by Amit Khan
“Whatever you say, I think you are not telling me something, Tilak,” I persisted on finding out.
“Some business-related issue…some small problem,” Tilak confessed. “That is why our hotel manager called me up. But it’s not a big deal. That’s why I am telling you…don’t worry.”
Then Tilak turned his back towards me and slept.
He was telling me to take it easy but the matter was serious enough to keep him awake. He was turning from one side to another for rest of the night.
Definitely, there was some issue.
Why else would have our hotel manager called him in Singapore?
He knew that we were on our honeymoon. The matter must have been urgent enough to disturb Tilak at an odd hour.
I hardly slept that night.
●
Next morning we went on a long drive. Tilak was not quite up for it. He looked lost. By the time we came back to the resort, the dusk was turning romantic with hazy atmosphere embracing the resort. As soon as we entered the resort, we came across Sardar Kartar Singh.
He was sitting under a garden umbrella and indulging as usual in his drinking routine. His eyes darted towards me as soon as I arrived there.
“Too bad, what has happened to this guy,” Tilak sighed. “I fear that if he continued to drown himself in depression, he will lose his mind.”
“I think he has already lost most of it,” I said.
“No doubt.”
Then suddenly Tilak thought of something and started walking towards him.
I tried to stop him but he had reached the table in no time.
“Oh please come Papa ji…have a seat.”
Kartar Singh tried to welcome Tilak in that drunken state by putting down his drink and partially rising in his chair.
“I am not here to join you, friend but I just wish to tell you something.”
“What is that?”
I walked towards them.
“Sardar ji…you should not drink like that,” Tilak said in a kind tone. “You don’t realize but this stuff can give you so much trouble in future.”
Sardar smirked.
“Forget it, sir,” Sardar replied. “Who cares about trouble? My future is already over. Finished! There is nothing to look forward to. My life left me along with my wife. I am just a lost cause now. Like a lamp that has gone off. Why worry about a storm coming?”
Tilak was taken aback by that reply.
Sardar sat down again and started drinking.
“Life is not that cheap, Sardar ji,” Tilak argued. “I understand your pain but you cannot just lose what is left.”
“Cheap it is,” Sardar replied. “I think you are putting a wrong price on life, Prajee.” Kartar Singh made a mysterious statement.
“How?”
“Oh! I am telling you the truth. This life we cherish so much is worth nothing! Not even a dime! Nobody knows what lies ahead. How can you put a price on something with uncertain future?”
I looked at Sardar surprisingly. He had not just forgotten to smile. He had completely changed. His thoughts and his outlook on life!
He gulped down more drink and then resumed staring at me.
His stare was painful like a knife plunging down my heart.
I shivered.
“Tilak, we should get going,” I said. “I am tired with the long drive.”
“Let’s go back to our room.”
We were returning to our room but I felt that Kartar Singh’s eyes were following me.
I could not dare turn back and confirm.
I knew his piercing eyes were glued to my back. I felt as if my hands and legs were freezing.
●
12
Second Murder
The fun in our honeymoon was slowly fading. We had enjoyed in first few days. Now I found myself constantly worried. I was terrified everytime Sardar Kartar Singh was around. I was worried that something might go wrong because of him.
Kartar Singh meant trouble for me.
Three more days passed in Singapore.
I pursued Tilak to shift in some other luxury hotel. He did not agree.
He liked this resort. He wanted to see the special surprise programs they were organizing for honeymoon couples.
One evening, there was a dance party. Tilak and I decided to enjoy it.
At least Tilak was not tense any more.
That disturbing phone call from Mumbai was not on his mind anymore.
I remember it very well. We were really happy on that dance floor during the party. Hand in hand, caressing each other we were enjoying along with other couples.
“I am telling you, Tilak,” I whispered in his ear. “Let us move to a different hotel.”
“What’s the matter, Shinaya?” Tilak was little irritated. “You are saying it again and again. In fact, this is all you have been saying since last three days. Are you uncomfortable or something? We have everything here.”
“I know this is a comfortable place and everything is here, but I fear about something.”
“About what?”
“I fear…” I hesitated but said, “that if we continue to stay here, something wrong will happen to us.”
Tilak laughed loudly.
He put his arm around my waist as he continued to laugh. We were still dancing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“My sweet darling,” Tilak kissed me passionately and said. “Your fear! That’s funny. We are so far away from India. We are strangers here. Who could be our enemy? Why do you fear about something happening to us?”
“Because of that Sardar.”
“Sardar Kartar Singh?”
“Yeah.”
“Darling. You fear him? That fellow himself is a victim of circumstances!”
“Whatever you say! I don’t like him. In fact, I feel that he is an imposter,” I did not hide my feelings at all. “Have you seen how he stares at me? Like a python about to engulf its prey!”
“Can you blame him? You are beautiful,” Tilak snuggled and said. “And of course he could be an ex-lover of yours!”
“What a rubbish thing to say!” I hissed. “I am not staying in this resort anymore.”
