WIT – NESS

Short Story Suspense – WIT – NESS

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“ek omlette, ek coffee, do bread..no.9.”  Badri banged the order note for the cook on kitchen table as he picked up the missal pav for table no.5 and left.

It was the month of March; around 10 in the morning, and business had begun as usual at Samadhan hotel. Badri had been working at this small time restaurant since he was very young. He was 22, a typical waiter boy, lean and wiry. He used to work for the whole day, from morning 9 to 10 at night, after which he would help with the cleaning up before sleeping in the hotel itself. He was allotted row of tables right in front of the hotel entrance, and had a busier job as compared to other waiters.

Hotel Samadhan was one of the few hotels in the small town of Saralgaon, and was in fact the biggest hotel one could find in that area, which was about 60 kms off the taluka place near Kalyan. The villagers would regularly flock to this hotel, especially during the weekly market for its ‘weakly pesal’. The owner of this place was Mr.Yashwant Rao, a well known personality in the town as well as in neighboring villages as he owned quite a large amount of land in that area, which he had put to good use by planting mangoes and grapes. His wife was Mrs.Vanita Rao, with whom he used to have quarrels all the time. The hotel was his solace, and his mood would rapidly normalize as he occupied his seat at the hotel counter. The couple had a son, Tushar, who was studying medicine at the JJ hospital. He was languishing in 2nd year since 2 years, and generally stayed away from home, at his college hostel.

 

23rd March 10 am:

Like every other day, Mr.Rao walked into the hotel at sharp 8 am. It was a 20 minute walk from his home, and today he was carrying a bag clutched in his armpit. It contained 50,000 rupees which he was to deposit in bank, later in the day. He knocked on the metal shutter which was then raised by Badri from inside as he greeted his owner.

Mr.Rao kept the bag in a drawer at the counter and started with his morning prayers as Badri and Bhola, both of whom slept in the hotel started arranging the tables. The cook had arrived meanwhile, and within 15 to 20 minutes, customers began pouring in.

 

After 2 pm:

It was past lunch time and the employees, after having finished their lunch were back to their job.

A heavy voice with a south Indian accent called out, “Hey Badri.”

Badri turned to see a middle aged guy with a French beard and a white hat on, calling him from table no.1, next to the main counter. Looks like Sam Nair, Badri thought as he approached the table. Sam Nair was a regular at the hotel, and one of Badri’s favorite customers as he always left a generous tip behind.

“Hey Badri, get me the usual thing.”

Indeed it was him. Badri gave him a quick smile and placed an order for a rice plate with two fry papads.

“Anything else sir?”

“No re.. just give me some water to drink” Sam replied.

“Sure sir.”

Having done that, Badri moved to another table.

After 10-15 minutes Sam finished his food, paid the bill and got up to leave. Badri hurried to his table and picked up his tip as he watched him leave in his white Indica. The number plate caught his eye; the last four digits were 9275. Badri liked to play with numbers and figured out some relation between the digits. He had completed his primary education but had to give up school midway in search of a job, a sit became increasingly difficult for his family to make ends meet. Mr.Rao had been good to him but he didn’t allow him to pursue his education further.

The day passed by in the usual hustle bustle. It was late in the evening and there weren’t many customers, so Badri made himself comfortable on a chair, watching his favorite cartoon. As he turned to look around in the commercial break, he saw Bhola talking to Mr.Rao in hushed tones. There was a worried look on his face. When Bhola returned, Badri asked him what the matter was, apparently Bhola’s mother was seriously ill and had been admitted to a hospital in the city, so he was asking Mr Rao for leave and some money for her hospitalization.

Bhola had made arrangements for another waiter, Ganesh, who would sleep in the hotel along with Badri for the next few days.

 

Evening 11 pm:

Bhola had stopped for the cleaning up and Badri in turn was helping him pack his bags. Bhola had to leave for Kalyan and Badri kept talking to him to keep up his spirits.

“Let’s see, master has given me leave for 3 days, hopefully mother will recover in that much time.”

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

Meanwhile Mr.Rao was busy counting the day’s earnings. He had totally forgotten about the bank work. It was late at night and he decided that it would be better to sleep at the hotel instead of carrying such a big amount of cash at night. He quickly called up his wife.

“Listen Vanita, I won’t be coming home tonight. Have some work here. You sleep.”

Things had not been going well between both of them and staying back would give him some time to cool off, he thought.

He instructed Badri to lay down a bed for him as soon as he hung up the phone. They were asleep by 11.45 pm.

 

Next day 3 .13 am:

Two police vans and an ambulance stood outside the hotel. Inside, the police were conducting a panchnama at the crime scene. Mrs Rao sat outside the hotel, flanked by 2-3 women, she was sobbing bitterly. Mr Rao lay there, in a pool of blood. His throat had been slit and his body had turned pale because of the drained blood. Badri stood besides the counter, the policemen talking to him. P.I. Omkar Shingade was in charge of the case.

“Tell me what happened…firstly, what’s your name?”

“Sir, I’m Badri, a waiter at this hotel. I stay over every night, for security purpose. Me and Bhola, but he had to leave for the city in a hurry and master stayed back with me.”

