He advised Pankaj to speak to the house staff at the Da Costa house, and he needed to take some of his own advice. He was sure some of the local residents of Toem Place would have information that would ultimately lead him to Jackpot’s murderer. It was why he had invited his old friend Dilip over for dinner. He had hoped that Christabel would join them but she had other plans.
‘I’ll be back later – dinner with friends,’ she said as Chupplejeep pondered the questions he wanted to ask Dilip. He needed to know a little more about the local residents and about Jackpot’s relationships, especially with his wife. He nodded as Christabel applied a bright pink lipstick and then dabbed some perfume behind her ears.
‘Well, I’ll be off then,’ she said. She looked at him for a moment as if willing him to say something, but he didn’t know what it was she wanted him to say. He sighed – perhaps they were not soulmates after all. Could they really be together if he was constantly falling short of her expectations? He walked over to her and kissed her cheek. She made a face and turned on her heel towards the front door of the villa. So it wasn’t a kiss she wanted. He shook his head. Why didn’t women just ask for what they wanted? Christabel stopped at the door.
‘You remember we’re having dinner with Bhumika and her husband the day after tomorrow.’
Chupplejeep nodded. He hadn’t remembered at all, but it wasn’t as if he had plans. He could make the effort and meet the couple, although he wasn’t sure he was going to like Bhumika. From what Christabel had told him, she sounded gregarious and loud. He doubted anyone else would manage to get a word in.
It was then, as Christabel stood in the doorway of the villa, that he noticed she was wearing a necklace that looked very familiar. ‘Where did you find that?’ he asked, pointing towards the stone.
Christabel clutched the pendant in her hand. ‘What?’
‘I kept that rose quartz pendant in the drawer in the bedroom.’
Christabel stared at him. ‘You and that case. This is not part of your investigation.’ She shook her head and stormed out of the villa.
Chupplejeep walked to the door. ‘Christabel,’ he called after her. She didn’t turn around. Instead he saw Dilip waving to him from the path.
‘Hello, friend,’ he said. ‘Am I interrupting something?’ he asked, turning to watch Christabel march in the direction of the retreat.
‘Nothing doing,’ Chupplejeep said, swatting the air in front of him. The last person he wanted to talk to about Christabel was Dilip. Dilip was a terrible gossip, which was exactly why he had invited him over for some chicken xacuti and pao. His friend would know exactly what underlying local tensions were bubbling beneath the surface. Although Chupplejeep knew that he had to be careful with gossip – gossip had its place because there was never smoke without fire, but he also knew that sometimes gossips just fanned the flames, turning a spark into a full fire. ‘Come in, come in,’ he said, ushering Dilip into his villa as his old friend climbed the two steps onto the veranda.
Dilip sniffed the air. ‘What a great smell. Let me guess,’ he said, his nose twitching ever so slightly. ‘Xacuti? Chicken? With freshly baked bread. From the local baker? Yes, it must be; it’s a Wednesday, the day they sell all that stuff. I can taste that rich coconut curried sauce from the smell. Exquisite. And let me guess, you bought some of their dodol for afters.’
Chupplejeep nodded. ‘You could be a detective yourself.’
‘Ha!’ Dilip said, patting Chupplejeep’s stomach. ‘I’m afraid not. I just took a gamble that your eating habits remained the same from when we were children. What fun we used to have, and then always on a Wednesday we used to go to the baker’s with a metal tiffin and the poder, baker, would fill it up with xacuti and give us each a roll of fresh bread.’
‘We used to sit on the jetty eating as the sun set.’
‘Before going home for another dinner,’ Dilip said, slapping his thigh.
Chupplejeep nodded. ‘Two dinners. Those were the days.’ He walked towards the kitchen. Dilip followed.
‘Forget girls and fishing! We were too busy eating!’ Dilip said. ‘Now look at the jetty. It’s falling apart. It will fall apart now that Jackpot is no longer with us. The rental company occasionally patched it up, but he was the only fellow who truly maintained it. But I suppose he had to. It was his livelihood. Now there is no one to take on the task of local boatwalla, it is no longer needed.’
