by Ruby Gupta
Chapter 6
‘It is a pity he had to die,’ the man with the fresh scar on his forehead, said.
‘Why do say that?’ asked his crony.
The two were sitting at their favourite watering hole, gulping Old Monk and watching the news on the tiny TV that hung over the bar.
‘I’ll let you on to a secret,’ the scar-faced man lowered his voice.
His companion leaned closer. ‘What?’
‘Don’t tell anyone,’ he paused. ‘Actually, I had been given the contract to get rid of Rajvir.’
There was a shocked silence.
‘Yes,’ the man continued, as his scar gleamed purple in the dim lights.
‘My God, who gave you the contract? And more importantly how much were you paid?’ Greed glittered in his friend’s eyes.
With a brutish smile, revealing stained teeth, he boasted, ‘I won’t tell you the amount, but considering Rajvir’s stature, you can only imagine how big it was. Why do you think I agreed to pay for drinks?’
‘So, it was you who did it?’
The man looked confused. ‘Er … I suppose I must have done it. Though for the life of me, I don’t have any memory of actually doing it … I really should cut down on the cocktail of drugs that I take, before going for the assigned job.’
‘And who asked you to do it?’
‘That too, I don’t know. I just got a phone call fifteen days back, asking me if I was interested in making a hit and earning big money. When I agreed, I was asked to report to room number 345 at Hotel Grand. The room was dark when I entered. There was a man sitting in the corner hidden in shadows. I could only make out his outline against the chair. He spoke in a muffled voice about the hit and made me an offer I could not refuse. Half the money was given to me as advance and I was promised the other half after the hit.’
‘So, you got the other half also?’
‘Yes,’ the scar-faced man smiled. ‘Isn’t it great? I did the job, and even got the money. And I don’t even remember when or how I did it,’ he grinned widely.
‘That is not possible. No matter how drugged you were, surely you would have some memory of it? You know it’s not so easy to just walk into Xanadu, make a hit and walk out. It is a high-security zone, man! Perhaps you did not do it. Just think, where were you on the night of the murder?
‘I don’t know. I woke up the next morning in my bed. The last memory I have is of snorting some coke and going to sleep… and if I did do it in some sort of drugged unconscious state, I may have left some clues behind, which could lead the police to me,’ the man looked troubled.
‘You fool! Better get a grip on yourself, man. Do you want to spend the rest of your life in jail? You know you just got out a couple of years back? The cops will only be too happy to throw you back in,’ his buddy spoke in genuine concern.
There was silence.
‘What do you think I should do?’ the man looked anxious.
‘I think first you throw away all the damn drugs that you are hooked on to and go back to your village for a couple of months till everything cools down,’ his friend counselled.
The brutish man nodded. This was sane advice. Besides, he did have a lot of money – enough to last him a couple of years, even if he did not get another job. Downing his drink, he said, ‘You are right, my friend. I will do exactly as you say. Remember, don’t breathe a word of this to anyone.’
‘Of course, you know you can rely on me,’ his friend paused. ‘But there is a small price attached to my silence.’
‘How much?’ the man spat out.
‘Hey, don’t get angry. Even though I am your friend, perhaps the only friend that you will ever have; I gotta eat too!’
‘Ok,’ the scarred man spoke grudgingly.
They haggled a bit about the amount. Finally, after agreeing to transfer the agreed-upon-amount into his friend’s account, the brutish man left the bar.
‘The post-mortem and ballistics report has come,’ Dr. Singhvi said.
‘Oh! What does it say?’ Pallavi asked. She did not need to ask how he knew. The doctor was always in the know of things
‘Nothing extraordinary really,’ Dr. Singhvi said.
Professor Shantanu, who happened to be sitting in a far corner of the rather large drawing room apparently engrossed in one of his books, listened attentively.
The two were oblivious to his presence.
‘Well, it was murder, most certainly. And death was instantaneous. It was as a result of the single bullet wound. Thankfully Rajvir did not suffer,’ Dr. Singhvi said.
