“Haven’t yet.”
“What made you sure he would be here?”
“He was supposed to meet Anjali here tonight. He doesn’t know she’s dead. He should be here to collect some big cash. He’s leaving the country tomorrow.”
“Big cash, huh? So what do we do when we meet him?”
“Beat the hell out of him and snatch a CD.”
“A CD?”
“Yeah.”
“Similar to the one we saw at Abhijit’s apartment?”
“Hopefully.”
I finished my drink, and Johnny refilled my glass promptly. Pranay waited until Johnny was out of hearing range. “Why was Anajli interested in the CD?”
“Because it had the murderer in the frame.”
“No kidding! Shalini is in the video?”
“No.”
“Rajesh?”
“No.”
“You said that it has the murderer in the frame.”
“It has.”
“When did you decide that Shalini is not the murderer?”
“Stop talking and start drinking. Be on the lookout for Leo.”
There was some activity in the centre of the room. The biggest group in the room had six members. I narrowed my eyes to concentrate. A man was holding a glass bowl. He stood up and offered the bowl to a woman. The woman picked up what looked like a piece of paper from the bowl, unfolded it, read out something, and there was excited laughter. The woman, who had picked up the piece of paper, got up and exchanged her seat with another woman from the group, so that they were sitting with different companions.
“What kind of game is that?” Pranay sounded confused.
“Well, it is definitely not Tambola.”
“That couple who was in the Sonata,” said Pranay again. “Behind you. The lady in black has been eyeing us for some time.”
I turned around on my stool to see her. The lady in black, and her companion were sitting near us with another couple – a short, fat man; and a shorter, petite lady. I could not see the faces of the new couple, since their backs were towards us. There was a notable difference in the body language of the two couples. The lady in black and her companion were gregarious and talkative. The other couple appeared uptight, occasionally nodding their heads.
After a few minutes, the companion of the lady in black leaned back on the sofa and stopped talking. The lady in black continued talking animatedly, definitely the centre of attention in the group. She nudged her companion in the stomach playfully, attempting to draw him into the conversation, but he ignored her. After a few minutes, she stopped talking. I sensed inactivity in the group. She glanced at the bar casually, and our eyes met. I lifted my glass to my lips and took a sip, staring at her all the time. She broke eye contact and leaned back to her companion.
Then there was silence in the group again. She looked up and found me still looking at her. I pretended to be captivated by her. She broke eye contact again, and started swaying to the music. She was aware of being watched. I smiled at her. She smiled back. She got up and said something to her group, pointing to the bar. Her companion made a half-hearted effort to get up, but she pushed him down again. She walked towards the bar slowly.
She stood beside me, leaned on the counter, and said in a husky voice, “Johnny, some wine, please. White. Where are Sangeeta and Vinod tonight?”
“Oh, you know how they are, ma’am! They throw the party, but are terrible hosts. Late as usual.”
She smiled and shook her head in amusement. Johnny poured her a glass of wine. She took a sip, standing at the bar.
I sniffed the air, tilted my head in her direction and said, “Nice fragrance.”
She looked up, gave me a predatory smile, and said huskily, “Thanks. You like it?”
I pretended to be nonplussed. “Pardon? I was referring to Johnny’s cologne.”
She gave me a nervous smile. I offered her my hand. She was an attractive lady, but her beauty was cold, not warm. She shook my hand, turning towards me on the stool, so that her gown slipped a couple of inches further up a supple thigh.
“You guys look lost. New on the circuit?”
I didn’t know what circuit she was referring to, but I blabbered confidently, “Yeah. Just came back to India. Vinod invited us over to…you know, test the circuit.”
She leaned towards me with some sarcasm.
“Yeah, right! We have been frequenting the circuit for three months now. No luck.”
“We?”
“Me and my husband. He’s sitting over there.” She pointed to the driver of the Sonata. “Where are you guys from?”
“Oh, we were travelling. Returned from Europe recently.”
