Valley of Death

by Vickram E Diwan

  Only when he could think of no other place to go, did Abhay move his car to the direction of Rajouri Garden. He had decided to drive his car in front of the house without stopping before it. If there were police jeeps outside or any indication of Payal’s secret lover waiting for him, he would drive away and spend the night in some guest house or Hotel and decide on his strategy and maybe even the entire course of his future life.

  It was thus that Abhay had reached Rajouri Garden late in the night, at around half past ten. As decided by him earlier, he drove past his house without stopping. All was dark and silent there; no Police jeeps, no cars of any sort, in fact, no sign of life in the darkened house. What were Payal and her secret lover up to? Abhay wondered. Why had they closed all the lights? Were they lying in wait for him, to strike at him when went in?

  The road that passed in front of his house turned after a little distance, he stopped his car after making that turn, just to be able to think and decide as to what he wanted to do next. Why was he running like a coward? He questioned himself. Why should he leave his own house and go to a hotel or guesthouse? Let him also see what kind of man that lover of Payal was; it would at least give him a chance to see the real and ugly face of the woman who had pretended to be a virtuous and loving wife all along.

  It would end all that façade, sham and lie once in for all. And after all, he thought to himself, he still had his lucky charm with him. And why was he afraid; it should be Payal and her lover who should be afraid of him. If he can kill Anshul, the daughter of Payal and her lover, what is stopping him from turning his wrath at those two? Thinking this Abhay turned his car and drove back to his bungalow; he left the car outside the gate, just in case of an emergency or unforeseen circumstance, which could have arisen and he needed to make good his escape.

  The entire house was plunged into darkness and the silence was so perfect that Abhay could hear his own breath. He boldly put his finger on the doorbell, but there was no response. When he put his hand on the door, he found that it was open; what was that, some kind of trap? It was too late for him to hide his arrival; the noise and headlights of the car would have indicated his presence if there was anyone hiding inside.

  He switched on the light of the lobby and waited for some response; when none was forthcoming, he boldly went upstairs. Aneerie silence prevailed; he felt something sticky below his boots. He switched on the light in the lobby and found Payal lying in a pool of blood…

  It took him a while to grasp what had happened. The lobby was littered with bloodstainedshreds of glass. He immediately took away his eyes from it, but it was by then already too late. He vomited in the washbasin beside which he was standing.

  A faint cry of pain caught his attention. He saw a slightmovement in the eyelids of Payal; uncaring of the broken glass strewn on the marble floor, he rushed to her and sitting down on the bloodstained floor, took her head in his lap. “Payal! Payal! Open your eyes; this is me, Abhay!” he said.

  “Ab…Abhay!” she spoke with great difficulty and so faintly that he had to place his ears near her lips to be able to hear her. She managed to say with tremendous effort, “Wa …water!”

  Placing her head back on the floor very carefully, he ran to the refrigerator in the kitchen and brought a bottle of water. He put his wife’s head again in his lap and poured some water into her dry throat. Her eyelids opened very briefly then closed again. “Who, who did this, Payal!” her husband asked in an agitated voice.

  “Warlock,” was the brief and faint reply.

  “Rudolf! Rudolf Schönherr tried to kill you!” Abhay was astonished. “But why?”

  “To take revenge,” Payal answered in broken words, “(he) said he told you lies about me that I was not a faithful wife and Anshul is not your daughter. Believe me, Abhay, I was always true…Anshul is your daughter.”

  Abhay’s mind swirled. Like so many times earlier, he was torn between two conflicting versions of reality. Was it possible that Payal had been truthful all along and it was Rudolf, who had fooled him and fed him with vicious lies? It was Rudolf who had been trying to scare Abhay to the extent that he would readily believe his concocted story of Payal’s infidelity and her plan to have him killed!

  “I…I (am) going Abhay! …I …I for…for…give you!”

