by Vish Dhamija
'Take care of yourself sweetheart and remember I'll send cryptic messages on your office email after six months, not before.' Raaj stopped the car as they approached the drop-off point at the airport.
'I wish you all the best. Please be careful.'
'Be brave, sweetheart.' Raaj took her baggage out of the boot, kissed her, got back into the car and quickly drove off. He didn't want to hang around to make the parting any more difficult for either of them.
It was nearly eleven. He drove a few yards and made his first call to Kim. 'How are you doing gorgeous?'
'Hello, Raaj. Has Serena left?' she asked.
'She has, but you are here.'
'I know. I wish I could travel to Singapore with her…'
'Why with her? I am your friend too.'
'Of course you are.'
'Is that it?' Raaj was arduously trying to turn the conversation lewd but, so far, was failing miserably.
'What kind of a question is that?' Kim hadn't understood his intentions but still found it a bit vague.
'How about having some fun together?'
'What kind of fun?'
'Like some man-woman fun?' Raaj found a way to steer the discussion into the pre-determined lane.
'What's wrong with you this morning? Are you drunk already?' Kim still thought he was playing some kind of a joke, which was his usual habit.
'I'm not drunk. I just dropped Serena at the airport and thought if I could come down to your place for some steamy time in bed with you...'
'How dare you think I would sleep with you? Serena is my best friend...' She cut him off.
'But she's not in town.'
'Raaj, stop misbehaving, or I'll have to tell Serena.'
'And I'll let a few women know about you getting into the sack with their husbands,' he warned her.
'Are you blackmailing me?'
'No, I am only making an offer. I promise I won't tell anyone.'
'Stop it, Raaj.'
'I have been thinking about you since last night when I held your body close to mine, I know you weren't wearing anything underneath your little dress…'
She banged the phone down on him.
He made a few more calls as he drove to her apartment block, but she disconnected after only a few sentences each time. He parked the car, checking for some onlookers around to see him. There wasn't anyone around and he was mindful that the car could well be missed being parked there if no one observed him. He kept sitting in the car until he saw a guy from the building's security. He got down from the car with the packet of cigarettes, looking for a light.
'Would you have a match, please?' Raaj intentionally walked closer to the guy as he asked.
'No sir. I don't smoke but there is a little shop in the vicinity… I can run and get a matchbox for you,' offered the polite building guard.
'Please…' Raaj gave him a few coins and he went off, making Raaj's disappearance from the scene simpler, knowing well that no one would observe him taking the rear gate. He promptly took out the two helmets from the boot and without waiting for the guard to come back with the matches or the change, slipped out of the gate, walked on the beach for a few yards to join the road he knew well, and then stopped a cab.
'Sahar Airport please,' he told the cabbie as he sat down, lit a cigarette and looked at his watch. It was a quarter past eleven now. He had enough time to reach the airport to pick up Rana.
'Arrivals or departures?' the cabbie asked putting his meter on.
'Departures...' Raaj said.
If anyone should see me, it should be at departures where I dropped my wife, he was sufficiently careful to have thought about it already.
Raaj arrived at the airport, paid the cabbie and keeping his head down all the time, dashed to the parking area with the two helmets in his hands to pick up Sonny's Ducati, which had been parked since the evening before. He wore one of the helmets and balancing the other one, carefully, between his thighs over the petrol tank, he slowly travelled towards the arrivals pick-up area.
It was exactly noon by his watch.
Serena's flight should be on the runway now and Rana's should have landed sometime ago. If Rana had kept to his plan of travelling light, he should be out within the next fifteen minutes or so, he estimated.
There was a plentiful crowd at the airport but thankfully he knew no one, which was precisely what he needed at this hour.
No acquaintances, also, meant no witnesses.
***
12:10
Raaj parked himself on the motorbike at a reasonable distance to avoid causing a needless traffic jam, but close enough to see people coming out of the airport terminal. He was quite certain that he would easily recognise Rana.