The inspector cut him off, “Where’s this Bhola? Constable, get his details from the muster. I want him here asap.”

“Now you tell me exactly what happened.”

Badri, “Sir, I and master slept around 11.45 pm. I locked the shutter. Master made a call around 10- 15 minutes before sleeping. I went off to sleep; there was a small ring on master’s phone which disturbed my sleep for a moment. After some time, I was woken up by a heavy voice calling out my name and I felt a knife on my neck. He asked me where the keys of the counter were kept. Fearing for my life I led him to the counter and took out the keys from below the mat. He quickly opened the drawer and took out a bag. I didn’t understand at first but later I remembered the bag that master had brought in the morning. He took out the bag, pushed me away and escaped through the opened shutter. He pulled it down and shut the bolt from outside. As he pulled the shutter down I got a look at him, he had a French beard and wore a hat and also I recognized his voice. It was surely Sam Nair, he was our regular customer. I shouted on top of my voice. After some time, some rickshaw wallahs heard me and opened the shutter. Then I called the police and madam.”

PI Shingade swung into action. He sent Badri to the police station to get a sketch of the killer made; meanwhile he scouted the area for any clues.

 

6.20 am:

Tushar arrived at the hotel. He ran towards the dead body of his father but was stopped mid way by the police. He was in a state of shock and seemed to be angry as well as sorrowful at the same time. Finally on meeting his mother he broke down and started sobbing heavily. Shingade put an arm over his shoulder to assure him but Tushar was inconsolable.

Tushar, “But how could this happen, we had a talk just last night.”

Shingade, “When did he call? What did he tell you? Was he tense, or was anyone disturbing him?”

“He called around 2.o clock. He seemed normal, asked me about studies and stuff.”

Saying that, being unable to overpower his feelings, he started crying.

The search for Sam Nair began. Sketch was made, but it didn’t help much to find the person, as Badri wasn’t himself sure about the perfectness of the sketch. With the available info, Shingade set to work.

It was 12 in the afternoon; Shingade was going through the case file at Saralgaon police station, when phone on his table rang “Hello, Saralgaon police station, PI Shingade here.”

It was a call from Dadar police station “Sir, the person matching your search details has been arrested here. His name is Sam Nair. He was caught near Plaza cinema with his white Indica car with number 9275. He is a cocaine dealer and transports cocaine from Gujarat to Mumbai, and he comes via Saralgaon.”

PI “Thank u very much.”

Keeping the call, he left.

In the next 3 hours, Sam was brought to Saralgaon police station. Badri had recognized him, but even after the ruthless interrogation, Sam wasn’t committing to the murder.

Tushar and his mom had arrived too. Shingade told him that he will be presenting Sam before the judge in a few days, so he wanted Tushar’s signatures on some papers to file the case in the court.

“Why did you kill my dad…for money? You bastard” Tushar snorted.

Sam “I didn’t kill him. Please believe me.”

Shingade “Tushar, control yourself…calm down.”

Tushar was made to sit “Tushar, we will recover the money soon, and Sam will surely get a life time sentence, it’s a clear case.”

 

After 10 days:

The case was to be presented in court after 2 days. Shingade was sitting in his office, when someone tapped him on his shoulder “Hands up.”

Shingade recognized the voice; it was Dr.Joseph.

Dr.Joseph was a classmate of Shingade and a good friend. He was a forensic doctor by profession, and always helped Shingade in solving the mysterious cases.

Shingade stood up smilingly to hug him, but still the worry of probably unsolved case occupied his mind.

Joseph “You seem to be tense. What’s the matter?”

Shingade “I have an eye witness and a killer, but the killer continues to deny the charge, even after the third degree interrogation. Also, the money is missing.”

After listening to Shingade’s account, Joseph requested to have copy of the case file, and also permission to interrogate people associated with the case.

Shingade allowed him to do so.

 

After 12 days:

The day of hearing had arrived. Shingade was sitting pensively on his chair resting his head on the table.

Joseph barged inside, smiling “Omkar, case solved, take this file.”

Shingade “What!”

Joseph “Sam is not the killer.”

Shingade “Then who..?”

Joseph “Easy man. But first, call everyone related to the case here at the police station.”

Within 1 hour, everyone arrived.

Joseph “Friends, you have been called here so that you should know that Sam is not the killer.”

Everyone was surprised to hear that “What!”

Joseph “And you will be surprised to know…. that the killer is with us now.”

Mrs.Rao “Who is it?”

Joseph “It was nearly impossible to get him, he would certainly have escaped. It was surely a great plan.” Turning to Shingade “you will be shocked to hear his name….its Tushar.”

Everyone was stunned.

Tushar “Are you out of your mind. What the f**k are you saying??”

Joseph “Ok…I don’t know, let me ask your friend Rahul here.”

Rahul was Tushar’s room mate in his college. Joseph had brought him there.

Looking at him, Tushar fell silent.

Shingade “Joseph, please explain.”

