Seduced by Murder

by Saurbh Katyal

  The woman returned with some clothes, probably Vinod’s. I smiled and said, “Thanks. I will replace these.”

  “Someone should call the police,” said the woman to her husband.

  “My friend has already done that. They should be here in half an hour or forty minutes.”

  Vinod asked me, “Who are you? How did you get in?”

  I sneezed several times, and requested them for some privacy while I changed. Vinod lifted his gun again and said, “We are not budging till the police arrives.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  There is something about having a gallon of water in your underwear that makes you do away with modesty. I stripped to my underpants, and looked up at the woman, who turned a shade of beetroot. I raised my left eyebrow to show that I meant business. Neither of them made any movement to turn around. I stepped out of my underpants, making the woman blush, and leisurely put on the new clothes.

  Pranay came back with the bottle of whisky just as I had finished changing. I was still shivering, and felt feverish. I took a few sips, and checked my wet trousers that I had just removed. My wallet was in the back pocket. I always kept it in the side pocket. I remembered the strange feeling I had had when I regained consciousness – that something had been tampered with. Abhijit must have taken my wallet out of the side pocket and planted it there? I opened the wallet and went through the contents. A few wet notes, debit cards, and a driving licence. Everything looked intact.

  I drank some more whisky and asked my hosts, “Did you know Leo, the man who was murdered?”

  “No!” said the man promptly.

  I looked at the woman, and she immediately averted her eyes.

  “Okay. He had an invite, so he was definitely expected at the party. And I know what kind of party this is.”

  The man lowered the gun and negotiated with better manners, “We don’t know half of the people in this room, okay? People get invites through friends. Every couple, who has been a member for more than six months, can take extra cards to invite new people. We don’t know any Leo.”

  “All right. Do you know a man called Abhijit?”

  The man paused, as if thinking about the name.

  “No. Never heard of him.”

  “What about you, ma’am?” I asked his wife.

  “No. Never.” Her trembling lips belied her words.

  “You must be an amnesiac. I remember seeing you in a CD, playing naked-naked with him. Your necklace gave you away. Green emerald. The CD was titled S. S for Sangeeta?”

  The lady stared at me in disbelief, her jaw dropping open. The husband mopped his forehead.

  “You have been very good hosts. I will make a deal. Okay?”

  “What?”

  “The cops will be here shortly. I see all your guests have left. They would want to know what I saw here. I am not interested in your promiscuous misadventures. I will not mention anything to them. All I want to do is ask some questions.”

  The man said defensively, “It’s not promiscuous. It’s progressive.”

  “I am sure it is. What about the deal?”

  Vinod looked at Sangeeta and nodded his approval. “What do you want to know?”

  “For starters, cut the bullshit and acknowledge that you knew Leo and Abhijit.”

  He thought about it. “We don’t know any Leo. Suppose I say I knew Abhijit, as a fleeting acquaintance …”

  “That’s very progressive indeed. You are okay with your wife banging a fleeting acquaintance of yours. I must be obsolete. Anyway, how did you get acquainted with Abhijit?”

  “He was part of the circuit. We met him last year at a party, but it has been more than six months since when we saw him last. What’s this about? Is he in trouble?”

  “What about Reena Kapoor? I am sure you know her.”

  “Uh, I know a couple of Reenas, but no Reena Kapoor.

  I swear.”

  The I swear confirmed his lie.

  I was going to interrogate him further, when the bouncer showed Babu and Paras through the door.

  I looked at them, surprised. The fever made me sluggish. I realised there was no way they could have reached this place in twenty minutes after Pranay had made the phone call.

  “You reached here quite early!” I said to Babu. “And why is Mr Kapoor with you?”

  Paras stepped forward and said, “You bastard! You bastard!”

  Babu was cold and asked me, “We were already on our way here when Pranay called me. Leo is dead?”

  “Yeah. In the garden. But why were you on your way here?”