And he wasn't off the mark. At all.
Dressed in a natural linen suit for the hot and humid Mumbai August afternoon, Rana walked out of the arrival gate just a few minutes later, looking for Raaj. Anyone who knew Raaj, or had even seen him once, would have recognised Rana. In fact most people would have had difficulty in distinguishing between the two. Rana was Raaj's identical twin who was taken away by his father when the parents separated. No one knew this fact, except his parents and the local government officials who had put it on their records when the twins were registered at birth. Even Raaj came to know about it much later when his mother told him just before her death. When he had called up for his father after she passed away, he got in touch with Rana who was working in London. They had agreed to keep in touch and meet later. Raaj hated Rana even before they met — he had seen his mother toil hard for every penny to bring him up, while Rana had had a privileged life, inheriting all the wealth of their father. Raaj got reminded of Rana again when his counterfeiting operation went berserk and it looked like his con would get exposed. He knew that having an identical twin meant that he had a double that could die for him. He studied enough to discover that although identical twins had different fingerprints, they had identical DNA unless one of the eggs mutated at fertilisation or there was an error in their splitting. This was not easily detectable, but he did not want to leave anything to chance, particularly with his insurance in place and the unexplainable circumstances of the irresponsible accident that would unquestionably be methodically investigated. It would be exceedingly stupid to assume that the police would not send samples for DNA matching. The Switzerland trip was timed to perfection with two agendas: Rana was visiting on work, and Raaj planned another honeymoon that was made to look as if it coincidently overlapped. They had planned to meet briefly for dinner after Raaj and Serena had carefully deposited the cash in the bank.
Raaj kept his identical twin as a surprise for Serena when they went out for dinner. He had to actually elbow her couple of times when she stopped breathing seeing Raaj and Rana together. The men had known about each other's existence for a few years by then, but to see a mirror image of oneself in another person was an altogether different experience. It was a wonderful evening, and the scheduled, brief, dinner date had extended well into midnight. Rana told them about his plans of quitting his current job and moving to Australia in the near future. During the parting hugs, Raaj had complimented Rana on his mane of hair, put his hands through his two-minute younger twin's hair and taken a few strands to put in his pocket. Back at the hotel, he fell down in the lobby and hurt his leg simply in order to be carried to the private hospital the next day. There Serena had asked Dr Bernhard to test Raaj's DNA to know his origins…
'We now know where you come from,' Serena told Raaj that she had got his DNA test done while he was unconscious.
'I don't believe this.'
'It's true. We used your blood sample to determine the same,' D. Bernhard explained.
'What if my hairs do not agree with my blood?'
'What do you mean?'
'Could you do DNA analysis from my hair and prove it has the same origin as my blood?' Raaj innocently asked to check if Rana's hair had the same DNA.
'I can. But there's no point as
I already know the result. It's only going to cost you an additional test.'
'Let's see.'
Raaj gave Rana's hairs to the nurse when she came to collect the sample. As Dr Bernhard had foretold, the test results were identical.
With identical faces and DNA, the only thing remaining was the occasion.
When Rana told Raaj about moving to Sydney, the precise moment had arrived. It was a boon that Serena had some flexibility in her travel plan. With her around, a theatrical accident would have been a bit difficult to achieve.
'Hello, brother.' Raaj pulled up close to Rana to greet him.
'Oh, hi. I wasn't expecting you on a motorbike.'
'A close friend borrowed my car at the last minute so I thought I would pick you up on this rather than go home to get the other car. Hope this is okay…' Raaj handed the second helmet to Rana.
'Of course, it's fine.'
'How was the flight?'
'Boring as it always is. I'm glad I'm not flying direct.'
Raaj was comfortable that no one he knew had seen or met either of them individually or together, and now that the helmets covered both their faces, it would almost certainly a trouble-free ride back. Talking wasn't an option with the helmets on, so both carried on quickly to the basement parking in Raaj's building.
