‘Madam,’ the boy said. Jainika eyed him cautiously, ‘Three thousand four hundred files?’
‘I will pay you one Rupee per file you check,’ said Jainika squarely. A smile appeared on the boy’s face. ‘But one condition,’ said Jainika, ‘not a word about this to anyone.’
***
‘I want everybody to listen to this carefully,’ the principal thundered in the microphone. The one thousand plus strong audience listened with rapt attention. They had never been called to a meeting at such a short notice. Some of the students guessed it was a farewell speech for the outgoing twelfth standard students.
‘There was a lady named Geetha here,’ the principal said. Viki shifted in his seat. His eyes caught Bala’s.
‘That lady stole a lot of money and ran away.’ Little murmurs could be heard.
‘Someone from here helped her,’ the sudden silence was deafening.
‘The police have already caught Geetha. She will tell the name of the person who helped her and the police will come here.’
‘I am giving you one last chance. If you come and admit your mistake, I will protect your from the police.’
‘Now the time is 2:15 PM. I will wait till 10 PM tonight. If the person himself or herself comes and admits his mistake to me, I will help the person.’ The murmuring in the audience had begun again. ‘If no-one comes by 10 PM tonight, I will ask the police to take over,’ the principal said and left the stage. Vanita hurried behind him, ‘You could have discussed it with us first sir.’
‘I am the principal remember? Today morning, that girl’s parents come and threaten me.’
‘I told you not to send the legal notice. You didn't listen. Now you have openly spoken about this issue to the students.’
‘What should I have done then?’
‘Sir, these students will tell their parents about the meeting. We will have a lot of parents flocking here asking what that was.’
‘I know what I am doing madam’
‘It will affect our reputation.’
‘Do I have to remind you who the principal is?’
Vanita stopped in her tracks and the principal continued walking to his office. He sat on his desk and reminisced about his arduous journey. Born to poor parents he was harassed by the villagers for being from a lower caste. The reservation quota had helped him through his education and conversion to Christianity had helped him land a job. The journey had been tough with a number of people calling him incompetent. He had stuck on to the foundation long enough to become the principal of one of the schools they owned. Two of his worst triggers had been pulled. One person had hinted at his past and another had hinted at his competence. He wanted to make sure he had done everything to please the pastor regarding the Geetha issue.
He looked at the yellow bundle on his table. He picked up the landline receiver and began dialling a number. He suddenly slammed the receiver down and shook his head. He had to be wise. He pulled his cell phone out and made a call.
‘Good morning sir. I have good news for you.’ Pause.
‘The legal notice worked. The girl’s parents came with the money.’ Pause.
‘They apologised profusely and requested to withdraw the legal notice’ Pause.
‘I told them we are godly people and would cause no harm to them. I thenforgave them and took the money. Pause.
‘Thank you sir.’ Pause.
‘I will hand over the money to Mr. Antony when he comes.’ Pause.
‘I am sure I will become the Director since I have your support.’
***
The pastor smiled after disconnecting the call. He immediately called Antony.
‘I have located the papers.’
‘You are very efficient Antony.’
‘Thank you sir.’
‘Can you consider some concession?’
‘I come at a fixed price Pastor.’ Antony laughed.
‘I have arranged the money. Can you pick it up from St. Jack’s?’
‘You are more efficient sir.’ Antony laughed again. The pastor joined him.
‘So that take’s care of my nephew’s marks.’
‘Worry not.’
‘Anything you have to tell me about the girl?’
‘As I told you earlier, I have no knowledge about her whereabouts,’ said Antony.
‘I wanted to torture her. I almost had her but she managed to escape.’
‘Hope you find her first. Or else the principal and you may have to answer some embarrassing questions.’
‘I’ll pass the questions on to you sir,’ said Antony and laughed before the line went dead.
***
‘I am sure the police didn't get Geetha,’ said Viki, throwing clothes into his suitcase.
‘I think so too,’ said Bala, ‘if they had caught Geetha, why this meeting? If she had told the names, then why ask the helper to surrender?’
‘Geetha told us her parents were violent and fierce. They might have threatened the principal to take some action. And that’s why the meeting.’
‘If she’s already caught, then nothing can save us. That is, assuming she will expose us,’ said Viki.
‘Of course, she will not.’
Doss came running. ‘Who is Gopi?’
Viki and Bala shook their heads. ‘The principal says someone called Gopi gave Geetha a SIM card.’ Doss waited for his panting to subside. ‘There’s a guy named Gopi working in the refectory. The principal almost beat him up asking him to confess.’
Day 5
‘What’s he still doing here?' asked Naresh when Jainika entered the investigation wing.
The office boy was standing in front of Naresh with this arms folded. Jainika had not expected her boss in the office on a Saturday. Hope he didn't speak about the money.
‘We are still not done with the work boss.’
‘What work is this?’ Naresh removed his glasses. He pulled a piece of cloth from his shirt pocket and wiped his glasses. ‘Sir, I had a hunch about some documents being duplicated. I just wanted to check once again.’
‘How long will you need?’ Naresh put his glasses back on.
