The Astral Alibi

by Manjiri Prabhu

  “And Mrs. Sahay will escape with a mere rap on the knuckles. Considering what they did to her, that’s what a few years in jail will amount to!”

  Sonia pursed her lips. “I understand your feelings, Renuka. But nobody murdered Vidya. She was harassed and the harasser will be punished appropriately. But to deliberately plan a suicide and make it appear like your own murder and have someone else accused for it? You may be shocked at the negative implications it will provoke. It will totally tarnish Vidya’s image and even erase most of the sympathy people felt for her. Some may admire her courage, some may even applaud her daring. But I fear Vidya’s plan has complicated matters so much that you cannot ignore the possibility of even Mrs. Sahay going scot-free! What your friend did was unethical.”

  “Unethical! How can you stand there and talk about principles when my friend is dead because of these fiends! Don’t talk to me about moral values and understanding!” Renuka hissed. “I wanted these scoundrels to be hanged for what they did to Vidya, and now thanks to you they will proudly strut around in society and find another money-sprouting scapegoat!” She glared at Sonia, then slammed out of the room.

  Sonia stared unhappily at her receding back. Consternation was stamped on Jatin’s face, as Inspector Shinde glanced at the detective sympathetically.

  Mohnish stood silently by the inner office door, observing Sonia with a frown. She was leaning against her chair, her eyes closed in deep contemplation. She was still, like a statue. And even Nidhi’s antics did not seem to disturb her.

  Nidhi was chasing a crumpled piece of white paper round the room, which had spilled out of the upturned plastic dustbin. The dustbin rolled and immediately the cat’s attention was riveted to it. Taking aim, she pounced and slid off it with a crash!

  Sonia straightened, opening her eyes.

  “Hello! You startled me!” Sonia gasped when she saw Mohnish.

  “That’s because you’re not in your element,” Mohnish responded, entering the office.

  “When did you arrive?”

  “A couple of minutes ago. I didn’t wish to disturb your meditation.”

  “Meditation…I wish I was good enough in meditation to blank out all thought from my mind!”

  “What’s the matter?” he asked, his tone quiet.

  Sonia sighed. “If only I could word the confusion in my mind! Right now, it is a ball of jumbled emotions. Right pitched against wrong, affliction and suffering fighting to surface over justice. Is justice a mere definition on paper?”

  Mohnish looked at her with compassion in his deep brown eyes. “You are upset over Renuka’s reaction. Jatin told me all about it. You did the right thing, Sonia. You cannot let emotions override the truth.”

  “I know. But Renuka has a point, too. I wonder…if I should never have interfered. I feel as if, in some intrinsic way, I am failing Vidya—failing all those wretched women who are victims of dowry. Perhaps it would’ve been better—more in favour of the ultimate justice—if Vidya’s plot had remained a secret?”

  “You wouldn’t have been at peace,” Mohnish stated calmly.

  “I’m not at peace, even now. I feel as if someone has punched a hole in my confidence. When I think about Vidya’s past, I realise that none of these events needed to occur. Vidya’s in-laws needn’t have harassed her. Vidya needn’t have died. She tried to teach them a lesson, which now they will never learn. And instead, here I am, being coached by circumstances that justice works at several ends!”

  “Sonia, the best thing to do is focus on what is right, not who is right or who should be right,” Mohnish said firmly.

  Sonia stared at him a long moment, his words defusing the tension like a bomb. Sudden respect replaced the bewildered expression in her eyes. “You have struck the nail on the head. I think that’s exactly what I need to do. Focus.”

  “Good.” Mohnish flashed her a pleased smile.

  A key turned in the lock and he entered the dark room. For a time he stood motionless, then he walked to the next room. The room which overlooked her window. There was no light there, either. She had gone, gone forever. He didn’t need to follow her anymore. It was all over. He couldn’t understand if he felt relief or anger. He felt empty. Had it all been worth it? he wondered. He stared at the dark window across the street and for an instant thought he saw a movement there. Somebody was in her room! He strained his eyes. A woman? Not her… He quickly lifted the binoculars and trained them on the window across the street. And that very instant, the lights were switched on in the room. He whirled around and stared in shock. Inspector Shinde, Sonia, and Jatin stood in the doorway.

