— CHAPTER TWO —

A Baffling Discovery

 

Inspector Rajan stopped his jeep below the hill and both of them climbed the circuitous, dusty path to reach the picnic spot. The girls’ belongings still lay scattered by the side of the stream. Nikki pointed towards the hill which Jyoti had climbed. She then took him to the pond below the waterfall and said, ‘I will show you the place where we found her body.’

She entered the freezing water of the pond.

‘You need not go into water. Just point out the spot from here,’ said Inspector Rajan.

But Nikki didn’t stop and went ahead. She paused at a point, ‘We found her floating here with her face down.’ She looked carefully into clear water. She was searching for Jyoti’s missing pair of earrings. They weren’t there. When she came out, the inspector said, ‘Let us see what is up on the hill.’

Nikki asked, ‘Do we have to climb the hill?’

‘No, not from this side. This hill slopes gently on the other side. The road also ascends and reaches a place from where Crescent Point is only about a fifteen minute climb.’

‘What is Crescent Point?’ she asked.

‘You don’t know?’ exclaimed the surprised inspector. ‘Crescent Point is on top of this hill where the two rivers merge and flow down the hill creating a gigantic waterfall. During tourist season, a lot of people go up there to see how the water of the two rivers merges into one stream. This time of the year being off season, the place remains deserted.

They returned to the jeep and climbed up the hill. It was a difficult ascent and the inspector had to frequently change gears. After some time, the road widened and Nikki saw a little parking space and also an area for turning vehicles around. The inspector parked his jeep on the side of the road and said, ‘Let’s go up.’

Nikki noticed a muddy track zigzagging through tall trees. It took them almost twenty minutes to reach the top. The top of the hill had a narrow, flat surface. Nikki went across to the edge of the hill on the other side to check the section of the hill which Jyoti had climbed. She could see the stream but the picnic baskets looked very tiny from above. Taking the picnic baskets as the reference point, she showed Inspector Rajan the point at the top of the hill where she had last seen Jyoti.

Inspector Rajan looked determined, ‘Time to go to Crescent Point.’

They walked along a rugged surface abutting thick forest until the roar of the waterfall became almost deafening. Up ahead was the most picturesque sight Nikki had ever seen. There was a shelf between two tall hills through which a river was flowing. Further up in the distance, she could see two separate streams entering the river from two sides of the hill range and merging to form one big river. She noticed quite a few stumps of trees. Apparently, the place near the mouth of the waterfall had been widened to make a sitting area. A few wooden benches were also placed around. Lying on one such bench was the blue backpack that Jyoti had carried. Nikki quickly went there and got hold of it. When the inspector looked at her, she said, ‘This is Jyoti’s backpack.’

‘Please keep it carefully. We have to take it with us. I am going further up to see if there are any clues,’ said the inspector.

Nikki sat down and unzipped the bag. She was surprised to see a white envelope lying among the other items in the kit. She took it out and opened it. It was a letter. She quietly put the envelope in her pocket and fastened the zip of the bag. The inspector returned after a while and said, ‘I don’t see any evidence around. It appears the girl was sitting here when the killer came from behind and strangled her.’

Nikki shuddered. ‘How can you be sure of that?’

‘There is no other injury on the body of the girl. The only marks are those of strangulation. These marks are deeper on the back of her neck which shows that most probably the killer came from behind and took her by surprise. The expression of astonishment on the face also confirms that she was completely taken by surprise.’

Nikki asked, ‘Why strangulation? The killer could have used any other weapon.’

Inspector Rajan replied, ‘A gun shot would have made too much noise. And he probably did not want to make a mess by stabbing her. Thinking about it, I feel that the killer threw the body in the river so that it could look like an accident and he could gain enough time to get away.’

He added, ‘There has to be some clue. I think I will requisition sniffer dogs and come here again in the afternoon.’

He picked up Jyoti’s backpack and said, ‘I will keep this in the police station for the time being. Let us go, I will drop you back to your hostel.’

On the way down Nikki posed another question to the inspector, ‘You said that nobody comes here at this time of the year. The area on top of the hill has a lot of foliage but is it possible to pick up footmarks of the killer who probably came by the same route which we took to come up here?’

‘Yes, it is also possible to get a fairly good impression from the grassy surface by examining the difference in pressure of bigger and smaller footwear.’ Then turning towards Nikki he smiled, ‘You are smart.’