‘It must have been apparent to the killer, that the single bullet had done the deed. That is why no second shot was fired,’ Pallavi said.
Shantanu felt real admiration well up in him for the lady. She did have brains, notwithstanding her filmi credentials.
‘Ballistics has confirmed that the gun found in the study had been recently fired and the bullet extracted from er, Rajvir, matched the remaining bullets in the gun. So that takes care of the murder weapon.’
‘Yeah, but we already sort of knew that. There was no doubt in my mind that it was Rajvir’s own gun that had been used,’ Pallavi nodded.
‘Right. And the time of death is between three and five in the morning,’ Dr. Singhvi said.
‘Almost everyone had left by that time, remember? I think it was just a handful of guests who still remained,’ Pallavi said.
‘Yes. I think even I had left by that time.’
‘Really? I thought you were still there… Or maybe I was mistaken,’ Pallavi said.
‘You must be mistaken. I’m sure I left by that time. I’m no longer young enough for such late nights,’ there seemed to be smile in the doctor’s voice.
‘Neither am I,’ Pallavi concurred.
‘You can never, not be young, my dear,’ Singhvi stated.
‘It’s only now that the reality of Rajvir’s death has hit me,’ Pallavi said, ignoring the doctor’s compliment.
‘I can understand.’
‘I mean I knew Rajvir would die –’
‘What!’ Singhvi exclaimed abruptly, cutting her in mid-sentence.
Professor Shantanu went suddenly still.
‘What I meant was, I knew that Rajvir would die one day,’ hastily Pallavi corrected herself. ‘And I had always thought that it would not really affect me. I was completely detached from him, as you know. But when I got the news of his death, I was surprised at my own reaction,’ Pallavi paused.
Dr. Singhvi waited patiently.
‘I’m startled at the emotions it has aroused within me. I never expected to feel this way,’ she continued.
‘It is natural, you know. I would say, allow yourself to feel whatever you are feeling – accept it. This is the only way to hasten the healing process,’ Dr. Singhvi counselled.
‘Yes, you are right. And I am so glad that you are here to help me through it,’ Pallavi smiled gratefully.
‘You know you can always count on me. And besides I would do anything for you; er, I mean, for Rajvir’s family.’
Professor Shantanu listened with interest to the doctor’s words.
‘So, what is going to be done now after the report?’ Pallavi asked.
‘Inspector Bhogle will focus on narrowing down suspects, based upon the report, I guess,’ the doctor replied.
‘Okay. I hope he does it quickly, so that things are laid to rest,’ Pallavi spoke, somewhat anxiously.
‘Don’t you worry, dear, everything will turn out fine,’ Dr. Singhvi patted her hand.
In the sitting-cum-interrogation room, Bhogle flipped through the notes he had jotted in his case diary.
Predictably, his preliminary interrogation of the family and close friends had yielded nothing. Nor had anything emerged from his talks with all the guests who had been at the party. And neither had the servants, temporary staff and outside caterers offered any clues. But then Bhogle had expected that. Being a thorough and meticulous detective, he always m
ade it a point to undertake this kind of preliminary investigation just to get a feel of the case and understand as much as possible about victim’s lifestyle.
But now Bhogle was going to get down and dirty. He had narrowed down the list of people he was to interrogate, based upon the post-mortem report.
The verdict was that death had occurred between three and five in the morning. So, there was no need to talk to people who were not longer in Xanadu outside of this time-frame. At least not for now. He had already made a list of people who had not left Xanadu by 3 am that night after examining the security footage. The Head of Security had been most helpful in this.
He had also gone through the security footage. In particular, he had concentrated upon the footage of the corridor outside the lift and staircase that led up to Rajvir’s study. That was the sole entry and exit point to and from the study. There had been only three people seen in the footage of the corridor between three and five. With the help of Rose and the Head of Security he had garnered their identity and listed them for his next round of interrogation.
