Seduced by Murder (18 page)

They looked fresh as daisies. They hadn’t played any tennis today, which was understandable since the courts were flooded. They were both engrossed in their animated conversation, their heads close together. I could not hear them, but I noticed something strange about their posture.
They were sitting too close to each other. Reena was laughing uncontrollably, leaning her head against his shoulder. They reminded me of lovers meeting in a park. The fact that they were sitting on a rusty bench, hidden from public view, also roused my suspicions.

The man placed his arm around Reena’s shoulder, and said something that sent her into convulsions of laughter yet again. He casually placed his right hand over Reena’s thigh. Slowly, his hand began to slide up and down, suggesting that he was stroking her thigh. Reena leaned back, opening her legs wider. His hand crept up further. Reena closed her eyes, and threw her head back. Her thighs were now clamped tightly over the man’s wrist. The skirt covered his hand, but from the gentle movement of his arm, I knew what he was up to.

Pranay whispered, “Dude, is he doing what I think he is doing?”

“Yeah.”

“Is he Vimal?”

“No.”

“Fuck! Why would they do this publicly?”

“Don’t know. The forbidden fuels the passion, I guess.”

There was a sigh – a lustful sigh. I turned around and saw the old man, who had been hiding his cards from me, standing behind me. He was hardly five feet tall, and I had not noticed him behind us at all. He grinned toothlessly at me and said, “Nice. Very nice.”

His hands were no longer clutching the cards to his chest. In fact, the cards were now embarrassedly hiding a part of his anatomy in his trousers. He looked away from me quickly, and began staring out of the window again. I guess he must have been at least seventy.

“Careful, grandpa. You could get hernia.” He was oblivious to everything except the sight in front of him. I decided it would not harm an old man to get some voyeuristic delights at his age, and made way so that he could get the front row. He grinned and walked forward. I had never given much attention to Reena. I reassessed what I knew about her. She seemed to be a typical rich father’s daughter married to a rich father’s son; a bit too vain, a bit too good-looking; and too fashionable to have any intellectual ambitions. I added
sexually promiscuous
and
exhibitionist
to the list now. The man’s movements seemed to be getting more and more rapid and stimulating, and Reena threw her shoulders back, shaking with excitement, as the man conducted the symphony with his fingers. Reena jerked her neck to the right. We found ourselves staring at each other. She paused, and suddenly pulled the man’s hand out of her skirt, signalling to the window. Both of them stared at me, shocked. Reena squinted to get a good look at me, and put her hand over her mouth. She had recognised me. I waved at them. My phone rang in two minutes.

“Hello?”

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Who is this?” I asked sweetly.

“You know damn well who this is. Come out this instant!”

“Tell you what. Daddy knows you have been a dirty girl. Meet me at the cafeteria near the parking lot, with the gentleman.”

I disconnected. Her voice had been shaking with anger, but I hadn’t detected any trace of fear.

“Dude, I will interview Reena and her companion. Why don’t you go and try to extract some information from the waiters?” I said to Pranay.

“About?”

“About Einstein’s theory of relativity. What do you think?”

“Uh … uh … you mean about Reena?”

“Yes, Sherlock. About Reena and the gentleman with her. Question the waiters about their relationship.”

“Why would they tell me?” he asked, doubtful.

I snapped impatiently, “Because you will pay them money! Offer them a thousand bucks each for any useful information they can give.”

“Thousand bucks! That’s too much.”

“Just do as I say. Meet me at the parking lot when you are done.”

Reena entered the cafeteria with her companion in ten minutes. Wickedness makes a woman more charming. I had always found Reena attractive, but today she looked downright sexy. Her face was flushed.

Her companion was a tall man with a goatee, and cold grey eyes. She stood next to me and glared, ignoring my offer of the seat in front of me.

I smiled. “Good game? You both look so flushed.”

“What are you doing here? Who let you in?” she asked coolly.

“The guards did.”

She thundered, “I will have you arrested for trespassing.”

I had to admire her. I had caught her being fingered by a man, and she was the one threatening me.

“Okay, but then I would have to call your father-in-law, and request him for my release. I heard he is on the committee.”

A black cloud formed over her head, and she had murder in her eyes.

“You bastard! You think you can blackmail me, huh?”

Her companion butted in, “Come on, man! Be mature about this. We were just having some harmless fun. Reena and I have known each other for a long time.”

I nodded at him.

“I like a reasonable man. Why don’t both of you sit? All I want to do is talk.”

The man whispered something in Reena’s ear, and she sat down reluctantly. She crossed her legs slowly, giving me a glimpse of her firm, shapely thighs, and black panties. Junior stirred, feeling claustrophobic, and demanding immediate release.

I diverted his attention by coming straight to business.

“Why did you make the call about Shalini?”

“Because—” she stopped abruptly, remembering just in time that she was not supposed to tell me.

“Why did you make that call?” I repeated.

She sighed. “Because Dad told me to.”

“Mr Paras Kapoor?”

“Yes.”

“And did you actually see Shalini plant the locket outside the back gate?”

“Yes. I walked into her father’s room on Sunday. I saw her hurling the locket out of the window.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing. I didn’t make much of it that day. I had gone to her room to check on her, since she hadn’t been feeling well. She was not in her room. So I went to her father’s room. I opened the door and saw Shalini throwing the locket outside the window … towards the back gate.”

“What time?”

“Umm … just after you and the police had left.”

“Did you confront her?”

“No. As I said, I didn’t think much of it that day. She was startled when I entered the room. I asked her what she had thrown out of the window. She said something about empty tablet sachets. I knew she was lying because I had seen something solid, made of metal. But the ambulance was waiting to collect Anil’s body, and I was busy.

