Murder at Crescent Point (6 page)

the same day two weeks back. She kept the passbook with her and closed the suitcase. As she came back and sat on the chair, she realised that she had stumbled upon something extraordinary. A poor woman living in a lodge like this, getting this kind of money.
For what?
The more she thought about it the more bewildered she was. From the letter, it appeared there was not a shred of doubt that she was Jyoti’s real mother. Then why should anybody pay her such a lot of money? She remembered Mr Taneja saying that he had not seen the woman or her husband at the time of the child swapping. Then what was the truth? Was this woman only used as a decsoy to lure Jyoti to a secluded place and after killing her, the killer also strangled the woman to remove all evidence of murdering Jyoti?

This assumption appeared somewhat far-fetched to Nikki. Why did the woman accept such a big amount just before going to Sangalina Hills? Nikki’s head was swimming. She needed to think the whole thing through. She put the passbook in her pocket and left the room.

— CHAPTER SEVEN —

The Chatterbox

At the reception downstairs, a lady was sitting instead of the man who had been there earlier. Nikki stopped and greeted her, ‘Hello.’ The lady smiled back.

Nikki said, ‘Few hours back, there was a gentleman here.’

The woman laughed and replied, ‘What gentleman? That’s Prasad, my husband.’

Nikki stifled her smile. The woman continued, ‘Prasad comes in the evenings and stays the whole night. In the morning when I finish my household chores I take over from him. I stay through the day till he comes back.’ She looked at Nikki and said, ‘Why are you standing? Come, sit here,’ pointing towards an empty chair close to the counter.

Nikki said, ‘I am Asha Sayal’s niece.’

‘Yes, yes, Prasad told me about you. How is she?’ Before Nikki could reply the woman carried on, ‘You see Asha Sayal is our long-term tenant. Other people come for a night or two but she stays with us for months together. From time to time she goes to her hometown but when she returns she always stays with us. She is also very prompt with her payment. You know sometimes our customers run away without paying us the room rent but not Asha. In fact she has already paid the rent for the whole of this month. But tell me,’ the woman continued, ‘you were to take some clothes for her, but your hands are empty.’

‘I have bundled them up. I have come on a holiday and shall be here for a few more days. I will take them on the day I am leaving.’

‘Very good, you can come here any time.’

Nikki found the woman rather chatty. She thought she might get some information from her. She took out the pencil sketch from her pocket and asked her, ‘Do you know this person?’

The woman looked at the sketch and replied without any hesitation, ‘Of course, he is our agent Feroz Khan. He brings customers for us from the bus stand and we pay him commission. You know…Feroz Bhai introduced us to your aunty. We are really obliged to him. Asha Sayal is a good customer.’ Then she asked, ‘But tell me… where did you get this picture?’

Nikki hesitated. ‘I found it in Asha Aunty’s room— she was a good artist, you know,’ Nikki said evasively. ‘Oh, how nice. What is your name?’ the woman asked. ‘Nikki.’

‘I am Lakshmi. My name is supposed to bring a lot of money but I don’t see any!’

Nikki smiled and asked, ‘Does your agent Feroz Khan come here everyday?’ ‘Yes, yes, sometimes two or three times a day, as and when he finds a customer.’

Nikki got up, ‘I will go now.’

The woman said, ‘Why don’t you sit some more? There is no customer and I have no one to talk to.’

Nikki smiled, ‘I will come again.’

‘Yes, yes, you must come. You are such a nice girl.’

— CHAPTER EIGHT —

Face to Face

Back in Jyoti’s house, Nikki was left to herself once again. Mr Taneja was in his office and his wife was out as well. There was still some time for lunch. Nikki went to her bedroom and took out the bank passbook from her pocket. The money had been deposited at the Apex Bank, Bus Stand Road branch in a savings account. Who could have given her this kind of money? She kept the passbook in her suitcase and started thinking about her next move. In a way, she felt happy that she had been able to locate the man who gave the photograph to Asha Sayal. This man must have some link with the killer. But she still had so much more investigating to do! Nikki thought for a while when suddenly an idea struck her.

