‘Indrani if you don’t mind, let’s do that tomorrow. In any case, it’s too late right now. We will close our leg of the investigation and bring it to a stage where you can share it with the others.’
‘Karan, if what you are saying is true, I don’t think we can wait any longer. I’ll ask Jacqueline to call Tanuja and Francis Jobai tomorrow morning at 10.30 a.m. I want to discuss our future course at that time. I’m really worried now.’ She let out a sigh and added, ‘I am anyway leaving now. Will see you tomorrow morning.’
‘Sure. In any case Tanuja and Francis sit out of this office. We can summon them tomorrow morning. We will be around for some more time today. I have requested Jacqueline to let us know when the last person leaves. We would like to scan Raymond’s desk.’
‘Hmm. . .I can see a few lights still on. Maybe you should wait a while.’
‘And do you think I can speak to anyone to get some details on expense vouchers and reimbursements?’
‘At this hour? What exactly do you want?’
‘I want to see the telephone bills of these thirteen RMs that have been reimbursed. I want to see if there is anyone who all these guys are calling. It’ll help me. I also need to see Vikram’s bills.’
A sleepy-eyed Jacqueline walked into the room. ‘I will get it for you. It will take some time, but I’ll get it for you by tomorrow morning.’
‘Ask for the bills of all my direct reports. You know how word leaks out? I don’t want anyone to wonder why we are asking for only Vikram’s bills.’
‘Yes Indrani.’
‘Thanks Jacqueline.’
‘And by the way, Vienna police has released a statement on Harshita and Siddhartha Lele’s murder. They have said that they are now officially calling it a homicide.’ Jacqueline handed over a print out to Indrani, who went through it and gave it to Karan.
‘Where did you get it?’
‘Tanuja sent it to me. She asked me to give it to you. Apparently it’s on the Police Department’s website.’
Indrani went through the press-release carefully.
Office of the Commissioner of Police
Wien
Enclosed is the brief update on the death of two Indian tourists in Wien on the night of the 29th of January 2012.
It has now been established that the death of the two tourists was a result of drug overdose and not in an accident as was believed earlier. Consequently the status of the investigation has been changed from that of accidental death to homicide. The post-mortem report puts the time of their death between 1.40 and 2.00 a.m., though the accident took place at 3.05 a.m. on the 30th of January. The driver of the dumper truck, who had been taken into custody, has been released.
Siddhartha Lele and Harshita Lele were last seen at the Café Coffee Day outlet on Ringstrasse, between 1.25 and 1.30 a.m. They called out for help to the staff at the café, who was busy winding up operations for the day and uploading their daily reports to their headquarters in Bengaluru, India. The staff recognized the Indian couple, as earlier in the evening they had spent considerable amount of time at the same café. By the time the staff could open the grill to let them in, they disappeared. The police are questioning the Café Coffee Day employees for any information that may help in this investigation.
The Wien Police is also probing the possible involvement of a crime syndicate in this regard. The police have some vital clues and hope to solve this case very soon.
The Wien police in 2011 have a hundred per cent success rate in solving homicide cases and bringing the accused to book. We expect to keep that record intact and once again make Wien the safest tourist destination, not only in Europe, but the entire world.
You may visit the Wien Police website for further details. In case you have any information which may be of use to the police, you can contact Johann Schroeder’s office at the numbers given below or email at [email protected].
‘You were right Karan. I’m really beginning to feel worried now. We will have to being in the cops tomorrow. This is getting dangerous now.’
Karan nodded. ‘Yes Indrani, that’ll be wise.’
‘And Jacqueline, is Tanuja around? I need to speak to her. Can you ask her to come up?’
‘She has just left Indrani. She was going to the airport to drop her husband. He came in this morning and is off again.’
‘Oh. The amount he travels! Poor Tanuja, she just keeps shuttling between home and the airport,’ said Indrani, earning weak smiles from everyone.
42
GB2, Mumbai
Morning, 1st February 2012
By the time Karan left for home, it was around 2.30 a.m. The sweep of Raymond’s workstation had given them some insights, though many questions still remained unanswered. A tired Karan had dropped Kavya home and then headed back to his house. Hemant had left on his own.
