The Retribution

by Shankar Kashyap

  The two guys looked at each other and there was an imperceptible signal. Kirby picked up another folder and opened a page marked with a yellow tab.

  “Let’s have a look at this case Sean.” His voice belied his size. It was a thin squeaky voice for such a large man. “You were the arresting officer in this case too. You are right about the number of arrests. You grabbed five guys in this job. Can you look at this and see if I am correct?”

  Sean leafed through the pages and nodded his head. It was yet another drug heist. He recognised his handwriting, but could not recognise the case. Then he looked at the bottom of the file. The case was back in 1991. It must have been one of his first cases as he was promoted to an Inspector in 1990. He was really flying at the time, always involved in more than one case and his arrest rate was the talk of the department and obviously not everyone liked the limelight he was hogging.

  “This is my handwriting alright and it looks like my report.”

  “We thought so too as you have signed the report.” The sarcasm was undisguised. “I am a little troubled by the amount of crack you confiscated in that heist. You have arrested five people in one house and got very little dope to show for it. I would have thought it would have been a big operation if five people were there?”

  “It was so long ago. I can’t really remember much about it.” Then turning to Philip, he continued. “Chief, it is unfair to throw this at my face. This is at least ten years ago. I have done many more in the meantime. How can they expect me to remember it?”

  “That is right, Sean.” Philip replied and turned to the three suits. “You did not tell me you were going to chase up old cases and ask questions. Sean is right. He does not have to answer any questions to you without the union rep being present.”

  Sean was a bit surprised at the support he was getting from his boss. Maybe he had been wrong about him all along, he thought. Matt stood up and the other two stood up like automatons and closed their briefcases in perfect unison.”

  “Well if that is the way you want to play it. It is up to you. We were trying to be friendly and get this done and dusted informally. If you want to take the formal route, you are welcome. I will get the backroom girls to send you a summons.”

  The three of them had literally stormed out of the office without another word.

  “Thanks Chief.” Sean said looking some what relieved. “Why are they picking on me?

  “I don’t know Sean. Are you being straight? You are not hiding anything from me here, are you?”

  “No, Philip.” Sean replied and pushing some of the papers Matt had left behind on the desk towards Philip, “have a look yourself. There is nothing here.”

  Philip picked up the papers and glanced at it. It was a routine report of Sean checking the school area for drug pushers and dealers in Mowmacre hill. It was a rather dull routine report about a minor heist. Sean had followed that up with visits to the school on a number of occasions without any luck. They had ignored the follow up reports saying he had not found any sign of any dealers after several visits to the school. This was before Philip was transferred to Leicester.

  “I am not really sure what they were getting at in this case.” Philip said looking puzzled, still glancing at the pages. “Anyway they will have to produce all the papers of any cases they want to discuss if they want to take it further and make it official. You better speak to the Police Union rep. You let me know if you need any help.”

  “Thanks chief. I really appreciate your help.”

  “I don’t like my best guy to be crucified by some numbskull pen pushers.” Philip said with a smile as they walked out of the conference room back to their offices.

  It was not until a few months later a plain brown envelope dropped through Sean’s front door rubberstamped from London. He immediately knew what it was before even opening it. His hands shook as he opened the envelope. It was a bland letter informing about the coming hearing with the Internal Audit department. It said the papers would be delivered by hand to him and he is “strongly advised to seek the help of the Police Federation.” Sean sat down and read it a couple of more times. It was a single page letter and still took him a while to digest the contents. He had taken the day off claiming sickness and sate down to contact the Police Union guys and arranging appointments.

  It was the worst two years of Sean’s life. He was dragged through the mill with claims of misappropriation of drugs and mishandling of suspects to name a few of the accusations. The number and strengths of the cases helped him immensely as did references from Philip Stoker and from chiefs of Police from neighbouring police forces he had liaised with in the past.

  The Police union had hired a barrister from London to fight his case. He was on “restricted duties” while the case went on. He had to put up with jibes from some of the fellow workers and when the news was published in the local rag, he almost gave up the fight. The utter humiliation he felt made him consider ending his life on more than one occasion. It was his ex-girlfriend Lucy who pulled him through his troubled years until he started to get deeper and regular with his crack and drink habit. She came with him to London for all the hearings during the first year. This did give him a moral boost. There were occasions when he would get irrational and behave badly. When he started to get repeatedly abusive, she stopped accompanying him. He was left with lonely trips to London. A combination of stress, drugs and alcohol took their toll on him. He came close to crashing his car on the M1 motorway a couple of times and he was forced to use the train.

  The panel did not find him guilty of misappropriation of drugs or misuse of the suspects, but they concluded that his methods were unorthodox and he had to undergo counselling as well as more training. That left him with spending some time up in Newcastle with their training centre for three months. It was utterly humiliating to take lessons from officers ten years younger than him with less than half his experience and knowledge. He had to bite his tongue and take it on his chin. His biggest regret was losing Lucy again from his life. He was quite sure she would not come back to him the way he had treated her.

