Seduced by Murder (9 page)

“Why?”

“One day earlier, and you would’ve been called Cancer.”

Leo didn’t find the joke funny. I looked at the carelessly half-packed suitcase, and grinned.

“If you are innocent, why were you packing? Why would you assault a police inspector with a bat and make a run for it? What are you hiding, Leo?”

“I … I … thought … you were thieves.”

Babu turned a nasty shade of crimson. “Do I look like a thief to you?”

I was not convinced. “So that is why you attacked us. Why would you instruct the guard downstairs to lie?”

I went to the suitcase and emptied its contents – casual wear, undergarments, and toiletries. I could feel Leo’s eyes on me. I walked to a table in the corner and opened a drawer. There was an envelope there. I could see his reflection in the mirror next to the table. He licked his upper lips nervously, and moved his gaze from my back to the cupboard. He was nervous about something in the cupboard. I opened the cupboard. There were clothes, some documents, and a large black leather bag that was locked.

“Key?”

“What are you doing? Don’t touch my bag. I will sue you.”

“Silly boy,” I said, and picked up a pair of scissors lying on the table. The scissors had been lying there all along. A murderer, who could stab someone in the heart, would not
have used a deodorant bottle or a cricket bat to attack an intruder. He would have used the scissors. I dragged the blades of the scissors along the width of the bag and emptied the bundles of currency notes on the bed. There were one-thousand-rupee note bundles. Babu whistled. There were five hundred bundles, and each bundle had a hundred notes.

“That’s a cool five crores in cash. Care to explain this?”

Leo had aged two years in two seconds.

“They are my savings, from my modelling assignments.”

“Who were you modelling for? Reserve Bank of India?”

Babu stared at the notes in hypnotic wonder. Vimal walked to the bed, picked up a bundle, and remarked casually, “The currency is authentic.”

Five crores in cash. The inspector was stumped, the detective was tempted, and the rich dad’s son was nonchalant. Life was fair.

Babu looked at Leo menacingly and said, “You better have an explanation for this.”

“I … I earned it”.

I placed the scissors below his chin, and lifted his face. “Either Anil gave it to you, or you stole it from him. Which one?”

All that crap about the eyes not lying is actually true. He knew that I knew, and he knew that he was cornered. His eyes conceded defeat and he said, “I didn’t steal it from Anil. He gave it to me. Can you light a cigarette for me, please?”

Vimal spoke up. “That is a load of bullshit. Anil would never give that kind of money to you.”

“I think he did,” I said.

I picked up Babu’s keys from the bed, and unlocked Leo’s handcuffs. He took a cigarette from his pack, lit it, inhaled deeply, and immediately relaxed.

“Thanks a lot.”

“No sudden movements,” Babu threatened him. Then, turning to me he asked, “How do you know Anil gave him the money?”

“If he had murdered Anil, he would have left the country yesterday with the cash. I am assuming he became aware of Anil’s death just now, and was trying to escape with or without the money. He knew that if he was found with the cash, he would become the prime suspect. He was desperate to escape. That’s why he attacked us.”

Leo nodded. “Yes! If I had murdered Anil, why would I stay? I saw it on TV an hour ago, and panicked. That’s exactly how it happened. The money belonged to Anil.”

“I believe you. But you need to give me more dope.”

Vimal intervened. “You people don’t believe this scum, do you?”

I looked at Leo and said, “Depends on our friend here. As of now, he does seem to have a motive. Five crores is big enough a motive for someone to kill Anil.”

“Bullshit! Anil didn’t have that kind of money. He got peanuts from his family. Ask him,” Leo pointed at Vimal.

Vimal looked at him with hatred.

I turned to Leo. “You have attacked an inspector. Your locket was found at the scene of the murder. You have a motive. Unless you tell us what’s been happening, you are going to the noose.”

Leo sighed. “We were supposed to go to Paris on Thursday, three days from today. On Saturday night Anil called me, all excited, and instructed me to postpone the tickets to next week. They are in the envelope that you took out from the drawer.”

I found two international tickets and handed the envelope to Babu.

“Why did he ask you to postpone the flight?”

