by Samuel Kris
Tell me, Inspector, is justice on my side?”
“It depends on whether Stella is alive.”
“Hey... Inspector. You’ll never regain her. She who wishes to please the dead will stay with the deceased. I will not tell you where it is.”
“Remember I will never be able to save you. This case is turning from the disappearance to the murder.”
“Ha! Whatever it is. Leave this woman alone. I can say in any court that she was uninvolved.”
“Why would I live without you?” Mrinalini asked.
“There are many here who desire your beauty.”
Chapter 11
In precis, he never said where Stella was. But within a few days, her rotten body was found. That was according to the information acquired by tracking Augustine and Mrinalini’s bank transactions and phone calls. I learned Augustine had approached an employee of the parish church to open the family tomb. The next night after Stella’s disappearance, the tomb was opened and her body was concealed. To keep nothing out, the employee was paid one lakh rupees.
An autopsy report found Stella was buried alive. Her limbs were tied, mouth was covered. She must have been conscious at the tomb. She was withered with agony and pain.
Dr. Augustine was sentenced to life in prison. I remember Mrinalini was given a very small punishment. Mrinalini’s punishment was cut short because she was directly uninvolved in the murder and Augustine had pleaded liable. But I felt she would never succeed in front of her conscience.
Stella’s perversions were unrevealed to anyone including the court. I felt that was cruel to her. She did not want her perversions to harm anyone. Her husband, however, abstained from treating or supporting her.
Sajan’s call followed a week after Stella’s body was discovered. He drank a lot, and he wept a lot, saying that he loved Stella a lot and that he could not stand in this city without her being alive. When I inquired why he was so obsessed with just seeing her photo, he said he could never forget her face. When I informed him about her perversions, he said that if he had seen her a few days ago, surely, he would have taken over all her perversions and he would be a good husband to her. Sajan said he would never see me again.
But I met Sajan years later, the changes that meeting made in my life were huge.
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