Seduced by Murder (4 page)

I was met with silent acquiescence. Pranay was standing right in the middle of the group. I touched my earlobe. That was our signal for him to hit the record button of the recorder he was carrying. I pulled my earlobe again. That was our signal for him to check that he had indeed pushed the record button, and not the rewind button, as he had done a few times before.

I directed the first question at everyone in general.

“Between nine and two, was the party restricted indoors? Did anyone venture out to the beach, or maybe to the pool?”

Paras replied after a moment’s silence. “We wanted to come out to the pool side around midnight. But it was quite chilly outside, and Reena had been running a fever. So we dropped the idea, and stayed indoors.”

“So no one ventured outside till Ram discovered Anil’s body?”

“That is correct.”

I nodded in appreciation at the old man. I directed the next question at Vimal. “What time did Ram leave?”

Vimal thought about it, and then replied in a thick American accent, “Ram left at nine last night. He helped us serve the drinks and snacks, and then we sent him off.”

I hurled at the next one at Sunil. “We know it started raining sometime past midnight. Did anyone of you notice when it stopped?

He said, “It stopped at around one-thirty in the morning. I remember because I had come out to the veranda for a smoke.”

I turned to the petite Reena and asked, “The access to the farmhouse is quite exclusive. Given the close proximity to the village, I assume that the front gate was locked by someone from inside after Ram left?”

Reena looked innocently lost, and Sunil replied on behalf of his sister-in-law. “That’s correct. I locked the gate myself. It was my duty to lock the front gate before it got dark. Yesterday, I locked it at nine, as soon as Ram left.”

“You walked the entire stretch from the front gate to the house? It must be at least fifty metres.”

“So?” he asked, impatiently.

“It is quite a long and dark stretch. Did u carry a torch?”

“No, the lights in the garden are sufficient. Ram switches them on at six every evening, to discourage any trespassers.”

I pointed to the lights hanging between two trees in the garden. “Those ones?”

“Yes. They throw enough light to illuminate the garden and the road.”

“Okay, and where are the switches for the lights?”

“The switches are in the kitchen.”

“Any other switches outside the house?”

He shook his head.

I asked Ram, “So it is your duty to switch them on at six every evening?”

“Yes, sir, but not every evening. We switch the lights on in the garden only when the family is visiting.”

“And when do you switch them off?”

“In the morning.”

“You went to the garden and saw the body first?”

“Yes, sir. I came at ten and rang the bell. Sunil Sir came out, opened the gate, and went back to sleep. I had just put the hose to the tap to water the garden, when I….”

He put his head in his hands dramatically, and shuddered.

I looked carefully at all of them. “I see the lights are switched off now. Who switched them off?”

This innocent question surprised everyone. A couple of people looked at Ram expectantly, who shook his head.

I thought aloud, “Ram was outside the house. When he saw the body, he would have panicked, and his normal faculties would have been affected. He would have screamed to get your attention. All of you would have obviously rushed to the body. So which one of you was composed enough to notice that two lights in the garden were still on, and switched them off?”

I didn’t wait for an answer. “Did one of you turn the lights off before retiring to bed?”

Paras replied, “No, the lights were on when I looked out from my bedroom window last night at around two-thirty. Anyway, we deliberately keep the lights on at night.”

I snapped my fingers. “Please pay attention. I need to get a confirmation for this one. Could it be that one of you turned off the lights this morning accidently?”

“Difficult. The switch for the floodlights is in the storeroom, in the kitchen,” offered Vimal.

That confirmed my doubts. I requested Ram to switch on the lights. In two minutes the lights were on. An involuntary chill ran down my spine as I realised what this meant. The murderer was staring at me right now.

I continued, “So the bulbs are not fused. Someone must have deliberately turned them off from inside the house.
For the sake of convenience, let’s assume that it was the murderer.”

There was an expected cacophony of angry voices. I had made my statement slowly, trying to study each individual’s reaction. There was indignation and shock, but no fear on anyone’s face.

Babu’s loud voice suppressed the rest. “You mean to say someone from the family committed the murder?”

He looked like he was going to murder me.

Paras said indignantly, “Young man, you’d better be careful about what you say!”

I took a few breaths.

“I am not saying that someone from the family
is
the murderer. All I am implying is that turning off the lights would have undeniably been a very big advantage for the murderer. With the lights on, most of the beach would have been exposed. Switching the lights off was the only thing he or she had to do, so that the murder could be committed without being witnessed. All the other facts evidently prove that this murder was planned. Come with me.”

T
he angry mob followed me. “What do you see here?” I asked Babu, pointing to the beach.

“Sand,” he replied.

“Yes, sand. And if you tax your delicate vision a little bit more, you will see footsteps on the sand, evidently made by all of us. The sand is damp from the rain last night, and we see a deluge of footprints. These include Anil’s footprints, and all those who have subsequently come from the bungalow to the hammock, after the dead body was discovered.”

I pointed to a particular set of deep footprints left by heavy boots. “These, Inspector, I believe, are yours.”

Everyone looked at the marks on the sand. I walked over to the other side of the hammock, and looked at the untouched part of the beach facing the pool.

“There are no footprints leading to the dead body from any other part of the beach.”

I looked around to see if all of them were with me. They were an avid audience. I walked to the side of the beach leading from the back portion of the property. Even as I walked, my footprints left their marks on the damp sand.

“There are three ways someone could have reached the hammock. There are no footprints from the pool side, or
from the back gate. All the footprints visible are from the bungalow leading to the hammock. Not a single footprint from any other side of the beach leading to the hammock. Unless the murderer flew, he or she must have walked from the side facing the bungalow.”