Based on these two parameters, he now had a list of twenty-four people he needed to talk to. These were from the VIP guest list. The temporary staff and outside caterers had already left by midnight. And barring household help that were deputed on night duty, the rest had all retired into their quarters for the night.
Bhogle had already talked to fourteen of the VIPs and gained nothing for his meticulousness. It was clear that they had nothing to with Rajvir’s death in any way. They were there just for the party and had neither animosity, nor any kind of feeling, or motive for wanting to harm the star.
Bhogle had known that he would gain nothing through this interrogation.
But then, he always went by the book. This practice of his, of always checking out everything, and not leaving anything to chance, had always stood him in good stead. It had helped him to have the best success rate of solving cases in the department. He was not going to let go of his tried and tested investigative method now – he could certainly not take any chances with this high-profile case. In fact, solving this case could just get him his next promotion, Bhogle smiled at the thought.
He had been careful to word his questions in such a way that none of the high-profile guests whom he talked to, felt humiliated, or anything. Having rehearsed his opening line about this being a routine information gathering exercise, he used it with disarming diplomacy on each one of them.
Most of the people, barring a few who felt it was a waste of their valuable time were all too ready to answer his questions. Predictably, he could get nothing that seemed important enough or significant enough for him to be able to link it with the murder. Going by what he had gathered till now, he was sure that talking to the remaining ten would also not yield much.
His earlier interrogation of Rajvir’s daughter, Mridula and his brother, Girish too, had given him no clues. The two were not even present in the city on the night of the murder; and had no idea about how or why it could have happened. They had no idea about who could have done it.
Girish was as far removed from the Hindi film industry as possible; and he expressed his extreme ignorance about Rajvir’s life. He did hesitatingly suggest that it could have been the result of some business deal gone wrong or something – if such a thing was possible. Other than that, he could not think of any reason why Rajvir could be killed.
Mridula too confessed that her life was in Delhi and she did not know of anyone who could have wanted to kill her father.
Rose walked in and announced that the remaining people whom Bhogle had summoned for questioning were waiting. Bhogle asked for them to be sent in one by one.
An hour and half later, Bhogle stroked the left half of his abundant moustache in frustration. He had learnt nothing. None of them seemed to know anything. Sure, they had been at Xanadu during the narrow window when the murder had occurred. But that was the normal practice. Parties did go on till the early hours of the morning and it was customary for them to hang around till then. There was nothing unusual in that. Mere presence did not indict any one of them in any way.
Most importantly, none of the twenty-four were close enough to Rajvir to be privy to the presence of the murder weapon hidden in the drawer. In fact, barring the three of them, the star had never bothered to invite the others to his study either. The three who had indeed gone up to the study had merely gone for a walk on the terrace garden. They too did not know anything about the gun in the drawer. They had returned from the study soon enough, which was borne out by the security footage. When they left the study, all had seen Rajvir alive and well, enjoying one of his special cigars at his desk. All three had left Xanadu a little later. Prima facie, the three had no motive for doing the dastardly act.
So, if they saw Rajvir alive around three, then the murder must have happened after that.
Bhogle tapped his pen repeatedly on the spine of his case diary as he unconsciously did, whenever stumped. He needed to figure out the motive. Unless he had the motive, he could not arrive at the identity of the murderer. Why would anyone want to kill Rajvir? Love, lust, revenge, money and power – these were the prime motives for murder. This is what he had learnt in all his years of experience. What out of these could be the motive here? And who would have one of these motives for killing?
‘He deserved to die,’ Lucas smiled his lopsided grin, as his eyes shone brightly. Whether it was the high of drugs, or the high of some pleasurable memory – it was hard to discern.
‘Hush,’ Natalie cautioned him.
Lucas seemed oblivious to the slight censuring. ‘No one messes with my woman and gets away with it,’ he added gleefully, as his chest visibly expanded in pride.