  “No!” he shouted in agony of helplessness in an agitated voice, as Payal closed her eyes. When he panickingly checked her pulse, he found that it was still running, though very slowly. Sitting in that position itself, he took out his mobile and dialled 1099, the number of C.A.T.S (Centralized Ambulance Service).

  The staff of the ambulance reached the lobby minutes later and found Abhay sitting with the head of his wife in his lap and tears flowing down continuously from his eyes. As if in a dream, he saw strangers taking his wife Payal down the stairs, and the next thing he knew, he was on the back seat of the Ambulance, holding the hand of his beloved wife rushing towards the nearest trauma centre, with the siren of the ambulance sounding and the red light atop its roof, revolving and flashing. He was still half dazed when doctors and nurses - more strangers - attended to his wife. Because of her precarious condition, she had been rushed straight to the I.C.U.

  Abhay sat and then half lay on the sofa seat in the lobby around the corner from the ICU for the rest of the night. He was too shell-shocked to react, still dazed by the turn of events, which had closely followed each other. Ever since the ghost of the madman Bittoo had been sighted by Payal, everything had gone awry. His whole life had been turned upside down, and he felt like he was running in a dark tunnel, with no light in sight.

  It was the constant shaking of his shoulders, which woke up Abhay, and it was only then, did he realize that he had fallen asleep, albeit for only an hour or two. He saw the doctor, who had been attending on Payal looking down on him along with a uniformed cop and a constable. He got up immediately and with his mouth gone dry and his heart sinking asked, “My wife…how is she?”

  “She was in a bad condition, if we had been late by only a few minutes, anything could have happened. Anyway, she’s out of danger now, she’s lucky you know, to have survived such a deadly assault. She was definitely attacked cruelly with a murderous intention; her injuries cannot possibly be accidental or self-afflicted. This is a medico-legal case. That is why I have called the Police.

  “I am S.I. Rathe,” said the cop, without any prelude. “The staff from the (police) station will come later to record your detailed statement. I am here for a preliminary investigation. Why did you do this to your wife?”

  “Why on earth would I do this? She’s my wife for god sake!”

  “People in today’s society do much more to their wives in such cases,” quipped the cop. “And if you have not done it, then it is good for you. Anyhow, you tell me what do you know?”

  “I should be leaving; it’s off duty for me,” said the visibly tired doctor and went away.

  “Can I call inspector Thakur, who’s with the Crime branch?” Asked Abhay.

  “Why? Is he related to you?” asked the S.I. who sat down on the sofa chair next to Abhay.

  “No,sir. But he is familiar with the past case history and with the criminal who did this. Have you heard about the ‘Schönherr case’ that made headlines nearly a year back?” Abhay inquired.

  “That Actor, who had been arrested for trying to rape a heroine?” Asked the S.I. shrinking his forehead.

  “Actually he’s a choreographer, and he had abducted his student, who’s now my wife, Mrs. Payal Batra. He had taken her to his estate in Mehrauli…” Abhay went on to narrate very briefly the sequence of events, from Rudolf’s arrest to his court-trial, his acquittal, and his firm determination to take revenge for having been exposed and the animosity he felt towards Payal.

  It was not so much as a desire to protect himself but more because of shame that made Abhay hide the truth about his daughter Anshul. He merely stated that when he came to the house, he found his wife in a pool of blood and that she specifical
ly mentioned the name of Rudolf Schönherr, as the person who had attacked and brutally assaulted her, before she had lost consciousness. There was no mention of their daughter Anshul, and unaware, as the cop was of his family and background, he also did not ask any questions pertaining to his child. Reasonably satisfied with Abhay’s narration after posting the constable outside the ICU, he left. The latter was not to let anyone speak to the victim and notify his superior, as soon as she regained consciousness, so that her statement could be recorded.

  Abhay called his mother-in-law, to inform her of the unfortunate incident and then his superior to tell him that he would not be able to come to the office until his wife’s condition improved and stabilized. After which he called Colonel Narang, and told him everything.

  Filled with rage and remorse, he cursed Rudolf, the architect of all his woes and sufferings, ‘that damn Warlock!’