“He didn’t tell me. He was excited, and mentioned that he had hit a jackpot. He said we would have to wait another week to collect the payment.”

“Okay. How much?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t speak much. He seemed in a hurry.”

“What about this? Five crores?”

“He got this money last week. He didn’t tell me from where. We were planning to leave India for good. Everything was settled. He called me on his father’s birthday, and told me to postpone the trip by a week.

“He didn’t show up this morning. Which was normal. He usually spent weekends at home, or his old man burst a vein and didn’t pay him his pocket money. I heard about Anil’s murder on TV. I panicked, and decided to leave the city. I was packing when you showed up on the balcony. That is the truth.”

“At what time did he call you on Saturday?”

“Around seven in the evening.”

“So let me get this right. The cash in the apartment is Anil’s, and you are unaware of the source. Both of you were planning to leave the country this Thursday. Something happened on Saturday evening, that got him excited about another big payment, and he asked you to postpone the trip, correct?”

“Yes.”

I looked at Vimal.

“Anil was Paras Kapoor’s heir. Why would he leave the country with just five crores, jeopardizing his inheritance?”

Leo interrupted with a sarcastic laugh. “Inheritance? The old man had already declared that Anil would not get a penny when he found out about me. Anil was on a weekly allowance.” He looked at Vimal and continued, “And with the financial mess these guys are in, they will be lucky if they can avoid bankruptcy. Their debts for their dream mall project run into hundreds of crores. Anil always said that the project would ruin them. He hated his family. And they hated him. He had to leave.”

I had read about the mall that Kapoor Developers were building in the central business district. Land acquisition had been a tedious process, and the media had had a field day writing about the malpractices the Kapoors had resorted to, to get their hands on the property. The property itself was at a prime location, at the junction of two main shopping streets. I had passed the site many times, and it was hard to miss the barricade with
Kapoor Developers
emblazoned on it.

I turned to Vimal. “I am confused. Is five crores a big amount for someone like Anil?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“An important one. Is there any truth in what Leo is saying?”

Vimal replied reluctantly, “Yes. We are coming out with a flagship mall project in the city. When the market tanked, our bank loan was cancelled, just like with every other developer in the city. The land is on lease from the government, and we have to complete the project within a certain period, for acquisition. We had borrowed money from the market at a high interest. So yes, liquidity was tight. From that perspective, at this time, five crores would be a big amount for Anil … and us too.”

“What’s all this about Anil getting a weekly allowance? What does that mean?”

“That is not concerned with the case, and I request you not to go there.”

Leo sprang to my defence. “It is true! He was never involved in their work. He was even disallowed the measly financial support when the old man found out about the locket he gifted me – paid for with the company’s finances.”

Vimal moved threateningly towards Leo, but Babu intervened.

Vimal restrained himself, but said disgustedly, “You must have stolen it all. Anil would not have that kind of money. He was always short of cash.”

I faced Leo. “Anil called you last Saturday. That was the night he was murdered. What did he tell you?”

“What I just told you – to book tickets for a week later, and wait till we got the subsequent payment.”

“You look like a curious guy to me. I am sure you would have insisted on knowing what was happening.”

He took another drag, and averted his eyes. “I don’t know. I swear.”

I decided he was lying. Whenever a person ends a sentence with ’I swear’, rest assured he or she is lying.

“Liar Liar, pants on fire,” I pulled the cigarette from his lips, and extinguished it on his thigh, burning a small hole through his trousers. He yelped more with shock than with pain.

He raised his hands in a placatory gesture and said, “I really don’t know! Maybe he sold another one of his father’s leased buildings. He had attempted forgery once.”

“Forgery?” I asked

“Ask him.” Leo looked at Vimal again.

I looked at Vimal too and he answered, “Anil had some bad habits. He had forged Dad’s signature twice to sell some space in one of our buildings to an investor. He was caught both times.”

“Aha,” I nodded, understanding.

Babu frowned. “You are onto something. Tell me what it is.”

“Nothing. I swear.”

I asked Leo, “So Saturday was the last time you spoke to Anil?”

