‘Ah, I’m looking for Romeo, is he here?’ Arjun said.
‘Who are you?’ the boy asked in reply.
‘A friend of his. He told me to ask here if I couldn’t find him.’
The boy frowned. ‘Romeo left for Manipur day before.’
‘I see. Well, thank you for your time.’
‘Hey, what’s your name?’ the boy asked, but Arjun was already going up the stairs.
He pressed the doorbell on the second floor, and Chon opened the door. Through the glass sliding doors Arjun could see Abeni coming into the front room, and he put a hand on the door and stepped inside. Chon moved back on to the cluttered balcony.
‘It’s good to see both of you together,’ he said. ‘I thought you might be at work.’
‘Abeni has an off,’ Chon said, her voice sullen, ‘and I’m leaving for work now.’
But they were both in pyjamas and sweatshirts: old home clothing. He looked at them, the stocky Abeni and the slender Chon. They didn’t look too pleased to see him.
‘I got back last night from a long trip,’ he told them. ‘Shillong, Dimapur, Imphal, Guwahati and, last but not least, Bangkok—where you girls had gone on holiday last year.’
He could see them looking at each other. Chon appeared worried.
‘I met quite a few people,’ he said, ‘and I learnt some interesting things.’
‘What do you want, Mr Arora?’ Abeni stepped forward and said in a harsh voice. ‘Are you trying to frighten us?’
‘The most interesting of which was talking to your friend Romeo. He’s left Delhi, hasn’t he? Did you girls know that he orders people to be killed?’
Chon was covering her mouth with her hand now, and appeared to be trembling. He felt bad seeing that. It wasn’t them he was after.
‘Listen, I’m not after the two of you. I just want to know what happened. How the drugs found their way to Amenla’s barsati.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Abeni said, her eyes narrowing.
‘Abeni!’ Chon suddenly cried out. ‘Tell him, please.’ She turned to Arjun. ‘We never meant for her to get hurt, I swear.’
‘What are you saying to him?’ Abeni yelled at her. ‘Have you lost your mind?’
‘What about Liana?’ Arjun asked them. ‘Did Romeo have him eliminated? Either you tell me what you know, or you can spend the night in the lock-up. It’s your choice.’
He was exaggerating, of course, but it got their attention. They went inside, into the sitting room, where he sat down on the purple-upholstered sofa, the large wall-mounted television on the opposite wall, and the two girls sat down on the divan.
‘First tell me how you met Romeo and LK, or Liana.’
Abeni, clenching her fists, looked like she was controlling her temper. It was Chon who spoke in the end.
‘Liana used to come to the flat below. He became friendly with us. We met Romeo through him.’
It was as he had suspected. He had to get the details quickly, while she was talking.
‘Did you know Liana was getting drugs to Delhi?’
She shook her head. ‘No. We started to suspect Romeo. He told us he was doing some very profitable business, one we could get involved in.’
‘So you were friends, you partied together and then he took both of you on a holiday to Bangkok?’
‘We paid for our own tickets,’ Abeni said, looking at him with a cold fury.
‘And the rest was on him. He’s a smooth talker, isn’t he? But you didn’t take Amenla along on your holiday.’
‘She didn’t like him,’ Chon said. ‘She refused to come with us.’
‘So how did the suitcase with the drugs land up in your flat, and then how did it reach Amenla’s barsati?’
It was a hunch so far, but as Chon spoke he knew he had connected the dots right.
‘Romeo asked us for a favour. To keep a suitcase in our place. It was a bit strange, but we did it. We knew something was wrong when we saw the police entering the flat below a few days later. We got scared and told Romeo to take the suitcase back. Abeni and I thought there might be guns inside. But Romeo said there were just party drugs, and if the Delhi Police got hold of it they would lock all of them up for life. It was his idea, keeping the suitcase with Amenla.’
‘She didn’t suspect anything?’
‘We told her we needed to keep it at her place just for a few days as our place was too cluttered.’
‘I see. But then she found out what was in the suitcase.’