  It was the evening of the succeeding day and Rudolf’s station wagon was heading towards Patel Nagar, his slave Harry was sitting on the adjoining seat. “What’s the matter, Harry? You have been unusually quiet since last night,” said Rudolf.

  “I did not approve of the way you assaulted that girl, Payal,” was the curt reply.

  “I don’t need your approval; and that bitch had to die, after all,that she had done to me. Warlock never forgets and he never forgives!” he boasted.

  “And why did you use her own husband Abhay against her, poisoned his mind, why?”

  “I had to take my revenge and chose the easy path; her emotional and weak husband was a ready target.”

  “The fact is that you wanted to possess and exploit Payal and you could not stand Abhay because he protected Payal from you.

  “Are you are trying to say that I had hearts for Payal or that I loved her?”

  “No Warlock,” Harry said in a soft and deeply felt voice, “you and I, we are condemned souls; condemned never to know what love is. We are like the wandering phantoms, who can only fly past the valley of love but cannot stop there, cannot dwell there. You and I, we do not even know what love is? We are forever condemned not to experience love. It was Payal and Abhay who loved each other truly before you poisoned their relationship with my help.”

  “Which side are you anyway?” Rudolf asked in a bitter voice.

  “As I said, I’m condemned to live in this hell of evil as much as you are, and it is that which makes me stick around with a person like yourself.”

  “Get out of my face, before I burn you to ash!” Rudolf shouted in an uncontrollable rage.

  Harry vanished instantaneously and Rudolf kept driving his car, full of anger, nearly knocking down two motorbikes and narrowly escaping a collision with a bus. It was around 8:30 in the evening that he stopped his car, and rung the bell of an old bungalow in Patel Nagar.

  Sadhna Bhatnagar froze on the doorway when she saw Rudolf Schönherr standing outside with a menacing smile on his lips.

  “Am I really that ugly?” he asked humorously. “This is the second time in as many days that someone was shocked to see my face,” said Rudolf.

  “What…what?”

  “Let me come in; I will explain it at length if you wish,” Rudolf said and pushing back Sadhna with his right hand and making his way inside.

  She followed him like a wind-up doll; once inside the room where Rudolf had met her last time around, she once again asked, “What do you want?”

  “What is wrong with you people anyway? Why are you all so dumb? Beats me at least.”

  “You are here to take revenge,” she said.

  “Bingo! You hit the Jackpot!” Rudolf said in a cynical voice.

  “You…you want to kill me?” she shrank back into herself.

  “Shouldn’t I? After all that you have done, you have rather earned it, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “I…I was just doing my job,” she said almost pleadingly.

  “So am I, so am I. One thing I have never been able to understand though; why people like you, you insignificant little worms, why do you even care to live? Why do you so pathetically plead, even beg to escape death? How does it even matter; whether your eventless and insignificant lives continue beyond a point in time or not?”

  “I don’t want to die!”

  “Yes, nobody seems to, do they? But then who can escape death?”

  “I have a kid to look after; I am a very sad and lonely woman, my life is a never-endingstory of problems, tensions, and grief.”

  “You should rather thank me then, of getting you rid of all that sufferings forever.”

  “But…But I did not do anything against you. As you yourself said, I was a little worm. How could I then hurt you in any way? I did not do anything worthwhile, were not capable of doing anything against you,” she again beseeched.

  “Good try,” Rudolf said smiling. “But you have irritated me far enough to earn your death. Besides you know too much and unlucky for you, Warlock does not believe in leaving any loose ends. And now say your last prayer woman for your time has come,” he said in an evil voice. He raised the long sword-likedagger in his right hand, which he had brought with him and struck the hapless, unarmed and defenceless woman in cold blood.

  He had struck her twice before the front door opened all of a sudden with a loud noise and a voice shouted, “Stop or I will shoot!”

