Chapter 9:
-- Monday late afternoon, Police Station --
"What do we have till now Satya?" Maan asked Satya who was drowned in paperwork since morning.
Geet's interview had added more confusion to the case and there were more questions now compared to what they started with. Deshmukh had left messages stating that he might have found a lead after interviewing Anjali's colleague. He had in a way anticipated that at least a part of Anjali's life would be found at her workplace. There she had a cabin for herself with a locker. The combination of locker was known only to her and the boutique's owner, who didn't reside in India. She used that locker as her temporary haven where few of her secrets hid. Deshmukh was armed with a search warrant so that they could confiscate the locker or open it in front of a senior employee.
"We have a new twist sir ji", Satya was slouched on sofa that was in Maan's cabin. Maan only looked on. Satya was surrounded by reports, photos and statements on the other side of the room which he used when his boss visited him. Satya had managed to cover every inch of three sofas which could easily seat six grown. The coffee table was covered with take away cartons and plastic coffee cups.
He sighed. Satya was a complete slob. He shook his head and walked towards sofa. After Geet's interview he had a meeting with the commissioner over lunch and had to update him on few other cases. When he looked at his watch for seventh time after two hours of talking, his boss had finally gotten the hint and had let him go; after getting a promise of some immediate paperwork, of course.
Once back at the station, he had asked Satya to babysit the case till he could relieve himself of paperwork duty. Deshmukh had interviewed both Geet's and Anjali's colleagues at their workplaces. Deshmukh had looked at him questioningly when he handed him a color photocopy of Anjali's picture with the unidentified man they had found in a vase in Geet's house. He had a haunch that someone in either of those places would have seen him.
"What is it?" Maan asked pushing some papers from a corner of sofa and settling there.
"The unknown man in the photo is identified. Guess who it is?"
"Is he Anjali's boyfriend?" Maan guessed.
"And Geet's too. It's Vikram. Well, Anjali's colleagues mentioned that they weren't too sure about Vikram being her boyfriend since Vikram dropped by very rarely to picked her up. And she never brought him to any of the office parties or luncheons. When they asked her, she denied it and said that she and Vikram were very good friends." Satya said and watched Maan's reaction go from smug to jaw drop.
"You think was two timing on Geet?" Maan asked.
"It is possible but I am not too sure. The photo doesn't give many details nor does her behavior. It turns out that most of Geet's friends' and colleagues know Anjali but the other way around wasn't true. None of Anjali's friends ever met Geet. They saw her in the store a couple of times but the association didn't even extend outside the shop. Though Geet and Anjali lived together it seemed as if they actually lived world apart." Satya said.
"And check this sir ji. The chief accountant made an accusation on Anjali. Apparently that man suspects Anjali embezzling money from the boutique." Maan whistled in response.
"Isn't that strange Satya? I mean she made enough money on her own and her parents come from an affluent family. Why would she need more money?" Maan asked puzzled.
"After I saw this I asked Emily to pull out Anjali's bank records. She has plenty money and Emily said that all her transactions where clean. And here is the weirdest thing sir ji. She had invested in short term mutual funds making the boutique she works as the nominee."
"She was investing money on behalf of the boutique and yet she embezzled from the same place? It doesn't make sense. Unless..." Maan trailed off. "What's the total investment amount on those mutual funds?" Maan added.
"It is..." Satya shuffled a lot of pages and found the print out of her list of investments and did some quick addition. He checked the statement given by the boutique accountant and looked at Maan. "It's the same amount." Satya said in surprise. "Why would she do something like that sir ji?" Satya asked.
For a moment nothing made sense. And then it came. Maan had to give it to Anjali for being smart. Had she been alive she would have probably pulled it off without raising too many alarms.
"She embezzled money from the boutique and gave it back to it in less than a couple of months. Technically the money hasn't moved at all. When accountant made the checks, he saw money missing in the books. And when the mutual funds mature, the money flows back to the system under the heading 'investments' thus making the ending number unchanged. The boutique doesn't work like a fully-fledged organization which is a disadvantage in this case. They don't really have a process in place for the money flow as there are hardly less than a dozen people in administration. With this, the books always were clean though they show ups and downs every few months once; if she has done this more than once, that is. Do we have those books from the accountant?"
"Yes sir ji. We have copies of statements they gave us. Emily is looking into it. But why would she take money if she was going to put it back in coming few weeks?"
"Because she didn't want to leave a paper trail for the real reason she needed money for." Satya's face showed confusion.
"She was blackmailed Satya. That's the only reason. She was paying off some guy cash on a periodic basis and she didn't want a huge amount with drawl to be done on her bank account."
"How are you sure that this is blackmail and not some shady narcotics stuff sir ji?"
