by Amit Khan
“Sounds perfect, sir,” young officer agreed. “Why would anyone murder him anyway? Who would have a grudge enough to kill the gentleman?”
“Exactly.”
The conversation amused me.
●
It was a gloomy morning in the resort. Police scurried around doing their work. Finally, they completed it, sealed the body and returned. The police had finalized their first impression as an accident.
It was almost afternoon. Instead of breakfast, we were just having tea. Tilak was really shocked by Kartar Singh’s death. He was not even talking much.
“At least now you won’t insist on changing the hotel,” Tilak said as he sipped tea.
I did not reply.
“Or do you still want to shift somewhere else?”
“No,” I answered. “There is no need.”
“Thank God. At least that issue is sorted.”
I kept on sipping tea.
Ever since morning, I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I had committed a second murder to hold on to Tilak’s wealth.
And Sardar Kartar Singh was a nice man.
We rested all day in our room. I read my favorite writer Amit Khan’s suspense novel. Tilak watched sports on TV.
Most of the couples were seen hanging around closer to the resort. No one was in the mood for an outing.
It was ten at night when something remarkable happened. The Bellboy arrived with the message that there was a call from Mumbai. Tilak bolted towards the door.
“It must be our hotel manager,” he said. “I will be back soon.”
Tilak left and I was in deep thought again.
What was the matter? Why was manager calling Tilak again and again?
My heart started beating faster.
●
When Tilak returned to the room after taking the phone call, he was disturbed more than ever. He slumped in the chair and started breathing heavily.
He was looking pale and sweating a lot.
“Tilak, what’s wrong?” I ran towards him. “Is there some bad news?”
“Yes,” Tilak answered. His throat was going dry. “Sawant Bhai is creating a lot of problems.”
Sawant Bhai!
The name was enough to give me an idea why Tilak was so stunned.
I had heard that name. He was a gangster in Mumbai. Smuggling, gambling joints, bars, and narcotics were his business. Small time crooks used to tremble hearing his name.
“Sawant Bhai?” I asked nervously. “What has Sawant Bhai done?”
“You won’t understand. But I need to be in Mumbai as soon as possible. I am sorry honey. I know it is ruining our honeymoon fun. We have to cut it short and return.”
“No problem,” I said. “If there is some problem, we must deal with that first. We have anyway had a lot of fun so far.”
“Oh dear,” Tilak got up from the chair and hugged me. “You are so understanding. I expected an answer just like that.”
“When do we fly back?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Tilak said. “And we have to pack right now. There won’t be the time in the morning.”
I was surprised.
It was totally unexpected that we will be leaving Singapore so soon.
Things were changing very fast. We started packing immediately.
“What’s the problem you are facing, Tilak?” I was folding my clothes and arranging them in the suitcase. “At least give me some idea about it.”
“Business-related issues,” Tilak mumbled. “You don’t worry about them. I will handle everything.”
My mind was not satisfied with that much explanation.
Sawant Bhai! That name meant trouble.
●
13
Trouble in Paradise
Next morning it was adieu to Singapore. We were booked on ten o’clock flight. The earlier flight at eight did not have any tickets available.
A two-hour delay was frustrating, more so for Tilak.
During the flight, he was in deep thought. He didn’t pick up any newspaper or a magazine. We hardly talked.
“Tilak,” I finally said, “I know it is not an ordinary business problem. You are hiding it but you are a lot disturbed than you look.”
“Why do you feel so?”
“If it was a simple problem, you wouldn’t lose your peace of mind like this.”
I looked into his eyes.
“What are you looking at?”
“Don’t you trust me, Tilak?”
“It’s not that.”
“No. It is exactly that,” I firmly said. “You would have shared your problem if you trusted me. You would have told me everything.”
“I told you…some business issues and nothing else. What details do you want me to share?”
I stopped arguing.
There was no point in persisting. Tilak Rajkotia had changed. I could see the change in his behavior.
The Tilak I married would never have hidden anything from me.
If a man is hiding something from his woman then the woman must understand that he is not under her control.
I was experiencing that and you can understand how painful that must have been for me.
Not just painful, it was shocking!
Soon our flight landed at Mumbai airport.
I noted something peculiar. The hotel manager was there himself to pick us up in BMW car.
He rushed towards us and greeted Tilak.
It looked like the manager had some burden on his mind.
“Everything all right?” Tilak asked.
“So far…yes. Please come.”
When we were near the car, Tilak told me to take the front seat. He joined the manager on the back seat. Apparently, they had something to discuss.
Soon our car picked up speed.
All along the journey, they were discussing something in a hushed tone. I was not able to understand.
It was irritating to me.
●
In the morning Tilak got ready very early.
I knew he was up till late night. In his office, he was taking calls continuously. Now in the morning, he was planning to go somewhere.
