‘Please follow me.’ The nurse led them to a room inside, sat them down with the words, ‘Please wait here. Dr Gupta is expecting you,’ and left.
A little later, Dr Gupta entered. He was a middle-aged man of average build and seemed to be blessed with inexhaustible reserves of energy despite the battle he had been waging against death on behalf of his patients for the last twenty years. In fact, he looked the stronger for it. When Rakhalbabu introduced himself and Byomkesh, the doctor laughed pleasantly and remarked, ‘Well, well! It’s a day marked out for miracles, it would appear. Or I wouldn’t have got to meet Byomkeshbabu in this way. Do sit down.’
All three of them took their seats. Rakhalbabu said, ‘So tell us, what is the matter?’
‘How do I go about it? It’s a miracle, a truly amazing phenomenon!’ the doctor exclaimed. ‘In my twenty years of practice, I have yet to come across something of this kind. Yes, I have read about a few such cases in medical textbooks, but to experience it at first hand! In my estimate, there couldn’t be more than a handful of such cases in a few billion.’
Byomkesh smiled, ‘Well, we deal with miracles all the time, but it seems you’re in a position to surprise me as well. Looks like we have a mystery at last that’s after my own heart. Do start at the very beginning, Doctor.’
Dr Gupta began. ‘Right. Around eight-thirty this evening, three young men arrived here in a taxi. With them was another young man. He was unconscious. The three had gone for a stroll to Rabindra Sarobar and found the stranger lying unconscious on a bench under a tree. They had struck a match to have a better look and noticed a porcupine quill protruding from the left side of his chest. But the man wasn’t dead. He was merely unconscious. One of the three men recognized the victim. He was his employer, Debashish Bhatta, the owner of the factory where he worked. So they brought him to the hospital.
‘I had the unconscious man laid out on the table and examined him. Everyone knows by now of the porcupine-quill murders. I surmised, at first, that the quill had probably missed the man’s heart in this case. But when I tried to check his heartbeat—wonder of wonders! I couldn’t find it! Then I discovered that his heart was located on the right side of his chest! By some freak of nature, the man had been born thus.
‘Although the porcupine quill had left his heart untouched, it had got his left lung. However, that is no less serious a matter. As long as the quill remains in the wound, there is no haemorrhage. But the moment the quill is removed from it, the bleeding that ensues could prove fatal.
‘Anyway, I extracted the quill from his back with the utmost caution. It was six inches long and four inches of it had gone straight into the lung. See, this is the culprit.’
The doctor took out a porcupine quill from his pocket and handed it to Byomkesh. Most of you have probably seen a porcupine quill and a detailed description of it would be unnecessary. The quill in question was pointed, as resistant as a glass wand and sharp like a surgeon’s scalpel. Byomkesh turned over the murder weapon in his hand, examined it carefully and returned it to the doctor. ‘Please go on,’ he urged.
‘I removed the quill,’ the doctor continued. ‘The young man is fortunate that there was no bleeding in his lung. In a short while, he had regained consciousness, given us his address and phone number and had asked us to notify his wife. Then we sedated him. When his wife arrived, he was asleep.’
Byomkesh said, ‘There’s a lady sitting outside … is she …?’
‘That’s right,’ Dr Gupta confirmed, ‘that’s his wife. She wants to sit by him, but right now, that can’t be permitted. I advised her to go back home, but she refuses to leave.’
‘Has she been allowed to see her husband?’
‘Yes, once. We have assured her that there is no cause for concern, that she should go home now and come back again tomorrow. But she is adamant about staying on.’
Byomkesh made to get up. ‘Let me see if I can persuade her.’
‘Certainly,’ the doctor replied, ‘please do try. But remember one thing: She has not been told that her husband was the target of attempted murder. All we have disclosed is that he hurt his chest in an accident. Please stick to the story. She is in shock and the truth will distress her further.’
‘Right.’
Rakhalbabu said, ‘I shall keep the porcupine quill. This makes it four in all.’
Dipa was sitting on the bench, as ramrod-straight as ever. She rose to her feet when Byomkesh and Rakhalbabu approached her. ‘I am from the police,’ Rakhalbabu told her. ‘And this is Byomkesh Bakshi.’
The latter’s name rang no bell in Dipa’s mind. Her terrified eyes travelled from one face to the other.
