— 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.’

Feroz ordered tea. He was still holding the pencil sketch in his hand. He said, ‘This looks like a photograph. Who gave you this?’

Nikki took out the photograph of three girls with Jyoti’s face circled and handing it over to Feroz, said, ‘The same man whom you asked to take this picture without the girls knowing that they were being photographed.’

The man was stunned. He suddenly became serious. His expression changed and he was now distinctly twitching his face. He asked, ‘Who are you and what are you doing here?’

Nikki replied, ‘I am a friend of the girl whose face has been circled.’

‘So what is that to me?’ said Feroz. Now he almost sounded belligerent. Nikki said calmly, ‘Because this girl has been murdered by someone, and if the police ask you why you got the girl secretly photographed, then you will have to do a lot of explaining.’

Feroz’s expression changed at once. He became nervous. He said meekly, ‘I have nothing to do with this girl. I was doing a favour to Asha Sayal who said this girl was her real daughter and she begged me to find out where she lived and also photograph her as she was keen to see her.’

Nikki asked, ‘How did you find this girl?’

‘Asha Sayal gave me the name and address of the girl’s father. I befriended his driver who told me that the girl studies in a famous school in Sangalina Hills and stays in a hostel. He also said that she was currently in Somabad and in the evenings usually goes to Central Park with her friends.’

‘Obviously, no one reads the papers here!’ thought Nikki.

‘Let Asha Sayal return and you can ask her directly,’ Feroz said aggressively.

Nikki did not say anything. She collected the sketch and the photograph from Feroz and got up.

She returned to her room and kept the photograph and the sketch in her handbag. Lying on the bed, she reviewed her conversation with Feroz. He was genuinely surprised when Nikki told him that Jyoti had been murdered. He also appeared sincere when he said, ‘Let Asha Sayal return and you can ask her.’ Was he used only for the bit relating to the photograph or was he acting to show his innocence? Nikki couldn’t come to any conclusions. She went downstairs to join Lakshmi.

Lakshmi was in her usual ebullient mood and was talking enthusiastically about her maiden days, marriage and children. When she stopped to take breath, Nikki asked, ‘My aunty said that sometimes she went out in the city.’

‘What sometimes, she was out almost every day! I think she had a number of relatives here. A woman came to see her couple of times. One day she returned to the hotel in a big black car.’

‘A big black car?’ asked Nikki in complete disbelief.

‘Yes, I am telling you the truth. When I asked her whose car it was she said it belonged to a relative from her husband’s side.’ Lakshmi looked envious.

This new piece of information set Nikki thinking. Certain things did not fit in. First, a deposit of 10 lakhs in her bank account and now this story of a big black car!