  Rudolf was surprised to see the cops who had burst in and were pointing their guns at him. There were two men in plain clothes accompanying them, and the son of Sadhna Bhatnagar. The son rushed towards his mother after Rudolf had let go of his dagger with great reluctance and had been overpowered by the cops, who threw him face down on the floor and handcuffed him behind his back. The officer asked one of his constables to call the ambulance as he dragged Rudolf out of the room, holding him by his collar.

  Outside the house, Rudolf saw Uday Thakur sitting on the front seat of one of the two Police Qualises parked next to his Prado. He threw an acid smile at the arrested man and said. “This time I have done it by the book Mr.Schönherr or should I say, Warlock? You have been caught red-handed and there are also two credible witnesses of your crime.”

  “He managed to stab Mrs. Bhatnagar twice, before we got hold of him,” informed the cop who was holding Rudolf.

  “How tragic, but it will strengthen our case even more,” said Inspector Thakur in a contented voice.

  “So you were directing this whole drama from the background,” said Rudolf, “and were waiting for me to show up, to catch me in the act. But how did you know?”

  “Take him away,” said Inspector Thakur. And after he was taken away, he dialled the number of Colonel Narang from his mobile phone.

  CHAPTER 10: THE EVIL LIVES ON

  It was three months since the murderous attack on Payal when Abhay showed up at the gate of ‘Tihar Jail’ with Inspector Uday Thakur of Crime branch of Delhi police. It was with the help and influence of the Inspector that Abhay succeeded in getting permission to meet a man lodged there. While Thakur left the Jailer’s office, Abhay followed a uniformed constable through a maze of galleries and open compounds.

  “Why do you want to meet this prisoner Sa’ab? Asked the prison guard while leading the way. “Is he a relative of yours?”

  “No, he had tried to kill my wife.”

  The guard looked back at Abhay with a strange expression and then nodded his head. “Does not surprise me, this man is a real strange fellow, and dangerous too. So much so that jailer Sahab had to send him to solitary confinement.”

  “To save him from other prisoners?” Abhay inquired.

  “No Sa’ab, to save all others. This Schönherr man, he is a crazy, madman, a maniac! Do you know he tried to kill other prisoners, after some of them taunted him, as they do to a high society prisoner. He has the eyes of a madman; everyone is afraid of him and thinks his place is in a mental hospital, where violent and dangerous maniacs are kept under locks. Do you know Sahab,” the guard said widening his eyes, “he spends hours in his prison cell talking to h
imself. And when one guard asked him, he said that he could see and talk to the spirits of the dead people. This weirdo will definitely be hanged if he’s not sent to a mental hospital first.”

  The guard’s monologue ended as they entered a room with a ‘wall’ of mesh iron net in the middle, which divided the room into two halves. Abhay sat on a wooden chair while the guard left the room; his thoughts went back to his wife and Rudolf. Though it was unbecoming of him to doubt Payal ’s statements after the murderous assault on her, the fact of the matter was that he was still unsure of reality. It was his search for the truth, as also the extent of Rudolf’s guilt and his wife’s innocence that had brought him there. One other important reason was that he was unable to face or accept the great sin that he had committed by killing his daughter and was anxious to find a scapegoat – to blame either a person or circumstances for his unforgivable actions.

  After a long while, the door on the other side opened and a tired looking Rudolf Schönherr appeared. Abhay was taken aback by his appearance; as he came inside the room that resembled a pigeon-home surrounded by mesh-net. The Eurasian was wearing a prisoner’s uniform and walked in a swaying manner, unsure of his steps; a far cry from the person whose self-confidence had bordered on arrogance. The exposure, humiliation, incarceration, and abandonment, by all his friends, well-wishers, fans and his occult powers had taken a heavy toll on his psyche. As regards physical attributes; the sheen of his face had disappeared, eyes had sunken inside and the bones of cheek and his jaw clearly showed as the skin above it had thinned considerably. The same was true of his arms and legs as he had lost weight considerably and when he came closer, Abhay noticed that his hands had lost colour and his fingers appeared unusually long and devoid of flesh.