‘Just today boss,’ she said, settling down. Naresh had always been a cool boss. It was only in Raj’s case that he was acting weirdly.
‘Okay.’ He walked out.
‘Did you tell him about the money?’ asked Jainika once the door closed behind Naresh.
‘No madam, I swear on God I didn’t.’
‘Chill. Did you find anything?’
‘No madam.’
‘How many files have you checked?’
‘Nine hundred,’ the boy said sheepishly.
‘Okay hurry up.’ The boy got to work. She watched him walk upto the rack where he had worked the previous day.
Jainika hit her head with her right palm and grunted, ‘You are a fool Jainika.’ The boy turned back and asked, ‘Madam, did you say something?’
‘Start from this side,’ she pointed to the other end of the room, ‘those files are very old. You start from the latest ones which are placed here and go backwards.’
The boy nodded and hurried to the other end of the room. She imagined Raj telling her, ‘How did you even get into that team?’
Shut up Raj!
***
‘I don’t understand,’ said Amba. Geetha stared at him through moist eyes.
‘He asked you to elope with him. And he didn’t show up. And they say he eloped with another girl.’
‘What do you not understand? He betrayed.’
‘Why would he ask you to come if he was eloping with her?’
‘He did not have the guts to tell me. He has always been that way.’
‘He could have told you nothing and still eloped. Why would he take the trouble of sending you a SIM card, coordinating things with those school kids to finally betray you’
‘Maybe he panicked in the last moment,’ reasoned Geetha.
‘Is there any sense in what you are saying?’ Amba could not hide his irritation.
‘I know you will always take his side. Don't you see what he has done to me? I can’t go back home. I can’t go back to the school. I am stuck. I don’t know what those boys are going through for helping me.’
‘The school kids?' asked Amba.
‘Yes, they did so much for me,’ said Geetha, ‘Raj would not have taken half that effort.’
‘Geetha, what effort did he not take? He went to meet your parents. They threw him out, I told you.’ Geetha glared. ‘I am not a fool Amba.’ Amba sensed something was not right. He looked at her without uttering a word.
‘I am not a fool,’ she said again.
‘I am listening,’ said Amba.
‘You are lying to me,’ Geetha said, letting streams of tears flow down her cheeks.
‘What?’ Amba asked in disbelief.
‘Yes, you are also part of this plan. I know. You knew that they both were in love and would elope.’
‘Are you in your senses?’ Amba stood up furiously, ‘How can you say such a thing?’
‘At the railway station, you called Priyanka,’ Geetha said, between sobs.
‘Yes, I called,’ said Amba, still confused.
‘How did you come to have her number?’ asked Geetha.
Amba immediately put his hands on his head and yelled, ‘Stupid woman!’
Geetha gave him a confused look. ‘When Raj came to visit your parents, he asked me to inform that girl if something wrong happens. So I had her number saved.’
‘Raj is not a bad guy. He really loves you though I question his sanity in loving a stupid woman like you. Priyanka would definitely be a better match for him.’ He shut the door behind him.
***
Alison followed John into the office on the ground floor of the front block. A man in Armani suit greeted them and offered them seats.
‘Mr. John, good to see you,’ said the Director of the CD Research Laboratory.
‘Good to see you too, Mr. Ben,’ said John and introduced Alison, who shook hands with the director.
‘We were here earlier regarding the disposal of waste,’ said John.
‘Yes, I remember. You did us a favour. Had it not been for your investigation, the municipality would have conveniently ignored us.’
‘Well, this visit is more of a follow-up to get your feedback on things.’
‘Thank you very much for being kind. I am sure everything is in place now. We even got a higher certification after the disposal issue was resolved, thanks to you.’
‘So, what are these chemicals that are bing dumped,’ asked Alison, sparing all formality.
‘You have quite an inquisitive young lady,’ said the director and laughed. Alison looked at the laughing man intently. He is buying time.
‘Well, young lady,’ he began, ‘we use a lot of natural substances. We extract nutrients from various substances. Once these nutrients are extracted, the remaining substance becomes unusable. We are obliged to safely dispose of such waste,’ the director smiled.
‘I understand that,’ said Alison, much to the directors dismay, ‘What chemicals are those? Do you have a list handy?’
The director’s face hardened. He looked at John who had fixed his gaze on the ceiling.
‘That can be arranged,’ said the Director and called his secretary from the desk phone, ‘bring me a copy of the compliance report.’
When the secretary walked in with a file a couple of minutes later, Alison perked up. The Director directed his secretary to hand it over to Alison, ‘This, young lady, is a detailed compliance report.’
Without as much as a glance at the file, Alison inserted it into her folder.
‘Would you like to discuss anything else, Mr. John?’
‘Well, we see that a person named Melvin,’ John paused after uttering the name and Alison caught a flicker int he eye of the Directors. John continued, ‘is a bit of a problem to your company.’
‘Who, may I ask, is Melvin?’ The Director was visible disturbed.
‘Uh, nothing sir,’ said Alison, ‘that will be all,’ and she stood up. John followed. They shook hands with the Director who wore an unpleasant expression and left the office.