  Babu called two junior cops standing outside to stay with me, and went to examine the body with Paras and Vinod. A few bewildering moments passed before they returned. Babu observed my discarded clothes and remarked, “You were found with blood on your clothes.”

  “Yeah. And with my fingers around the knife. What is going on?”

  “You are under arrest for the murders of Anjali and Leo, and on suspicion of involvement in Anil’s murder too.”

  “What!” Pranay was nonplussed.

  I looked into Babu’s eyes and realised he was serious. I groaned and took some sips from the bottle, while everyone stood around silently.

  I collected my thoughts and asked him, “You obviously have some proof?”

  Paras interrupted, “We know you did it along with her. I will make you rot in hell for the rest of your life… bastard.”

  He was trembling with rage.

  “You have a driving licence?” said Babu.

  “Yes.”

  “Can I see it?”

  I handed him my wallet. He took out my licence, glanced at it, and handed me a piece of paper from his pocket. It was a photocopy of my licence, with my signature on it.

  He said, “We tracked the last calls Anjali received at the zoo. Between eleven and one. There were only two numbers she had called, and received calls from. One was your original number, and the other was the one that you activated last night.

  “The SIM for the second one was bought from a shop near your house. The shopkeeper told me that he checked the original licence before taking the photocopy. The license is with you. That means you had that SIM on you. I wonder why you didn’t tell us you had two numbers.”

  “Because I don’t. The license was flicked from me earlier, and and planted in my wallet this evening. What else have you got?”

  “You were right. There were no signs of struggle on Shalini at the site of Anjali’s murder. The only person who showed signs of struggle was you. Your face was scratched, and your trousers were torn,” added Paras.

  “That was because I got into a fight with a man named Abhijit this morning. What else have you got?”

  “That’s why you knew exactly what happened!” Paras exploded. “Aditi called you to the farmhouse. You must have reached early and broken the lock yourself. You wanted to disgrace my family. That’s why you befriended Anjali and murdered her. That is why you told Babu to place us under house arrest tonight, so that you could come here and murder Leo. You were destroying my family.”

  He was a man possessed with rage.

  “Motive?” I asked.

  “You couldn’t stand it. Aditi with Sunil. You wanted to take revenge on her family because she ditched you three years ago.”

  I laughed loudly. “So I murdered three people, and tried to frame your son, because I resented someone’s happiness?”

  Paras motioned to Babu, who came forward with a pair of handcuffs. He looked at me with distrust.

  “Aditi is a very beautiful woman. We have the SIM registered in your name, with the original document in your wallet. And Mr Kapoor has reason to believe that you found the missing twenty-five crores. That is why you wanted to meet Leo alone. You are under arrest.”

  In spite of the circumstances, I admired the murderer’s master stroke. I panicked as I suddenly realised how easily he had incriminated me. And, if I didn’t do something fast, he would get away with it. Babu pu
t the handcuffs on me and Pranay.

  “Why are you arresting him?”

  “Accessory to murder.”

  My head felt heavy, and the fever was making me drowsy. This was no time to play sick. I tried to concentrate. I needed to get Abhijit. He had the CD. If it was destroyed, I was screwed. I knew that the murderer would personally collect the CD from Abhijit, and then murder him. With Abhijit gone, there was no way I could prove my innocence. It was his sweet revenge. I had jeopardised his original plan to frame Shalini. I was amazed at his foresight and his moves. This was check mate.

  I tried anyway.

  “Babu, you can arrest us and keep us in custody, but I request you to send someone to intercept Abhijit. The murderer is at the Kapoor residence. Abhijit has a CD with him that—”

  “Shut up!” Paras thundered. “Inspector, enough is enough. I am going to have you transferred to the saddest place in the state if you don’t stop listening to him and put him away.”

  Babu motioned that I should be silent. I remembered the CD that showed Reena with Abhijit.

  I said to Pranay, “Where’s the CD that has Reena and Abhijit?”

  He realised what was on my mind and said excitedly, “It is still in the car.”

