Predator (23 page)

Joe was let off the hook, for lack of evidence. Chris and Salmonella were deemed innocent. However, Inspector Khan, who was assigned to keep a watch on both Chris and Salmonella, suffered from a major personal tragedy when his own daughter, Celina, aged five, was abducted and gang-raped. What was left of her body was found in the forest near the vineyard after a week. Inspector Khan was off duty for a month.

It was during this time when Salmonella’s psychotic behaviour manifested in her personality. She’d just moved into Grace’s house and, barely a month since the many changes happened in her life, the inducer, the
folie imposée
, emerged out of her
folie à deux
persona.

One day, when Chris had come to meet Salmonella at Grace’s house, the three of them decided to go for a walk. Something inside Salmonella must have snapped for she ran against the traffic of the main street and a car hit her. Although she was knocked unconscious, she didn’t sustain any major injuries.

Before Grace could get her off the road with the help of the bystanders, something happened to Chris, and he duplicated Salmonella’s folly. He ran towards the next oncoming car and the accident was replicated. Grace was flabbergasted and the people around the marketplace couldn’t understand what had happened. The case was hushed up because Joe didn’t like negative publicity.

Salmonella suffered minor injuries, but Chris had broken his leg. When Inspector Khan arrived at the scene, Salmonella refused medical attention, and Chris was taken to the local hospital. After questioning, both were let off and no charges were pressed against them. During Salmonella’s interrogation, Inspector Khan had noted that Salmonella had appeared extremely calm and composed. She had shown no sign of remorse for her actions.

Whereas the statement recorded on Chris clearly indicated that he didn’t know what had happened and why he did what he did. It was this incident that drove Chris towards drugs.

When the news had reached Inspector Khan and Dr Screwalla, they knew the vicious cycle had been triggered. The delusional sense of invincibility had been transmitted from Salmonella to Chris. Salmonella’s transformation into the delusion inducer had begun. The unfortunate experiences in her life, all happening consecutively, seemed to have changed Salmonella. She had obviously started to develop a deep-rooted hatred of all men, including her brother.

This incident conclusively proved her ability to influence Chris. She could use Chris for her own selfish needs.

And Joe continued to walk free as well. His power and influence over the simple town folk with his riches could turn truth into lies and vice-versa.

Salmonella’s Scar

Chief sat uneasily in the chair as Dr Screwalla looked at him sombrely, ‘So you see, Chief, this is why I had suggested to Inspector Khan not to include Salmonella in his list of prime suspects. Given her knowledge and intelligence, she needs to believe that she is not a suspect. She is, in fact, the mastermind, and far more dangerous than Joe himself … ’

‘But she’s not the one involved in the gang-rapes, right, so why do you call her the mastermind, Doctor?’ queried Goose with a perplexed frown.

‘Valid point, Goose. You see, Salmonella is systematically trying to eliminate all the people who are getting in her way. She has neutralized Joe, and she’s had Prince killed. Ram Singh, her slave, is keeping an eye on her living threat, her brother, Chris, who is also being considered a prime suspect by the law enforcement department. She intends to take over Joe’s Vineyard. Not for money, but for revenge.’

‘What do you mean, Doctor? She wants to take revenge on her own father? For what?’ asked Chief.

Dr Screwalla paused, took a deep breath, and then continued, ‘It was a few days before his wife died. Joe, having had one drink too many, crept into his sleeping daughter’s bed and attempted to rape her. She screamed for help. Joe’s servant, Ram Singh, came to her rescue and threatened Joe with a kitchen knife. Chris was nowhere to be seen … ’

Dr Screwalla continued, ‘Joe snatched the knife from Ram Singh and tried to kill Salmonella. Although Ram Singh held Joe back, he slashed her cheek, as she tried to escape from her room. Salmonella fled from the house that same night. The surgeons in the city hospital helped fix her cheek as best as they could. But that night, Salmonella’s life had changed forever. She left the house for good after her mother’s funeral.’

‘Thanks, Doctor, most of it is fairly clear now. Just one more point, would you know what the deal is between Ram Singh and Salmonella?’ asked Chief, dreading Dr Screwalla’s reply.