While walking to their parked car, Alison looked around. Numerous trucks were lined up, waiting to be unloaded. She was sitting in the co-passenger seat when their car neared the truck unloading area on the way to the exit. She asked John to stop and lowered her window. Calling out to one of the labours, she asked, ‘What is in that?’ pointing to the sack that the man was pulling.
‘I don’t know miss,’ the man said. Alison got off the vehicle and walked over to him. She flashed her badge and the man’s eyes bulged.
‘Show me what’s inside,’ said Alison inserting her fingers into her pocket.
‘I ain’t doing anything wrong Miss….ah…mam.’
‘I know.’ She struck the sack with the key she had fished out of her pocket. The gash was enough for her to peer into the sack.
‘Carry on.’ She walked back to the car. She clicked a few pictures of the truck as the car exited the premises. On a large screen in front of him, the Director watched the car leave. He picked his mobile phone and made a call.
‘What was that about?’ asked John, when they were away from the research centre.
‘Some sort of mangoes. Green.’
‘What made you do that?’ asked John mimicking to cut the dashboard of the car with his bare hand.
‘I thought you noticed,’ said Alison, with a fake expression of shock, ‘that truck was being unloaded manually and it didn't have the company’s name or the logistic partner’s name on it.’
‘Ah…I didn't notice that,’ said John, ‘call it my old age.’
***
Viki and Bala arrived at the shop opposite the TITGIC office. Viki appeared older than he was in his checked shirt left tucked out of his blue denim. Bala, who wore a polo t shirt and black pants looked a lot younger. They had chosen their footwear carefully. Shoes that would let them run fast, if need arises.
‘Two glasses of milk.’
‘Are you going to that company?’ the shopkeeper asked.
‘Yes,’ Viki masked his apprehension to answer.
‘Get insurance from some other company. A fraud happened recently.’
‘Fraud?’
‘Yes, it was in the newspaper also.’
‘What fraud was it? I don’t understand.’ Bala wanted the shopkeeper to spill the beans.
‘One boy and one girl stole some fifty lakh rupees and eloped.’
Seeing the shock on the boys’ faces, the shopkeeper continued, ‘Yes, boy. You are very young to understand these things. This is an insurance company. They collect money from customers and keep it in a box inside that building. If someone dies, they will take some money from the box and give. So there will be a lot of money inside this building.’
‘Oh!’
‘So this boy and girl stole money from that box and ran away. It is stupid on the company’s part to trust such young people with so much money.’
‘How much money?’ Bala sipped his glass of milk. ‘Fifty lakh they say. It’s not a small amount,’ the shopkeeper said in a whisper.
Stepping away from the shop, Viki said, ‘He says the girl who eloped also worked in the same company.’
‘I was wondering the same’
‘So did Raj elope with some other girl?’
‘If he did, where is Geetha?’ Bala had a troubled look on his face. He jerked when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The shopkeeper had come up behind them to give them a newspaper. ‘This is the news.’
‘He betrayed her,’ Viki gritted his teeth. Bala nodded.
‘Stay here,’ said Bala, ‘I’ll go inside and ask for whatever they are selling. I’ll see if there’s someone called Gopi.’
‘Okay.'
Bala walked up to the security and asked, ‘Anna Gopi sir?’ The security had a confused look on his face and then a smile erupted, ‘Gopi sir illa. Gopi boy.’
It was Bala’s turn to look confused. ‘What do you want?’ the security asked politely. ‘I want a policy.’
‘Go inside. Sit in the reception,’ the guard opened the door and directed Bala to a seat.
‘Bala looked at the standee with the various brochures and searched for something familiar. Finally his eyes landed on a brochure that said Comprehensive insurance for your Vehicle. He sighed, relieved. The girl at the reception was eyeing. When he caught her staring at him, she asked, ‘What policy do you want sir?’
‘Insurance for my bike,’ said Bala. When the girl continued staring, he added, ‘And my dad’s car.’ She picked up a landline receiver and punched in three numbers. ‘Madam, customer is here to buy policy.’
She listened intently for a moment and said, ‘Sales executives have not come in yet madam. Shall I ask customer to wait?’ After a moment’s pause, she said, ‘Sorry madam. I will bring him to your desk.’
She slammed the phone down and muttered under her breath. She looked up at Bala. ‘Come with me sir.’ Bala followed her into the office which looked like a maze with many cubicles. The receptionist stopped at one cubicle and directed Bala to go in.
‘Welcome young man!’ said Akhila with excitement in her tone.
‘Good morning madam’
‘We hardly get any young customers. Our industry is like that.’ She smiled broadly. She suddenly jerked her body forward and said, ‘Sit down please.’
Bala nervously took his seat.
‘So how can I help you? Sorry about the receptionist. She asked if she should make you wait. I strongly condemned her.’
Bala wore a smile. ‘I came to enquire about insurance for my dad’s vehicle.’
‘For the first time in my life I am seeing a young man enquire about insurance. Boys of your age are mostly after girls.’ She giggled.
Accidental Inquisitors Page 10
