for their protection, and got her married to Rahul, a sixteen-year old, whom she readily seduced to cater to her own sexual needs. But coming of age, when Ramya realized that her man was her stepmother's lover, she was at a loss to comprehend her position in her own house. Haritha, however, addressed the issue, so she thought, by letting Ramya consummate her marriage, when she was barely fourteen, but soon turning eager to have Rahul all for herself Ramya tried to wean him away from her stepmother's grip, but to no avail. But once Ramya's youth blossomed into womanhood that coincided with Haritha's weaning charms, as Rahul started leaning towards his wife, the peeved woman took to throwing tantrums at them to rob their newfound marital bliss. While that prompted Rahul to lean towards his wife even more, pushing the embittered woman out of the unethical love triangle altogether, Haritha, left out thus, turned even more cynical towards Ramya, which made her wonder how to get out of the ordeal.
When Dhruva said that was the clue for her, Kavya wondered what a hapless Ramya would have got to do with the serial killings; he said that M ithya thought that it could be Ramya's idea of killing some middle-aged women randomly, before they murdered Haritha. Ramya confessed that reckoned that unless caught in the act, none would ever suspect them of killing unacquainted women, and acting under the smokescreen of the serial killings, when they hit their target, the police would treat that as another episode of the same serial. When they were all ready to strike at Haritha, she was struck with terminal cancer; and Ramya felt remorse for killing those innocents.
Dhruva said in conclusion that as M ithya felt that Ramya, being the victim of the poison of abuse, deserved a fresh lease of life, he had agreed to put a lid on the case that the police had anyway closed as unsolved. Dhruva wanted to know how Kavya felt about it but she said that she was at a loss to form an opinion and as he averred that the discretion to arraign or not, lent charm of being a private detective, she told him that she hoped he would not abuse his privilege in the case on hand.
Chapter 18 The Other Woman
When they reached Spandan, as Dhruva recalled his earlier rendezvous, Kavya gave him a free rein to scan her dwelling; as she ushered him into the master bedroom, unable to take his off at the wedding photograph on the wall, he said that she looked divine in her bridal attire but as she flung herself onto the bed sobbing, he apologized for his indiscretion, and she, affected by his empathy, was impelled to confide in him tearfully.
Ranjit was mean and selfish besides being secretive and so she could never bring herself to love him, but remained faithful to him until the wayward Pravar came into her life. During her captivity, she could discern the sublime side of Pravar's savage nature as opposed to the selfish core of Ranjit's suave exterior. When Shakeel falsely implicated Pravar in a crime that he was not guilty of, her empathy for him prompted her to take up the cudgels on his behalf, which he mistook as a sign of her weakness for him, and sadly, she had to yield to him in spite of herself, and, what was worse, he began pestering her to divorce Ranjit. She had reasons to suspect that having got wind of her affair, to spite her, Ranjit had developed liaison with a woman and his mysterious death, besides adding to her guilt, made her even more vulnerable to Pravar's pressure. Oh, how her wayward ways undermined her orderly life, pushing her to the precipice of vice in the end.
Dhruva, affected by her misery, made her privy to the 'Stockholm Syndrome' and explained how she got herself into the mess. Shocked as well as relieved in the same
vein as she clutched at his hand, he said why did not Ranjit, whom he had apprised about it, made her privy to it. Surprised, she asked him when it was and realizing the slip and wanting to avoid a premature disclosure; he said that it was when he came to seek his counseling on account of her affair. Pondering for a while, she pleaded with him to help her out of the psychic mess she got into, and he assured her that he had already made it his obsession; she said that her only hope was that he would help her out of Pravar's hold and clear the air off her in her husband's murder. M oved by her blind faith in him he said that he would go to lengths for her sake and gratified no end, she said that she believed he was the right man to set right her chaotic life. Hugging her lightly, he asked her what she thought about the possibility of Pravar having poisoned Ranjit and without withdrawing herself from his fold; she said that he had an alibi in her. He said what if Pravar had induced Natya, or hired some other woman, to do the job for him; she said mischievously that it was for him to delve into the matter.
Dhruva wanted to know who could be the woman in liaison with Ranjit and she said that though he knew that he received the other woman at home, when she herself was away, the woman always ens
ured that she never left any clues to her visits; her neighbors told her that she always came in a burka, and used to change it at every turn. Well, from the smell of the things in the house, she was certain that the same woman was with him before he was poisoned. He asked her why she didn't catch her man redhanded with that woman and she said that she felt she had no moral right to do so.