Natalie had been summoned to Xanadu for another round of questioning by Inspector Bhogle. She had just finished, and was on her way out.
Lucas had insisted on accompanying her. Since coming to India, he had become adamant about going everywhere with her. It was ostensibly to take care of her, he said. But Natalie knew it was so that he could keep tabs on her. She did not know how much longer she would be able to handle this. Lucas was suffocating her. How would she ever escape his smothering?
Anyone hearing the conversation would have concluded that Lucas was guilty of the crime.
And indeed, as Rose listened into the conversation, she thought so too. This was terrible, she thought. She had had heard enough.
Immediately she rushed to the sitting-cum-interrogation room, and informed Inspector Bhogle of what she has heard.
Satisfied, that she had done the right thing by her former employer, Rose went down to the kitchen for a well-deserved cup of tea.
‘I can’t say that I am grief-stricken by his death,’ Pallavi bit daintily into a delicate-looking cucumber sandwich.
Professor Shantanu was nonplussed for a moment. It seemed inconceivable to him that the wife, er, widow, of Rajvir would make this sort of comment. The spouse is always guilty in the case of murder of a married person, the thought flashed through him. Squashing the thought, he remained non-committal, as he waited for her to go on.
‘Well as you know, there was never any love between us. It’s common enough knowledge,’ Pallavi paused to sip her chamomile tea. Absent-mindedly, she looked at the professor. He really was striking looking, in a sophisticated, gentlemanly sort of way. Far removed from the usual type of men she was used to dealing with.
Professor Shantanu waited patiently, wondering at the contemplation evident in her eyes. ‘I see,’ he said, when the silence stretched too long.
‘Ah yes,’ Pallavi came back to the conversation. ‘Well, maybe there was love initially. But it was so long ago, that I honestly have no recollection of it,’ she smiled.
The professor felt himself being irresistibly drawn to her face, which had become suddenly charming, owing to the open smile that extended to her eyes. She was just too beautiful; he had to concede.
‘But yes, his going has certainly incon
venienced me,’ Pallavi continued, oblivious to Shantanu’s reactions.
She picked another sandwich. ‘Oh please, why don’t you also have one?’ she said, remembering her manners.
They were sitting on the terrace, facing the magnificent, flower-lined green lawns of their hanging garden. It was Pallavi’s favourite place to relax. It was teatime and seeing Shantanu, Pallavi had invited him to sit with her.
The professor picked up his cup of tea and asked, ‘Inconvenienced you? How?’
‘Well you see, I was – am – about to embark on a brand-new phase in my career, something very exciting for me. But now with Rajvir going and dying like this – you know getting himself murdered and all – I don’t know how quickly I will be able to get on with my favourite project,’ she looked dejected.
‘I see,’ he paused. ‘What project is this?’
‘I have been offered to host a chat show on the lines of “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. It will be called, “The Pallavi Kapoor Show”,’ she said with a touch of pride.
‘Oh! That is great. Congratulations!’ Professor Shantanu smiled.
‘Thank you. I am really looking forward to it,’ she said.
‘I can imagine,’ the professor nodded.
‘But this thing needs to be sorted out first,’ Pallavi continued.
‘Yes. Who do you think must have done it?’ Shantanu asked.
‘I really don’t know,’ Pallavi’s face took on a bemused expression.
‘Surely you could have some idea?’ he prodded.
‘Umm… I don’t know. Although many people did not like Rajvir… Many people were jealous of him… Some probably hated his guts, and some hated his success. Yet, I can’t say who could have gone far enough to kill him,’ she said.
‘It must be someone close to him, perhaps,’ Shantanu said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean someone who knew about the gun and about the layout of Xanadu,’ the professor pointed out.
‘Yes. I suppose so,’ Pallavi agreed.
‘An outsider would not be able to simply walk in, take Rajvir’s own gun, do the killing and then walk out, undetected. It has to be someone whose presence in Xanadu would not have been questioned,’ Shantanu said.