“Nice! I keep travelling to eastern Europe all the time. You been there?”
My knowledge of geography did not permit me to distinguish Eastern Europe from eastern India, so I gave her a cryptic reply, “Yeah. Been there, done that.”
She glanced towards Pranay, took a sip, and asked, “You guys a couple?”
“What do you think?” I let my eyes rest on her bare thigh for a few seconds.
She smiled and said, “I think you were being cute with the bouncer.”
“Yes, I was.”
She spoke with excitement. “I knew it. You bulls?”
I thought of all the possible permutations of the word bull that came to mind. Bull-shitters? Chicago Bulls? The animal known for its virility?
I looked at Pranay, and smiled at her. “As bull as they come.”
She leaned forward, put her hand on my knee, and said in a seductive voice, “Hmm, I thought so. Never wrong with my men.”
She finished her remaining wine in a single gulp and asked Johnny for a refill, “Don’t get authentic bulls in India. The imported ones are always the best.”
I did not know what she meant, but I laughed aloud. She laughed with me. I kicked Pranay, and he laughed too.
Her eyes seemed impatient and urgent. “Listen, I don’t have much time. I am Dia. What’s your name?”
“I am Paras, and he is Babu” I said, pointing at Pranay.
“Okay. As I said, my husband and I have been frequenting the circuit for the past three months. Not happening at all. We are bored out of our wits. That couple sitting with us was referred to us by Vinod. Nice people, but not my kind. You know what I mean?”
It dawned on me what this entire set-up was all about. I asked her, trying to sound casual, “Your husband a bull too?”
“No. At least not by preference. He is more the watching type. But it’s not like abroad. All the single men we have met here are perverts, ugly, or uncultured. So we stick to couples.” She paused and looked doubtful. “You okay with that? Being watched?”
“Was always an exhibitionist.”
She grew even more excited, and slid her hand further up my thigh. “Great! Let me think of a way to make those people scram. Will have to be polite. They were referred to us by Vinod, after all.”
“I would hate to see them hurt. Vinod is a great guy.”
She offered me a cigarette. “Do you smoke?”
“Only passively.”
She tapped my crotch, looking naughty. “Good for your virility. I hope you will not be a disappointment, and finish your charge in six seconds like the last so-called bull.”
“We won’t know until we try, will we?”
“What about your friend?”
“Well, he prefers drinking, and will not mind.”
“Oh! I meant … you guys have never done it together? One woman?”
It was my turn to finish my drink in one gulp and said, “Oh yes. We prefer no holes-barred sex. All puns intended.”
She looked at Pranay, whose face had turned a deep shade of red.
“Well, the more the better. But my hubby will be watching all the time. You guys are okay with that, right?”
She stared at me wickedly, and I could smell her arousal. I squeezed her hand. “Not a problem. What about the shorty and his
wife?”
She gulped down her wine and got up from the stool.
“I will think of something.”
“Great! My friend and I were just discussing that it would have to be a sixty six in case he decided to go down on you.”
“What?”
“Well, with his height he will always be a couple of inches shorter. So it must be sixty six instead of sixty nine.”
She stared for a moment, and then started laughing in her deep, resonant, husky voice. “Oh my god! That is so wicked. Come as soon as you see them leaving.”
It sounded like a terrible cliché, but I said it anyway, “The bulls are roaring to go.”
She got off the stool, blew me a kiss, and left.
Pranay said as soon as she left, “Charming, aren’t you?”
“Have you seen Leo yet?” I asked hoping he hadn’t come when I was conversing with Dia.
“Nope,” Pranay said. “What was the woman talking about?”
“It’s a swinging party.”
“Swinging, eh?”
“Yeah. The couples are here for swinging.”
Pranay looked around, then stared at me defiantly and asked, “Oh yeah? Where are the swings then?”
He repeated, “Well, where are the swings, wise guy?”
I placed my hand on my forehead and replied calmly, “Swinging as in couple swinging. Couple swapping?”
