When He Finds You
Page 18
Sheetal looked away, shaking her head.
‘Do you love him?’ I said, jumping on the bandwagon of asking direct questions.
Sheetal looked away in disgust. ‘No, absolutely not. Are you crazy?’
I raised my eyebrows and pulled out copies of the letters she had written to Zakkal. ‘You orgasmed looking at his picture. He asked you to send your nudes and you obliged. What the hell was going on?’ I said, my voice shivering towards the end.
‘It was a mistake,’ Sheetal said as tears formed in her eyes.
‘Stop lying and tell us where Zakkal is right now,’ I said.
‘It was a mistake. I was young. I was stupid. I didn’t know the repercussions of what I did.’
‘And what were those repercussions?’
'I'm scared for my life. I feel sick to know that I shared all of that with a pervert.'
‘When did you realize he was a pervert?’ I asked, unsure of how much I should push Sheetal. Just like Devaki, even she seemed to have ended up being Zakkal’s victim.
Sheetal started crying. She tried to hold back her tears as she wiped them with the back of her palm. 'I don't know. I don't know. I've tried so hard to forget that man.'
I remained silent, now feeling sad for Sheetal as well. Her crying got louder. Rathod and I exchanged glances.
‘I know this is tough for you,’ Rathod said. ‘It seems like even you were Zakkal’s victim. He’s out there right now, Sheetal. He’s taken more women and he’s going to kill them soon if we don’t find him. Can you please help us?’
The intensity of Sheetal’s sobs reduced over the next two minutes. ‘I’ll try to tell you what I know.’
‘You seem terrified of him,’ I said, recognizing the fear that Zakkal could stir.
‘I am. I cannot believe I had been speaking to him for so long. I actually thought there was something between us.’
I still wasn’t able to decipher Sheetal’s tone. She had first agreed to have written to him, had consulted a lawyer for it and was now admitting that she had feelings for him.
‘What changed?’ I said.
Sheetal raised her head from her hands. Her mascara was smudged. She opened her mouth to say something but broke down just before any words escaped.
‘I have been there, Sheetal. I know how you feel. But you have to speak. There are women out there who can be saved if you say something,’ I said.
While her face was still buried in her hands, she said, ‘He had reached out to me.’
‘When was this?’
‘Right before he escaped from prison,’ Sheetal said.
‘What do you mean?’ I said, getting up and joining her at her left elbow.
‘He had sent his friend for me.’
‘Friend? Which friend?’
‘The same one who was found guilty of killing those women when Zakkal escaped from prison.’
‘Ranjit Kadam?’
‘Yes, that’s him. He had come to my house,’ Sheetal said.
Was I hearing this right?
‘What did he want?’ I asked.
‘He first asked me if I could help Zakkal once he escaped from prison. At first, I could not believe it. I had wanted to meet him for a long time. It was finally happening. I told Ranjit that I would do it. I still remember how I woke up screaming that night. I was scared to death. I was sure that Zakkal would kill me. If not him, then his protégé.’
‘What did you do then?’ I said. ‘Did you meet Zakkal?’
‘No, I didn’t. Ranjit had given me a number. I called him and told him that I couldn’t do it. I was sure that he was going to come and kill me. He sounded furious on the phone. First, he said he’s going to kill me. Then he said he’s going to tell Zakkal to finish me when he escapes.’ Sheetal went silent. ‘I thought if I declined the offer, there was some chance that I would survive; however slim it was. But I knew that if I had agreed to help Zakkal, then he would definitely kill me.’
‘What happened next?’ Rathod said.
‘It was a miracle. Ranjit was killed the next day when the police saved those women. I was afraid that Zakkal would come after me because he knew everything about me. But he didn’t. I don’t think Ranjit ever told him that I had accepted his offer and then declined it. I don’t even know if reaching out to me for help was Zakkal’s idea. Maybe he had told Ranjit about me.’
