— CHAPTER THREE —

Another Shock

 

Nikki was soon in the van. Instead of going to the valley, she told Ramu Kaka to take her to Crescent Point. She climbed the hill and went to the confluence of the two rivers. Something was bothering her. Why had someone cut Jyoti’s hair? Was her hair removed for some tantric rites for making a magical potion? She knew that this belief was rampant among primitive tribes. Maybe a witch doctor killed her and removed the hair? She soon dismissed the idea. It seemed too improbable.

In her reverie, Nikki soon realised, she had moved further up the hill in the vicinity of a dense forest. Suddenly, she saw a white cloth fluttering behind a bush. She quickened her pace. What she saw completely shocked her. Sprawled behind the bush was the body of a woman in white sari! A corner of her sari was fluttering in the air which had attracted her attention. There was no one around. She went closer. She was appalled to see

that like Jyoti, the woman’s face also looked stunned. She was obviously dead.

Horrified, Nikki turned to leave when out of the corner of her eye she saw something lying close to the woman’s body—a small purse was lying near her open hand. Hesitantly she went near the body, picked up the purse with trembling hands and hid it inside her coat. Quickly, she ran back to the van.

On seeing her Ramu Kaka said, ‘Miss, what about the picnic baskets?’

‘I couldn’t find them there. Maybe someone took them.’

Nikki went to her room and closed the door. She took out the purse and turned it upside down on her bed. It contained some currency notes and change, a small handkerchief, a used bus ticket stub, and a photograph. She looked at the photograph. It was taken in a park. Three girls could be seen in the picture. One of them was Jyoti. The background of the picture was an open rain shelter in a park. Jyoti’s face had been circled. Nikki could not recognise any of the other girls in the photograph. But one thing was clear; the place where the photo had been taken was not in Sangalina Hills. Nikki looked at the used ticket stub. It read ‘Somabad to Sangalina Hills.’ So the woman had come from Somabad, Jyoti’s hometown!

She looked inside the purse. There was an inner pocket which had been secured by a zip. She opened the zip. A key tumbled out with a piece of paper. She unfolded the paper. It was a receipt from Hotel Evergreen in Somabad. The name written on the receipt was ‘Asha Sayal.’ Nikki was shocked beyond measure. ‘Oh my god!’ she muttered. ‘Jyoti’s mother!’

Nikki was boiling with rage. She started pacing the room restlessly. ‘Something has to be done,’ she was muttering to herself. ‘Jyoti’s killer must be punished.’ She took a momentous decision. She will do anything to find the killer of her best friend. She decided to go to Somabad immediately. The idea of informing Inspector Rajan about the letter and the contents of the purse came to her mind. But she quickly discarded it. Independent and courageous as she was, she thought she would let the police do their job their way—she would do hers her way, at least until she got some more information about the woman in Somabad.

That evening Ms Malati called Nikki to her room to meet Anurag and Sheila Taneja, Jyoti’s parents, who had just arrived. Nikki had met them every time they came to pick up Jyoti before the vacations or to drop her back at the hostel. Today, they both looked thoroughly shattered. Nikki hugged Mrs Taneja who started crying uncontrollably. Ms Malati tried to console them. When Mrs Taneja had calmed down, she asked, ‘Tell me what happened.’ Nikki told her about the sequence of events but refrained from mentioning the letter of the dead woman found in Jyoti’s backpack. She also omitted any reference to her second trip to Crescent Point. Mr Taneja asked, ‘Where have they kept Jyoti’s body?’

Nikki said quietly, ‘In the Hill View Hospital.’

‘Then let us go,’ Mr Taneja said grimly.

The warden informed the parents, ‘Inspector Rajan wants to meet you. I have already given him a ring.’

‘Who is Inspector Rajan?’ asked Mr Taneja.

‘He is the investigating officer for this case,’ replied the warden.

Mrs Taneja said, ‘He can meet us later. I want to see my girl first.’

The warden said, ‘I understand your feelings, Mrs Taneja. But it is just a matter of another five minutes.’

Inspector Rajan entered the room shortly thereafter. As he offered his condolences to the grieving parents, the room was engulfed in a painful silence. Inspector Rajan cleared his throat and said, ‘Another extraordinary thing has happened. This afternoon a dead body of a middle-aged woman was found at Crescent Point, the same site where your daughter was killed.’

Everyone gasped. ‘What has happened to Sangalina Hills!’ exclaimed Ms Malati.

Inspector Rajan said, ‘…The woman was also murdered at about the same time yesterday when Jyoti was killed. The surprising thing is that like the girl, the woman was also strangulated. It appears to be the doing of the same person who killed Jyoti.’

Everybody in the room was stunned to hear the news of the second killing. Nikki kept her eyes firmly on the ground. Mr Taneja asked, ‘Have you got any clue about the murderer?’

‘Not yet, but we are working on some leads.’

‘Inspector, can we go to the hospital now? I would like to see my daughter,’ said Mrs Taneja impatiently.

‘Yes, in fact, I came to take you to the hospital,’ said Inspector Rajan.

They all got up. Nikki asked the inspector, ‘Sir, may I come too?’

‘Yes, of course. Let us go.’

At the hospital, Dr Shetty took them to the morgue where the parents cried their eyes out, trying to accept the grim fact of their child’s death.

Inspector Rajan then instructed the doctor to show them the body of the woman which was discovered from the same spot.

They moved to the adjacent table and Dr Shetty uncovered the face of the woman. The inspector asked, ‘Do you know this woman?’

Before Mr Taneja could respond, his wife said, ‘No, we have never seen this woman before.’

The inspector turned to Mr Taneja and asked, ‘What about you, Sir? Have you seen this woman earlier?’

Mr Taneja replied, ‘No’. But his reply appeared circumspect to Nikki, who was watching him carefully. She saw his face being drained of all colour when he saw the woman’s face. There were, however, no expressions of either surprise or shock.

The inspector said, ‘Since the woman was not a local resident and the two murders took place at the same time and place I thought maybe the woman knew your daughter. That is why I asked. Someone must know her. Sorry for the trouble.’

Mr Taneja asked, ‘Doctor, can we take the body with us?’

Dr Shetty replied, ‘You will have to wait for a couple of days till we have the post-mortem report. It should have arrived yesterday but we were waiting for you.’

When they came out of the hospital, Inspector Rajan asked Mr Taneja, ‘Where do you propose to stay?’

‘At Hotel Orient.’

‘Fine,’ said Inspector Rajan, ‘I will see you there tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.’

As Mr and Mrs Taneja entered their car, Mrs Taneja asked Nikki, ‘What about you? How are you going back to the hostel?’

‘Her hostel is on my way, I will drop her,’ Inspector Rajan offered and the two sped away.

During their journey, Inspector Rajan said, ‘There has to be some link between the two murders. It is not plausible that the girl, the woman and the killer just happened to be there at the same time.’

Nikki kept quiet. She had noticed Mr Taneja's discomfort when he saw the woman’s dead body. Why?

The inspector continued, ‘I have to find more information about the woman, who she was and what was she doing that day on the hill? Only then can I reach the killer.’ Inspector Rajan looked uncomfortable. ‘During the post-mortem, we also discovered that a tuft of Jyoti’s hair seems to have been chopped off. I couldn’t bring myself to tell the Tanejas as I didn’t want to upset them further. This must be a missing link, though.’ Nikki kept quiet. When they arrived at the hostel, Nikki asked, ‘Inspector, can I come with you to the hotel tomorrow morning?’

‘What will you do there?’

‘I have known them for some time. Maybe I can gather some information which is useful to you.’

‘Be ready by quarter to ten.’

‘Thank you, Sir.’