Stroking his chin, Dr Screwalla replied, ‘I know what you’re thinking, Chief, and I’m afraid you’re right. Yes, Ram Singh always cared for Salmonella – as her lover, not as his master’s daughter. This relationship would not have come to light had Inspector Khan’s cyber sleuths, Dr Raman’s team, not hacked into Chris’s laptop and found pictures of Ram Singh and Salmonella in compromising positions. You may not be aware of all the behind the scenes investigations that Inspecting Khan has been conducting.’

Goose felt deflated by the sheer sordidness of the entire statement. He couldn’t for the life of him have imagined Salmonella in the avatar of a demented psycho.

‘The world is a bad place, son. Technology has only made it worse, as it’s now so much easier for the predators. From the evidence, it appears that Ram Singh is first and foremost Salmonella’s sex slave. Salmonella uses him to keep a watch on Joe’s movements, and if she were so inclined, Salmonella could have her father snuffed out in a heartbeat. Joe still lives only because Salmonella wants him alive for some time. The same applies to Chris, you see?’

Following the rescue of Grace, it was proved that her captivity had a direct link to Joe’s wine-making processes. The ritualistic imprisonment and torture of the victims had deep connotations that implied devil worship and insanity. It took them a while to realize that Salmonella’s scar wasn’t merely skin deep.

Goose was doodling in the dust on the desk and Chief sat stock still absorbing the gist of Dr Screwalla’s narrative. Just when they thought the case was finally wrapped up and everybody surviving would now live happily ever after, there came yet another macabre twist in the gruesome tale. Joe’s wine brewing methods was based on blood libel, a delusional devil worship to ride on fear by perpetuating an urban legend, abductions, bondage, gang rapes and the abuse of social media to lure their victims – now it seemed that the person responsible for it all was still at large and worse, still thirsting for revenge.

‘No wonder it took so many years to unravel this morass of madness. I suppose we owe an apology to Inspector Khan, Goose, he’s even put his own vendetta on the back burner for the big picture,’ said Chief, ruefully feeling the day’s stubble on his chin.

‘I agree, Chief. But then again, it just throws up more questions. If we must help him fix it, I have a coupla questions for Dr Screwalla here,’ said Goose.

Grace’s Case

‘Shoot, Goose. Salmonella’s no pushover. It’s taken us years to decipher this. What’s on your mind?’ prompted Dr Screwalla.

‘So what happens if Salmonella takes over the vineyard? What’s so wrong if these bastards are snuffed out?’ asked Goose.

Chief nodded in agreement. Dr Screwalla harrumphed in disgust and got up from his chair and said. ‘Ah! The impatience of today’s youth! By law it is not easy to prove someone guilty, more so, when you use the shotgun approach of arresting a few people on charges of raping Grace. Do you think that would solve the problem? Are you even aware of what Joe has been up to? Do you have a clue about why these incidents have occurred in that small town for so many years? Why do you think it’s only Grace’s abduction that has been taken so seriously by Inspector Khan and not his own daughter’s?’

Chief shrugged as Goose reached for the bottle of water.

‘I’m sorry if I lost my temper, son. Please understand that I’m telling you all this for a reason. As I said, Inspector Khan needs your help for the simple reason that there are certain things he cannot do within the purview of his law-abiding role. He believes you can help him bust Salmonella and Chris. Chris will walk free in a few hours. Unless Salmonella believes she has beaten the law, we cannot arrest her … so pay attention!’

The Making of Silver Mountain

Every time someone asked Chief to pay attention, his hackles would rise. It reminded him of his obnoxious high school teacher.

Ignoring the fuming Chief, Dr Screwalla continued, ‘Look, I’m not a wine expert, but I’ve learnt a lot through this case. For the making of Joe’s masterpiece brand called Silver Mountain, which is a red wine, his workers pluck the grapes, but before crushing them, Joe washes the grapes in the blood of his sacrificial victims – the abducted women are held in captivity, brutally raped and prepared for the ritual. When he deems the time is right, he slices them up and washes the grapes in their blood.’

‘Oh dear God!’ exclaimed Goose, unable to believe his ears.

‘His madness made him believe that by lending his soul to the devil, he would create the best wine. He is a very sick man, Goose. Wine is not just a passion for Joe. It is an obsession that cost him everything. His madness led him to believe that only the blood of a dying woman would help him create his master brew.’