In the morning, while on his way in, he called Kavya on her mobile. ‘I will join you there. Dad will drop me. Will see you in the boardroom,’ she said. He was the first of the three to come in that day. Kavya was next.
‘Morning guys. Coffee?’
‘Good morning Jacks!’ suddenly Karan’s face lit up. A glare from Kavya muted his smile.
‘Guys the expense reimbursement claims of Indrani’s direct reports and the telephone bills of those thirteen RMs have come. You want to see it now?’
‘Yes of course.’
The two of them got down to work once Jacqueline printed out the bills and gave it to them. GB2 was a well organized, technology oriented bank. Almost everything that Karan required was available online. They sifted through the bills of the RMs one by one. There was no trend that they could make out. All the numbers that were common between the thirteen sets of bills were those of the bank staff, staff they would regularly deal with in normal course of work. Nothing suspicious.
‘Where’s Hemant?’ Kavya asked all of a sudden as she was putting one bill down and picking up another.
‘Must be sleeping.’
‘What the hell? He should have been here by now.’
‘Call him Kavya? Ask him where he is and how long he will take.’
Kavya tried calling him. His phone was not reachable. Keeping the phone back on the table, she looked at Karan. Her face went pale.
‘Is everything okay?’ asked Karan.
‘His phone is not reachable.’
‘Oh fuck. Hope he’s alright.’ Karan picked up his phone and started frantically calling him. He too couldn’t reach him. ‘Do you have his residence number?’
‘No.’ Kavya shook her head.
‘Ask Jacqueline. Shit. Hope he is safe.’ There was panic in his voice.
Kavya was back in ten seconds. ‘No she too doesn’t have.’
‘Oh my God. . .Shit. Shit. I should have dropped him home. If something happens to him, I will hold myself responsible for it.’
‘Don’t say that Karan, nothing will happen to him.’ At that very instant the door flew open and Hemant walked in. ‘Where the fuck were you? And why is your phone not reachable?’
‘Chill Karan. My phone is fine. . .I was in the lift.’
Karan heaved a sigh of relief. ‘Sorry Hemant. I got really worried.’ Hemant went and patted him on his back. ‘It’s okay. Bad times.’
Indrani came in around 9.30 a.m. ‘Guys, any progress?’
‘Indrani, the telephone bills don’t throw up anything. I am a bit stuck, wondering what to do.’
‘By the way, did you pass on information to The Times of India?’ She had read Bhaskar’s article that morning.
‘Nothing that is derogatory to GB2 Indrani. The story talks about the fact that CNRI could have been funded through dubious means and that their motive could go beyond TNPP. Something which even Krishna Menon had alluded to in a conversation with Times Today.’
‘I noticed. Thanks for being sensitive to GB2.’ She turned her back towards all of them, ‘I will be back in five minutes. Let’s figure out the next course of action then. We don’t ha
ve too much time.’ She turned towards Jacqueline, ‘The 10.30 a.m. meeting is on today. . .right?’ Jacqueline nodded.
Like many others, it was a daily routine for Indrani to head to the restroom to freshen up and touch up her face before settling down into her work. She headed to the washroom. The touch-up took only two minutes. Standing in front of the mirror, she admired herself. She looked young for her age, although a few wrinkles were beginning to show up—there was only so much that a compact could hide. ‘Time for Botox,’ she thought as she pulled out a tissue and wiped her face.
With her right hand she cranked the handle and opened the door to head out when she ran into a sullen-looking Malvika.
‘Hi Malvika.’
‘Good morning Indrani.’
Indrani stepped closer to her and hugged her. The warm hug from Indrani made Malvika lose her composure, one that she was struggling so hard to maintain. She started sobbing uncontrollably.
‘Oh my baby. You should have stayed at home till everything settled down. What a brave girl you are! We all admire you and your resolve.’ Indrani tried her best to give solace to Malvika and get her to calm down. It had surprised every one when Malvika turned up for work the previous day.
‘Come. Come to my room,’ and Indrani led her to her room. ‘Jacqueline, a glass of water,’ she said as she passed her secretary.