Realisation dawned in his eyes. He looked around and asked,
“You mean … they trade partners for sex?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck!”
I finished the contents of my glass, and was just about to request Johnny for a refill when I saw Leo. He had just entered and was scanning the room. I realised a bit too late that the area near the bar was illuminated. He spotted me before I could duck, and walked in a hurry towards the corner of the hall.
I got off the stool and followed him. Leo had entered a passage and taken a right that led to another room. I entered the room, just to see him open a door to the porch that led to a garden at the back, where he vanished in the darkness. I looked around for a light-switch, but found none. It was raining cats and dogs.
It was dark as a tomb outside. The rain had doubled in intensity since I had entered the bungalow. I couldn’t see a thing, and ran with my arms outstretched to avoid bumping into a tree. After a few seconds I stopped. I stopped because I could no longer hear the shuffling of Leo’s feet on twigs and broken branches. I stared in all directions, letting my eyes get accustomed to the darkness. I stared so hard that my eyes felt sore in a few seconds. I spotted a stationary shadow standing less than five feet away from me.
Suddenly, a spot of light hit the ground and then rose to my face. I covered my eyes instantly, but I had already seen Leo. He was smiling. I grasped the import of that smile, groaned, and tried to turn around, but it was too late. There was a thud, and my world came crashing around me.
I woke up surrounded by a wet darkness, conscious of a throbbing pain at the back of my head. I wondered if I was dead. I decided I couldn’t be dead. Death wouldn’t be so painful. I lay there for a few seconds, waiting for the pain in my head to recede. I shook all my body parts. Everything seemed intact, yet I was aware that something in my clothing had been tampered with. I realized something was wrong with my posture. My right arm was stretched out, and the fist was wrapped around a solid object. I released the object, counted all five fingers, and used the other hand to bring out the mobile phone from my pocket.
I punched the keys arbitrarily, and used the light from the display screen to illuminate the ground. A body was impaled in a knife. I turned the light towards the face of the victim. Leo’s expression was frozen in terror. He was not breathing, and his heartbeat had ceased. His body still felt warm, so I couldn’t have been out for a long time. My body started shivering uncontrollably as I lifted myself off the ground. I had taken a few steps towards the porch when the lights were switched on. Pranay was standing there with a couple. I waved my hands to draw their attention. Pranay saw me wobbling and ran towards me. I leaned on him for support, and then sat down on the cold floor.
“What happened?” he asked.
My teeth chattered like a sewing machine needle and I stammered, “Wh … wh … were … we … were … you? Di … didn’t … fo … foll … follow me?”
“You didn’t tell me! I thought you were rushing off to the loo. When you didn’t return for five minutes, I decided to follow you. Johnny told me that the loo was in the other direction. So I ran here and saw the door open.”
“Mo … mor … mor … moron.”
The woman screamed, “Is that blood?”
The man standing next to her bent forward, scrutinised my damp T-shirt, and encored, “My god! Is that blood?”
Pranay gasped audibly as he inspected my T-shirt. “That is blood! You hurt? What happened?”
“Whi … whis … whisky.”
Pranay ran inside the room and returned with a bottle of whisky in two minutes. Jack Daniels. Sealed. I nodded my head in appreciation and broke the seal open. I took two sips, letting the alcohol warm my body. My teeth stopped chattering.
“Who are they?” I asked Pranay.
“Uh, they are the hosts. They own this place. Sangeeta and Vinod.”
I looked at them. “A torch. And an umbrella. Fast. Please.”
The man nodded to the woman, who ran inside the house. I turned to Pranay, “Call Babu. Tell him to come over.” Sangeeta came back with the umbrella and the torch.
Vinod passed them to me and asked, “Were you involved an accident?”
I took the umbrella and the torch from the man, and gave him the bottle. He would need some reassurance. I stood up with some difficulty and said, “You may want to stay here. There’s a dead body in the garden. My friend has just called the police.”