When Dhruva got up to leave, Kavya offered to drive him back to his place, but he said that though that would enable him more of her welcome company, yet he wouldn't want her to drive an extra meter on Hyderabad roads. Seeing him off at the gate, and espying him as he walked down the lane, she mulled over his words and felt that they conveyed his interest in her, as well as his concern for her. What with her self-worth getting a boost with his attentions, she craved to have more of the same, and as he turned his head towards her on his way, pleased with herself, she waved at him all the way.
Reaching home in an auto rickshaw as he briefed Radha about the developments on the Kavya front, Dhruva could notice a change of color in her demeanor, which he attributed to the feminine proclivity of sexual insecurity. While she sought to probe his mind, as he put the ball in her court with her 'Pravar might have used Natya to poison Ranjit' theory, she said that on second thoughts she was veering round to the view that it was the handiwork of Pravar in nexus with Kavya for they had the shared motive as well as the common means to commit the crime. Wanting to have something concrete than her conjecture, when he said that they better waited for Shakeel's report about Ranjit's past, she asked him to caution the cop as he might be high on Pravar's hit-list and added that Kavya too bore a grudge against him and thus can be expected to aid and abet the brat.
What with Radha bringing him back to square one, Dhruva wondered whether Kavya's confession was but a red herring, all the same seeing a need to extend the scope of the investigation beyond the known characters. He reckoned that when the ill motives of the natural suspects to commit a murder are an open secret, someone with a hidden agenda might be tempted to use that as a camouflage for his subterfuge.
Chapter 19 Shakeel's Demise
That early dawn, waking up to the first ring tone of his mobile, so as not to disturb Radha lying beside him, Dhruva swathed it off readily, and moving out of the bedroom, he realized the call was from Shakeel's cell. As he was kept on hold for long when he
returned the call, he dialed Shakeel's residential number he found it ever engaged; however, the stalemate ended as Shakeel's son got Dhruva on the mobile. Shocked at hearing that the cop had died in his sleep, Dhruva was dumbfounded, and recovering, he wondered whether he too went the Ranjit way. Changing into his formals in the bedroom, as he recalled Radha's fears for Shakeel's life, he instinctively looked at her; finding her in serene sleep, he told Raju to inform her about the development it as she woke up.
When Dhruva reached Shakeel's Chatrinaka home, he had to wade through the milling crowd to make it to the cop's corpse. While all thought that he could have died of a stroke, insisting for a post-mortem, as Dhruva began his investigation, it transpired that it was business as usual for him on the day of his death and that there was none to be suspected anyway.
On his return, as Dhruva aired his apprehensions about Shakeel's death to Radha, she voiced her suspicions about Pravar's possible involvement in it. What if Kavya is Pravar's next targets Kavya for she would have called it quits with him, so thought Dhruva; if it were Pravar who had seen Ranjit's end to own Kavya, would he let her go scot-free by ditching him? If he really avenged himself on Shakeel for foisting a false case on him, would he go soft on his ladylove for being hard on him? Sexual hurt was as compelling an impulse as any to commit crime, and Shakeel did sketch this fellow as cunning and ruthless. Well, why place the cart before the horse; let the post-mortem report arrive.
When the forensic tests confirmed Shakeel's death by poisoning, Dhruva was truly worried about Kavya's safety, and to have a word with her, he drove down to Spandan. Receiving him warmly and finding his enamored look flattering as well as embarrassing, Kavya became tentative, but as he succeeded in hiding his emotions she revealed to him that some cop came to enquire about her whereabouts the other day. As Dhruva wanted to have her take on the probability of Pravar avenging himself on Shakeel, she said that it was true that he was obsessed with the idea of revenge and she too used to urge him against it. After Ranjit's death as she turned cold towards him, he begged her not to desert him for he might go berserk all again, but sick and tired of her shameful liaison with him, she was firm not to yield to him come what may. Who knew, he could have killed the cop hoping that she would reach upto him to renew her counseling, so be it but there was no way she would succumb to him ever again.