  He came back to find that he was moved to homicide, which was a much smaller unit. He was pleasantly surprised to see that Philip Stoker was leading the Homicide team too. The fact that he had supported Sean during his trial might have had something to do with the transfer out of Drug squad. Everyone had heard of Sean’s trial and most of them thought it won’t be long before Sean was kicked out of the force altogether.

  Sheena

  It took Dev many months to recover from his injuries. His father had decided that it was better to get him ‘married and settled soon.’

  “I think one of way of stopping Dev going away at night is to get him married.” His elder brother Kishen had said one day soon after the attack on Dev, which had been covered on all the local dailies.

  “With his name in the news, it will be hard to find a good bride for him.” Ramcharan said with deep sigh. “The police have not been of any use. No one has been caught and Dev can’t remember much about the attack.”

  “He used to be friendly with a girl at the temple. I think he likes her.” Kishen replied. “I know he likes her. She is a trainee solicitor and comes from a very good family.”

  “Have you spoken to him about it?”

  “Yes, I have and he is very keen on her.” Kishen replied. “I know the family quite well. I can arrange for us to go and see them at home if you want?”

  Dev had walked in as they were still discussing the matter.

  “I can hear my name being mentioned.” Dev said with a smile. “What have I done now?”

  “We were indeed talking about you Dev.” Kishen said. “I was just telling father about Sheena, the solicitor.”

  Dev blushed momentarily and did not say anything.

  “Kishen was saying that we should meet their family.” Ramcharan said. “What do you think son?”

  Dev’s mind went back to the day he had met Sheena for the first t
ime. Meeting Sheena, was the highlight of Dev’s life couple of years ago. She had come to the temple with her mom for one of the big functions during Diwali. She was enthusiastic and came into one of the back rooms to help with the work along with several of the volunteers. The two of them had hit it off from the beginning. Dev could remember the day he met her vividly. He was carrying a box full of fruits and sweets rather precariously balanced on both his arms across the temple hall. He could see one of the sweet boxes starting to slide off the top. He looked desperately around to see if anyone was around to help. Having seen no one, he was about to drop the whole thing on the floor in an attempt to stop the box of sticky sweets falling off when a hand appeared out of nowhere and steadied the box. He turned to see the most beautiful girl he had seen in his life standing next to him holding the box of sweets in one hand and his left elbow in the other supporting the basket. He noticed how stunning she was in a bright red Ghagra-choli with golden tassels. Her smell nearly overpowered him. He smiled weakly and said,

  “Thank you. I didn’t want drop the sweets on the floor. It’s very sticky.”

  “I know,” She said with a disarming smile. “You are welcome. It would have been messy if it had fallen on the floor.”

  “I would have had to spend the next couple of hours cleaning it. I am the priest, cleaner, secretary, and general dog’s body in this temple!”

  Both of them had laughed at this. They got along like a house on fire after that and she became a regular visitor to the temple. Dev would look forward to the Friday evenings he knew she would come from the uni. He would forget Sanju and Quebec when he was with her. His visits to the Quebec became all too infrequent. Stuart had commented on that with,

  “You have become henpecked already! You are not even married yet!!”

  Both had laughed out loudly and Dev said nothing. Stuart had his doubts about Dev being bisexual and his developing relationship with Sheena. He wanted to ask him if he had told Anajana about Sanju. He kept it to himself and did not say anything. ‘Maybe this Sheena might be a good thing for Dev’, he had thought.

  Soon Dev started to meet Sheena outside the temple for cups of coffee and walks in the park. It didn’t go unnoticed by his elder brother Kishen.

  “You do like that girl Sheena very much, don’t you?”

  “Yes, Bhaiya. I do.” Dev had blushed.

  “She comes from a very good family. Do you want me to speak to father about her?”

  “I have only met her a few times. I do like her a lot though.” Dev had replied. “But I would rather wait until I get the manager’s job at the council.”

  Dev married Sheena the following year. Dev had found a lot of happiness during those years. He would take her out whenever he could and Sheena would come into the temple at the end of her work to help out. She would take part in all the festivals and was next to Dev at all times. People noticed and Dev would swell with pride whenever he overheard commitments such as,

  “Such a beautiful couple”, “made for each other” and “marriage made in heaven.”

  They were an ideal couple, seen everywhere together. She would help Dev out in the temple during the busy weekends and soon became part of the temple scene. The only fly in the ointment was his mother’s gripe that they did not have any children after two years of marriage. Stuart had noticed that he had completely stopped going to the Quebec and he was quite sure there had been no visits to the care home at lunch time or visits to the Central Motors or the Abbey Park either.

  Sheena was a breath of fresh air for Dev. He found himself falling in love with her all over again after the marriage. She was a strong willed woman with a clear mind of her own. She was also a woman of the world. They would discuss his involvement with the gay community and his work with the Gay helpline openly. Discussion about sexual preferences was not a taboo. She was ambiguous when it came to supporting the gay community, which she thought Dev was doing. He never brought up the subject of his own sexuality during those discussions. If she knew about him being Bisexual, she kept it to herself. His visits to the gay clubs, was ostensibly part of his job as a counsellor and she supported him wholeheartedly.

  “I never knew that homosexuality was so common among Asians.”

  Sheena had said one day when there were several phone calls to Dev.