Byomkesh spoke gently. ‘Please don’t be afraid. Your husband was seriously injured all right, but he’s in no danger.’
Dipa bit her lip in an attempt to keep a hold on herself. Then she said hoarsely, ‘Why won’t they let me stay with him?’
Byomkesh replied, ‘See, your husband has been sedated. Of what use would you be to him right now? Instead …’
‘No,’ Dipa insisted, ‘if they don’t let me stay with him, I’ll sit out here all night long.’
‘But at this moment no one but the doctor and the nurse is allowed to be with the patient,’ Byomkesh protested.
‘I shan’t get in anyone’s way,’ Dipa persisted, ‘I’ll just sit quietly in a corner of the room.’
Byomkesh tried to reason with her again, but failed miserably. Then he scratched his head helplessly and said, ‘All right, let me speak to the doctor and see what he has to say. Does Debashishbabu have any other relatives here?’
‘No, none.’
‘You must be having relatives. Where do they live? Have they been notified?’
Dipa said, ‘They live close by, but I forgot to let them know.’
‘Please give me the address,’ Byomkesh requested her. ‘I’ll inform them.’
Dipa passed him the address and the phone number. Byomkesh went back to the doctor and said, ‘Doctor, please do allow the lady to stay with her husband for the night. She seems to be an intelligent young woman and not unreasonable, but she has had the shock of her life, you know.’ The doctor tried to offer feeble objections to this suggestion—women were frail creatures … what if she was overcome by emotion and tried to cling to her husband and so on. But eventually, he ended up agreeing to let her stay. Byomkesh fetched Dipa and accompanied her to the room where Debashish lay sleeping. Dipa tiptoed in and stood by his bed. She leaned over him, gazing at his face anxiously. Debashish lay on his side with a tranquil expression on his face. Dipa’s eyes did not shift from his face as she sat quietly by his bed. A nurse had accompanied them in. She placed a finger on her lips and cautioned Dipa to remain silent.
As they left the hospital at around eleven in the night, Rakhalbabu glanced at Byomkesh and declared, ‘We must call the girl’s family.’
‘No, we need to go there in person,’ Byomkesh told him. ‘You’re getting no rest tonight.’
‘Well, I don’t exactly need it,’ Rakhalbabu answered.
It took the police car less than five minutes to reach Dipa’s parents’ home. The street was deserted and the front door locked. Rakhalbabu rattled the knocker loudly.
A little later, a bleary-eyed Bijoy opened the door a crack and asked, ‘Who is it and what do you want at this time of the night?’
Rakhalbabu said reassuringly, ‘Please open the door. There’s nothing to be afraid of. This is the police.’
Meanwhile, Nil Madhav had also arrived. Bijoy opened the door. Rakhalbabu entered with Byomkesh following and asked the men, ‘In what way is Debashish Bhatta related to you?’
‘He is my son-in-law,’ Nil Madhav replied. ‘Why, what’s the matter?’
‘There’s been an accident,’ Rakhalbabu explained. ‘Your son-in-law has been hurt. He’s in hospital with a chest wound. Your daughter has been notified and she’s at the hospital right now.’
‘What!’ Nil Madhav exclaimed. �
��Which hospital is this?’
‘Rashbehari Hospital. There’s no need to panic. The wound is deep, but he’s out of danger.’
‘We’ll set out for the hospital at once. Bijoy, please look after the gentlemen. Your mother and I will be leaving right away.’
He hurried into the house. Byomkesh asked Bijoy, ‘So, Debashishbabu is your brother-in-law?’
‘That’s right. Excuse me, I must go to the hospital too.’
‘But we need to discuss something with you.’
A little later, Nil Madhav returned, accompanied by his wife. She had drawn the free end of her sari over her head like a veil as was the custom for married women when they appeared in public.
‘Please let the police car take you to the hospital,’ Rakhalbabu suggested, ‘it can come back to pick us up. Till then, we’ll wait here.’
After sending them off, the three men came back into the drawing room. Byomkesh asked Bijoy, ‘How long has your sister been married?’
‘A little over two months,’ Bijoy replied.
‘What does your brother-in-law do?’
Bijoy explained about the Butterfly Cosmetics factory.
‘Does he have no relatives?’
‘As far as I know, none.’
‘Friends?’