‘You are a brave girl. You should not be crying. If you lose your balance, who will take care of your parents sweetheart?’ Indrani reasoned with Malvika. ‘We are all with you my girl.’
‘Thanks Indrani.’ Indrani hugged her again. ‘I’m sorry Indrani, I don’t know how I lost control. I will try not to.’
‘I know what you are going through Malvika. If I can be of any help, please let me know. I’m there for you.’
‘Thanks Indrani.’
Hearing all the commotion, Karan came out of the room. ‘Is someone crying?’ he asked Jacqueline.
‘Malvika.’
‘Who’s Malvika?’
‘Harshita’s sister.’
Karan was surprised. ‘Harshita’s sister? She works for GB2?’
‘Yes Karan. She used to report to Raymond.’
‘Why the hell didn’t anyone tell us? She could throw some fresh light on all of this.’
‘Indrani felt that we should keep her out of the investigation till she comes out of the trauma.’
‘Hmm. . .okay let’s not rule out that option. If we have to, then we will keep that as the last resort.’
At that very instant Malvika came out of Indrani’s room and went past Karan and Jacqueline.
‘Malvika,’ Jacqueline called out. When she turned, Jacqueline added, ‘Do you have a nice picture of Harshita? Need it for the e-magazine. If you have it, then I’ll put it up in the article we’re carrying about her. The magazine will come out day after.’
‘I have a few. I’ll show them to you. You take your pick.’
‘Thanks love. Are you bringing them now?’
‘Yup. Will be back in two minutes.’ And she disappeared. She didn’t smile or acknowledge the presence of Karan.
After she left, Karan looked at her, ‘Magazine? E-magazine?’
‘Yes my friend. I am the editor of the e-magazine apart from being Indrani’s secretary. Multifaceted you see.’ And she smiled.
In no time, Malvika was back with her iPad. ‘Here. There are a lot of photographs of Harshita in this. Select the one you want and I’ll email it to you,’ she said to Jacqueline.
Jacqueline looked at the white iPad and smiled. ‘New one?’
‘Harshita’s last gift to me. She bought it for me on my birthday. When she bought it for me, little did I know that this would be her last.’ And she turned and rushed back to her desk. It looked as if she was about to burst into tears again.
‘Poor Malvika. I would hate to go through what she is going through.’ Jacqueline moved back to her seat with the iPad in hand. Karan stood there, wondering how it would be to lose one’s sister and boss within twenty-four hours.
‘Come. Let’s go,’ Indrani’s voice pulled him out of his reverie. He turned and followed her into the boardroom.
‘One sec Karan.’ When Karan heard Jacqueline call out, he stopped.
‘Where do I see the pictures in this?’
‘There is an icon at the bottom. Touch it and the photos will open up on screen.’
‘Where?’ Jacqueline was struggling. ‘Can’t find it.’
‘Is the iPad password protected?’
‘No. It doesn’t ask for a passcode.’
‘Okay wait.’ He turned towards Indrani who was standing at the door to the board room, ‘Indrani, I’ll be with you in a minute. I’ll just show her how to find images on the iPad and come.’ Indrani continued walking towards the board room.
‘Give,’ he held out his hand to take the iPad from Jacqueline. Jacqueline was more than happy to hand it over to him.
‘Look,’ he said. ‘This is the photo icon. Click on this one and the photos will open up.’ Once the albums open up, you touch the photo you want and it opens up on the screen. To move from one photo to the other, just swipe your finger like this.’ He swiped his finger from right to left to move from one picture to the other.
‘That’s cool.’
‘And if you want to go back to the albums, just press this tab on top. Simple.’
‘Got it.’ She took the iPad from him. ‘Wait, let me try it once.’ This time Jacqueline was successful and she smiled at Karan. She looked back at the picture and smiled. ‘What a pretty picture!’
Karan looked at the picture Jacqueline had pulled up on screen. ‘She was quite pretty. Aging, but pretty.’ And he smiled at Jacqueline. ‘Okay, I have to go. Indrani will scream.’
‘Just one minute Karan. Help me select the picture and go na.’