‘Zakkal had been writing to several women like you,’ I said. ‘I guess he told Ranjit about them and Ranjit was soliciting help.’
Silence.
‘Why didn’t you ever come to the police?’ I asked.
‘I was scared of both Zakkal and the police. I spent the next year wondering when Zakkal would come to my house to kill me. I even thought of fleeing the city but I knew Zakkal had committed murders outside Pune as well. I figured that if he knew about me, then I was a loose end for him. Letting me stay for a year didn’t make sense. So, I concluded that he never knew that Ranjit had approached me. I thought of approaching the police. But who would have believed me? As you said, I told Zakkal that I orgasmed to his image. I was scared I would be put away for the rest of my life.’
'If it helps you sleep better, I'm sure that Zakkal doesn't know about Ranjit's offer to you. If he knew, you wouldn't be breathing at this very second,' I said.
We thanked Sheetal and then left her house. We could hear the rain coming down hard even from the staircase.
‘I believe her,’ I said to Rathod as we walked to the car. ‘But we now know something that we didn’t before. The person helping Zakkal is indeed a woman who is in awe of him.’
‘We just need to know who she is and we’ll get to Zakkal,’ Rathod said and pulled out his phone to call Shukla to tell him what we had found out.
The time was twenty minutes past six. It was exactly six hours before Zakkal was going to kill.
Chapter Forty-Two
Time was running out. So, if Sheetal had not told us that Ranjit had visited her, we would have skipped going to Anita Thomas’ house.
Anita Thomas had died about a week after Zakkal had escaped from prison. As far as we knew, Zakkal didn't know about her cancer. So, Ranjit might have paid Anita Thomas a visit as well. If he had, then he would have realized that Anita was chronically ill and then left her alone. But there was a slight chance that someone had noticed Ranjit, or better yet even spoken to him.
Because Anita Thomas stayed very close to Sheetal Patil, we reached her house in ten minutes. She lived in a row house. From Mathew, we knew that she was survived by her parents and her sister.
Anita Thomas’ sister greeted us with a smile.
‘How can I help you?’ she asked, keeping the grilled door closed.
Rathod went through the entire ordeal of flashing his badge and telling her who we were.
‘We’re here to ask some questions about your late sister,’ Rathod said based on the resemblance between the woman at the door and Anita Thomas’ picture that Mathew had shared.
‘I’m Tanya Mathew,’ the woman said. ‘I’m sorry, but why would the CID be here for my sister?’
‘It’s slightly complicated,’ Rathod said. ‘Can we come in?’
‘Yes, sure,’ Tanya said with a concerned look on her face.
She led us into the living room and offered us water which we gladly took.
‘It’s been over two years since Anita left us,’ Tanya said. ‘It’s strange. At times, we still think she’s with us. There are days when it still hurts.’
‘I’m sorry for your loss. Losing a family member is never easy, no matter when,’ Rathod said.
Tanya got the water for us. She was probably around five and a half feet tall and was wearing shorts and an old T-Shirt. Her hair was long and she had not tied it. She seemed to be enjoying her weekend. She had also put on eyeliner and a small necklace, probably after seeing us at the door. I knew many women who used to do that to look presentable.
She said, ‘My parents were shocked when it happened. Since Ani
ta passed away, they’ve moved back to our hometown near Kochi. I was finishing my post-graduate degree so I stayed back here. I got a job through college placements and I’m still here. To be honest, I feel staying here keeps me connected to Anita. We grew up together in this very house,’ Tanya said. ‘But I’m deviating from the point. Why don’t you tell me why you wanted to speak about Anita?’
‘I don’t know how to say this so I’m just going to state it,’ Rathod said. ‘But we found some letters that your sister wrote to a serial killer named Kishore Zakkal.’
‘What?’ Tanya said and then fell silent. ‘There has to be a mistake.’
I pulled out one letter that Anita had written and handed it to Tanya.