Nikki returned to her room. Now the mystery about the killer deepened. Why would anyone want to kill Jyoti? What about the earrings? She had looked in the pond and also looked around the bench on the hilltop. The earrings were nowhere to be found. Were they an important clue? Did the killer think that they were real diamond? Was that his motive in killing her? But then why did he cut off a tuft of hair? Nikki’s mind was restless with questions. She suddenly remembered the white envelope and took it out from her pocket. It was addressed to ‘Miss Jyoti Taneja’. She unfolded the letter and read:

Dear Jyoti,

You will probably not believe the contents of this letter. But every word of it is true. Fifteen years back on 25 December, a woman was admitted for delivery in the Missionary Hospital in Somabad. Unfortunately, the woman gave birth to a stillborn baby. The doctors told her husband that there were some complications and she would never be able to give birth again. Her husband was a rich man and did not want to break her heart. On the same night another woman was admitted to that hospital for delivery. That woman gave birth to a healthy baby girl. With the connivance of the doctors, the man bribed the husband of this woman and exchanged his stillborn child with the healthy baby. The second woman was told that she had given birth to a dead baby. The condition laid to her husband was that the couple should leave the town and settle elsewhere.

Several years later, the husband of the second woman was afflicted with a deadly disease. He was bedridden for a long time. A year ago, at his death bed he confessed his guilt to his wife and told her about the child he had given away. The woman was devastated. All her life she had been mourning the loss of her baby while her child was actually somewhere hail and hearty with other people.

Her husband didn’t know the name and address of the person who had adopted her baby. The monetary transactions had taken place through an intermediary who had refused to disclose his whereabouts.

After the death of her husband, the woman left her hometown in search of her baby. There was very little to go by, as she only knew the name of the town and the name of the hospital. She went to the hospital. The doctors and staff had changed. A kind-hearted matron was moved by her story and unearthed the old hospital records. On 25 December of that year only two deliveries had been registered. A woman had given birth to a healthy baby girl and her own name was against an entry, ‘Gave birth to a stillborn baby girl’.

She went to the address of the other woman as registered in the hospital. But in place of a house there was a commercial centre, which belonged to someone else. After searching for one whole year the woman ultimately got hold of the information which she was desperately seeking.

It will shock you but the truth is that you are not the daughter of Mrs and Mr Anurag Taneja, but the daughter of that unfortunate woman, whose child was snatched away from her on that cold winter night fifteen years ago. Yes, Jyoti, I am your real mother.

Having traced so far, I cannot control my heart now. I am burning with desire to set my eyes on you, to hold you in my arms, to kiss you, love you and talk to you about all those things which I had suppressed within me during these agonising years.

Three days from today will be 25 December, your birthday. I cannot come to your hostel. I shall be very happy if you can come to Crescent Point on the afternoon of the 25th. I know that it will be very hard for me to wait for these three days but I wish to see you on the same day I gave birth to you. Having waited for so long perhaps these three days will also pass.

I hope you will not disappoint your unfortunate mother. Asha Sayal

The letter was dated 22 December.

Tears streamed from Nikki’s eyes. Now everything started falling in place. Jyoti could not have gone out of the hostel without permission so she had taken the lead in arranging a picnic in the valley on the fateful day. She had wanted to go to Crescent Point alone. She had concealed that fact from her and quietly packed her kit in the backpack. But how could a mother kill her own daughter? The mother who had taken all the pain in the world to trace her…no! That can’t be. Something is seriously wrong somewhere, thought Nikki.

She once again looked at the envelope. There was no stamp or address. It had apparently been hand delivered. She got up and went down to the hostel gate and showed the envelope to the watchman. He confirmed that three days ago a lady had given it to him asking him to hand it over to Jyoti only and no one else.

‘What did this woman look like?’ asked Jyoti.

‘She was neither old nor young. She was wearing a white sari and came walking.’

The letter and now the corroboration by the watchman increased her curiosity. Nikki looked at her watch. It was eleven o’clock. She saw Ms Malati coming her way. The warden said, ‘Nikki, the girls are leaving for their winter break this noon. You were to spend the vacation at Jyoti’s place. Now with the changed situation what are your plans?’

With all the developments and shocks, the impending holidays had not even crossed Nikki’s mind. ‘Ma’am, I have not yet thought about it. Jyoti’s parents will be here in the evening. I will meet them and then decide.’

‘OK,’ said the warden and turned towards her office. Nikki asked, ‘Ma’am our picnic baskets and other things are lying in the valley. If you could ask Ramu Kaka to take me there I’ll get the stuff before the girls leave.’

Ms Malati agreed and sent Nikki on her way.