Safe Custody

Pooja caught her husband’s arms the moment he entered the house.

“Max!” Her voice was a distraught shriek. There were tear streaks across her face. “Astrid’s been kidnapped!”

His grip on her shoulders tightened at the mention of his daughter. The terror in her eyes sent a shiver down his spine. “Tell me!”

Pooja had taken the phone call twenty minutes ago and had absorbed the details of the ransom demand in a state of near-collapse. The next call would be at 10 PM, by which time the cash had to be ready.

Max clenched his fists, only faintly aware of Pooja’s sobbing. There was no time to be wasted. “Give me all your ATM cards. I’m arranging the cash. And no police.” Pooja stared at him silently, nodding. “We’ll get her back safely. Get the ATM cards.”

Pooja nodded, and headed to the bedroom.

He hurried to the balconey and whipped out his cell phone. “Lena. Listen – listen!” He hissed. “Have you jumped the gun on our operation? Our plan to kidnap my daughter was slated for tomorrow, right?” He listened, brow furrowing. “I’m asking because Astrid’s just been kidnapped! Yes, about half an hour ago!” He shook his head furiously. “I don’t know what’s going on… Look, what if we go ahead with our plan, only we pre-pone it? I can pretend to deliver the ransom money tonight, only I’ll be giving it to you. All you have to do is phone my landline five minutes to 10. I’ll answer, and pretend I’m speaking to Astrid’s kidnapper. My wife will never realise the truth…”

His mind went back to the first time he met Lena. He’d met her at an inter-branch conference. She was an officer like himself, and he’d moved his knees to let her pass during the opening address. He’d taken in her slim frame as she sidled past, and his heart began racing when she chose the next seat. She sat silently till the address was over. Then she’d joined in the applause.

He chose that moment to open a dialogue, and when she looked at him, smiling radiantly and agreeing that it had been a rousing speech, he had to smile back, because she seemed in such high spirits. It was easy to continue after that, and by the time the program reached lunch, they were on good terms. He found her charming, good-natured and very friendly, all things his wife hadn’t been much of lately. He was truly sorry when the meet ended, and when she declined the lift he offered her, he was not sure whether to be glad or not. He went to bed that night, certain he would never see her again. The next day, turning up at work, he was surprised to find Lena at a desk near the back. She’d been transferred to his branch, and he felt a shiver of delight run down his spine. And when she looked up and smiled, he knew his life would never again be the same.

* * *

The phone began ringing, and they both jumped, even thought they’d been sitting expectantly on the couch like mourners the last twenty minutes. Max had returned shortly before, carrying a case filled with cash.

Max whipped the receiver from its cradle, hearing Lena’s voice before proceeding. “Hello? Yes – this is her father. Yes, I have the money. Wait! I need to speak to her.” He said tersely. “Astrid! Thank God… are you alright? Have they done- Astrid? Astrid?” He swore and was quiet as he listened.

Lena cut the line but Max held on to the receiver, careful not to place it in the cradle. It was already ten, and the real kidnapper would be trying to make contact. He looked at Pooja. “He gave me directions on where to come. He said to come alone.” He pressed his temple with his free hand. “I’ve got a real headache, Pooja. I need some coffee…” She got up and hastened to the kitchen. Quickly, he pulled the phone jack from the wall, rendering the instrument lifeless. He was initially puzzled about why the kidnapper had not tried their cell phones, before realizing that the only number his pretty but dumb teenage daughter knew by heart was that of their residence land line.

* * *

Max was in high spirits when he got back home close to midnight. He had taken his wife’s money to Lena’s flat, where she spent the next fifteen minutes explaining how they would have to accelerate their plan to skip the country together. They had both been confused about who had kidnapped her, but Lena figured they had a few hours before hell broke loose. Neither of them said aloud what they thought might happen to Astrid once the kidnapper realised he wasn’t getting through. The truth was that they simply did not care.

Pooja opened the door when she heard the sound of his car. He was about to murmur words of reassurance to her when his phone began ringing. Looking at the screen he frowned. It was Lena. Damn it! What was she doing calling him…

He answered turning sideways for privacy and goose-bumps popped up all over skin when he heard her voice. “Oh, God – Max!” She sounded terrified. “Please – please help me!” His throat went dry instantly at the desperation he could hear. “She has a knife and she says she’ll kill me if you don’t do what I tell you to!”

Max was stunned. What the hell was going on?

“Is your wife with you?” He could hear her gasping. “Is she there, Max? Please!”