While Dhruva stared at her with empathy, as she broke down, saying that she was miserable carrying the cross of her shameful past, he told her that if only she knew Pravar's true character, she would realize that he was not worth her thought any more. As she looked at him with hope, he unraveled Pravar's criminal mind, etched by Radha and sketched by Shakeel, which prompted her to say that she felt wretched for having carried on with such a character. Moved by the radiance of her visage in her repentance, as he took her into his arms, driven by her sense of emptiness, she sank into him, and he told her that she better treated it all as a bad dream and forgot about it. Smug in his arms, as she confessed to him in remorse that she reduced herself to be Pravar's accomplice in crime as well, he said that was understandable; but shamed by her recollections, she withdrew herself, but goaded by him to off-load her guilt, she briefed him about her life and crimes with Pravar.
By the time he kidnapped her, having splurged all the booty in wooing Natya, he was already a broke, and with that farce of a ransom having ended in the confiscation of the stolen cars as well, he had nothing left to fall back upon. While he was content to live on her doles in the beginning, after he won her over, he came to seek more and more from her, but Ranjit, as if on cue, curtailed her access to the family purse, and that forced her to play ball with Pravar at extortions. Why, it was her idea that with right tactics, they could make the corrupt to part with part of their ill-gotten wealth, with none going to
town about it. While he felt that they might conduct fake tax raids with forged identities, she reckoned that it would only land them behind the bars sooner than later as someone or the other was bound to call their bluff. When Pravar said what to make of her non-starter of an idea, she said that with her brains and his brawn, they could yet make it workable; with her contacts in the department, she would be able to prepare a list of tax evaders and profile their character for him to pick up the faint hearted from amongst them. Still if someone were to act out of character, yet there was no way he would go to the police to report against him, and if only he would keep his greed art bay, it might as well be a smooth sailing for him.
As if benumbed by shame, Kavya had paused for a while, but being aware of Dhruva's understanding, she resumed saying that her plan did work to her peculiar excitement, which made her realize that deep in her heart there could be a criminal beat after all. Dhruva patted her, as if to convey his empathy, and she said that she was ashamed of the darker side of her nature that came to the fore then; but as he reached out for her hand, she ran inside in despair, and he stayed back to let her overcome her grief in solitude.
But smelling gas and rushing into the kitchen, as he saw her picking up the gaslighter, he grabbed and closed the cylinder valve; crying, she fell into his arms but as he led her to the verandah for fresh air, she withdrew from him in self-remorse. While he was at a loss to understand as to how to calm her, she told him that she could not bear the thought of life with a foul soul in a polluted body. Taken aback at her self-pity, he pleaded with her not to feel so low and told that it was only time before she regained her self-worth; she looked at him in hope and he offered to take her to his place, where with the Rajus in attendance, she would have Radha for company. Thanking him profusely as she hesitated to agree, as
if to show her the way, he took her hand, and cajoled by him, she packed up some essentials.
When Dhruva reached home with Kavya, Radha knew she had a rival to contend with, but thought it might not help her cause, if she were to cut up with him on that count; but as he pondered over Kavya's predicament with her, she said that she saw an unmistakable linkage between both the murders. Before she could elaborate upon her theory, he received a call informing him that the day he died Shakeel was with a woman in burka. As Dhruva shared that news with her, she said that it could have been a case of Pravar's poison at work under Kavya's burka, why, she had Natya's word that Kavya lost her soul to Pravar, and reduced herself as his vassal.
Cautioning her against jumping to conclusions, he said that it was not wise to go by Natya's words for she could have a grouses against Kavya, and added that she should learn from her own experience. Wasn't it Shakeel's over-reliance on Pravar's version that caused her so much grief, why repeat the mistake to Kavya's hurt? She reminded him how Kavya had given a clean chit to her paramour in her husband's murder and said that it was for him to decide whether she was feigning remorse over her liaison with him. Were it not possible that Kavya's suicide attempt was fake, a la Pravar, to gain his sympathy, and, for all she knew, it could be a ruse to divert his attention away from Pravar and herself.
But as he maintained that his gut feeling was that Kavya was innocent, and her change of heart was for the real, she said, in jest, that his fondness for desirable women tended to fudge his judgment about them. M aking light of her remark, he said that she was free to keep a watch on her suspect, and she told him smilingly that it would be better for her if he kept his eyes off the charming guest; as he came up with a repartee that she had herself blinded him, she retorted by saying that what if her rival's attributes acted as lasers.