That’s when Dr. Maalpani arrived. It was unexpected.
“Welcome doc,” Tilak said as he tightened the knot of his tie. “Long time, no see.”
“At least I am visible. But you two simply disappeared. Completely forgot me, didn’t you?”
“Forgotten you? Come on!”
“Such an important ceremony happened by the grace of God. I did not get invited. Not even informed.”
It startled me as well as Tilak.
Indeed! We had really forgotten to invite the shrewd doctor to our wedding.
“Sorry doc,” Tilak walked towards him and shook hands with him. “Really sorry about that. I accept our mistake and apologize.”
“Everything happened so fast,” I offered more clarification. “We forgot to invite many friends.”
Dr. Maalpani smiled mischievously. It was a nasty smile that could be termed dangerous.
“Never mind,” Dr. Maalpani said. “Just a one time mistake. Hereon you will never forget me for rest of your life.”
“What do you mean?” Tilak asked.
“We should better sit down for this, Mr. Tilak. I want to discuss something important.”
“I am leaving for some urgent meeting. I don’t have much time.”
“Well, you really are running out of time,” the doctor said suggestively. “Especially after listening to me, you will know what I mean. Please spare some time and sit down. I want to talk about Brinda.”
Brinda!
All of a sudden I had Goosebumps.
Brinda’s name had the same shocking effect on Tilak.
●
Tilak, I and Dr. Maalpani! We were sitting across each other on chairs.
Tilak and I were doing our best to hide our nervousness.
Brinda’s chapter was supposed to be over. Apparently, it
wasn’t. Dr. Maalpani had just opened it again in such a dramatic way that it caught us off guard.
“What about Brinda?” Tilak asked. “Is there anything left to say?”
Dr. Maalpani smiled.
Once again that crooked smile.
“If you think that death is the end of everything, I must pity your wits,” Dr. Maalpani emphasized every word.
“I don’t get you.”
“Sometimes a living person can’t create such a havoc that a dead body can! Something like that happened in Brinda’s case. Her dead body is talking a lot and creating a trouble bigtime.”
“What storm?” I choked.
I feared that my thumping heart was about to collapse.
“For one month, Brinda’s body was preserved using chemicals in the morgue of ‘Medical Research Society Hospital’,” Dr. Maalpani started. “About a week back, a committee was established to do research on that body. ‘Malignant Blood Dyscrasia’ is a rare and complex ailment. Study on Brinda’s body was expected to reveal more details about the multisystem damage that it causes. It could have been helpful in devising new treatment modalities and also the development of new drugs. Under my supervision, this work began but soon it took another direction. You will be shocked to hear what has been revealed in the analysis of her digestive system!”
“What is that?”
“In the stomach and intestines of Brinda, tiny microscopic particles of a tablet were found. The tablet used as sleeping pill! Along with that, microscopic remains of ‘Dianil’ tablet were also found. Only an ultra-microscope can reveal them. I was shocked to see them. I had never prescribed her sleeping pills and there was no question of advising her ‘Dianil’ tablet since she was not a diabetic.”
I started sweating.
He had spoken two words that were enough to make me faint. “Dianil’ and ‘Sleeping pills’.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“Particles of tablets remaining in the system for hours after death and that too in such high quantity meant only one thing. Someone had pushed the heavy dose of those tablets in her body. Do you know what this means?”
“What does it mean?” Tilak asked in a shaking voice.
He looked like a thief caught red-handed.
“It can lead to only one conclusion,” Dr. Maalpani declared. “Brinda did not die a natural death. Her death was actually a murder. Somebody had planned it carefully and executed it.”
“Murder!”
It felt like a bomb had just exploded right beside us and more blasts were happening all around us!
●
My head was spinning badly and my eyes blurred with horrible shadows of fear dancing before them.
I did not believe that it was happening. We had planned Brinda’s murder so well and yet so easily the curtain of secrecy was off and naked truth was visible. It was as if someone had stripped us naked in a hall full of people.
It was mind-numbing.
“Murder!” I screamed. “Who would want to kill Brinda?”
Dr. Maalpani smiled crookedly again.
“Do I really need to answer this question?”
I felt a chill down my spine.
He was blaming me. He was openly accusing me of murder.
“Mrs. Shinaya Rajkotia, the person who had killed Brinda, is the person who would have benefitted the most from her death,” Dr. Maalpani said. “Now you think and tell me who that person is?”
I tried not to look at him directly. The moment was too horrifying to maintain any composure.
“Also,” Dr. Maalpani continued, “the person who has killed Brinda was a person with certain advantages.”
“What was that advantage?”
“The person had access to Brinda’s medicines and was in charge of giving her those medicines.”
I lost the last bit of poise.