He grinned slyly, now that a few things were dawning on him. “You yourself said that I am not the murderer. The flat is in Anil’s name. I am sure that the Kapoors would want to keep the cash. I will get nothing. You guys don’t have anything on me! I shan’t say another word till I speak to a lawyer.”

Babu walked up to me and whispered, “My men checked on Reddy. He is a bartender in the pub, just like Leo said. He has confirmed that Leo returned the locket to Anil during an argument last week. So Leo’s alibi is confirmed. It is all very confusing.”

I realised that the poor man hadn’t deduced the implications of this discovery, so I enlightened him. “If Leo is telling the truth, then the locket was in Anil’s custody, and the only people who would have access to his closet or room would be immediate family members. This, coupled with the fact that an eyesight as fine as yours failed to notice the pendant outside the gate yesterday, points only at one thing.”

He thought for a moment, and awareness dawned on him.

“To tell you the truth, I already had my doubts! I found it
hard to believe that I had missed an essential piece of evidence like the pendant at the scene of the crime yesterday.”

I looked at Vimal. “See. I told you, Vimal. The inspector always supported my theory. He was just playing along.”

“Yes, yes, I was just playing along.”

I searched the flat for a couple of minutes, but found nothing consequential save some pieces of an airplane ticket. Air France. I looked at Leo.

“These are the ones I was telling you about. For this week.”

Ten minutes later, a couple of sub-inspectors came in to apprehend Leo.

“What do you intend to do with him?” I asked Babu.

“Well, I can definitely take him in for attempting violence on a police inspector. But I have intruded into his house, with some civilians. If he really knows someone influential, it could mean unnecessary trouble for me.

“The flat is registered in Anil’s name; the money can easily be attributed to the Kapoors’ affluence. If Anil forged a signature again, the family will stick together, and the money will be accounted for. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“I think I will take Leo in for questioning, just to shake the rascal up, and teach him some humility. But I will have to release him in two or three hours.”

It was almost six when I left Leo’s house. Leo was not even taken to the police station. Reddy, the bartender, had affirmed Leo’s version, and arranged five more people who had witnessed the fight between Anil and Leo that night. All of them remembered Leo throwing an ornament at Anil’s face and marching out in anger. While we were on our way back, Vimal phoned Sunil, and told him about what had happened at
Leo’s apartment, exaggerating my heroism and undermining his contribution in capturing Leo.

“How is your father?” I asked Vimal after he disconnected.

“He is fine. He needed two minor stitches, but they want him to be admitted tonight for an entire check-up. You need some help for your eye too.”

Vimal drove the car through the imposing gates of his bungalow, guarded by two gunmen, who looked only too trigger happy to me. Vimal had offered to drive my car so that I could rest my eye. At least that was what he said. I had a nagging doubt that he was nervous about me driving with all the vodka in my bloodstream.

“I see you keep gunmen for security.”

“Yeah. The business of real estate is such.”

Vimal got off near the house and thanked me. A driver was waiting for him to take him straight to the hospital.

“Your eye looks nasty. Would you like to accompany me to the hospital? Get it checked. I am going to meet Dad there anyway.”

“Nah. I will be fine. But thanks for asking.”

He brought his phone close to my eye, the light from the display screen illuminating the damage. His concerned expression told me it was bad.

“Well, get some treatment. It looks terrible.”

“I will,” I paused. “Incidentally, I need a favour. I would like to intrude upon your house tomorrow and talk to some of you. Is that okay?”

“Umm…sure. I will inform Dad.”

I drove out of the gate. The cheeky guard made me roll the window down, and checked the vehicle again.

The sun was setting, leaving behind a residue of a dull pink and orange. It looked tired and serious, reflecting my own state of mind. I thought about Aditi in the café, and felt my own heart sinking with the sun. A man had almost taken my eye out of the socket, my knees had whitewashed an entire apartment block, my intestines were flattened; and yet, the only pain I felt was within … when I remembered Aditi. I was hopeless.

I opened the door of the apartment, and was greeted with the sweet smell of weed in the air. Pranay was lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling. Bruno was lying with his head on Pranay’s lap, and also staring at the ceiling. The lights were switched off, and trance music played softly. I switched on the lights, and Pranay cringed in pain.