Raaj was careful that both of them should not be seen together by neighbours who might be getting in or out of the apartment or lift. If they saw Rana and Raaj independently no one would ever imagine they were two different men. Moreover, he had some unfinished business to attend to before the event. He took the helmet back from Rana. 'Why don't you go into the apartment and make yourself comfortable while I return the motorbike and bring the car home?'
'That's fine. What is your apartment number?'
'401… take the lift to the fourth floor and when you come out, it's on the left. I'll see you in an hour.' Raaj slipped away from the parking.
He went straight to Sonny's apartment nearby, knowing well that Sonny would not be around. He parked the motorbike, locked both the helmets to it, dropped the keys and a pre-written thank-you note through the letterbox and came out of the building. No one was there to see him, though being seen here could hardly hurt the plan.
So far, so good, he thought.
He called a cab. 'Versova,' he told the cabbie as he opened the door and sat down. He knew it would take him a while to reach Kim's place so he lit up. He calculated that by the time he reached her apartment she would have left for the shoot that she had told him about the evening before. He got off on the little link road before the apartment block and using the same rear gate entered the building and walked straight out of the entrance lobby through the front, only to find the security guard sitting there.
'Sir, I got the matches for you.' said the guard pulling out the packet from his pockets with some change.
'Thanks. Keep the change.' Raaj lit up and looked at his watch. It was past one now. He was glad that the security guard had interacted with him on both occasions.
This should give the police some ammunition for the enquiry, he thought.
He finished his cigarette, started the car and left for Worli. It was almost two o'clock when he entered his apartment and there were no signs of the security guard. He kept the car in the basement, took the elevator and using the duplicate keys entered the apartment to find Rana reclining on the sofa with his eyes closed.
'Sorry. It took me more time than I anticipated; the traffic was horrendous even for a Sunday…' Raaj apologised.
'It's okay, Raaj, I can understand. London traffic is no better.'
'Why didn't you change into something comfortable?'
'I was being lazy.' Rana got up to open his bag.
'Forget it, borrow my clothes. They should fit you.' Raaj punned.
'They should. What time is it?' Rana looked at his beautiful watch.
'It's two now… wow… you've got a Patek Philippe.' Raaj couldn't help noticing the watch.
'It's Dad's watch. He passed it on to me as an heirloom, just as a Patek should be,' Rana said it with pride.
You're right. Just like it will pass on to your kin soon, Raaj almost said it aloud.
'Have you had anything to eat?'
'Yes. I raided your refrigerator in your absence. Sorry.'
'You don't have to apologise for that, Rana.'
'It's funny, only you call me Rana after Dad passed away.'
'So what does the rest of the world call you?'
'Nikos. After his separation from your mum, Dad remarried a Greek lady who never had any children of her own, so she brought me up as her own child. She rechristened me Nikos. I never met our real mother, so she was the closest I got to having a mum who, despite being a stepmother, showered all her love onto me and never let me miss the real one, even once. In fact I was quite inconsolable when she passed away in 1989. Dad almost became a recluse after her death and even stopped working or meeting anyone, closeting himself away. Because of it, he passed away a year later,' Rana explained the whole story in brief.
'Oh, I see. I didn't know that. So, what is your name on the passport?'
'Nikos Kumar. It's funny, isn't it?'
'What would you like me to call you then?'
'Nikos is better, as Rana makes me feel you are talking to someone else.'
'OK, Nikos.'
'Thanks for understanding.'
'You're too formal. Let's get some drinks…'
'Now?' Rana looked at his beautiful Patek again.
'Why not? You go and change into something comfortable while I'll fix the drinks. What would you like to have?'
'Do you have any red wine?' Rana asked politely.
'Wines are still difficult to get here, sorry. Could I get you something else?'
'Some good Indian rum for me, please, if you have it. I haven't tasted any, but I've heard a lot about it,' Rana requested and went into Raaj's bedroom.