He turned, saw Pooja gaping at him and his frightened expression. She clutched his hand, not daring to speak. “Yes. Yes, she’s right here!”

He could hear only breathing. Then, “Tell her about us. Tell her about our plot to kidnap Astrid… you have to put your phone on loudspeaker so we can hear everything.”

He blinked repeatedly, unable to believe his ears. Who was with her? Who was forcing her to do this? What was going on? He felt lost, unsure on how to proceed. All his instruction had come from Lena. He had just been the muscle. And then he heard her scream and his blood went cold. “Max! Don’t let her hurt me – please! Please tell her about us! Everything! Do it now!”

And so he did. And his wife took a step back in disbelief as his words tumbled out, hands going up in horror over her mouth, shaking her head slowly.

“Thank God, thank God, Max…” whispered Lena, and her voice was relieved over the speaker. “Now come to my flat. You have to bring your wife. Come quickly, Max. Don’t leave me alone with-” The line went dead.

* * *

Lena’s apartment was a ten-minute drive away, and they made the journey in silence. Afraid Pooja would refuse to accompany him, he lied to her, saying Astrid’s kidnapper might get angry and hurt Astrid if he turned up alone.

He parked next to Lena’s car. Checking that Pooja was following, he hurried across the wet asphalt to the residential block. They rode the lift together, Max fretting at the delay. A part of him dreaded what lay ahead, now knowing what had happened to Lena.

He was out first and stopped when he saw Lena’s front door was open. He laid a hand on it and pushed it in.

He saw the still form on the carpet, next to the telephone. The receiver was dangling over the table edge by its cord, pointing at her head as if grimly symbolising something. He crossed swiftly and dropped to his knees beside Lena.

Pooja stood in the doorway, taking in the scene unfolding. Her gaze fell on the table in the living room, where a page – pinned down by a paperweight – was fluttering under the fan. She stepped inside and picked up the sheet of paper.

“She’s dead!” She heard Max moan, his voice grossly distorted with disbelief.

She looked up then took the paper over to him. “I think you should see this.” Her voice was hollow.

It was only when he’d read the typed letter that his hands began to shake. He looked up at Pooja, disbelief on his face. “Astrid did this?” Pooja stared back. “But why…” The words exploded from his mouth. How could Astrid have known? he wondered. “The phone.” He suddenly whispered. Wary of communicating with Lena with his cell-phone, where call records and messages could be accessed by a suspicious mind, he had used his landline in their planning. Could she have overheard their kidnap plans? It would have been so simple for her to wait until the last day to be ‘kidnapped’, hoping that he would hasten his own plans. If Astrid had known about their liaison long enough, she knew where Lena lived by following him after work. So she would know where the ‘ransom’ was to be delivered. And now she had the money and was heading for ‘-greener pastures and a brighter future.‘ Max stared forlornly at Lena’s corpse, the letter in one bunched fist.

Pooja stirred. “I’ll take an auto back.” She said quietly.

* * *

Pooja returned to an empty house, and getting out of the drizzle, she shook off her rain-shoes and shut the door. Entering the master bedroom, Pooja looked about, eyes mapping the territory as if she were a stranger making her first entrance.

She peeled away her garments, dropping them on the floor, and then clicked the heater on. She’d never enjoyed cold showers, and half-dazed or not, didn’t intend to start now.

The next thing she remembered was abruptly waking, almost leaping out of the bed she’d sunken into. The tube-light was still burning, and as she stared at it, the doorbell chimed again.

Pooja pulled on a gown, and sliding a brush through her hair, left the room and went downstairs.

There were four policemen at her door. The one in the front was a swarthy, barrel-shaped man in his fifties. He introduced himself as Inspector Sinha. He asked her name, and at that moment, someone said “What’s going on here?” and then Pooja saw Astrid behind the cops.

She stared at her mother, looking relieved. “Are you alright?”

Pooja stared back, her own expression one of disbelief.

Astrid glanced at the cops. “What’s going on, mum?”

The Inspector’s expression softened. “I’m so sorry. Your husband Max was knocked down by a car at 11.35 PM. He must have died instantly.”

Pooja’s face began to sag, and then her shoulders too drooped, and beside her, Astrid had let out an involuntary gasp. “No! He – can’t be.” Her voice faltered. “I saw him only this…”

“There were two witnesses. Both said it was no accident.” Both women looked up. “The car, a silver Fiat with tinted windows, appeared to be waiting for Max. Neither witness was able to see the driver. We found the car two streets away. According to its papers the owner is Lena Rego.” He broke off then, because Pooja was staring at Astrid, fearful and repelled.