  “Mr. Parmeet Sahay, you are under arrest for cold-bloodedly abetting the suicide of your wife and leaving her to die!” Shinde rasped.

  At the same time, the room opposite the street was illuminated and Renuka stood in the window.

  Jatin poured out hot cups of chai and handed them to Renuka and Sonia. Nidhi was cuddled on her mistress’s lap.

  “But, Boss, you said that Parmeet was innocent!”

  “I didn’t say he was innocent!” Sonia corrected. “I said that Vidya did not want him to be involved in her plan. She was loyal to her husband and wanted to keep him blemishless!”

  “But then, what exactly happened? Are you saying that it wasn’t Kartik following Vidya?” There was a confused look on Jatin’s face as he drew out a chair and settled down opposite his Boss.

  “Kartik was following Vidya to ensure her safety, but he wasn’t aware that both he and Vidya were being followed by Parmeet. Parmeet had always suspected that his wife was involved with someone before marriage and he wasn’t convinced that it was completely over between them. Perhaps because he found the college photograph of Vidya and Kartik in her cupboard. And he grew more suspicious when Kartik began calling Vidya. That was when he decided to do a little bit of his own investigating. He followed his wife around whenever he could. He’d stay away from his night shifts, and from his own vacant flat across the street, he often checked out her activities. Sometimes it was intentional spying and sometimes plain voyeurism!”

  “But how did you know all this?” Renuka asked.

  “It was Vidya’s horoscope which gave me the lead. In her horoscope, Moon, the planet which controls the mind, had been negatively influenced by Harshal and Neptune. Moreover they all co-existed in the eighth house, which is the house of death. I realised that this was indeed a horoscope of suicide, not murder. But there were references in Vidya’s diary which were confusing. For example, Kartik told us that Vidya was aware that he was following her. She had even asked him to stop following her around. But in her diary, in the last entry, which was written after her meeting with Kartik, she once again mentioned being followed. Which meant that it wasn’t Kartik she was hinting at this time. She also mentioned a glint of glass from across the street. I immediately thought of the apartment in the opposite building. Kartik had admitted that he had been following her, but he never mentioned that he had been observing her from an apartment. Besides, Kartik had a perfect alibi. He was at the Mula Retreat with friends when Vidya was on the verge of committing suicide. I even saw him there. Which meant that someone other than Kartik was keeping tabs on her.

  “In Vidya’s horoscope, Sun—the planet of the spouse—was in conjunction with Saturn in the sixth house, clearly revealing that her husband would be useless for her in terms of companionship. Absolutely no marital happiness. Next, I checked out Parmeet’s horoscope. He had Scorpio as an ascendant with Neptune in the first house, which made him an irresponsible, detached, and eccentric character. Also, Libra in the twelfth house had Sun, Mercury, Venus, Moon, and Harshal in conjunction, which indicated him to be an innately suspicious person. Mars as well as Saturn aspected the same house. It was obvious that not only would his wife die in dramatic conditions, but that he would be provoked into a criminal situation and be punished for it. I wondered where all this reading was going to lead. Could Parmeet be in any way connected with Vidya’s
death?

  “We checked the list of apartment owners and when I discovered that Parmeet owned the vacant flat opposite Vidya’s bedroom, I realised that it must be he who was following Vidya around. Vidya had mentioned Parmeet’s bird-watching hobby. I put two and two together and searched the house for binoculars, but didn’t find them. Which seemed really odd. If Parmeet bird-watched regularly, where were his binoculars? Were they being used for something else and therefore were not in the house at all? It was then that I knew what exactly had happened. While Vidya sat writing in her diary, minutes before she died, she was convinced that someone was watching her. If her instincts were right, then that someone had also witnessed how Vidya had died. The idea clung like glue to my mind. I decided to check out if Parmeet had reported for night shift at work at nine o’clock. I was told that he arrived a little after midnight. So where was he all this time? If he was keeping close watch on his wife, then he must have seen something to do with her death. Perhaps even seen her commit suicide. Which sat perfectly well with my reading of his horoscope.