If you haven't tasted any before, it's even better, Raaj thought.
He rushed into the kitchen with the bottle of Old Monk, emptied half the contents down the sink and poured in the anti-freeze he had bought in Zurich to top up the bottle. Nikos was out in ten minutes wearing Raaj's jeans and T-shirt. 'It's the exact size.' He smiled.
'I told you.' Raaj poured the rum into the tumbler in Rana's view to avoid any suspicion and mixed it with cola.
'What are you having?'
'I've had enough of this all my life, so I will have vodka,' Raaj said.
'Cheers' Rana took a large sip and closed his eyes, as he found it more potent than he had expected.
'Too strong for you?'
'It is, but great stuff.' Rana complimented him looking at the half empty glass.
'So, why are you moving to Sydney?'
'I got bored of living in London. It was okay when Dad was around, but now that I have no family there I thought I should give myself an opportunity to see the world and work there. I received a brilliant job offer last month and decided to take it up, so I resigned. This is a small trip to complete the formalities for the new job and have a look at the country before I move, lock stock and barrel.'
'So no one is waiting for you to join them immediately?' Raaj got curious. This was turning out to be exactly as expected.
'Nope.' Rana finished his drink. He could feel his head swirling but reasoned it to be the effect of tiredness and travel.
'Can I make you another drink?'
'Yes, please.'
Raaj made another large drink for the two of them, as he looked at the time. It would be five in a few minutes.
'Thanks.' Rana took the glass.
'We'll be drunk by the end of the night.'
'Who cares? We've met after ages. I am sorry I couldn't meet Serena, but I'll stop over next time.'
If there is a next time for you…
'What time is your flight to Sydney?'
'It's early in the morning.'
The brothers chatted about everything. Ra
aj kept manoeuvring the conversation to complete the items on his agenda. He found out everything about Rana that he possibly could in one meeting, pouring drinks for him faster than Rana could handle. He figured out the company Rana had resigned from, the company he was supposed to check out in Sydney, his address in London, his bank accounts, his immediate friends… though he knew well that he would have to move out immediately from the place Rana lived to keep away from any suspicion that could arise from interaction with people.
Rana passed out by eight. He had finished the whole bottle of Old Monk and hence, also, half the bottle of anti-freeze. Raaj checked that he was still breathing. Not giving up just yet, Raaj poured more anti-freeze into Rana's mouth from time to time as he sipped vodka sitting next to his sleeping double and browsed through the little bag and the wallet for the passport, driving license and any other form of identity besides the credit and debit cards. He intermittently looked at Rana, but was sure by now that there was hardly a chance that he would come to his senses before dawn. This would be helpful as it would be a lot easier if Rana slept and let him go around doing what he had planned for months.
Raaj looked at the ticket to Sydney. The flight left a little after 2:30 in the morning, which meant he had to be out of the house by midnight at the latest. It was ten already. He poured some more drink into Rana and carried him to the bed. Out of the bedroom, he cleared his guest's drink tumbler of all fingerprints and kept it washed and cleaned, back in the bar.
The police should never suspect there was another person in the apartment — Raaj knew that well.
He gave a good scrub to the refrigerator, wherever Rana could have possibly touched it, washed the plates Rana had eaten from and put them back where they belonged. He carried the empty Old Monk bottle out of the apartment and threw it down the garbage chute. It was quiet outside. There was only one other apartment on the floor and he tiptoed to the door to check on the neighbours — they had probably retired to bed, or must have been quietly watching late-night television. Either way they were out of his path.
He went over to see Rana one last time at half-past eleven and poured a bit of vodka on the bed to finish his drink. He smashed the tumbler on the marble floor, but even the noise did not wake Rana up. Raaj checked Rana's pulse, stripped off the Patek to replace it with his Tissot and took off his wedding ring and slipped it on Rana's finger.