‘Sit,’ Chupplejeep said, motioning to his friend to sit down at the dining table. ‘Let’s eat. Kingfisher?’ he asked, opening the fridge.
Dilip nodded. ‘Of course. It’s good to see you, friend, after so long. You haven’t visited since Nana’s passing.’
‘That’s correct,’ Chupplejeep said, opening a bottle of beer and passing it to his friend. ‘Recently, I felt this place calling to me.’
‘It’s a great place to come with a young family. That’s why I came back to the family home here. It’s such a nice area, I thought, why not live here. The kids love it, splashing about in the water every day, fishing. They have all the things we had – you can’t get this in the city.’
‘You can’t.’
‘It’s time for you to settle down, no? Maybe that’s why it was calling to you.’
‘Maybe,’ Chupplejeep said, wondering how much Dilip knew about his relationship with Christabel. ‘Here,’ he said. Sitting down at the table, he passed Dilip a plate. Both of them helped themselves to healthy portions of the xacuti, salad and bread.
Their conversation turned to the local residents and in particular the eight bungalows to the north of the lake, which Dilip had previously said were holiday lets.
‘They’re let out by Patel Tour and Hotel Company,’ Dilip confirmed.
‘Patel? Isn’t that the same name as the developer?’
‘Correct,’ Dilip said with a wry smile.
‘Odd that he hasn’t demolished the properties to expand the hotel.’
‘Maybe he’s working on it.’ Dilip pursed his lips, and Chupplejeep could tell that his friend knew more than he was letting on. He didn’t want to push him though. Slowly, slowly, Dilip would reveal all. It was his way, and Chupplejeep knew this from when they were children. He liked taking his time, savouring the conversation.
‘And who rents these properties? Any locals?’
‘Just tourists,’ Dilip said. ‘People from out of town. Except for villa two.’
‘Who stays in villa two?’
Dilip tore off a piece of bread and dipped it in the spicy coconut gravy. ‘You saw him that day the body was found. The muscular fellow – his name’s Arjun.’
‘Has he been here long? Why doesn’t he buy a place here?’
‘Who’ll sell to him? Everyone who has a villa here wants to keep it. Unless Talika decides to sell up and move back to the village she originally came from.’ Dilip looked up at Chupplejeep. ‘No, no one here wants to sell.’
‘So he rents.’
Dilip shrugged. ‘Must be.’
‘How come he picked Toem?’
‘He’s a writer, something like that. So he can work from anywhere. He came here from Delhi a little over a year ago to do some writing and never left. Must be earning well to be renting here for so long, although there was a rumour that he was paying a lower rent than the others because of some family connection, but you know how people talk when they are jealous of another’s success.’
‘What’s his surname?’ Chupplejeep asked. ‘Will I have read anything of his? What kind of writer is he?’
‘A lot of questions, Detective,’ Dilip said with a smile. ‘His last name is Chopra, and he writes contemporary fiction – like that Bhagat fellow. I’ve not read anything of his. I’m not a big reader. But don’t worry about Arjun. He’s one fellow who will never do anything he shouldn’t, Detective.’
‘Why’s that?’ Chupplejeep asked.
‘Because all the women around here keep a close eye on him,’ Dilip said, laughing at his own joke. ‘And so
do their husbands and fathers, Jackpot included.’
‘Meaning?’
‘I think Roshni had a soft spot for Arjun, something Jackpot was not happy about.’
Chupplejeep leaned in as Dilip told him what he knew. The two had been on a date, but soon after, Jackpot decided to pay for Roshni to go away to college. A perfect excuse if he didn’t want his daughter to date the local lothario. Chupplejeep wondered if Arjun had attacked Jackpot for keeping him away from Roshni, although he knew this was unlikely. There were simpler ways to deal with a difficult father, and from what he had seen of Roshni, she was strong-willed and cunning. He was sure she would have found a way for her father to accept Arjun into their family if that’s what she really wanted.