  “I deduced that Parmeet had watched Vidya drop the sleeping pills in the milk. He knew exactly what she was doing. But he did nothing to stop her. He slipped off to work without alerting anyone and then arrived on his own doorstep early the next morning, pretending to be stunned by his wife’s death. This, of course, was all conjecture on my part. I had no proof. But I realised that we could have a leg to stand on if I could catch him red-handed with the binoculars, since everything hinged upon the binoculars. We were lucky that he went back to the room, and seeing Renuka across the street, he raised the binoculars one last time to his eyes. That helped us prove that Parmeet coldheartedly observed and abetted his wife’s suicide, and that is a grave crime indeed!”

  “It was a good idea to use me as a substitute for poor Vidya,” Renuka acceded.

  Jatin sighed. “But why did he want her dead?”

  “I don’t believe that he deliberately planned her death. Perhaps not at first, at least. Matters just took their own course. Any normal person’s instinct would have been to rush home and stop his wife from drinking that glass of milk, or at least call the doctor after she did so. But Parmeet was careless and irresponsible. He had no particular love for Vidya. She was simply the woman he had married. Also, he was convinced that his wife was still involved with her ex-boyfriend and that enraged him. He conveniently ascribed her unbalanced state of mind and her desire to end her life to her affair. Also, the constant hassles with his parents, the dowry demands, and the tension at home—I believe that he was kind of glad it was all resolving, without any one of them lifting a finger. He had no idea that he’d lifted a whole hand in assisting her to die!”

  Renuka shuddered. “What a ruthless thing to do! And to think that Vidya trusted him and loved him and wanted to keep him from being implicated in her plan! He couldn’t have betrayed her in a more horrible manner!”

  “Yes, poor Vidya!” Sonia agreed, with feeling.

  “But why didn’t Parmeet try to save his mother? He knew that Vidya’s death was not murder.”

  “Firstly, I think, because he was entirely unaware that Vidya had planned such a clever ruse to trap his mother. He was confused, because he’d seen her commit suicide with his own eyes. The bottle in his mother’s cupboard confused not only us but him, too. Then when he had finally figured out his wife’s ingenious scheme, there lay the risk of exposing his own hideous behaviour. He would have had to reveal that not only had he seen her suicide and heartlessly done absolutely nothing to stop it, but he had deliberately hidden the fact! It was his mother’s neck against his neck. And probably he didn’t really expect it to come to an arrest. Perhaps he thought he could stop the whole accusation process at some point,” Sonia analysed.

  “I’m glad at least one of them is going to face serious charges,” Renuka remarked bitterly. Then she looked a little abashed. “Sonia, I really need to apologise! I’ve been insufferably rude to you. You must think me to be—”

  “Renuka, don’t apologise. I understand. You were devastated by your friend’s death and you suspected that I was deliberately letting the Sahays off the hook. At that point, I couldn’t reveal my suspicions to you. Not without proof.”

  The other girl shrugged, but added with a smile, “Thank you, Sonia. Thank you for finding a way to see justice done.”

  “I just feel sorry for Vidya. What an unpleasant, irreversible mess of a beautiful life,” the detective sighed.

  The March evening was hot as Sonia approached a bench in Sambhaji Park. Families strolled around the sprawling park, eating bhel and ragda patties. Kartik sat waiting for her, a photograph clutched in his hand. Sonia took the seat beside him. As usual he was dressed in a khadi kurta and jeans, his hand clutching a sling bag beside him on the wooden, red-painted bench.

  “You knew, didn’t you?” he asked, without preamble.

  Sonia nodded. “It was there in the diary. That she was tired of taking the medicine. And also in her horoscope. That she would suffer from a terminal disease.” Sun and Saturn in the sixth house, which was the house of disease; Jupiter rendered weak in Virgo; Lord of the sixth house, Mercury, trapped between Saturn in the sixth house and Mars in the eighth house; Lord of the first house, Mars, in the eighth house, the house of death, in conjunction with Moon and with Saturn aspecting it—all extremely damaging planetary positions, leading to disease and death. Sonia recalled the numbness and deep sympathy she’d felt when she first realised the truth of Vidya’s failing health.