  I turned around and said with conviction, “Babu, I have a CD in the car. It has Reena with that man, Abhijit. I would like to show it to you. It will take two minutes.”

  Paras interrupted again, “Reena? You stay away from my family, you bastard. Enough is enough. Babu, I demand—”

  Babu interrupted Paras, “It will take only two minutes, sir. I think he is entitled to that much.”

  Minutes later we stood in the rain, looking at the broken glass of the car window. Abhijit had taken the CD with him.

  Paras said accusingly to Babu, “Have you wasted enough time? Should I call the commissioner and tell him you are biased towards a murderer?”

  Babu shook his head. “No, sir. We are going non-stop to the police station now.”

  I sighed, aware that in half an hour Abhijit would be dead, the CD lost, and I would rot in prison. He had committed a perfect murder, or rather murders. He would collect the CD from Abhijit, and after murdering him, plant part of the money in my apartment. I needed a miracle to get out of this one.

  Pranay and I were ushered into the back of a jeep by the two cops escorting us. The driver started the jeep and drove towards the gate. Paras and Babu followed us in another jeep.

  I felt a surge of panic when I saw Pranay in cuffs. The jeep moved out of the gate. I closed my eyes, giving in to the demands of the fever, trying to blank out and worry later. Then I heard a shout. The jeep stopped suddenly. I opened my eyes to see an ashen Pranay looking terrified. Babu was running towards our jeep. He came nearer, and instructed one of the cops to get out and take his place in the other jeep. He took off our cuffs and ordered the driver to go to Apollo Hospital.

  Before I could ask him what was going on, he said, “Mr Kapoor got a call. Shalini is in hospital. She tried to commit suicide. She left a note saying she murdered Anil and Anjali. To hell with Paras sir. I want to hear your theory now.”

  I smiled. Not even the murderer could have predicted this one.

  “Finally,” I said to Babu. “Before I tell you what happened, I want your men to pick up Abhijit, along with this guy called Thapa. Here’s his card. Tell your men to bring both of them to Apollo right away.”

  We reached the hospital half an hour later. We were in the lift, on our way to the ICU, when Babu received a call on his mobile phone. The police had caught Abhijit fifteen kilometres away from Kandhari Hills. He had two CDs, and two crores cash, in his possession. His clothes had been covered with blood, and he had fought like a wild dog resisting his arrest.

  Sunil’s expression froze when he saw us get out of the lift. He looked concerned and ran towards Paras, who could barely walk. He held the visibly shocked Paras in his arms and said consolingly, “She will be okay, Dad. She will be okay.”

  Dad gave a vacant, disoriented look to Sunil, and that worried Sunil further.

  “She’s okay, Dad! The doctors were able to make her vomit up the pills. She will live.”

  Dad still didn’t register any emotion, and walked towards the bench next to the coffee machine. Sunil looked at Babu and asked, “What’s happened to him? Is he all right? And why haven’t you arrested Vishal yet?”

  Babu stepped forward and said, “You said you found a suicide note. Can we see it?”

  “Sure. It’s with Vimal.”

  Vimal was walking across the corridor, with two cups of coffee in his hand. He looked at Paras approaching the bench, gauged that something was wrong, grew concerned, and walked towards him.

  “The inspector wants to see the suicide note,” Sunil told Vimal.

  Vimal took it out from his pocket and handed it to Babu, who glanced at it and handed it to me.

  It read, I murdered Anil and Anjali. Both of them are free. Please let them go. It was signed by Shalini.

  Sunil said angrily to Babu, “Why did you hand the note to him? Are you crazy? Why hasn’t he been arrested yet?

  “I never believed for once that he was guilty,” Babu responded with conviction. “I got…carried away. And what do you want me to arrest him for? This note proves his innocence. And, as usual, he has a theory that explains everything.”

  Aditi and Reena had escorted Mayank towards us. Ram was standing in a corner.

  I asked Sunil, “What do you think Shalini means by both of them are free, in the note?”

  “What?” He sounded confused.