“I had completely forgotten about the incident, until the day Babu found the locket outside the gate. It was then that I realized what Shalini had thrown out from Mayank Uncle’s window. It overlooks the back gate.”

“Did you confront her then?”

“No. Dad had rushed to Leo’s house. You were there. When I saw Dad in bandages yesterday at the hospital, I told him right away. I was afraid he would go after Leo again.”

It made sense now. No wonder the old man had been so sure about Shalini being the murderer.

“Why didn’t anyone mention this before?”

“Well, he was the only one to know besides me. I had forbidden him to tell you or the police.”

“Why?”

“Well, Dad confronted Shalini this morning, as soon as he came back from the hospital. He forced me to say what I had seen, in front of her.”

“What was Shalini’s reaction?”

“She freaked out; panicked. She denied everything. She said she had not thrown anything out. I reminded her that she had thrown out some tablet sachets. She broke down and started crying. It was too much for me. I told Dad not to bother her again.”

“Not bother her again? Even though you were sure she was the one who planted the locket?”

“Yes, even though I was sure she was the one who planted the locket.”

“Why don’t you want her arrested?”

“I would never hurt the poor girl! I told Dad that it was up to him, and the police, if they wanted to punish the girl. As far as I was concerned, the bastard deserved to die.”

“Why?”

“The poor girl is a victim. Look, I can demand things. I come from a rich family. Aditi is shrewd and beautiful. She was able to compensate for her middle-class background with her personality. But poor Shalini has been a misfit from the start. She was forced to marry Anil. He was a fiend. I felt sorry for her, but never found the courage to stand up for her when Anil was alive. What right do I have to send her to jail, if she took justice in her own hands?”

“I am confused. If you didn’t want her arrested, why did you call me today?”

There was a pause.

“Dad made me call you. I told him very clearly that I would not testify against Shalini if she denied throwing the locket out of the window.”

“Then what happened to make you change your mind?”

“Two things. One, I read the SMS that her ex-boyfriend had sent her. Two, Dad mentioned that you have a recording in which she tried to bribe you to get off the case. If either you or the police are able to prove her guilty, I will testify. That was the deal between Dad and me. But her grave won’t be dug based only on my testimony.”

I said warily, “All this because you have a conscience?”

“Whatever. You will not understand.”

She looked at me in disdain.

Her companion butted in. “I assume all your questions are answered?”

All this time he had been sitting quietly, listening to our conversation. It struck me that his expression hadn’t registered any surprise or shock during our exchange. Reena had mentioned that she had only told Paras about Shalini, to protect her. Yet, she was perfectly at ease telling me everything in front of her companion, who had maintained a poker face throughout the interview. There was a possibility that he was already aware of Reena’s version of events.

Reena placed a hand on her forehead, as if comforting a migraine. “Listen, what you saw inside…no one has to know….”

I smiled at her companion. “Hi, I am Vishal. You are—?”

He looked confused for a few seconds, and then said good-naturedly, “Hi. I am Abhijit Banerjee.”

Reena glared at me. “Are you listening to me?” Then she softened and pleaded. “Look Vishal, I knew Abhijit before my marriage to Vimal. If Vimal finds out about us, he will be shattered. I love him. This is just plain fun. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do. This is purely sexual.”

“I beg you never to mention this to anyone.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t. I have one more question, and then I will leave you lovebirds alone.”

“What’s that?”

“When you entered the room and saw Shailini throwing the locket out of the window, what was Mr Tripathi doing?”

“Uh…he was sitting on the bed, with the usual blank expression on his face, oblivious to everything around him.”

“Thanks.”

I got up and walked away.

We were hiding in the parking lot, in the shadows of a car bigger than my house. Pranay smacked his shoulder, missed a mosquito, and asked, “Can’t we wait in the car?”

“We could have, if you had been able to find out something worthwhile from the staff.”

“They are uptight, man! At least I found out Abhijit’s address. What did you expect to find out anyway? She told you they were only having fun.”

“I have a hunch. Let’s see.”

We had to wait for another twenty minutes before Abhijit came out. He started walking towards the parking, looking carefully in all directions. He took out his mobile phone and made a call. Reena came out and followed him to the parking lot. He walked past us and went to his car. Reena casually walked towards her own car. She sat in her car and reversed it till she had reached Abhijit. Abhijit had opened the boot of his car. It was dark by now, but the headlights illuminated quite a bit of the parking area.

I couldn’t risk changing my position, so I strained my eyes to see what was happening. Abhijit took out a dark bag from his boot, opened the rear door of Reena’s car, and threw the bag in. Reena drove away. Abhijit got into his car and drove away too.

I got into the car. “We will have a night out.”

Pranay groaned. “What for?”

“To keep an eye on Abhijit Banerjee.”

“Oh … has Vimal employed you to tail his wife and her lover?”

“Nope. I don’t think he is aware of this.”

Pranay looked confused. “Why are we wasting time on Abhijit? He’s just her fuck buddy.”

“Night out it is. Didn’t you find anything strange in the manner he threw that bag into her car?”

“No.”

“What do you think there was in the bag?”

“I don’t know. Tennis shoes?”

“You will see. We shall break into his flat when we get a chance. You got his apartment number?”

He sighed. “Can we go home and change into shorts?”

“Sure. And pick up burgers and booze.”

B
ells were ringing in my head. I was pulled out from a disturbed sleep. My phone was ringing. I looked at the time and groaned. It was five in the morning. I had been asleep for less than two hours. Pranay was snoring in the front seat. I whacked him on the head. He was supposed to be keeping watch.