Monday Morning
9.30 a.m.
All was still quiet an hour later when Acharya and Tim drove up to Charmwood Cottage. It was impossible to imagine a killer lurking within the serene cottage. The colonel went into the dining room where Arif was enjoying a cup of tea. Tim, in the meanwhile, sneaked up to the don’s room to check on the gloves. They were still there just as Ganesh had described, under a newspaper in the drawer. He put the gloves into a polythene bag and walked into the dining room.
The don’s breakfast lay untouched on the table. The guy was snapping at someone on the phone. ‘Hey, there you are,’ he addressed Tim after finishing the call. ‘Now that the murderer has been arrested, are we free to leave?’
‘I think the DSP mentioned that everyone has to wait until the post-mortem reports are received.’
‘Drat! When are these reports due?’
‘They should be here shortly.’
‘I’ve been hearing that assurance repeatedly but nothing seems to have moved,’ Arif complained, cracking his knuckles noisily.
‘We are doing our best. These things take time.’
‘Time is what I don’t have.’
‘I’m afraid you’ll just have to be patient.’
‘Mr Khan, we’d like to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind,’ said the colonel.
‘Does it matter what I think? You’ll do exactly as you wish.’
‘How long have you known Ramola?’ Tim asked.
‘Look here, young man. That is a private matter and I don’t see what it has to do with the investigation of her murder.’
‘It has a lot of relevance, Mr Khan,’ replied Tim patiently.
‘In that case, all you have to do is to pick up the newspapers tomorrow. I have been told that the Mumbai paparazzi have been unleashed to dig into her life. She has become a hot topic after her death.’
‘As I cannot lay my hands on the Mumbai tabloids, and I do not like reading gossip columns, it will be better if you were to enlighten me about your relationship with the actress.’
Sensing that there was no escape, the don sighed and began narrating his story.
‘I first met her at the Golden Pagoda restaurant, about twenty years ago. She must have been about nineteen at the time. She wasn’t ravishingly beautiful but there was a certain something about her warm, generous smile.’
Tim understood exactly what Arif meant. He had experienced the magic of Ramola’s smile. It had charmed him and he had fallen in love, deeply and irrevocably.
‘I was attracted to the young girl. To be honest, I lusted for her. There I was, a twice married forty-year-old man, accompanied by my mistress, smitten by a nineteen-year-old. You can imagine the situation? I wanted her for myself.’
The colonel was surprised by the don’s candour. ‘Perhaps you’re aware that I have a chain of restaurants and pubs at Mumbai. Some of them are for the common man, but the others are for the elite. As she settled us down at a corner table, I asked Roopa (she was known as Roopa at the time) if she would like to switch jobs. Ignoring the murderous looks that my mistress was giving me, I gave her my card and made an irresistible offer. I promised to pay her two thousand rupees more than her current salary, which was an enormous amount in those days.’
His hands shaking with emotion, Arif Khan lit a cigarette and concentrated on packing as much nicotine into his system as he could. The effect was instantaneous. Gasping, he crushed the burning end into the ashtray by his elbow and reached for his inhaler.
‘Sorry,’ Arif apologized after he got his wind back.
‘Given your asthma, should you be smoking?’ asked the colonel.
‘You sound like my physician, Colonel,’ the don smiled. ‘Anyway, continuing the story, Roopa turned up the very next day at my office and I hired her as an assistant. She hadn’t a clue about filing systems or computers, so she promised to join evening classes for a secretarial course. Roopa worked harder than any of the employees, she was also a keen observer, a quick learner and an ambitious person with lofty dreams. In a matter of six months, she rose from being a secretary to an executive and my mistress. I bought her an apartment to which she shifted with her mother and brother.’
‘The elder brother,’ interrupted Acharya. ‘How old was he?’
‘He was two years older than Roopa and a wastrel. Ravi was in college. He did nothing to support the family, so the girl was forced to shoulder the responsibility. The more she earned the more he spent. He was addicted to heroin. The girl was shattered when she learnt of this. All her hopes that the brother would take up a job after graduating evaporated as did the dreams of being absolved of her onus.’
‘…and the mother?’
‘The mother was a manic depressive ever since the father jumped from the top floor of the stock exchange building. She was under constant medication. As soon as Roopa had enough money, she put her mother in an expensive sanatorium at Devlali. It worked. The woman showed improvement with the professional care.’
‘The brother stayed with Roopa?’ asked Tim, making notes on his pad. ‘Can you give me the address of her apartment?’
‘Yes, the brother stayed with her,’ replied the don. ‘As for the address, I don’t remember it offhand, but I can get it for you. Why do you want the address, anyway?’
‘It’s required for our records.’
Familiar with the ways of the police, Arif knew that Tim would request his Mumbai counterparts to check the story.
‘Please continue with the story,’ requested the colonel.
‘Since I liked Roopa, I began taking more interest in her welfare. I chided the brother for his habits and even threatened him. Furious with my interference, he complained to his sister. In no uncertain terms, he told her that he was not interested in staying in the apartment if I interfered in his life. He bullied her into renting a small apartment for him although she could ill-afford to do so,’ Arif paused before continuing.
‘With their mother at the sanatorium, there was little money to spare. Ravi resorted to emotional blackmail and she succumbed. In his apartment, the brother threw parties where his bunch of depraved friends gathered to dance, drink and smoke. They brought women, experimented with ecstasy, snorted cocaine and chased heroin.’