‘But I don’t think Roshni’s his type,’ Dilip continued. ‘A little too young and naïve for our seasoned author, or so I’ve heard.’
Dilip may have thought that, but Chupplejeep wondered if there was more between Roshni and Arjun than Dilip knew. With his very own eye he had seen her body language change as she spoke to him the day of the reading of her father’s will. Arjun may not be interested in her, but he was certain that she was interested in him.
‘I’m no fool, Arthur. You’re looking for more information to fuel your investigation,’ Dilip said. When Chupplejeep admitted as much, he laughed. ‘I don’t have an alibi for the night Jackpot died. I was home alone. My wife had taken the kids to the cinema. They stayed at her mother’s house in town and came back at sunrise the morning Jackpot’s body was found.’
‘Well, it’s a good job you’re not a suspect then,’ Chupplejeep said, a little surprised at his friend’s need to tell him that he had no alibi.
‘But aren’t you worried for the safety of your family, of yourself?’ Chupplejeep asked after they had spoken at length about how the village had changed over the years and the idea that a murderer was at large in Toem Place.
Dilip shrugged. ‘Not really. The detective in charge says it was natural causes.’
‘And you believe him?’
‘Why not? You think he’s hiding something?’
Chupplejeep shrugged. He didn’t feel the need to tell Dilip about Kulkarni’s report. ‘Tell me more about Jackpot.’
‘Jackpot was an orphan like you. No family here.’
Chupplejeep nodded.
‘Well, what else do you want to know?’
‘Tell me about his wife.’
‘Talika? Good-looking woman. I heard her calling for Jackpot the morning his body was found.’
‘Did she do that often?’
‘Never. Well, at least I never heard her before.’
‘Interesting,’ Chupplejeep said. Perhaps Talika wanted to be heard.
‘She said she loved Jackpot, but if you ask me, she loved him in a strange way.’
‘How so?’
‘She was always finding fault with him and nagging, always nagging. You and I both know that women nag, but this was extreme. Always asking what time he would be coming home, always watching him from their veranda when he was taking tourists out on the lake. It was like she didn’t trust him.’
‘Did she have reason not to trust him?’
Dilip smiled. ‘You rogue! Like was he having an affair?’
‘Yes, or was she having an affair? Sometimes we transfer our behaviours onto others to help us cope.’
Dilip’s cheeks coloured. He momentarily stuttered before regaining his composure. ‘So you’re saying if you were having an affair you would be checking up on Christabel?’
‘Something like that, yes.’
‘Ha! I can see what you are saying. No, I don’t think Talika was having an affair. I certainly didn’t hear of anything.’ He gave Chupplejeep a sideways glance and then quickly added, ‘But I don’t know everything, and her behaviour of late has been erratic.’
Erratic behaviour was always a sign of something not being quite right; a shift in perspective, a change of mind – a decision to take another life would certainly do that to a person. ‘Tell me,’ Chupplejeep said.
‘Last month, Talika started being nice to Jackpot. Extra nice, and it was out of character for her. She was seen in the market buying his favourite foods. She started bringing him a freshly made lunch to the jetty to save him having to walk up to the villa. This behaviour lasted about a week and then suddenly she turned again, but this time she became vicious. Shouting at him in the street, telling him how useless he was. Something wasn’t right.’
Chupplejeep thought about the two villagers he heard talking in the shop when they were discussing the boatwalla’s marriage. Something had happened between Jackpot and Talika – but what?
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Dilip said.
‘You do?’
‘That her erratic behaviour proves she was having an affair. But that’s not the case. I know the reason for her erratic behaviour. Two reasons, to be exact.’
‘Go on,’ Chupplejeep said. He was glad he had invited his old friend over. The information he was giving him was invaluable, even if he was slowly drip-feeding it to him. Dilip stood up, walked to the fridge and took out another two beers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
‘If you’re looking into Jackpot’s death, you’ll want to know what was in Jackpot’s will,’ Dilip said, taking a swig of his second beer. ‘The developer of the new hotel attended.’
‘He did,’ Chupplejeep said casually. He didn’t want Dilip to know that he had seen the suspect go into the solicitor’s office. ‘Were they related?’