Joseph “Let’s start from the beginning. When you gave me the file, even I thought the culprit to be Sam. But, I deliberately removed him from my list of suspects. So, next were Bhola and Badri. I went to the hospital where Bhola’s mother was admitted. The staff there told me that Bhola stayed there overnight on the murder night. So, Bhola was innocent. Next was Badri. I had to give him some safety margin as he was the only person at the murder site, and the only witness. Now, about Sam. A cocaine dealer who loves money, but there weren’t any past murder records on his name and also for mere 50000 rupees, it was hard to believe that he would murder someone, as he used to get lakhs in the cocaine deals. Keeping him in the list, I went through Mr.Rao’s mobile records. He made a call at 11.23 pm to his wife for one minute duration and then at 2.12 am, he called his son.

Now, why would a dad call his son at midnight, that too for 7minutes 23 seconds, I found that absurd. On asking, Tushar said that his dad was asking about his studies, but the truth is that Tushar was deliberately talking to him to make it look like a fair duration call. At the end of that call, Tushar told his dad that he was standing outside the hotel and want him to open it, as he knew the shutter was locked from inside and he didn’t want Badri to get up before his dad was killed. Tushar, didn’t call his dad, instead he made him call, by giving a miss call, which Badri heard in his sleepy state. He did this because he knew in the records, miss call cannot be traced and rather it would look as if his dad called him. Further, as soon as Tushar entered the hotel, he slit his dad’s throat with the knife, with the gloves on and then left the knife there itself, which was another clever thing, as taking the weapon away or hiding it somewhere would keep a chance for us to find the criminal by some way.”

Shingade “Wait a minute, then when did Sam come….or Badri was involved in this crime?”

Joseph “Badri was pulled into the plan. I will explain that later. Talking about Tushar. I went to Tushar’s hostel to inquire. There, I got to know from his friends, that he had invested in shares and had suffered a huge loss. He was in debt. He asked his dad for help, but his dad had denied. Finally, when I met his room mate Rahul, the picture was clear.

On that night, just after Mr.Rao called his wife, Tushar had called his mom. From her, he got to know that his dad was going to stay with Badri at the hotel. He thought this was the perfect time for action. He left his hostel and reached the hotel by 2 am and then killed his dad.

And talking about Badri, let’s do some practical before theory.”

Shingade was confused. Joseph walked towards Badri “Badri, I am Joseph.”

Then, he went inside a room, changed his shirt, wore a hat and after returning, he stood before Badri and asked him in an adenoidal voice “Badri, recognized me?”

Everyone was confused about Joseph’s behavior.

Badri was silent for a few seconds, and then said “Sorry sir, I don’t know you.”

People there were not able to understand the situation.

Joseph again went inside the room, changed and came back.

This time, Badri said “Yes sir, you are Dr. Joseph.”

This behavior compelled everyone to scratch their brains. They all were astonished and confused at the same time.

Shingade “Please Joseph, speak up.”

Joseph “Omkar, Badri is affected by a neurological disorder called Prosopagnosia. It’s a disorder in which the patient is not able to recognize faces. They recognize people by their special characteristics like beard, hairstyle, hair color, their voice or sometimes by their attire, for example a hat. Badri didn’t know this as he never thought of it as a problem. These patients often like to watch only cartoons on television as they find it difficult to keep track of the characters, and in the case of cartoons, they find it easy to remember them as they have characteristic voice, attire. And most probably the reason behind this disorder was an accident, in which Badri had head injury, some 5 years back.”

Shingade “So you mean, Sam didn’t come at the hotel at all.”

Joseph “Yes, my friend, you got it now. Tushar knew about Badri’s disorder and also knew about Sam. On the night of murder, Tushar came in the attire of Sam, with the hat and the same beard and killed his dad. After that, he wanted Badri to see him, so he woke him up in Sam’s voice; that’s another quality of him; he is a great mimicker, and then after preparing an eye witness, he ran from the site.

But, still I don’t understand, why did you do such an inhumanly thing? I mean, just for money? That sounds absurd.”

Tushar, keeping his eyes down, angrily said “I hated my father. He used to beat me and my mother everyday. We both were helpless. I never wanted to do MBBS, but he pushed me to do that; he wanted to maintain his status in society. I failed twice. I wanted to leave; I was tensed. I talked to him regarding that. But, he only shouted at me, he warned me to pass this time. I knew that after he is killed, the hotel, farmhouses and all the money will be ours and we will definitely live a better life. So I killed him.”

Shingade ordered “Put him behind bars.”

Everyone was silent; his mother sat on the bench by her side and remained unmoved.

Badri was standing in a corner thinking.

Joseph asked him “What happened, Badri?”

Badri “Sir, I always wanted to study and get educated, but I didn’t have resources. And this Tushar, he was well educated, a doctor, but he used his knowledge to kill his own father. Watching all this, I feel it’s good that I didn’t study further.”

Joseph “No Badri, education is important. But, above all, the thing that is most important is purity of soul. Metal can be used to make both, god’s idol and sword. But it’s upon us to decide the right path. Though swords surely will be sold at a higher price, it will never give serenity to anyone.”

__END__