“Now Shinaya, think again and tell me who that person could be!” Dr. Maalpani asked. “The person who matches both the criteria!”
“What are you trying to say?” Tilak growled suddenly in my defense. “You are accusing Shinaya of Brinda’s murder?”
“I am not accusing anyone of anything, sir,” Dr. Maalpani said faking a modest face. “I am too small a person to speak against bigwigs like you. I am just putting my findings on the table; just showing you the reflection of true events. There are clues and my job is to reveal them. Connecting pieces of this puzzle and proving a crime is the job of the police.”
“Police!”
I almost fainted!
“You are planning to go to the police?” Tilak asked in a sharp voice.
“I must. Clearly, there is no other choice. I will have to go to cops.”
Panic could be seen on Tilak’s face. Things had taken such a bad turn and they were going from bad to worse.
“By the grace of God, we have had one lucky break, Mr. Tilak,” Dr. Maalpani said.
“You mean?”
“The letter that Brinda wrote before dying. She donated her body to research centre. If she hadn’t then her body would have been cremated immediately. Then there would not be a post-mortem and this truth would have remained hidden.”
“But nothing is proved so far,” I spoke in a trembling voice. “There is no proof so far that the remains of the tablet found in Brinda’s body are that of Dianil or sleeping pill.”
“You are right,” Dr. Maalpani agreed. “Not proved as yet. My investigation is primary. I have forwarded samples for further study. Pathology lab and the pharmacological team will both submit their reports. Both are an important part of the forensic investigation. Once those two reports add up correctly I don’t think it should be difficult to prove the murder. I think pathology and pharmacology reports will match with my findings.”
“When will those two reports arrive?”
“Within two to three days!”
●
Tilak had completely forgotten the important meeting he was supposed to attend.
There was nothing more important than Dr. Maalpani issue right now.
He was sweating, heavily. Again and again, he moved his handkerchief across his forehead.
I was not faring any better.
I was soaked in sweat.
There was no point in hiding my nervousness from the wicked doctor. It was better to set the game straight rather than play hide & seek.
Clearly, Dr. Maalpani had found out everything. Our secret plan was not a secret any longer.
Tilak got up from the chair and started pacing nervously. He lit a cigarette in an effort to relax.
It was the only morning and already Tilak had smoked twice.
“What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.”
“Something.”
“Listen to me, doc. I want you to hear me out.”
“Hmm.”
“You see,” Tilak sucked at his cigarette deeply and said, “as far as I understand, the murder theory has not been proved. ‘Brinda’s death was not natural’, is a conclusion that has not been reached so far. Also, it is not hundred percent proved that the drug particles found in Brinda’s intestine are ‘Dianil’ or sleeping pill fragments. Only after the two reports arrive, there can be conclusive proof.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Just one thing.”
“What?”
Dr. Maalpani waited impatiently.
Even I was curious. What would Tilak say now? I had no clue.
“Till the final reports are not here and it is not hundred percent proved that Brinda’s death was a murder…let us keep the matter under wraps. This topic should not be up for public knowledge.”
“Why?”
“Because I want it that way,” Tilak said firmly. “Just imagine, if this matter is exposed in media there is going to be a lot of buzz. And then after thorough investigations, if we reach the original conclusion that Brinda’s death was in fact natural! Can you imagine what a shame that would mean for you? I
mean it could ruin you, doc.”
Dr. Maalpani was beginning to smile again. He was slowly nodding.
“You are so worried about me, Mr. Tilak.”
“If you like to think so.”
“All right, I hear you,” Dr. Maalpani decided something and said. “No police till the final reports arrive. And nobody will know about this issue.”
“Thank you…Thank you very much,” Tilak said. “Now just one more question. Who else knows about this?”
“Nobody except one special associate of mine. You see, I had to share the secret with at least one more person. In fact, he knows that I am here with you right now.”
“Why did you share this secret?”
Dr. Maalpani laughed.
“Are you kidding me, Mr. Tilak?”
“No, I am not…”
“Imagine entering a cave of hungry Jackals. Will a sensible man do so without planning and protection? Come on…people are dying here. Someone who can kill once for wealth can do so again.”
I was stunned.
That easy-going doc was actually a man with a plan.
“I must make one more thing clear to you,” Dr. Maalpani said.
“What is it?”
“If I don’t walk out of this penthouse in one hour…then my associate is instructed to contact police. He will then place everything before them.”
“Hmm.”
“I must leave now,” Dr. Maalpani checked his wristwatch and said. “It has already been fifty minutes. If I am late, everything will be over.”
Dr. Maalpani got up to leave. He walked towards the door but stopped before exiting. As if he had just remembered something.
“I really should not be saying this,” he looked at Tilak and said. “But suddenly I am stuck in such a situation that I have to share this.”