‘Unlikely,’ Dilip said.
‘Did Jackpot leave him something in his will? You can’t just attend anyone’s will reading.’
‘No, you can’t. But that Mr Patel had an interest in Jackpot’s lot, and he has power, so it doesn’t surprise me to hear that he attended. Money can open many doors for you here; you know that.’
Chupplejeep nodded. ‘So what was in this will that the developer was so keen to know?’
‘Earlier we talked about those eight bungalows.’
‘The holiday lets. Seven are rented out on a weekly basis, the eighth the writer Arjun Chopra lives in, but it too is rented. I remember.’
‘You asked why Mr Patel had not demolished them.’
‘It stands to reason that he would. If his company owns them and his grand hotel needs more space, then why not get rid of them?’
‘I never said his company owns them.’
‘You said Patel Hotel and Tours lets the properties.’
‘Exactly, like a managing agent. But Mr Patel does not own them.’
‘Who does?’ asked Chupplejeep. This wasn’t making much sense to him.
‘Jackpot,’ Dilip said.
Chupplejeep laughed. ‘I don’t understand. Jackpot, the toothless boatwalla, who didn’t have enough money to purchase an engine for his wooden boat, owned eight villas on prime lakeshore land here at Toem Place?’
‘That’s correct, and Mr Patel wanted to know who the properties had been left to so that he could purchase them to expand his hotel. You know as well as I do that his hotel is not going to fit on the plot he is currently building on. Short-sighted of the architect – no, it’s not that simple. Our Mr Patel has a plan. He needs to demolish those extra villas.’
This was the information Dilip had been holding back, his dramatic finale. ‘Surely you don’t start building until you have fully assembled the land.’
‘Why not, if you know you are going to eventually assemble it.’
‘Because nothing is failsafe. If he doesn’t get ownership of the bungalows then his plans for his hotel will be a mess. And what about planning permission, etcetera?’
Dilip shook his head. ‘You’ve been around for as long as I have. If you know the right people then all these things are just red tape, obstacles to get around with a little baksheesh.’
Chupplejeep couldn’t deny that. The fact that Jackpot owned the bungalows explained the fight between him and the developer that t
he two villagers had witnessed. Something like this was motive for murder. But Jackpot’s death didn’t guarantee that he would ultimately gain control of the properties.
‘How did Jackpot come to own these properties?’ he asked.
‘That I don’t know. What I was getting at was the change in Talika’s behaviour. My suspicion is that Talika recently found out about this, hence her change in her manner towards her husband,’ Dilip said.
‘So that’s why she was being extra nice to him.’
‘It must have been a recent revelation for both of them. Or she just found out that Jackpot was hiding this from her and that was why they were having arguments. Arguments that other people could hear. Maybe she was angry that he had kept this from her.’
‘I’d be angry if I had lived on the poverty line for years to suddenly find out my partner was sitting on a goldmine and not cashing in,’ Chupplejeep agreed. But was it enough motivation to murder her husband? It was a plausible possibility. And if Talika knew about the properties before Jackpot died, it was likely that her daughter Roshni knew about them as well. She was studying at a university that Jackpot was paying for. She must have known about it.
‘Do you know who Jackpot left the properties to?’ Chupplejeep asked. It wouldn’t be the first time that the beneficiary of the will had a part in the benefactor’s murder.
Dilip nodded.
‘Who?’
‘His daughter. Roshni got everything. The wife got nothing.’
‘Nothing!’ Chupplejeep said.
‘She was more shocked than you, or so I heard.’
‘And Mr Patel, was he shocked?’
Dilip shrugged. ‘No idea. You think he had spoken to Jackpot about the property before his death?’
‘If he knew Jackpot owned them, I’m sure he would have offered to buy them so he could get on with building his hotel.’ Chupplejeep thought back to the conversation he overheard between the villagers at Manny’s Mart. They had heard Jackpot exchange words with the developer before his death. There was a good chance that Mr Patel approached Jackpot again that fateful night on the jetty.
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