The inspector, and Paras, went to the other part of the beach to confirm what I had stated.

Babu said defiantly, “What if the murderer entered from the back gate, got on to the porch, and then came to the beach from the kitchen, knowing that his footsteps would be visible in the morning?”

A murmur of voices rose collectively, supporting this idea.

“He was pretty smart for a petty thief then. And yet he ran away without stealing anything, because he was scared of a corpse?”

“You also saw the lock,” shouted someone behind me, with a ferocity that surprised me. It was Ram. He had suddenly become very interesting to me. I turned towards him, and said, “I am coming to the lock.”

I turned to Babu. “So the murderer broke the lock after it had stopped raining, entered the premises, came to the courtyard outside the kitchen without being seen by Anil, managed to switch off the lights through a closed door – that shows no sign of a forced entry – murdered Anil, and then, instead of dashing to the back gate, retraced his footsteps to the courtyard again?”

Babu hesitated and conceded, “It does sound unnatural.”

Paras looked pale. “I am sure one of us switched off the lights. Think for God’s sake.”

Everyone looked at one another.

I noticed Babu was perspiring when he asked Paras, “Sir, what do you think about his version?”

Paras looked aghast. “He is wrong, of course.”

Sunil lent support to this father. “Insane! This is ridiculous.”

I turned to Sunil. “The party dispersed at approximately two in the morning. I am sure people wouldn’t have gone off to sleep right away. Your father said he was awake at two-thirty and saw the lights on. What time did you sleep?”

“Aditi and I went to the bedroom around two. But we would have fallen asleep at around two forty-five, or three – latest. Right, Aditi?”

She nodded at him. The casual words Sunil had uttered shook me, and I pondered the extent of the intimacy between them. Did they have sex last night?

Was he better than me? Did he understand her as well as I did? Did she moan and whisper ‘I love you’ when she came? I became aware of Aditi’s gaze, and I was sure she knew what I was thinking about. I felt disgusted at the power of my sentiments.

“Well, what are you thinking?” asked Babu, giving undue importance to my blank stare.

I looked at the inspector.

“The entire exercise of the murderer creeping stealthily to the courtyard from the back gate, murdering Anil, and retracing his way via the courtyard to the back gate, would be a minimum of twenty minutes’ process, right?”

Babu replied, “Yes. Twenty minutes or more.”

I continued, “You will notice that Anil’s watch has stopped at three-thirty in the morning. Most probably from a heavy impact, while struggling with the murderer. That means, in
case the murderer was from the village, which I highly doubt, he or she would have entered the premise latest by three-ten in the morning. That implies he would have started the process of breaking the lock by three o’ clock. It’s a strong lock. There would have been some noise. If people were awake at three, someone would have heard something.”

Babu rushed towards Anil’s body, lifted the limp wrist, and nodded. “The glass of the watch is cracked, and it has stopped at three-thirty.”

I addressed the crowd.

“Did anyone of you hear any noises between three and three-ten in the morning?”

Paras walked to his son’s body and glanced at the wrist watch. He paled and nodded. He repeated my question to his family.

Sunil reasoned, “No, dad. But we were all intoxicated last night, totally sloshed. I don’t think we would have noticed anyway.”

I shook my head. “The lock couldn’t have been broken. Follow me.”

I led them to the back gate. I told Ram to stay inside the compound. I closed the metal gate behind me, so that we were outside the compound, facing Ram. I asked Ram to place the broken lock in the latch.

“Well?” I looked encouragingly at everyone.

They looked lost.

“Look at the size of the grill. Even a kid would find it difficult to get his hands inside to reach the latch.”

I asked Aditi to try squeezing her petite hands through it. She could only get two fingers through.

“It would be impossible for a full-grown adult to put his hands inside. Look at the lock. Not a single scratch on it, no
sign of it being broken by something heavy. It is neatly cut in half. Probably sawed.”

Paras was the first one to observe the obvious. “My God! It would have had to be sawed inside the compound!”

I shook my head. “My guess is that someone who had access to the key, conveniently removed the lock, took it to some secluded place, and sawed it, before throwing it here. The murderer would not dare stand inside the compound and break the lock. The noise would have been too much of a risk.

“He or she probably anticipated the party would extend beyond the wee hours. The lock was broken, and put here
before
the party began. Everything was planned meticulously.”

Paras showed a perceptible draining of colour. Sunil stared at me disbelief, Vimal’s eyes widened in shock, and Shalini started shivering.

No one had asked me the most pertinent question, so I told them my ideas. “Some of you might be wondering why the murderer didn’t switch the lights on after committing the murder. Probably because he or she had some blood on the clothes; or it could have been cuts or bruises that required urgent attention.

“He or she would have required time to dispose off the bloodstained clothes, wash, change back into night clothes, and get back into bed. With the lights on, there was always the risk of being seen, and getting suspicious at Anil’s odd posture in the hammock.

“Plus, the murderer knew that switching off the lights would not attract as much attention as switching them on. Some of the rooms overlook the garden, and the risk was too great. I am assuming that the murderer planned to switch the lights on in the morning.”

I studied their countenances carefully, hoping for a hint.

“Someone wanted to make it look as though a villager had committed the murder; but I am very sure the murderer was from inside the hou … eh … inside the compound.”

This time I caught the look. It was not a look of fear or guilt. Two eyes stared at me with hatred and anger. I was surprised at the hatred exuding from her eyes, clearly hinting at homicidal intentions towards me. For a moment, I locked my eyes with Shalini’s. The beautiful widow was radiating negative vibes towards me. It immediately made her a suspect. I stared at her for a couple of seconds, and she showed no sign of lowering her gaze.