‘I don’t know about his other friends, but he is quite close to those who drop in every evening at Nripatida’s house.’ Bijoy explained about the tea sessions at Nripati Laha’s place, then asked, ‘But what has happened to prompt these questions?’
Byomkesh and Rakhalbabu exchanged glances. Then the former said, ‘Please keep this to yourself for now, but someone tried to murder Debashishbabu.’
‘I knew it!’ was Bijoy’s involuntary exclamation as fury flared in his eyes.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Byomkesh’s gaze was sharp.
‘I knew this would happen.’
‘You knew! Please explain yourself.’
Bijoy had blurted out the words in a moment of distress, but now he stopped short. He was reluctant to pursue the discussion further and tried to change the subject. Byomkesh’s expression grew grave. ‘Look here,’ he began, ‘Debashishbabu’s enemy tried to kill him. It was his good fortune that he survived the attempt. If you try to protect the would-be assassin, he will make another attempt. Do you want your sister to be widowed?’
‘I’ll tell you as much as I know,’ Bijoy offered, ‘but I have no idea who the culprit is.’
Bijoy narrated the tale of Dipa’s aborted affair. Byomkesh was silent for a while. Then he said, ‘I feel your sister is over her girlish infatuation now. Right, we’ll be off today. Tomorrow evening, we shall be dropping in on Nripati Laha. Please be there.’
In the meantime, the police car had returned to pick them up. Byomkesh got into the car and said to Rakhalbabu, ‘That’s it for tonight, then. We shall visit the hospital again tomorrow.’
Back at the hospital, Debashish had woken up. It was two-thirty a.m. He opened his eyes to find a face bent over him in concern, the eyes fixed on him in an unblinking gaze. A gentle face it was too, with a tender expression. Debashish got the words out slowly: ‘Dipa … when did you get here?’
Dipa could not bring herself to answer him. She put her face against his and remained silent.
‘Dipa.’
‘Hmm?’
‘I’m hungry.’
Dipa looked up at once. She turned to see the nurse entering the room. The latter had come in to check on the patient quite a few times in the past few hours. She now asked Dipa, ‘What is it? Is he awake?’
‘Yes,’ Dipa told her, ‘he says he’s hungry.’
The nurse smiled, ‘Good. I’ve made him a glass of Ovaltine. I’ll fetch it in a minute. First let me check his pulse.’ She took his pulse and commented, ‘Excellent. I’ll be right back.’
Dipa followed the nurse to the door. Nakul had been sitting at the threshold. Now, he stood up. ‘Boudi,’ he asked, ‘is Dadababu hungry?’
‘Yes, he is,’ Dipa replied.
‘Thank God! Now, everything will be fine. Boudi, you too haven’t had anything to eat for hours. Aren’t you feeling hungry?’
Dipa was silent for a while. Then she said, ‘I am, actually. Go on home, Nakul, and have your dinner. Then get something back for me to eat.’
‘Right.’
Nakul left. The nurse brought in some Ovaltine in a feeding cup and fed it to Debashish. Once he’d finished it, he heaved a sigh of contentment, clutched one of Dipa’s hands in his own and went back to sleep.
At dawn, Dipa’s parents and Bijoy came in to visit once again. Debashish was asleep. ‘We’ll stay here for the time being,’ Dipa’s mother suggested. ‘Why don’t you go on home? Have a bath, eat something, then come back here.’
Dipa shook her head firmly. ‘No, there’s no need,’ she said, ‘Nakul brought over something for me to eat.’
At about ten in the morning, Rakhalbabu turned up with Byomkesh. Dr Gupta gave them a wide grin and said, ‘Good news. The young man has had a narrow escape. He seems to have recovered quite a bit this morning. But he’ll still have to stay here under observation for a day or two.’
‘Good,’ Rakhalbabu said, ‘could we meet him, do you think?’
‘You may, but remember, ten minutes are all I’ll allow.’
‘For the time being, that should be enough,’ Byomkesh replied.
Debashish was lying on his side. Dipa was bending over him, speaking to him in a low murmur. When she saw Byomkesh and Rakhalbabu, she straightened up self-consciously.
Byomkesh smiled at her and said, ‘You’ve been here since last night. Now it’s time you went home for an hour or so. Till then, we shall give Debashishbabu the pleasure of our company.’