  “What do you think she means by both of them are free?” I repeated.

  “Well, she means Rajesh and … you, of course. It was a conspiracy.” He looked around for support. “That’s it, isn’t it? He had taken a new phone connection and…and he did it for the missing twenty-five crores. What’s going on? Dad?”

  I asked Vimal, “What do you think she means when she says both of them are free?”

  He thought for a moment, and replied slowly, “I think Shalini could be referring to Mayank and Rajesh. It couldn’t be you. For starters, you haven’t spent enough time with her. And obviously, since you are standing here, you have managed to convince Babu that you are innocent.”

  I looked at Sunil and said, “Your brother is absolutely correct. That is why Shalini has been acting guilty. At some level, she believes that she is actually guilty of both the murders.”

  “What’s going on?” Sunil repeated.

  “Shalini believes that Mayank murdered Anil. She believes it, I guess, because, the actual murderer created circumstances that made Mayank appear guilty…maybe spilt some blood on his clothes the next morning, after murdering Anil. That would explain her nervousness at the farmhouse.

  “She planted Leo’s locket at the back gate to throw suspicions off her father. But Reena saw her throwing the locket outside the window. Shalini panicked, and confided in Rajesh, and that explains his SMS to her. He was trying to help her.

  “After Reena confronted Shalini about the locket, Shalini became paranoid, convinced that we were laying a trap for Mayank. That is why she made sure I couldn’t talk to Mayank this morning, by giving him sleep-inducing tablets.

  “Here comes the interesting part. After Anil’s murder, Shalini was in a highly vulnerable state. That is what the murderer was counting on, to make her believe that Rajesh had murdered Anjali. In her distress, she believed that both the men who loved her were sacrificing their happiness to protect her.

  She believed that Mayank had murdered Anil to bring an end to the daily torture inflicted upon her; and Rajesh had murdered Anjali to protect Mayank, for her sake. And that, Sunil, explains the note. Shalini was referring to Mayank and Rajesh. She really believes that Mayank murdered Anil, and Rajesh murdered Anjali.”

  They were looking at me. I took the cup of coffee Vimal was holding, had a sip, and continued, “The murderer planned the entire thing on Saturday evening.
I knew that the call from Anil to Leo referring to a jackpot, and his murder the same night had to be connected. I never believe in coincidences. But Shalini’s culpable behaviour distracted me.

  “The murderer planned a flawless murder. He broke the lock at the back gate, to make it look like a villager’s job. If I hadn’t arrived at the scene, the police would have gone on a wild goose chase in the village. But the murderer was a compulsive planner. He doubtless realized that something was amiss, and decided to keep a backup, in case the police found clues.

  “Mayank was the perfect person for a frame-up. He took sleeping pills, and would not remember a thing in the morning. The murderer’s foresight was rewarded, as we were able to prove that there was no villager involved at all. Not that he had much to worry about. He had a second backup in case Mayank was proved innocent, or Shalini did not play as per his plan. The second back-up was Sunil.”

  “What!” Sunil and Aditi cried in unison.

  “The knife used to murder Anil was the same one Sunil had chased Anil with; and the cigarettes found at the scene of Anjali’s murder, the same brand that Sunil smokes. They were deliberately planted. He must have been furious when I proved that Shalini couldn’t have been at the zoo when Anjali was murdered. And, he knew I didn’t suspect Sunil. I let him know I had found him out.

  “I got complacent, assuming that there was not much he could do, since Babu had instructed his men to restrict your family’s movements tonight. He knew where I would be; I had mentioned that at the zoo. He planned quickly and instructed Abhijit, probably over the phone, to murder Leo and frame me by planting some money in my apartment. He would have later murdered Abhijit too.

  “The plan was perfect. With the CD in his custody, Abhijit out of the way, and the money planted in my apartment, he would have got away with the crime.

  “Everything went as per his plan and I got arrested, but Shalini ruined it for him by trying to commit suicide and leaving behind a suicide note. One can’t predict everything, can they Vimal?”