‘I’m sorry for this,’ Rathod said. ‘We don’t mean to disrespect your sister in any way. But there’s a killer out there who’s abducted several women. We’ve a reason to believe that the killer’s aid had tried to get in touch with Anita a week before she died.’
Tanya looked stunned. She was staring at the words on the letters in her hand. She had an image of her sister and that was getting shattered. A lot of questions would follow. She would wonder, did she ever really know her?
In a deadpan tone, Tanya said, ‘Anita was in the ICU for two weeks before she died. I don’t think anyone could’ve spoken to her. She was unconscious and in a critical condition.’
‘I’m extremely sorry for this. I know this must be really hard for you. But do you remember this man speaking to you, your parents or the doctors at the hospital?’ Rathod said, pulling out his phone to show Tanya a picture of Ranjit Kadam.
Tanya stared at it with dead eyes and shook her head. 'No, I don't. Even if that guy came around, a lot was happening. We were all emotionally drained out. The doctors had told us that Anita had at least a year more to live. Her test results the week prior to her hospitalization were normal. She suddenly started to sink.' A tear escaped Tanya's eye as she spoke. Her hand and the letter in it started shivering. She looked up at Rathod and said, 'Please tell me this is not true. Please tell me.'
We stayed silent. There was nothing we could say that would make the situation any better. I went to the kitchen and handed Tanya a glass of water. She didn’t drink any at first but then downed the glass in three seconds.
‘What does this mean?’ Tanya said, holding up the letter. ‘Was she a killer?’
‘Oh God no,’ Rathod said.
‘At times, we do crazy things due to factors that are beyond our control. Anita was hurting. She must have been in pain because of the chemo. She would have been anxious. The letters in your hand could very well be the result of all those things,’ I said.
Tanya gulped hard and then started crying. I could make out that she was trying hard to keep the tears in but the floodwalls had been opened. This was just going to be the start. The worst would come in a few days.
‘We’ll let you be,’ Rathod said and got up. ‘I’m sorry we had to break this news to you. We didn’t have an option. There’s a killer out there who’s going to go on a rampage soon if we don’t find him.’
‘Can we call someone to be with you?’ I asked, hating to leave her in this state.
Tanya shook her head. ‘I’ll handle this better on my own,’ she managed to say.
She stayed seated but handed Rathod the letter she was holding. We closed the door behind us as we heard Tanya break down completely just before we left.
Once we got in the car, Rathod told me. ‘I got a message from Bhalerao while we were inside. They searched Kritika Das’ house. They didn’t find anything suspicious inside. She’s still nowhere to be found though.’
I cursed under my breath, feeling hopeless, wondering how we were going to stop Zakkal.
It was seven o’clock, five hours and twenty minutes before Zakkal was going to kill again.
Chapter Forty-Three
Kishore Zakkal looked in the mirror and smiled.
It had been a while since he had been so excited. He had always believed in one simple philosophy—life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you.
Everything that happened was a lesson for Zakkal. He thought he was one of the most positive people in the world. Like for example, he had been disappointed when he had been arrested and lost out on many marvellous years with Naina Rajput. It was frustrating, but deep down, he believed that something better awaited him.
And how right was I?
The fruit of his patience was Siya Rajput walking into his life.
Similarly, the breach of his hideout at the water tower had initially angered him. But then he had thought logically what might have caused the breach. No one who was still breathing knew about it; or at least those who were alive and free in the world. Half the women in his basement had been there at least once. A few of his most cherished possessions had been there a few more times. Then, he had realized that his bodies at the farmhouse had been found.
The bastards would have somehow realized I had killed those women.
Looking back, the breach of his hideout seemed like the best thing that could have happened to him. He had initially planned to stretch out his quest to take Siya for at least a week. He had felt that the pent-up rage and emotion in Siya would make her more attractive.
But who am I kidding?
Zakkal knew very well that he could not possibly be more attracted to Siya. That’s why he had decided to advance the plan he had. It was time to get on a Ferrari lane and not dwindle away.