‘Fine, give me the iPad quickly.’ He took the iPad from her and went through the photos. ‘Let’s see if there are other albums,’ he said, looking at Jacqueline for a minute before returning his gaze to the iPad. He pressed the tab on top of the screen, which said ‘Albums’. The photo went off the screen and in its place, five photo albums appeared. On top of the screen, right in the middle, were four buttons: ‘Photos’, ‘Photo stream’, ‘Albums’ and ‘Events’. Curiosity took over Karan. He pressed the button which had ‘Events’ written on it. The photographs appeared on screen, batched up according to the dates on which they had been imported into the iPad. He clicked on the ‘back’ button and went back to the main screen. This time he pressed the ‘Photo Stream’ button.
‘What’s Photo Stream?’ Jacqueline asked him. She was closely observing everything he was doing.
‘You have two minutes Karan,’ Indrani walked past talking on her mobile. Jacqueline smiled. ‘It’s okay Karan. I don’t think she will finish in two minutes. Tell me. What’s Photo Stream?’
‘How do I explain?’ and Karan started thinking. ‘Alright, I’ll try. Photo Stream is a feature on iCloud.’
‘iCloud?’
‘Oh my God, I didn’t know you were so technologically-inept. . .and you claim to be an editor of the e-magazine.’
‘Fine fine. Tell me.’
‘iCloud is Apple’s own cloud computing technology. It stores applications, photos, contacts, pictures etc. across multiple Apple devices. So if you have a MacBook, iPhone, iPad and iPod, and you are logged onto the same iCloud ID on all of them, then documents that you create or save on one will automatically get pushed onto the other devices, pictures that you take from one will appear on the others seamlessly, provided the devices are connected to the Internet.’
‘Okay, then what’s Photo Stream?’
‘Is this some technology lesson or what?’ Kavya had come out of the boardroom where she was tired waiting for all of them. She didn’t like Jacqueline flirting with Karan.
Karan ignored what Kavya had said and looked at Jacqueline. ‘With iCloud, if you take a photo on your iPhone or iPad, then it automatically
appears on all devices logged on to the same iCloud ID. For thirty days, they reside in an album called Photo Stream.’
‘I’m still confused.’
‘Dumbo. If I have an iPhone here and an iPad at home, and I have logged on to both using the same iCloud ID and I take your picture with my iPhone, then almost instantaneously, the photo will appear on my iPad at home, provided the iPad is connected to the Internet. In the iPad and the iPhone, it will by default, reside in a photo album, which is called Photo Stream. Anyone using my iPad can see the photo instantaneously.’
‘Oh that’s so cool.’
‘Tell Indrani to buy you an iPad for all that you do for her then.’
‘I will, but only after you care to come in and finish our discussion.’ Indrani had just overheard what he had said. She was standing at the entrance to the conference room, hands on her hips. ‘Shall we?’
‘Yes Indrani.’ Karan said hurriedly. He looked at the iPad, and pressed the ‘home’ button to get out of the pictures menu and was about to hand over the iPad to Jacqueline when he stopped. His face took on a look of stunned disbelief. Jacqueline tried to take the iPad from his hand, but he didn’t let go of it.
‘Call Malvika,’ he said softly
‘What?’ Jacqueline hadn’t heard him clearly.
‘I said, call Malvika. Damn it,’ he swore. He sat down next to Jacqueline’s workstation, looking shell-shocked. ‘Are you alright Karan?’ Indrani asked. By that time Hemant had come out into Jacqueline’s area. ‘What happened?’
Karan didn’t respond to the question; instead he just looked at them and involuntarily whispered, ‘Let’s get back into the boardroom?’ He was not trying to whisper butwords were struggling to come out. Karan tapped the ‘Photos’ icon on the iPad as they walked into the boardroom.
When the menu came up, he pressed the ‘Photo Stream’ option and then stopped. The iPad was in his left hand. Using the index finger of his right hand, he moved from picture to picture, before finally stopping on one. He sank to the carpeted floor and rested his back against the wall. His hands came up to cover his face as he let out a deep sigh and rubbed his palms against his cheeks.
The Bankster (Ravi Subramanian) Page 26