Debashish said weakly, ‘That’s what I’ve been telling her.’
Dipa hesitated a bit, then left the room reluctantly with the words, ‘I’ll be back in half an hour.’
Byomkesh and Rakhalbabu drew up two chairs facing Debashish. Rakhalbabu introduced himself and Byomkesh, and said, ‘We’d like to ask you a couple of questions.’
‘Certainly,’ Debashish replied.
The interrogation began.
‘You had gone for a stroll to the lake yesterday?’
‘Not exactly for a stroll, but yes, I was there.’
‘May we know why?’
‘A friend had called and asked me to meet him there.’
‘Which friend was this?’
‘Kharga Bahadur.’
‘Kharga Bahadur! Is he from Nepal?’
‘Yes, he’s the famous footballer.’
‘Oh, him! So, why the lake, of all places?’
‘The reason is personal. I’d rather not …’
‘In the circumstances, that’s not possible, I’m afraid. Please go on.’
‘He needed a loan and he called, asking me to help him out.’
‘Why didn’t he visit you at home?’
‘I don’t really know. Perhaps he hesitated to come home in case people came to know about his predicament.’
‘Hmm, how much did he ask for?’
‘A thousand.’
‘Were you carrying the money with you?’
‘Oh, no, Kharga didn’t mention money over the telephone. He just said the matter was urgent.’
‘And?’
‘I went and found him waiting at the main gate. The two of us sat down on a bench. Kharga told me about the money he needed. I agreed to lend it to him. After a few more minutes of conversation, Kharga left—he was meeting someone else. I sat there alone. Suddenly, I felt a piercing pain in my back. I remember nothing after that.’
‘Did you catch sight of anyone standing behind you?’
‘No.’
Rakhalbabu glanced at Byomkesh. The latter asked, ‘Your wife is aware, isn’t she, that your heart is located on the right side of your chest?’
Debashish closed his eyes in thought. Then he said, ‘No, perhaps not.’
‘Do yo
ur friends know about it?’
‘It’s unlikely. I don’t have too many friends. The people I know are mostly colleagues. Lately, I’ve been dropping in on Nripatida. I have a few friends among the men who frequent his place.’
‘Do any of them know about it?’
‘No.’
‘So no one does?’
‘Baba knew about it, and so do my doctors.’
‘Is there any one who would stand to gain by your death?’
‘No one.’
‘Right, that should be enough for today. We shan’t trouble you any more. Do get well first. If the need arises, we shall come back to you again.’
After sundown, all the regulars at Nripati’s had congregated at his place as usual. Bijoy was there too. Everyone’s expression was grave. Probal was not at the piano this evening. He sat on the couch, his cheek resting on his palm. Ever since they’d heard about Debashish from Bijoy, they were all in a despondent mood. The tragic tale of the porcupine-quill murders reported by the newspapers seemed to have suddenly washed up on their own doorstep.
Probal looked up to ask, ‘Who is Byomkesh Bakshi?’
Kapil made a clownish face. Bijoy parted his lips to answer, but it wasn’t necessary. Footsteps were heard outside, approaching the front door. The next moment, Rakhalbabu had entered the room with Byomkesh in tow.
Everyone rose to his feet. Nripati went forward to greet the duo. ‘Please do come in,’ he said, ‘we’ve been expecting you. I’m Nripati Laha. And this is …’ Nripati introduced Kapil, Probal, Sujan and Kharga Bahadur. When everyone had settled down, he lit a cigarette and said, ‘We’ve heard about it from Bijoy.’
Byomkesh looked at Bijoy reproachfully. The latter admitted sheepishly, ‘Yes, I’m afraid so, Byomkeshbabu. They just wouldn’t take no for an answer. I have told them about the porcupine quill.’
Kharga Bahadur said, ‘Byomkeshbabu, please tell us what this whole porcupine-quill affair is all about. Do you think this is the handiwork of a lunatic?’
Byomkesh replied, ‘It could be a lunatic or someone pretending to be one.’
Sujan asked, ‘How do you mean?’
‘If you commit murder and pretend to be deranged,’ Byomkesh explained, ‘you stand a chance of escaping capital punishment. At the most, you might get locked up in an asylum, but you don’t get the death sentence. Since you are Debashishbabu’s friends, you must be knowing many details about his life?’
Menagerie & other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries Page 30