“All right. All right. Tomorrow we will shift to some other place.”
“Really?”
“Really!”
“Oh! Thank you, Tilak. You are such a darling,” I hugged Tilak while dancing and said.
It was like a victory.
I had successfully convinced him to shift somewhere else.
We continued to dance for some more time. We had other couples for the company.
Suddenly I spotted Sardar Kartar Singh. He had just entered the dancing hall. I felt a chill running down my spine.
That bastard started looking for me as soon as he arrived there. I knew his eyes were scanning the crowd for me. And finally, when he saw me, his search was over.
He was not drunk today.
He was not staggering today.
His stare was different. A threatening cold stare!
Sardar Kartar Singh looked at me differently today. We were not strangers anymore.
His sparkling eyes were telling me a different story.
I strongly felt that Sardar has recognized me. Suddenly I could not dance anymore.
●
It was past midnight. Tilak was in a deep sleep. His snoring was a testimony to his sound sleep. It was the perfect opportunity for me. I slipped out of bed slowly and carefully.
Even a tiny sound could have woken Tilak up. I looked at him again. He was in a deep, peaceful sleep. Tiptoeing, I walked out of the room.
Sardar Kartar Singh was staying on the second floor. I took the stairs to the second floor.
Within few seconds I was standing before Sardar’s room. I was careful not to be seen by anyone.
I knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” Sardar growled from inside.
Then there was a sound of the opening bolt. Next moment
Sardar was standing before me. He was wearing a traditional Indian sarong and Tee-shirt. He had not put on turban so his open hair rested on his shoulders.
He was not at all surprised.
“Oh…Shinaya,” Kartar Singh said. “Come in.”
I entered his room with a puzzled face.
His easy attitude was a mystery to me.
“I knew you would come tonight,” Sardar said. “I was waiting for you.”
“Waiting for me?” He was making shocking statements one after another.
“Yes.”
He closed the door and bolted it.
Then he turned.
I was still watching him curiously.
“You knew I was going to visit you tonight?”
“Haan, mainu maloom si,” Sardar added more suspense to his answers. “The way you read my eyes and realized that I have recognized you, I saw it written on your face and realized that you too have recognized me. In this current situation, you had to come and see me. And you could not do it in front of anybody else. It had to be soon and it had to happen in the middle of the night. Perfect time to share secrets and reminisce with old friends!”
“That’s good!” I admired Kartar Singh. “I can see that alcohol has not destroyed your brain cells completely yet. Your mind is still sharp and your ability to measure a situation is intact. I must say, Kartar Singh, you are not as much swallowed by alcohol as people think.”
“I know. I have no doubt that I am as sharp as I used to be,” Kartar Singh agreed. “My memory…that’s a problem. Because of drinks, I cannot remember easily.”
“Like last few days when you were not able to remember.”
“Yes. Have a seat.”
“No, I am fine.” I had no intention of settling down.
My eyes were glued to Sardar’s face.
“First of all, congratulations on your marriage,” Sardar tied his hair and said. “Quite a catch! Mubarakaan ho…bahot-bahot mubarakaan.”
“Shut up!” I growled. “Mind your language. You are forgetting that my husband is a respectable businessman in Mumbai. He has a position in society.”
“Respectable businessman I know…that’s why I said ‘quite a catch’! Who else would you have chosen? A loser like me?”
“Kartar Singh, you are speaking strangely,” I said trying to sound genuinely perplexed. “It’s not like I had planned this marriage. It was a love marriage. We fell in love with each other. You can understand it surely. It’s an emotional attachment. A relationship born out of a true understanding of each other.”
“True understanding of each other?”
“Yes.”
“Oye? What understanding did you marry him for? After understanding that his property is worth crores and crores?”
“I don’t have to answer this stupid question.”
Kartar Singh stretched his legs on a chair and relaxed.
“Ok, then answer this one.”
I waited quietly.
“Does Tilak Rajkotia know your reality, your past? Does he know that you used to be a call-girl in the nightclub?”
I did not say a word.
“Don’t feel like answering this one too?”
“He does not know,” I confessed.
“And still you are telling me that he is not a ‘big catch’ for you! Are you kidding me?”
I was quiet again.
I was not speaking because I was thinking.
Kartar Singh was a serious threat now. I had to find a solution to this problem. My mind was working on that problem very fast.
●
In the meantime, Kartar Singh grabbed his bottle of whiskey and made himself a drink. He added ice-cubes to the drink.
His peg was ready.
“Will you have one?” Kartar Singh offered me.
“No.”
“Why? You used to drink a lot. It was your favourite pastime.”
“I don’t feel like drinking right now.”
“Have you stopped drinking after becoming a gentleman’s lady? Given up all the old habits, have you? Oh, come on…have one peg…for old time’s sake! It’s good to refresh old memories.”
Kartar Singh poured some whiskey into another glass and made a peg for me.
“Here…cheers!”
“I said, I don’t want to.”
“Ok.”
He did not argue again and kept the glass on the table.
