by RV Raman
Most of them would know about the break-in and its apparent connection with the two wills. As the awkward silence dragged on, Varadan took it upon himself to break it.
‘There are so many other ways to kill,’ he said. ‘Just read some of Bhaskar’s crime-fiction collection in the library. People drown in rivers, fall down stairs, have heavy objects fall on them, die of suffocation in airless rooms or dungeons, and even get scared to death. In books, people even drink acid, thinking it is water. And in one old story, a scientist, most improbably, drinks liquid nitrogen.’
‘Don’t forget The Speckled Band,’ Sebastian added, joining in the effort to move the focus away from the recent incident. ‘It took all of Holmes’ courage and ingenuity to crack the case. Some writers like Poe have even more bizarre ways of killing their victims. Edgar Wallace too.’
‘Indeed,’ Athreya concurred. ‘Murky London fogs in these stories invariably result in someone falling off a bridge or an embankment into the Thames.’
‘Why go as far as fictional London?’ Abbas joined in.
‘We’ve had instances of people breaking their necks in this valley during foggy nights. The man who built this mansion is said to have died that way.’
‘Did he fall or was he pushed?’ Richie quipped. ‘That’s the question. What say, Ganesh?’
‘A gun for me any day,’ the retired major responded, apparently not having followed the conversation very well.
‘Boom! And khalas!’ he repeated before ambling away to the bar to pour himself a large portion of dark rum.
‘And what about that Parker bloke?’ Richie went on, his eyes riveted on Jilsy. ‘Nobody knows how he died, or where. Least of all himself. He still roams about the vale searching for pieces of his body. Michelle saw him as recently as the day before yesterday.’
A frisson of fear seemed to run down Jilsy’s body, making her shudder. She cast a nervous glance through the French windows, but the grey mist outside was impenetrable, especially when seen from inside the lighted room. A low rumble of thunder shook the drawing room.
‘That’s why I don’t walk around the valley after dinner, Richie,’ she said in a small voice. ‘They say that the time between midnight and 4 a.m. is when ghosts are most likely to roam about. Isn’t that true, Mr. Athreya?’
Déjà vu. First Michelle, now Jilsy. Athreya chose to respond differently to Jilsy than he had to Michelle.
‘This Parker’s ghost,’ he asked her, ‘how do you know it is him?’
‘Who?’
‘Parker, of course.’
‘Everyone says it is.’ Jilsy seemed confused.
‘He is deathly white in colour and wears the old British uniform.’
‘How do you know?’ Athreya countered. ‘It must be pitch-dark in the valley at night.’
‘It is not misty on some nights, Mr. Athreya, and sometimes the moon is out,’ Abbas broke in, coming to Jilsy’s rescue.
‘Have you seen him, Abbas?’
‘You bet.’
A flash of lightning lit up the mist outside the French windows. A peal of thunder sounded a few seconds later, this time louder and nearer. The lights in the drawing room flickered for a few moments in response.
‘Can you describe him?’ Athreya asked when the reverberations died away.
‘Certainly. Medium height, reasonably thin, a fleshy face like that of a tippler, blonde hair, similarly coloured beard…what else, Richie? Dora?’
The siblings shook their heads.
‘I’ve never seen him,’ Dora said softly.
‘Michelle?’ Abbas asked.
‘Don’t ask me!’ Michelle squeaked. ‘I run when I see anything remotely resembling the Parker ghost.’
‘Thus spake the woman of science,’ Manu teased. ‘A doctor to boot–’
‘I have seen him,’ Sebastian broke in unexpectedly. ‘Several times. So has Phillip. Abbas’s description is quite accurate.’
‘Ever accosted him, Sebastian?’ Dora asked impishly. ‘You are the most fearless of us all, except perhaps Uncle.’
‘No, Dora,’ said Sebastian, smiling indulgently. ‘Perhaps I should waylay the ghost one of these days.’
‘Don’t mess with things that don’t concern you, Sebastian,’ Bhaskar growled. ‘Let sleeping dogs lie. Of course, if he comes into Greybrooke Manor, kill him.’
‘Kill a ghost, Uncle?’ Dora laughed. ‘How?’