She took a shaky step forward, fist clenched. “You were driving the car. You killed Max. You found out Lena and Max were planning to kidnap you, and you turned the tables on them. You waited for Lena at her flat, and killed her and stole the ransom money. Then you waited for Max. And then you killed him!”

None of the audience she had commanded looked more stricken than Astrid. Her daughter was staring at her as if she were mad. “You’re crazy!” She burst out. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. What kidnap plan? What money? And who’s Lena?” She turned to Sinha and then looked back at Pooja, as if trying to judge who would be easier to convince. “This afternoon, at college, I got a summons to the Principal’s office. Someone had left a message for me saying my mother had been taken to the Medical College Hospital. We’re not allowed our mobiles in college; I tried the only number I knew, our house phone, but it kept ringing. I rushed to the Hospital, and spent a frantic hour trying to find you.” She wrung her hands. “Finally, some doctors noticed what was happening and came to my aid. We tried all wards, OT’s, in the off-chance that you had got in unregistered. But – nothing. I didn’t know what to think. So I came home; and now I find Daddy’s dead.” Sinha noticed for the first time that there were tears in her eyes. Those eyes turned to Pooja, hard, accusing. “I don’t know anything about a kidnapping!”

Sinha turned to Pooja. “Please tell us…”

* * *

Pooja turned to Astrid, who was on a different sofa, lifting her shoulders plaintively. “What else was I supposed to think?” She looked weary. “I guess I was wrong…”

Sinha shook his head. “Astrid could still have killed Max. She has motive, and the money is missing.” He ignored Astrid’s glare. “You’re my second suspect.”

“I don’t drive.” said Pooja.

Sinha sat forward, as if he hadn’t heard her words. “What?”

“I can’t drive. Max drove us to Lena’s flat. I had no choice but to take an auto home.”

Sinha turned his attention to Astrid. “How did you get back home?”

“By bus. The way I usually do.”

“And I suppose you don’t drive either?”

“This is 2004. Everybody drives a car.”

The Inspector nodded. “You two are still my main suspects. Within a couple of hours I should have all the facts in hand.” He got up, looked at Pooja. “I’ll need Lena’s address. Max obviously decided not to report her murder.”

* * *

She watched herself in the mirror, brushing her teeth firmly. There was a thin line of blood at the roots of one of her incisors. It looked like she would have to start her vitamin C course again.

A sharp tap at her door made her step out of the attached bathroom. Her mother was standing at the entrance of her bedroom, holding a cellular phone in one hand. “It’s for you.” she said.

Astrid nodded, and retreated to the sink, putting down her toothbrush and rinsing her mouth.

She took the receiver and pushing back her hair, held it to her ear. “Hello?”

It was Inspector Sinha. “I thought you’d want to know: we’ve cracked this case; we know who killed your father.” He sounded triumphant. “Lena’s car yielded only her fingerprints. And on checking, we found that a bus ticket out of the city had been booked this evening – by a Lena Rego. In Lena’s apartment, we found a lot of clothes missing. There’s another thing: there was no body in the apartment.”

Astrid’s voice was low. “Are you saying – my mother was lying?”

“No – I’m saying that Lena isn’t dead.”

“But Daddy saw-”

“It was a trick. Your mother never examined the body. Somehow, your father warned Lena that their plan had failed, and this was their back-up plan: to fool your mother into thinking that you had run away with the money after killing Lena. That would have shocked her so much that she might have been too confused to think clearly. At least for some time. Enough time for your father to take Lena and the money and run.”

“But Dad’s dead. He was killed…”

Sinha took a deep breath. “Possibly she planned a double-cross all along. She lured him out and ran him over. Then she skipped with the loot.”

“My God…” whispered Astrid.

“Don’t worry.” His voice was icy. “We’ll get her.”

Pooja was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. “What did Sinha say?”

“The police think Lena killed Daddy.”

Pooja nodded, then kissed her daughter on the cheek and left her room.

Astrid studied her gums again in the mirror, and scowled. There was nothing she could do now. From tomorrow, she would start with the round orange tablets. Or see a dentist. She chuckled, and as she reached for the switch, she turned around to look at the naked body in the bathtub. “Goodnight, Lena.” She said, and turned the light off.

__END__