Then he reclined in his chair again and started enjoying his drink.
“I want you to be clear about something,” he said.
“What?”
“Yeh tvada raaj…I mean your secret is quite safe with me. Because of me, you will never face a problem. Your secret will remain buried in my heart. I will not disclose it to anyone.”
I was hardly paying attention to what he was saying.
I was scanning his room. It was a spacious room and situated at the rear of the resort. It had a terrace. The backside opened to a vast barren area. There was nothing but silence. I walked towards the terrace and looked at the desolate region behind the resort. There was absolutely no activity.
Night time made it look even bleaker.
“What are you looking for?” Kartar Singh’s voice broke my chain of thought.
“Nothing.”
Kartar Singh came staggering to the terrace with glass in his hand. His breath was stinking with alcohol.
“Did you hear me?” Sardar repeated. “Because of me, you will never face a problem…” He rested against parapet wall of the terrace to support himself.
“I know. Don’t repeat it again and again.”
“What do you know?”
“That you are a good man,” I looked into his eyes and said. “You are a gentleman. Because of you, I will never face a problem. But you have already committed a terrible mistake, Kartar Singh.”
“What?”
“You recognized me. It would have been better if whiskey had turned your mind into jelly and you would have forgotten me. It would have been so much better for you. Now you are doomed. I know you will keep your promise and keep your mouth shut. But I just can’t take any risk.”
“Oye…ki matlab?”
“You see Kartar Singh, I had to go through a lot of trouble to finally get into the life of Tilak Rajkotia. And now I almost own him. No doubt, I have married him for his wealth. Life in the nightclub was killing me. I needed money. I needed comfort. Tilak had it all. I was ready to do anything. I will tell you a secret Kartar Singh. I have killed someone for Tilak Rajkotia’s fortune.”
“Wahe Guru! Murder? You have…?”
“Yes. I have committed one murder. Think about it. If I can kill to make someone mine, I can surely kill again to make sure that the man stays mine forever.”
I did not give him a chance to understand what I had said. I lunged at him and grabbed his legs. Kartar Singh was too drunk to react in time. He was at my mercy once I grabbed his legs. I had to summon all my strength to lift his legs in the air. The four feet parapet wall acted as a perfect lever. I lifted his legs high above my head. Kartar Singh’s body somersaulted off the terrace, into the darkness beyond.
Kartar Singh’s violent shriek followed his dropping body. I heard it thud against the cobblestone. As soon as he hit the ragged stones, his head burst open like a ripe fruit. There was no way Kartar Singh could survive that injury.
I came back inside his room and checked it.
The whiskey Kartar Singh had poured for me in the glass was there. I gulped it down and washed the glass.
I walked out of that room very cautiously. Everything was quiet. No one had heard Sardar’s scream.
●
My eyes opened when Tilak was waking me up vigorously.
“What? What happened?” I startled. The wall clock was showing nine.
“Sardar is dead,” Tilak shouted as if he was telling me that there is a bomb below our bed.
“Sardar? Who?”
“The one that was bothering you. Sa
rdar Kartar Singh who used to be drunk all day.”
“My God!” I jumped out of bed. “How did he die?”
“They don’t know yet. His body is still there at the backside.”
I came out of the room with Tilak.
It was a pandemonium outside. There were cops everywhere. Inquiries were in progress. They were asking questions to the manager. All honeymoon couples were out of their rooms. They were expressing sorrow over Kartar Singh’s death.
I was surprised at one thing.
‘How could I sleep so peacefully after killing Sardar at night? Had it become so easy for me to kill someone?”
“Where is the body?” I tried to be ignorant and asked.
“In the backyard.”
We went there.
●
It was there. On the stones. With blood stains all around.
It must have been a painful death. Police had covered the body with a sheet. The scene of death was anyway not something to be seen by people. Police had cordoned off the area. Some guests in the hotel were there. I saw pieces of glass not far away from the body. Glass in Kartar Singh’s hand had crushed to pieces.
A police constable of Singapore police was collecting the pieces as evidence. He was carefully picking them up with a fork.
“Be careful with those pieces,” Inspector shouted. “Don’t mess up the fingerprints on them.”
“Rest assured sir. I am being careful.”
Inspector went to other officers to make sure all the investigations were in order.
“Anything else found here?”
“No sir…nothing,” another constable replied. “We have scanned entire area.”
“What about his room? Anything suspicious found in there?”
“No, sir. Nothing there too.”
Inspector supervised search work around dead body himself; he also did not find anything.
“Sir,” a young officer joined the senior inspector. “Do you think this is a homicide?”
“What we have so far,” Inspector spoke thoughtfully. “Does not point to murder. This looks more like an accident.”
“Accident.”
“Yeah. Accident,” Inspector explained. “This man, Kartar Singh, must have been drunk like he has always been since he arrived here. You know in the grief of his dead wife! He must have walked out to terrace. Under influence of alcohol, he must have lost his balance and fell down. Unfortunately, he hit the stones. I think he died immediately.”