‘With a silver cross and a stake through the heart,’ Manu retorted, with a wide grin. ‘Don’t you know? That’s what they do in horror novels. Sure-shot way to slay ghouls, vampires and werewolves.’
‘Stop it, you two!’ Michelle barked, and pointed with her eyes to Jilsy. ‘Can’t you see she’s scared?’ Michelle herself seemed a shade paler.
‘Ha, ha!’ Ganesh guffawed and threw his bearlike arm around his wife’s slim shoulders. ‘Don’t worry, my dear. Nothing can touch you when I am around.’ He pulled her close and gave her a squeeze that made her gasp. ‘Neither Parker nor anything else.’
‘Don’t take this lightly, Ganesh,’ Abbas warned with a seriousness that surprised Athreya. ‘And you too, Manu and Dora. You don’t know what you are talking about–’
A terrific crash of thunder sounded overhead, vibrating around the room. Simultaneously, a bright rod of lightning fell outside the French windows. It seared the valley with a momentary brilliance that hurt the eye, making everyone in the room wince.
When they recovered from the intense flash, they found themselves plunged in impenetrable darkness. All the lights in the drawing room and the hall outside had gone off. The few lights that had illuminated the walkway between the mansion and the annex were also off. Night invaded the drawing room through the open French windows.
Someone whimpered in the darkness. A sharp intake of breath followed the sound. Silence fell.
Athreya felt his senses suddenly sharpen as if he was expecting something to happen. His imagination took flight. He thought he heard a soft moan and a rustling sound coming from his right. He tried to recall which direction he had been facing when the lights had gone out, but couldn’t remember.
He turned his face in the direction the rustling sound had come from. Another flash of lightning lit up the mist outside, and he found himself looking directly at the French windows at the far end of the room.
Framed against the lightning’s blaze was a figure clad in a shapeless, hooded robe that covered it from head to toe. Two billowing arms were outstretched on either side to touch the frame of the French windows.
In its left hand was something long and slender.
* * *
Jilsy screamed. Someone dropped a glass. Several gasps sounded. The person behind Athreya drew his breath sharply. A faint glow sprang up from the wheelchair’s touchscreen console, showing Bhaskar’s keen face in sharp relief, hunched forward and peering through the darkness at the French windows. The glow also fell on Bhaskar’s right hand.
In it was a handgun.
Another flash from the heavens lit up the room, showing that the robed silhouette had come in a pace or two. Its arms were still outstretched. A new voice, hoarse and quivering, said a name.
‘Bhaskar!’ it said.
Jilsy screamed again, and, in the glow from the wheelchair’s console, Athreya saw Sebastian move swiftly and pick up something.
The next moment, the lights came on. Murugan had started the generator. Two steps away from the French windows stood the robed figure, clad in black from head to toe and clutching a cane walking stick. The hood fell away to reveal a bald pate and a smooth face wearing glasses. The eyes behind the glasses blinked rapidly in response to the sudden light.
‘Father Tobias!’ Manu exclaimed and strode forward towards the newcomer. ‘What are you doing outside on such a night?’
Behind him, Jilsy collapsed into the nearest chair with a soft moan of relief. Michelle, her face as white as a sheet, had both her hands covering her
mouth in terror. Her glass lay in two pieces at her feet.
Sebastian, who had been standing behind Bhaskar when the lights went out, was now beside him. In his hand was a heavy brass candlestick from the nearby mantelpiece. He now moved swiftly to return it to its place. The others hadn’t moved, save Bhaskar, whose right hand was disappearing under the bright red-and-green woollen blanket covering his knees. He was putting away his automatic.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry to barge in, Manu,’ the priest said, smiling ruefully. ‘I got lost in this blessed fog and didn’t know where I was until I saw your lights from a distance and came here. I hope you don’t mind.’ His timid gaze flickered across the room. ‘Oh dear, I seem to have startled you. I’m so sorry.’
‘No harm done, Reverend.’ Bhaskar immediately took charge. ‘The ladies got a bit of a shock, but nothing a stiff drink can’t remedy. Pity you don’t take an occasional drink yourself. This is the perfect night for one. Anyway, come in and warm yourself.’