‘Yes, I don’t know how, but she found out.’
Arjun knew how she would have found out: when her old boyfriend Tony told her. It was Abeni who spoke now, her voice flat and devoid of emotion.
‘Rohit opened it for her, he broke the lock on the suitcase. And then one day he came here on his own, asked us if we would supply him with what was in the suitcase.’
She looked down at her hands in her lap.
Arjun asked her softly, ‘And what did you do then?’
He knew the answer, but wanted to hear it from one of them.
‘Romeo was in Delhi at that time, and I called him and told him.’
‘You called Amenla that night and said you would take back the suitcase, didn’t you?’
‘Yes. Liana and Romeo were here then. Romeo said he would go and take the suitcase back and talk to her. I didn’t know this would happen, I swear to God I didn’t.’
‘But you didn’t tell the police what you knew. Why?’
‘We were scared. And we knew Romeo had connections. There was a person from Nagaland who met us in Bangkok. Romeo said he was involved in it too.’
‘You knew who the person was, didn’t you? Let me guess, the Nagaland chief secretary, Kamal Kishor?’
Abeni nodded and started sobbing; Chon put an arm around her. Arjun had got what he had come for, now he just needed to confirm their story. He got up to leave.
‘Just one last thing,’ he said. ‘How did they transport the drugs from Dimapur?’
‘It came by train,’ Chon answered. ‘Mr Kishor’s people would bring it in first class.’
That made sense; the chief secretary would have been able to smooth things out for the passenger.
‘Are you going to the police?’ Chon asked him in a quavering voice.
‘No. I think its punishment enough for you to know that she died because of what you did. My advice would be to get out of this place and never meet Romeo or Mr Kishor again.’
He left the two girls there in the sitting room of the flat where once Amenla had lived.
Walking back towards B Block in Safdarjung, he called Mrs Sodhi’s number and found out that her son was in Delhi and at home at the moment.
‘I just need to talk to him for five minutes,’ he said, and started walking faster.
Mrs Sodhi opened the gate for him. She seemed irritated to see him again.
‘What do you want now, Mr Arora? My son is busy and he leaves for Singapore tonight.’
‘Just five minutes and then I’ll leave,’ Arjun said.
He followed her up the staircase to the first floor, where the door was open. She called out and Vivek Sodhi came to the door. His eyes blinked nervously when he saw Arjun. He was wearing the same grey trackpants as earlier and a white T-shirt with a yellow food stain on it.
‘Mr Arora wants to talk to you again,’ Mrs Sodhi said, a hand on the banister as she caught her breath.
Arjun took the chance to step inside, close the door and bolt it from the inside. He heard Mrs Sodhi call out his name, and said loudly to her, ‘Let me talk to him for five minutes, Mrs Sodhi. I know what happened that night!’
‘What is this?’ Vivek Sodhi said in alarm.
Arjun caught hold of his arm firmly and led him out to the balcony.
‘What are you doing, Mr Arora?’
‘Please, just bear with me.’
He motioned for Vivek Sodhi to sit down at the worktable. From outside he could hear Mrs Sodhi calling to her s
on. He didn’t have much time.
‘You didn’t tell me the truth about what happened that night, did you, Dr Sodhi?’
‘What do you mean?’ His blinking eyes reminded Arjun of a child caught lying by his teacher.
‘You came upstairs that night. You would have come up to smoke, to check your mail. And you saw someone, didn’t you?’
Vivek Sodhi’s fingers drummed nervously on the table.
‘Beta, kya ho raha hai, beta?’ Mrs Sodhi shouted outside the bolted door.
‘You must have told your mother. But you told the police you hadn’t seen anyone. It’s a very Indian thing, so that you’re spared the trouble of identifying people and going to court as a witness. Why let a small thing like a dead girl spoil your travel plans, eh?’
Vivek Sodhi had been looking down at the table as Arjun spoke and now he said in a small voice, ‘I didn’t know she was dead, I swear. Yes, I came up to smoke and to check my mail, and when I was closing the front door to go down the light on top went off and I saw someone carrying a suitcase coming down the stairs.’