Everything always has a silver lining. Because of the hideout breach, I’m now going to get to enjoy Siya much earlier than I had anticipated.
The excitement turned his smile into a grin as he kept staring into the mirror. He had put on his best suit for the occasion. A fine double-breasted piece of marvellous Italian cloth. Everything had been set up. All he needed was for his guest of honour to arrive and he had the perfect plan for that.
Zakkal became nostalgic. He had set this goal for himself thirty months ago when he had escaped from Yerwada. He wanted to get Siya no matter what. He was close to achieving it.
Before he set the piece in motion, he looked back at how far he had come. It wouldn't have been possible without his beautiful His lover. She had been a blessing, if not more. Not that Zakkal believed in God, but he reckoned that's what ordinary folks would say about her. The biggest factor that had drawn her to him was her unwavering loyalty. He was sure even a dog wouldn't admire him as much as she did.
He knew she loved him but she didn’t know that his heart lay somewhere else. Her dedication towards him had one astounding quality—she believed everything that he said.
He closed her eyes and thought back to all the incredible moments they had shared together. There had been a time when Zakkal had wondered if what he felt for her was actually love.
Did I almost fool myself and go down the path taken by ordinary folks?
An entire night of watching Siya sleep had set his mind straight. And so, he was glad. He felt guilty, knowing that for those two days, he had questioned his love for Siya. He wanted to tell her how much he adored her, and he also wanted to apologize to her for his mistake.
Initially, he wasn’t sure what he would do to His lover once he got Siya. He was actually confused because His lover had been so nice to him. But according to Zakkal, that mistake could only be corrected one way—to end His lover’s life in front of Siya to show her His lover meant nothing to him.
It was all going to happen very soon.
Zakkal turned around from the mirror, stood still for five beats and then made the call that would change everything.
Chapter Forty-Four
I was dejected from not having found the woman who was in love with Zakkal. My energy seemed to be gradually getting sucked out. The heavy rain had caused a traffic jam on Baner Road so we could only get back to the CID office at seven forty-five. Rathod had not said a word either. We both knew we had our backs against the wall with not a single workable lead. We had a little o
ver five hours to find a clue and then reach Zakkal.
‘I don’t know where to go from here,’ I said as we stepped out of the car.
‘Kritika Das—the one woman who might be Zakkal’s lover, is missing,’ Rathod said. ‘Let’s go inside and take a step back. We’ve a lot of information swimming around.’
But we don’t have enough time.
We headed to the CID canteen and got ourselves two cups of coffee each. I downed my first cup and took the second to the conference room. Shukla, Bhalerao and Mathew were already inside, going through some papers.
Rathod said, ‘Has Dr Sonia come across anything in her analysis from the stuff we picked up from the hideout at the water cooler?’
'I just returned from the forensics department,' Bhalerao said. 'She said one of the DNA samples on the wigs belonged to Aarti Lunkad, the most recent woman that Zakkal murdered. We had found her body at the farmhouse. It was a straight match because she already had her DNA. She said it's going to take some more time to analyse the rest.'
There was a knock on the door. It was Srestha Vishwa, one of the hawaldars at the office.
‘Can I come in?’ she asked.
Shukla waved her in.
‘There’s someone here to see you,’ she said. ‘They’re at the reception. Should I take them to the waiting area or ask them to come here?’
‘Who’s it?’
‘Aarti Lunkad’s parents.’
‘Please ask them to sit in the waiting area. Someone will join them soon,’ Shukla said.
Grieving parents deserved to know the truth about what had happened to their beloved children. It was a hard time for the family. When Maa had been taken by Zakkal, our senses told us to accept that she was dead. Yet, every time someone knocked on our door or our phones rang, a part of us wanted it to be Maa.
At that moment, with just above four hours to go for Zakkal to kill again, attending to grieving parents did not seem like a good idea—as harsh as that sounded. Aarti Lunkad was an innocent woman who had died. There was nothing we could do to bring her back. But there were other women to be saved.