‘Would you like some hot tea, Father?’ Dora asked, stepping forward. She had collected the shards of Michelle’s broken glass from the floor and handed them over to Murugan, who had come in with a mop to clean the mess.
‘Bless you, Dora. Yes, I could do with some tea. If you don’t mind, that is. I don’t want to trouble you.’
‘No trouble at all, Father. I’ll be back in a jiffy.’
The priest shook out his cassock and picked up the two leaves that fell from it. He looked around apologetically and nodded his head in silent greeting at each person.
‘I seem to have gate-crashed this party. My profound apologies. Please, please don’t let me interrupt you.’
‘Join the party, Reverend,’ Bhaskar boomed. ‘You are always welcome at Greybrooke Manor, party or not. Come and rest your feet. You must have been on them for a while.’
‘For a couple of hours.’ The cleric lowered himself into a chair that Sebastian brought for him. ‘Good evening, Sebastian, Phillip, Major.’
‘This is Varadan and this is Mr. Athreya. My friends.’ Bhaskar waved towards the two men. ‘Father Tobias is our local priest, who also presides over our little chapel on occasion.’
Tobias beamed at them with an air of muddled benevolence, blinking every so often. Soon, Dora brought him tea in a large mug, which Tobias sipped in appreciation.
‘Bless you, my child,’ he said softly. ‘What happened to your hand?’
‘A small accident, Father. Nothing serious.’
Michelle came up and chatted with the priest, as did Jilsy. Everyone other than Richie and Abbas seemed to be on good terms with him. As soon as Tobias finished his tea, he sought out the two younger men and greeted them.
Soon, the party had regained its momentum, the disconcerting interruption forgotten. Ganesh got progressively more drunk as he downed peg after peg of dark rum. He buttonholed Varadan, and held forth on superheroes and supervillains. Jilsy drifted away from them and began chatting with the four cousins and Abbas.
Athreya found himself with Sebastian, who turned out to be a pleasant man to talk to. Both of them were partaking of the same whisky from Bhaskar’s liquor cupboard. It turned out that Sebastian had spent a good part of the day at the site of the landslide.
‘It’s going to take at least two days to clear the road,’ he said. ‘And perhaps a day or two more to make it motorable. But we have nothing to worry about. We have enough supplies for this three-day party, and at least for another week after that. You must enjoy yourself to the hilt, Mr Athreya. That’s what Mr. Fernandez would want.’
‘A generous man, Mr. Fernandez,’ Athreya said softly, thinking about the conversation he had overheard outside the study window.
‘Oh, yes.’ Sebastian agreed emphatically. ‘Very large-hearted. I’ve been with him since I was an uneducated teenager, you know. From before the accident that smashed his legs. He educated me, and taught me so many things. I owe everything to him.’
‘Did he take the family quarrel badly? From the way he spoke about it, the challenge his brother mounted in court seems to have cut deeply.’
‘Yes, it did. A very sad affair. It achieved nothing but delay and bad blood. Mr. Fernandez was very fond of his sister, Sarah. It broke his heart when she joined Mathew in the challenge.’
‘But Mr. Fernandez is a strong man, isn’t he? He came out of all of this unscathed. Despite the bad blood, he is doing everything he can for his nieces and nephew.’
‘I wouldn’t say he came out unscathed, Mr. Athreya. The scars are there, but below the surface. He doesn’t let them show. But yes, he is doing everything he can for Manu’s cousins. Even for Richie, despite the young man’s impudence. Mr. Fernandez is very fond of the girls.’
‘Of course, I’ve not been here for long, but Dora seems devoted to him.’
‘She is. So is Manu. Being a girl, Dora demonstrates it openly. Her affection is very visible. Manu, on the other hand, is a reserved person. He doesn’t show much emotion outwardly. But he is devoted to his father. He won’t go against his father’s word. Mr. Fernandez, on his part, doesn’t make Manu do anything he doesn’t want to do. He never imposes anything on him.’
‘Mr. Fernandez seems to be pretty hard-nosed. Very practical and clued-in. Thoroughly grounded in reality, he is.’