They appeared shocked for a few seconds, and then attacked me with a deluge of questions. I ignored them, and leaning on Pranay, opened the umbrella, and stepped out in the rain again. The ground was slippery and my steps were unsteady. I bent to examine Leo’s body, while Pranay positioned the umbrella over us.
I switched on the torch and ran it along the outline of Leo’s body. He was lying on his back. His intestines were all over the place. The killer had stabbed him multiple times in the stomach and the chest, piercing the knife one last time near the heart. Immediately, I knew that this was a different murderer from the one who had stabbed Anil, or drowned Anjali. While Anil and Anjali had been murdered with minimal force, planned in detail beforehand, Leo had been stabbed with frenzied ferocity. Since the Kapoors were under house arrest, there could be only one man who would commit a murder like this.
We walked back to the porch, where the couple had lost their colour.
“Whose body is it? Is someone dead?” asked Sangeeta.
“Okay, Sangeeta and Vinod, I am Vishal. There has been a murder on the lawn.”
“Oh my god!” The woman swooned, falling into her husband’s arms.
The man snatched the torch from my hand, and pointed it in every direction, trying to spot the body. He was paralysed with panic.
“Murder! Whose murder?”
“The body is behind that tree,” I said pointing towards the direction of the corpse. “The victim is a man called Leo. You know him?”
He replied by turning away, dragging his wife inside, and shutting the door on my face. The lights of the porch were switched off in a few seconds, plunging us into darkness again.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“What happened to them?” asked Pranay.
“I think he thinks I murdered Leo.”
“What! Did you murder Leo?”
“No, but I’ll murder you if you don’t shut up. Let me think.”
They wouldn’t just leave us here. There were multiple exits from the garden. They would probably get help and come back.
The lights were switched on as abruptly as they had been switched off, and the
door opened. Vinod was standing there with a gun pointed at my face. Sangeeta crouched behind him looking terrified.
“Hands up!”
This was the second time I had had a gun pulled to my face in one day. I groaned. “Relax, I need to clean up and get into some clean clothes. The police are on their way.”
“Hands up! I mean business.” He extended the gun forward by two inches, to show that he meant business.
I negotiated, “No one does hands up any more, man. Can’t I just freeze?”
“Over your head, you bastard!”
I was shivering due to the cold. He was also shivering, due to fear.
I walked towards the door and said, “Look Rambo, either pull the trigger, or let me clean up. I would rather die of a bullet than of pneumonia.”
The man took three steps back for every step I took forward, tripped over his wife, and both of them fell down to the floor. I waited until he had got up and pointed the gun towards me, and then turned to his wife.
“Can you guide me to a bathroom? I need to get out of these clothes.”
She was transfixed with fear. Pranay butted in, “It’s okay. We are private detectives. We have informed the police, and they are on their way.”
The man still looked at us in confusion.
“I hate to drip all over your marble floor. The bathroom?”
The couple exchanged looks, nodded at each other, and guided me to the bathroom. I could see that Johnny and the bouncer were busy escorting all the guests outside.
I entered the bathroom, and was overwhelmed by what I saw before me. The bathtub was bigger than my apartment – large mirrors, tiled floors, a television, a music system, gold faucets, and a sauna in the corner. I grabbed a towel from the neatly stacked pile of towels, and asked Sangeeta to get me some dry clothes.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror and grimaced.. All I needed was a pink snout, and I would fit right into a pigsty. I used the towel to wipe the dirt around my eyes, face, and shoulders. I opened the cabinet above the washbasin, took out some antiseptic, and dabbed it generously on my head where Abhijit had struck me. He could have done more damage, but our confrontation in the morning must have impaired his strength. Not to forget he must have been in a hurry. After hitting me, he would have stabbed Leo, dragged me towards the body, taken the CD, and rushed to the parking lot. I was out for ten to fifteen minutes, so he didn’t have much of a lead on me.
Seduced by Murder Page 20