  “I spoke to the Doctor at the clinic where she underwent her regular treatment. She did not have long to live,” she told Kartik.

  Tears glittered in his eyes. “So she found a way out. Suicide was the answer to all her problems. That’s why she told me not to look back, no matter what happened. She wasn’t going to sway from her plan.”

  “Perhaps it was for the best,” Sonia consoled. “Perhaps the pain was too much for her. But she proved that she still possessed that fighting spirit you knew in her. Did you do as I told you to do?”

  Kartik nodded. He turned the photo frame in his hand and removed the cardboard back. A piece of paper slipped out. Without a word, he handed it to Sonia.

  With a sudden thudding of the heart, she opened the single fold. Vidya was speaking to them from the dead.

  Dear Kartik,

  I’ve always cared for you. But life must go on. So must you. Don’t grieve for me. I told you, life is not always only about living…. This note is to say that I will soon be at peace. My in-laws have not murdered me, as I planned it to look. My intention was only to teach them a lesson—in harassment. And hope that they will never harass anybody ever again!

  Vidya.

  Sonia stared at the note, her eyes moist. Vidya had never intended to harm anybody in a long-lasting manner. Sun and Jupiter in her horoscope had helped Vidya keep her conscience awake. It was Sonia’s belief in the horoscope that had made her realise that the girl must’ve left a suicide note. An emergency note, in case matters got out of hand. And there was only one place where it could’ve been hidden. In the photograph which Vidya had returned to Kartik.

  “Can I keep this note?” he asked softly.

  “I’m afraid not. It is evidence and will have to be handed over to the police. I’m sorry.”

  “I understand.” He shrugged. “But will this mean that the three Sahays…?”

  “No. Mr. and Mrs. Sahay have been arrested. For harassment. That is proved beyond doubt. And Parmeet is in grave trouble for abetting suicide, which he has admitted. Their crimes still stand,” she remarked grimly.

  “Thank God!”

  Sonia rose and stared down at Kartik.

  “Pain is life. Remember, without pain and death, life would have no meaning,” she told him. Then she took his hand in a firm handshake. “Goodbye, Kartik. Remember what Vidya said. Think of the happy times you spent with her, because it’s the only way to live. Transposing bitter experiences into happy
memories.”

  “I’ll try,” Kartik whispered.

  As Sonia made her way through the tree-lined path to her van, for some strange, inexplicable reason, she thought of Sarang. Her little brother. Lost and gone forever. Mohnish’s words rang in her mind. “It’s the only way to live. Transposing bitter experiences into happy memories…”

  3

  Anything for Love

  “Are you sure?” Sonia asked, keeping aside the newspaper she was reading.

  “Positive. I was in late, taking stock of the new material which was going to arrive from Mumbai. Due to some problem on the Express Highway, the van arrived well after midnight,” Devika replied. “I was alone, waiting for the delivery, when I distinctly heard a noise outside. At first I thought it was Nidhi, but then I saw something white flash past my window. I couldn’t let it pass as my imagination, so I went to the window—just in time to see a bloated figure in stark white turn the corner of the wall to your office! It was definitely someone moving around. Of course, I didn’t dare pursue the search!”

  “What do you mean ‘a bloated figure’?”

  “It was just a flash and a lot of white, like a white plastic bag or balloon filled with air. Only there was a person inside it, for sure. That’s what I wanted to ask you. Does this place by any chance have a reputation of being haunted?” Devika asked, with a grin.

  Sonia returned the smile. “Not that I know of. But this is a very old building, you can make that out from the architecture. More than a hundred years old, at the least. So there could be ghost stories attached to it. I didn’t think of asking when I rented it!”

  “Neither did I, though of course, my agent found this place for me.” Devika finished off her cup of chai and rose. “Anyway, I thought you should know that there was a prowler here last night. Could be a petty thief, of course, or maybe someone looking for a shortcut to the main road.”