Sebastian nodded, and Athreya went on.
‘Yet, he believes that eleven is an inauspicious number for the family.’
‘We all have our beliefs, Mr Athreya. His father and mother also held the same belief against the number eleven. It’s a family thing.’
‘I guess so,’ said Athreya, nodding. ‘I saw Michelle and Dora agreeing with him.’
‘I don’t know if you have realized it yet, but we have a bigger problem now, Mr. Athreya,’ Sebastian said softly.
‘What problem?’
‘With Father Tobias joining us, we are now thirteen.’
* * *
If Bhaskar was uncomfortable that thirteen people were at dinner, he didn’t show it. Cheery and voluble, he invited his guests to sample all the dishes, and talked at length about his preference for British authors over American when it came to crime fiction. Sebastian, Athreya, Dora and Manu joined in enthusiastically, even as Varadan poked logical and legal holes in the plots, trying to demonstrate that fiction was not as credible as readers liked to believe.
Phillip shot wry one-liners that had Dora, Michelle and Jilsy in stitches. Richie and Abbas were in a conversation of their own, as a drunken Ganesh concentrated on transporting food from his plate to his mouth without mishap. Father Tobias blinked and smiled at anyone who looked his way, and held desultory conversations with his neighbours at the dining table.
At a little past eleven, the satiated diners rose and stood talking, before they split up into smaller groups and continued chatting. Richie and Jilsy escorted a wobbling Ganesh through the mist to the annex. After chatting with the others for a little while, Manu and Dora went away to the rose garden, and Michelle and Abbas sauntered away to Sunset Deck.
Sebastian had a room prepared in the annex for Father Tobias, and escorted the cleric to it once Bhaskar had retired for the night. Varadan and Phillip sat chatting in the drawing room. Left alone, Athreya decided to take a stroll along the walkways before going into his room. He went around in a circle, enjoying the novelty of being near sightless in the fog. When he began his second round and passed the rose garden, he heard Dora talking softly.
‘Uncle said he is willing to help me with twenty-five lakh,’ she said. ‘But instead of giving me the money, he wants to set up the business himself, with him and me as co-promoters. Upon his death, the entire business will become mine. He said he would talk to you about it. This is crazy, Manu. Why is he tying everything to his death?’
‘Did he say why he wants to take this approach?’ Manu asked.
‘I am too fond of Richie, he says…and I will give away the money to him if Uncle transfers it into my bank accou
nt.’
‘He has a point, doesn’t he? You do find it incredibly difficult to say no to your brother. You know it’s true, Dora. And knowing Richie, he will start nagging you as soon as he learns that you have money.’
‘Maybe. But I want to run my business my way, Manu. The fashion industry is very different. I want to choose what risks I take and what moves I make. Uncle doesn’t understand fashion. He’ll only be in the way. This can be my big break, Manu. Zofus is willing to offer me a contract–’
‘Really? That’s great!’
‘Isn’t it? I will have to take some risk. That’s the way Zofus operates. I can’t have Uncle tying my hands.’
Their voices grew indistinct as Athreya moved out of earshot. But less than a minute later, he overheard another conversation, this time at Sunset Deck. The murky night seemed full of private conversations.
‘Did you talk to your uncle about my proposition?’ Abbas’s voice demanded.
‘I did,’ Michelle replied softly in contrast. ‘But he rejected it right away.’
‘The kanjoos old devil!’ Abbas hissed. ‘Why can’t he be a little generous for a change? Is he going to take the land with him when he dies? Or is it that he doesn’t trust me? Thinks I’ll walk away with his precious land?’
‘Abbas–’
‘To hell with the bloody cripple! Let him keep his land and take it with him when he dies. I’ll have to work this out another way, much as I would like not to. Meanwhile, talk to that lawyer fellow and find out what you can about those bloody wills–’
‘Shh!’ Michelle cut in fiercely. ‘Someone’s coming.’ Athreya spun around and quickly retraced his steps.
Halfway to the mansion, he met Sebastian, who was returning from the annex, and they entered the mansion together. On his way to his room, Athreya glanced at the wall clock in the hall. It was 11.50 p.m.