Considering you’re a drug lord, the brother’s addiction ought not to have disturbed you, thought Tim.
‘Did he visit his sister?’
‘Only when he ran out of money. Eight months later he died of an overdose of heroin.’
‘He died at twenty-three?’ Tim looked taken aback at this unexpected twist in the story. The script of Ramola’s life read like Greek tragedy.
‘Roopa was heartbroken. The deaths of her father and brother shattered her. To add to her problems, the mother, who was already suffering from depression, was devastated at the son’s death. She became unhinged,’ Arif went on. ‘For the young girl, it was an unbearable loss. She stopped working and lost the will to live. Just when I thought she would buckle under the stress, she emerged from the debris and began tackling life with renewed vigour. Her ambitions and dreams grew in proportion to her sudden zest for life. No longer satisfied with working for me, the girl wanted to act in movies. When I tried to counsel her, she turned around and told me I was too old to understand anything.’
Arif laughed ruefully, ‘Perhaps I was too old to understand her. Anyway, carrying a portfolio of her pictures, she began making the rounds of the studios and the production offices. Roopa was willing to sleep with a director or a producer in return for a role. She was desperate. Unwilling to lose her, I offered to produce a film for her.’
‘You produced a film for her?’ Tim was incredulous.
‘I wanted to safeguard her from unscrupulous directors. Although I seriously considered producing a film, I was unwilling to gamble so much money on the girl. Disappointed, she began making the rounds of the studios once again. The girl managed to land a few bit roles, too. Then she met Sen. She slept with him. The director must’ve seen some potential in her so he offered her a lead role with Vikram Ahuja in one of his movies.’ He started cracking his knuckles.
‘From Roopa she mutated into a hard, cold and calculating woman called Ramola.’
‘So it was Sen who gave her the new name?’
‘I don’t know whether he gave her the name or she chose it herself, but the movie was a hit and the girl was noticed by all the right people. When I learnt that she was seeing Sen, I was livid. I wanted to kill her but my wife advised me to let her go. “She doesn’t love you anymore,” she said. “Not that she loved you, ever. She was just using you.” I realized she was right. Roopa had never loved me. I didn’t love her, either. She was a consolation prize for my fading youth.’
‘You let her go?’
‘There was nothing else I could do.’
‘Did you keep in touch with her?’ asked the colonel.
‘She became a successful star. Our paths never crossed, but I always sent her a gift and a card on her birthday.’
Tim was surprised at the fleeting glimpse of emotions in the cold eyes. Would he have it in his heart to kill her?
‘What kind of a person was she?’ he asked, realizing that he knew very little about the woman he loved.
‘Ramola was a very complicated person and not easy to understand,’ Arif replied.
‘Did she have a lot of friends?’
‘Very few. Initially there were a couple of school friends, but she disconnected from them soon after she became a star.’
‘If you were to describe her in two words, what would they be?’ asked the colonel.
‘Ambitious and ruthless,’ Arif summed up the girl after a moment’s deliberation.
‘Is there anything else you can tell us, anything that may help us solve the case?’
‘There are a couple of things I could tell you but I don’t think this is the right time to do so.’
Tim threw a sharp look at the don. ‘Don’t talk in riddles. There is nothing like the right time as far as a murder is concerned,’ he said. ‘I insist that you share the information with us. You owe it to Ramola.’
Arif refused to take the bait. ‘Let me get back to you by the end of the day. There are a few things that I need to confirm with my associates.’
‘Is Ramola’s mother alive?’ asked Acharya.
The question seemed to surprise the don. ‘I don’t know. I’ve never tried to find out. It has been years since I had anything to do with that girl.’
‘Could you give us the name of the sanatorium where the mother was staying?’
‘I could try to get it for you.’
‘One last question,’ Acharya turned on his heel as they were making their way out of the dining room. ‘What time did you wake up this morning?’
The don thought for a moment before replying, ‘I think it was around 8.30.’
‘Did you go out anywhere this morning?’
‘No, I came straight to the dining room after a bath.’
‘Did you hide a pair of surgical gloves at the bottom of your drawer?’ Tim sprang the question on the man.
‘No, I didn’t.’ Arif shook his head. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘We discovered a pair of bloodstained surgical gloves at the bottom of the drawer in your room.’
‘Where did they come from?’ Arif was genuinely puzzled.
‘I will let you think about it for a while,’ said Tim. ‘It may come back to you.’
‘It won’t! Because I didn’t put them there. Do you really take me to be an idiot? If I were the murderer, do you think I would put bloodstained gloves in my room? It is obvious that someone is trying to implicate me.’
‘Anything else?’ His eyes cold, the don raised his eyebrows enquiringly.
‘That will be all, Mr Khan,’ the colonel smiled. He was impressed by the man’s composure. ‘Thank you for your cooperation.’
‘The man seemed genuinely surprised at the mention of the bloodstained gloves,’ said Tim as they walked away from Arif.
‘I sensed it too. Arif is right. No murderer will do something as stupid as placing a pair of bloodstained gloves in the drawer of his room and the don is anything but stupid.’
‘The point now is – who is trying to frame Arif and why? Is it enmity or something else?’ Tim muttered.
‘We will have to find that out. For the moment, all we can do is to send the gloves to the forensics and wait for them to get back.’