At the lunch table Nikki said, ‘Aunty, Jyoti and I have a common friend, Urvashi, who lives nearby. Her sister is getting married and she has requested me to come and

stay with her for a few days. Since she was close to both of us I could not say no to her.’

Mrs Taneja looked doubtful. ‘Urvashi? I can’t recall Jyoti ever mentioning her?’ But when she saw Nikki’s crestfallen face, she realised perhaps this young girl needed to be around friends of her own age. ‘Of course, you can go. In any case I shall be busy for the next few days. When do you plan to go?’

‘Tomorrow morning after breakfast.’

The next day after breakfast, Nikki packed some clothes in her handbag. She kept the papers in a folder, and the photograph, the pencil sketch and the bank passbook in her pockets.

As soon as she was out, she boarded a bus for Bus Stand Road, where she reached around ten o’clock. A few metres from the Evergreen Hotel, she noticed Prasad standing up to leave and Lakshmi taking his place. She decided to give Lakshmi some time to settle down and looked around for the bank. Soon enough, at the end of the lane she saw the signboard ‘Apex Bank’. She went in and having made some enquiries, she stood in the queue at the ‘Savings’ window. When her turn came, she placed the bank statement before the clerk and asked, ‘I am making an enquiry regarding this account.’

‘Yes, what do you want to know?’ asked the clerk.

‘Mrs Asha Sayal wants to know who had made this deposit of
10 lakhs in her name.’

The clerk looked at the statement and then towards Nikki. ‘Are you her daughter?’ he asked. Nikki hesitated. She thought he might not give information to strangers and quickly blurted out, ‘Yes.’

The man said impatiently, ‘Can’t you read, Miss? It is written cash against the entries. Both the deposits were made on the same day and by cash payment by the account holder herself. I don’t see the purpose of this query.’

Nikki quickly withdrew the bank statement and said, ‘I am sorry. I think she must have got confused.’

‘Wasting my time...,’ muttered the man and shouted, ‘Next,’ dismissing her. Nikki opened the handbag and kept the passbook inside the folder. She turned back towards the Evergreen Hotel. Lakshmi had settled down and was pleased to see Nikki. She stood up and greeted her joyfully, ‘You have come! Come and sit with me.’ Then noticing her handbag she asked, ‘What is it that you are carrying?’

Nikki replied, ‘I have run into a problem. The people with whom I was staying had to leave suddenly. My school transport will come only after two days. I was wondering whether I can get a room on rent in your hotel?’

‘Why on rent? Your aunty’s room is vacant. You could stay there.’ ‘Oh thanks!’ said Nikki. ‘Let me keep my things in the room.’

Nikki soon came down and sat with the woman who went on chatting incessantly. At about midday there was some commotion at the entrance. Nikki’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the man in the pencil sketch standing at the doorway leading a family of four. The man beamed a warm smile at the woman, ‘Lakshmi Madam, here are your new customers…they would like to stay for two nights.’ He turned to the head of the family and said in a salesman-like manner, ‘Come in please. This is the best place in town. All comforts and charges are very reasonable.’

Lakshmi brought out her register and said, ‘Feroz Bhai, while I fill the register you talk to this girl. She is the niece of Asha Sayal, our tenant. She has a nice picture of yours.’ Then turning to Nikki, Lakshmi said, ‘Show it to him.’ Nikki went to Feroz Khan and took out the pencil sketch from her pocket. Feroz Khan was taken aback, ‘This is very nice. It looks real. Where did you get it?’ Nikki looked towards the counter. Lakshmi was busy with her customers. The children were fighting with each other and creating a racket.

Nikki said, ‘This place is very noisy. Can we go somewhere else and talk?’ He replied, ‘Let us sit in the canteen upstairs. This is my tea time any way.’ He turned to Lakshmi, ‘Madam, we are going to your canteen.’ Lakshmi said, ‘Get her also a cup of tea. She is a nice girl.’