  “Asians are same as everyone else. There are the same proportion of gays among Asians as any other race.” Dev had smiled nervously.

  “I don’t think I have ever met a gay Asian person.”

  Dev laughed and tried to change the subject. “I assure you there are many in Leicester itself. It won’t be long before you meet one in the temple. I am sure you must have met some gay people at your office?”

  “Yes, I have. But they were mostly young whites.”

  He was still working as a Residential care officer. The promised vacancy of a Manager’s pots was yet to come. The job wasn’t much. It was part time working two days a week. He was looking after residential facilities for the disabled population of Leicester. It augmented his meagre income from the temple. He had finally taken over the Care Home on Albert road in partnership with Stuart. It was bringing in a good regular income. His father had by and large retired from the temple leaving the day to running to the three brothers. The grocery shop had been sold a long time ago as they could not spend time in the shop. His younger brother Vijai had just started to work full time in the temple too recently. It meant dividing the income three ways. Dev had moved out to a small terraced house near the union canal, not too far from the temple.

  Dev was very content with his life until Sheena commented one day,

  “It’s time we had a baby. Don’t you think?”

  It scared him first to think of himself as a father but soon he started to feel a pang whenever he saw a baby being christened in the temple. They tried everything. Followed all sorts of advice from well-wishers, magazines and looked up on the internet too. But there was no sign of any pregnancy.

  “We should see the doctor and see if there’s anything wrong with either of us.” Sheena had said one day. Dev wasn’t so sure. He didn’t want go down that route.

  ‘What if they find I was impotent?’ or ‘what if they find I have an illness?’

  It had taken a lot of persuasion to get Dev to see the doctor and get a referral to a fertility clinic. He had gone with her to the clinic. The doctor had said that they would have to run some tests on both of them. Dev didn’t look forward to the visits to the infertility clinic. It made him feel inadequate and sometimes angry.

  Kishen and his wife had moved out of the little house next to the temple with the birth of their second child. When they returned from the house warming ceremony, Sheena whispered to Dev,

  “I think we should find a place of our own.”

  Dev looked at her and smiled.

  “You are right. We can rent a house to start with and look for a house later. But this is not the right time to bring it up. Mother would be even more upset than what she is now.”

  Dev had found a small two bedroom house on Melton road, not too far from the temple to rent. They had moved much to the disappointment of his mother. Ramcharan was more pragmatic.

  “I think it is only right that the children find their own feet.” He had told Meera Ben. “It is not as if he is going away to a different city or a different country. Remember we left our families and country too when we got married?”

  The Care home had picked up significantly with help from his and Stuart’s contacts in the council and they were looking for a second Care Home in Milton Keynes to take over. The money was rolling in and Dev did not hesitate in flashing his earnings with new clothes, expensive watch, shoes and bought a brand new silver BMW. He had seen a house on Harrison Road, quite close to the temple, which was in need of a lot of work. The owners had finally put it up for sale after years of neglect. It was much bigger than the little two bedroom rental house they lived at present and it was much closer to the temple
.

  “This would be a great family home to bring up children.” Dev had enthused. Sheena was not too sure when she first saw the derelict state of the house. But when Dev painted a picture of what a beautiful home it could turn into, finally Sheena had agreed and they had celebrated the day when the contracts were exchanged. Both of them would sit on the park bench near the temple and make plans for the future in the new house when it would be ready to move in. It was taking much longer than he had planned and at six months it was still far from being complete much to the chagrin of Dev and unhappiness of Sheena.

  Sheena had finished her training and was offered a lucrative job in Leeds. Dev was not sure if it would be good idea for her to go away to Leeds. Especially, as they were still trying to have a baby.

  “Are there no good jobs in Leicester?”

  “There are very good firms here in Leicester.” Sheena had replied. “But there are no openings at present. This is a God send opportunity. People would give anything to get a job with this firm. It is a big firm and the prospects for career progression are excellent.”

  Dev looked a bit glum as he replied, “Well, if that is what you want to do, I am not going to stop you.”

  “Please don’t be like that. Leeds is not that far?” Sheena said throwing her arms around his neck. “I’ll be coming home every Friday night and won’t have to go back till Monday morning.”

  Both of them had driven down to Leeds to look for rental flats and he had helped her pack and do the shopping for the new flat. He had wept the day he had driven her over to leave her at Leeds. He felt utterly lonely on the way back from her new flat and felt completely lost. When he reached Leicester late that night, he drove straight to the Quebec. The car park was in darkness as he parked the car. He sat there for a few minutes without getting out of the car. His mind was in a turmoil. He missed Sheena terribly. There was a huge void in his mind and his heart felt heavy. He kept staring straight ahead at the lights of the club and some people coming in and out of the club without actually registering anything. Finally he got out of the car and pulled his collar up against the biting cold and shoved his hands deep into jacket pocket. He felt something in the left pocket and took it out to see what it was. It was the paper packet Lenny had given him a long time ago. He opened the packet to see a brown plastic bottle with a seal, drop on to the palm of his hand. He had sudden urge to try them. He had seen some men use it at the Quebec before. He went back into the car and switched the ceiling light on. He took the bottle and rolled around with his fingers.