Arjun nodded; another part of the puzzle was in place. He opened the envelope, took out the photos and showed one of them to Dr Sodhi.
‘Is this the man you saw?’
The photo showed Abeni, Chon and Romeo standing at one of the reception desks of the Pathumwan Princess Hotel in Bangkok. Just one of the CCTV photos the female police officer had slid under the door of his hotel room. It was taken from above and behind the receptionist, and gave a clear view of the three faces. Romeo had his sunglasses pushed up into his hair and had a strange grin on his face.
‘Yes, this was him,’ Dr Sodhi said. ‘That night he slowed down when he saw me outside my door and then he put a finger to his lips as he passed me. I thought it was strange but that was it. I went downstairs and soon forgot about it. It was only when my mother found her body in the morning that I realized what he’d done. Who are these two girls?’
‘Amenla’s ex-roommates. Like you, they’re involved in her death too.’
‘Please,’ Dr Sodhi said, standing up, ‘please don’t tell the police.’
‘Don’t worry, I won’t. It might inconvenience you, right?’
He put the photos back in the envelope.
‘How did you know that I came upstairs?’
‘You told me yourself: Indians don’t smoke in front of their parents. Have a good day, Dr Sodhi.’
Arjun opened the door to the flat from the inside and Mrs Sodhi rushed to him.
‘What have you done to my son?’
‘Oh, he’s fine. He was just telling me about what he saw here that night.’
‘What do you mean?’ Mrs Sodhi asked, her voice trembling.
‘Tell me, Mrs Sodhi, do you ever think about how the poor girl was lying dead upstairs the whole night? While all of you watched a movie, ate dinner and went to bed? God forbid something like that should ever happen to your son.’
She glared at him and then hurried into the flat, calling out to her son.
Arjun looked up at the door leading to the terrace. It was closed. And so was the case.
As he walked to his car a thought struck him, and he called Computer Baba, told him Romeo’s phone number and asked him to see if any traces of the number—which was still switched off—could be picked up.
44
HE SPENT THE AFTERNOON IN his office typing out the beginnings of what would be a lengthy report. It took Arjun some time to get his tone right; his client was also a grieving father and the report would have to respect that. He started off with Liana and his drug running, then moved on to Romeo and his friendship with Amenla’s ex-roommates. Tony Haokip, who told Amenla about Liana, had ironically harmed her by doing that, as she made Rohit Chaudhry break open the lock on the suitcase to check what was inside it. Rohit had then put two and two together and landed up at Abeni and Chon’s flat looking for a way into the drug trail. When Romeo had found out, he had decided to take care of Amenla by himself, while the person backing him was the Nagaland chief secretary, Kamal Kishor.
Towards the evening, he closed his laptop and helped Liza and Chandu close the office (the junior detective was out on a pre-mat case), then went home and placed the laptop on the dining table. Just then there was a call from Inspector Sharma, who wanted to know where Arjun was and what was happening with the investigation. Arjun told him that he had just got back from the North-east and that he would share his findings with him soon; he needed to inform his client first. Before starting work on the report again he called Bendangtoshi Longkumer in Nagaland and told him he wanted to clarify something.
‘What is it, Mr Arora?’
‘Do you remember the second time I met you, in Nagaland House here in Delhi?’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘There was a man in your room, along with the three Ao Senden members. A small man wearing glasses, with a tin of Rajnigandha paan masala in his hand. You remember him?’
‘Of course,’ Mr Longkumer said, ‘the chief secretary.’
‘Mr Kamal Kishor?’
‘Yes. Any problem, Mr Arora?’
‘Did he know that you had hired me to look into Amenla’s death?’
‘Kishorji? Yes, he did. I had told him that day before you came to meet me.’
‘I see. Mr Longkumer, I’ll be sending you a report very soon. Read it carefully and then decide what to do.’
‘Have you found something, Mr Arora?’