"Geet mentioned that Anjali didn't do drugs. She kept herself fit and in shape. Had it really been drugs, then Geet would have noticed."
"Okay, if it was blackmail then why did she do such a way of paying off? She wouldn't have raised an alarm for this kind of with drawls. Which means that the blackmailer asked her to do something like this?" Satya questioned and answered at the same time.
"It is possible. Whoever the blackmailer is, that person didn't make it easy for Anjali. And remember what Geet said about Anjali talking to a guy in a club? She saw him handing over an envelope to Anjali. He could have been the blackmailer." Maan said thoughtfully.
"But it's very difficult to find him now sir ji. But I think I know the material he was passing her", Satya said opening a sealed envelope which was bagged as evidence. His gloved hand slipped and he cursed.
"There were three envelopes of this sort found in her cabin locker sir ji; looks like there are photos in it." Satya said opening the envelope and emptying the contents.
He turned his head immediately away from the picture which displayed utter vulgarity and crudeness. He shook his head to get the images out of his head but it was too late. He inwardly wondered how Maan could look at the picture which had Vikram and Anjali having sex. The shots were taken from a building opposite to theirs.
"Do you know what is odd in this picture Satya?" Maan's voice was unrecognizable.
"Besides the obvious? And the fact that they didn't take the time to close curtains?" He asked.
"It's actually Geet's room", Maan said flatly. Satya looked disgusted.
Satya emptied the other two envelopes and promptly looked away. He wasn't very comfortable with nudity when the people weren't dead when they were being naked.
"Wait. There are two different men in these photos", Maan said handing Satya two photos.
"Is this why her killer called Anjali a who*e?" Satya asked pretending to look at the photo but not really bothering to.
"Take a look at the two photos Satya. They won't bite", Maan said bemused.
"Easy for you to say", Satya grumbled and saw the photos. His boss was right of course.
"I will pass this lot to Emily and ask her to give us mug shots for the second man. When do we bring Vikram in sir ji?"
"Let Deshmukh interview him tomorrow. Ask Emily to hand him pictures of both the men. If he revisits both Anjali's and Geet's workplaces, then he should now ask for the second man also." Maan said. Satya looked thoughtful.
"I suspect Vikram sir ji", Satya said cleaning up the place.
"Why do you say that?"
"He must have realized the other affair of Anjali and might have killed her because of that."
"That makes up for motive. If that is the case, then why did he put a photo of himself in the vase? And first of all, why did he put the vase there in the first place? And how did he even know about it?" Maan asked.
"He must have heard the story about vase from Anjali and Geet. And he put in a photo of himself there to divert the attention on the other man. If he knows about Sasha's story, then he would also know that Sasha's murderer was never caught. So he bought in a similar vase and kept it here making Anjali's murder follow same signature of Sasha's murderer."
"Yes, that is plausible."
"But you don't believe it, right?" Satya said expecting Maan to disagree with him.
"You know what is bugging me about Anjali's murder? It's the lack of sexual component in the murder. The killer displays an immense amount of control under a massive quantity of rage and is extremely organized and methodical in the way he executes his plan. Had it been one of the men she actually had affair with, it wouldn't have been this cold blooded. There are no signs of guilt anywhere in the crime scene or that Anjali and murderer being intimate." Maan said pacing back and forth.
"You think that Sasha's and Anjali's murder is connected sir ji?"
"Yes Satya, that's what I believe right now. But hey, every theory now is a plausible one unless we have enough evidence to prove it otherwise", Maan said.
"Who is looking at Sasha's case?" Maan asked remembering about it.
"Deshmukh is looking at that too along with Emily. We are unable to meet Sasha's family as they have shifted to Maldives after Sasha's death. Emily is going through Sasha's cyber life as we speak. The laptop Sasha used has been with us in evidence as the family didn't want anything that we touched so Emily thinks that she would be able to give you something in evening." Satya said.
"Sir, Anjali's parents are here", a constable saluted Maan and said as soon as he came into the cabin. Maan and Satya looked at each other.
"Tell them I'll be there now", Maan said. This was the part of the job he absolutely hated and found his throat constricted. He couldn't help but to sympathize for the parents. He emptied the glass of water and put on his jacket.
"Wish me luck Satya", Maan said and walked away from cabin. A feeble "good luck" reverberated in the cabin in his wake.
Maan knew that killer knew both victims including Geet. This wasn't about some jealousy or ego that turned a normal person to a killer. The killer was someone close these women but always watched them in shadows. When they came face to face, he would probably not catch their attention. The killer knew about their weaknesses and the way it caused havoc in others' lives. Was this their punishment? Or was this killer's way of avenging something personal?
PS: Check out first page for a picture of black vase.
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
Cricket
36