Not expecting a reply from either of them, Dr Screwalla continued, ‘Having his precious grapes from his vineyard anointed by the blood of these abused women, he would send them for crushing and then have the wine poured into a vat for fermenting. Here again, owing to his madness,
folie à deux
, he introduced another ingredient. It is a hallucinogen found in the South American rainforest – Ayahuasca’.

Dr Screwalla noticed his audience was beginning to turn green around the gills. ‘Here, Chief, you look like you could do with some water. Where was I? Oh yes! The skin of the grapes is retained with its juices and the blood along with the other ingredients for a certain period of time, depending on the type of red wine being made, and maintained at a certain temperature. Joe is an expert at processing wine. He knows precisely how much blood needs to be added to the natural flavours of the grapes.’ Dr Screwalla handed Chief a fresh bottle of water from the small refrigerator beside his chair.

Dr Screwalla paused to take a breath, and continued, ‘Once sufficient extraction has taken place, the denser particles tend to float to the top and this is filtered out of the vat. These solids are re-pressed to extract the remaining juices before proceeding to the fermentation process – that’s more or less the production procedure of the Silver Mountain. The point to be noted here is that Joe, as a wine expert, would start the process at 4 a.m. sharp. Every victim died around the same time, a fact validated by Dr Pinto, the pathologist.’

‘Joe used this knowledge to ritualize devil worship to instil fear in the minds of his followers. The disposal of the exsanguinated body in the graveyard added to the local myth in the village, and, voilà, you have a legend! His wine-making procedure spanned a six-year period for reasons best known to himself.’

‘What would be your take on it, Doctor?’

‘Look, as a psychiatrist, I can only conclude that until he was absolutely sure that the devil’s brew was perfect and had firmly established his business, he had maintained the numbers at six: abduction of six young women; on a six-yearly basis; and held captive for six days. It also explains the symbolization of the triple six that was tattooed on the four rapists, and branded on to the victims, including Grace, but that is at best only a guess.’

‘Anyway, I suppose Inspector Khan will do a polygraph test on Joe when the legal proceedings get underway. I just hope that his decision is not biased. In the end, it should be a fair game not clouded by the incident that happened to his daughter,’ said Goose.

Dr Screwalla toyed with a biro and said, ‘You see, if Joe won the award, the abductions, rapes and killings would escalate and so will his delusions about devil worship. This would be the perfect time for a takeover by Salmonella. Inspector Khan is fully aware that Celina was just a test sample in the process for the perfect brew that Joe was obsessing about, yet he compartmentalized his personal bias separately and focused on saving the other young girls. There is no doubting that man’s integrity, son’.

‘Agreed, Doctor’, said Chief. ‘But just because Salmonella has a medical history, how can you conclusively say that she’s the brain behind this madness?’

Dr Screwalla looked at Chief as though his patience was being tested, yet he spoke calmly, ‘Only when we found the contents in Grace’s computer our sleuths woke up to the blitz of technology. That’s when Dr Raman decided to hack into Salmonella’s computer. What he found was horrific. Salmonella’s computer had hidden files that not only contained what we found in Joe and Chris’s laptop, but much more. Raman hacked into her email accounts without arousing Salmonella’s suspicions and he found the controls of the camera that is placed in the buttery.’

‘Dr Raman, the young whipper-snapper, rocket scientist? He’s on the case? Wow! You’ve got your bases covered, Doctor,’ said Goose.

‘Thank you for the vote of confidence in Raman, Goose. Yes, that’s the main reason why Grace’s abduction got full attention from all quarters because for once we all knew we were close to cracking the case from all angles and gather evidence against all the culprits that would hold good in any court. Without this kind of evidence which Raman has been able to garner, Grace’s case would have been bought over with Joe’s money. Hence the slow pace over the past few years, do you understand now, son?’

When Chief and Goose nodded, Doc Screwalla proceeded, ‘Right! In fact, Dr Raman has conclusive evidence that Salmonella used Chris to identify victims to Ram Singh, who would relay it to Joe. She manipulated Chris and Joe into using Ram Singh, her sex slave. She still does it. She needs to believe that she has won and has managed to pull the wool over our eyes. When she is properly lulled, she will let her guard down and resume her activities, that’s where you guys come in,’ said Dr Screwalla.