‘I think it’d be better if you read the report.’
‘All right. And Mr Arora, what about your fees?’
Arjun hesitated for a while. ‘You can come and see me next time you’re in Delhi.’
He hung up and went out to the balcony and lit a cigarette. Only now did he realize how lucky he had been to get back alive. The chief secretary, and Romeo, would have known from the start that Arjun had been hired to look into Amenla’s murder. They wouldn’t have accounted for him going to the North-east, but after he had gone, it was a stroke of luck for them to have Arjun walk into the auditorium in Dimapur where Romeo was present as well.
The night was cold and he felt the chill standing there in his T-shirt. Down below in the park, half in the shadows, half in the light, a young man ran steadily around the walking track. Against all odds Arjun had solved the case. But there was no satisfaction to be had. The two people chiefly responsible for Amenla’s death, Romeo and Kamal Kishor, were still out there. He went back inside, fetched the folder Mr Longkumer had given him and took out Amenla’s photo. That enigmatic half-smile of hers . . . a life cut short needlessly. He thought of Tony Haokip, somewhere in Churachandpur or Myanmar now. In another life the two of them could have been together. Bad things happened, in the city as well as in far-off places like Manipur and Nagaland. And sometimes the axe fell on the innocent.
Arjun put the photo away and resumed typing out the report. He tried to keep his words dry and dispassionate as he described the happenings of that night: Abeni calling Amenla and telling her they were coming to pick up the suitcase, Romeo going there alone instead, the murder carried out with the phone-charger cord, Romeo leaving with the suitcase (and being spotted by Mrs Sodhi’s son) and then driving off in the chief secretary’s grey SUV, which had been brought to Delhi from Bhutan via Nagaland. The report was several pages long by the time he was done. Then he made two copies and put Anthony Haokip’s address (the Churachandpur photo studio) and phone number at the bottom of the first copy and Bendangtoshi Longkumer’s address (in Mokokchung) and phone number at the bottom of the second copy. He mailed both copies to his secretary, then called her and told her to print out both reports early the next day at the office and send them to Mr Longkumer and Tony Haokip, by registered post from the CR Park post office.
Later, after he had cooked himself a simple vegetarian dinner, he poured himself some duty-free Scotch and called Baia. She would be here the next day for the conference, and though she would have to spend Saturday night at the I
IC, where rooms had been booked for out-of-station attendees, she said she should be able to spend Sunday night with him.
‘That’s great,’ he said. ‘Looking forward to seeing you.’
‘You’ll come for the conference, won’t you?’ she asked him.
‘What time does it start?’
‘Well, the inauguration programme is tomorrow afternoon.’
‘I’ll be there by the evening, maybe we can go out for a drink somewhere nearby.’
‘I’d love that. See you soon, Arjun.’
IIC . . . not too far from Khan Market . . . he remembered Tony Haokip telling him about how he had warned Amenla about Liana at the Khan Market bar. He felt a sudden apprehension. It wasn’t advisable at his age to look forward to things. He of all people knew how quickly and easily lives could go wrong.
He was just halfway through his drink when his phone rang. It was Computer Baba and he sounded excited.
‘My contact put a trace on the number, and a while ago it was switched on briefly. Somewhere in Humayunpur. He couldn’t get the exact location, though.’
‘That’s okay,’ Arjun said, getting to his feet. ‘I know the place already.’
When he got to the building he climbed up the dark staircase to the first floor, and was about to knock on the door when he paused. He could hear voices from the flat above, and went up one more floor.
‘Why did you tell him? Why?’ he could hear Romeo demanding from behind the door. ‘I told you to keep your mouth shut, didn’t I?’
‘What use is it telling us now, ha?’ It was Abeni, her voice raised in anger. ‘He knows everything already, even that we went to Bangkok with you.’
‘Just remember,’ Romeo now said, ‘if anyone else comes to ask, don’t tell them anything, okay? Otherwise I can make things difficult for you when you go back home.’
More Bodies Will Fall Page 26
