Chapter 20
“Vijaya” Maami’s voice startled me.
I turned around and noticed Maami in the living room. Looks like the maid left the door open. I didn’t take any offense at Maami entering my house without ringing the bell.
“Looks like your work is done, shall we go to Neeraja’s apartment?” suggested Maami.
“Ok” I said and soon we were in Neeraja’s apartment.
I went from one room to another in the empty apartment, all the while feeling sorry for Neeraja.
“It is such a big and beautiful apartment” I said.
Maami did not reply. She has been standing in the living room balcony since we entered the apartment. I agree there was a good view and breeze there, but we didn’t come here to enjoy the view. We came to do the final checking and hand over the keys to the bank person when he shows up, which would be soon.
There was also a good view of the Gayatriamma’s apartment. May be Maami was standing there hoping Gayatriamma might walk through and she could talk to her.
BANG!!!
What is going on? For a minute or two I couldn’t even think of anything. I don’t know how long I was standing in the same place. The only thing I was aware is that of my fast-beating heart. Suddenly I came to my senses and ran back to the living room and it looked like Maami was shocked too. She was still standing in the balcony but this time staring into the living room.
I ran towards her “What happened? Fireworks?”
Maami moved as if my words woke her up from her trance. She walked towards me and took my hand and walked towards the door. I was speechless. I just followed her without any questions. She took me outside the apartment and straight up the staircase without talking or stopping.
She stopped in front of Gaytriamma’s apartment. She didn’t ring the bell but tried to open the door. It didn’t open. She made an about-turn, still holding my hand, and walked down a passage and did the same thing to the door there. This time the door opened. She walked in still holding my hand. By this time, I came to my senses and didn’t move from my spot.
“What are you doing Maami?” I asked.
It felt odd to sneak into somebody’s house. Maami didn’t answer me. She was staring at some thing and my eyes followed her eyes.
I was shocked and kept staring at the same figure Maami was staring at. Maami started walking and gave me a tug and I followed her without breaking my eye contact. We walked towards the figure as if we were in a trance. The figure didn’t move or say anything. It looked like the figure was not aware of us or anything around. Outside the sun was too bright- I couldn’t make out clearly what was inside the apartment. As I walked inside things began to look much clearer.
“Preethy” I called so softly I felt I couldn’t hear my own voice.
From the doorway we couldn’t make out the what Preethy was staring at. As we got closer her object came into our view. The movement I looked in the direction of Preethy’s stare, a scream involuntarily escaped my mouth. And I ran towards Preethy. I am not sure whether it was to protect her or protect myself. I hugged her and she hugged me in return and we collapsed into a sitting position.
I was in total shock. I didn’t know what to do or say, expect to hang on to Preethy. And I felt Preethy was in the same situation. Both of us were staring straight ahead.
To the other end of the hall, on the all pure white carpet lay Mr. Sivam, in an all white Kurta Pyjama. There was blood all over his face and a small red spot on the carpet. Slowly, the red spot on the carpet kept becoming bigger. Mr. Sivam was moving very little, but his eyes were fixed on Preethy.
“I am doing this for you Madhavi” Mr. Sivam was saying to Preethy with his eyes filled with tears.
“Please don’t leave Appa and go away” Mr.Sivam was pleading with Preethy.
Nobody moved for a second. Suddenly Gayatriamma moved towards Mr. Sivam and knelt near him and told him “I called the hospital, the ambulance will be here soon”. Gayatriamma’s eyes were full of affection and she choked towards the end of her sentence.
Suddenly Maami came into motion. “I will call brother” said Maami moving towards the phone.
Maami started dialing numbers and talking. She walked towards us and tried to talk to us. She realized that we were still in shock and moved us to a sofa. Preethy was still crying. No sound, but tears were pouring from her eyes. I was very much aware of things that were going around me. People were talking and moving around me, but I was not able to react or say anything except stare. In a matter of minutes, the ambulance and police came. I don’t know how many. They took Preethy away from me. Later, a policeman took me to another room where there was another policeman.
“What happened?” the police man asked politely. I couldn’t answer.
“You have to tell us what happened. Nothing will happen to you. We will protect you…” the other policeman kept on saying and I couldn’t say anything except stare.
Mr. Krishnan and Sailaja entered the room a few minutes later. The policeman objected, but they dismissed him. Sailaja immediately sat next to me and I started crying.
“Please take it easy. She must be in shock” Mr. Krishnan pleaded with the police and later turned to me and said “Kumar will be here soon, Vijaya”.
The policemen were really upset about not being able to get any information from me. They thought I was trying to hide something. And now, Mr. Krishanan’s and Sailaja’s forceful entry irritated them.
“What do you think this is? This is an interrogation. You cannot interrupt like this” bellowed one of the policeman.
“Get out now” he yelled again.
“This is not an interrogation. You are just collecting information from a possible witness. Male police are not allowed to interrogate a woman without the presence of a policewomen. This is harassment. As a policeman, you should know better” bellowed Mr. Krishnan back at the policemen.
They were taken back, murmured something and walked outside the door. Before leaving, the quiter police officer turned to Mr. Krishnan and said in a soft voice “Please Sir, tell Madam that we mean no harm. We need to file an FIR and then go for regular duty for the whole night. Some VVIP is coming to the city. It would be nice if she cooperates”.
“I will try my best” Mr. Krishnan said feeling sorry for the policeman.
“Is it true that policemen cannot question a woman without a policewoman in presence?” asked Sailaja.
“I don’t know. I pulled a fast one on them” replied Mr. Krishnan and turned to me and said “Don’t say anything until you talk to your husband”.
When the police returned, the first policeman was even more irritated because more people had gathered around me- my husband had come and Mrs. Raman joined us too. Either Mr. Krishnan’s yelling or the presence of so many people mellowed the policeman.
He politely asked the others to leave the room, except my husband and I. “Sir, please tell her..” the policeman started.
“Hmmm! This coffee is very good” he passed a general comment while peeping into the coffee cup. Just by the smell of it, I guessed it must be Maami’s coffee.
“Any way” the policeman continued, “Sir, We are not going to harass her. We just want the truth. The more she tells, the better. You see, these rich people.. They can murder people in broad day light on Mount Road and get away with it. It is you innocent people who will get caught” said the policeman to my husband while drinking his coffee with loud slurps.
“You know Madam, the rich people are the worst lot. They have so many skeletons in their cupboard- it is disgusting. Almost all…”
The door opened, and in walked three men. One was a tall man wearing a khadi shirt and a vesti. He resembled Gayatriamma a lot. I immediately guessed that he must be her brother. The other one was a medium height, round man in white pant and shirt, with vibhudhipatta on his forehead. The third one was the tallest of the three, and was wearing a Gray suit. They had an air of authority around them. They seemed to be kind, authoritative and respectable.
The moment the policemen saw the men, they jumped out of their chairs in a jiffy and saluted the men. Fear and respect was strongly visible in the police’s face. The 3 men ignored the police and came towards us.
Gayatriamma’s brother said “Vanakkam” to me and introduced himself to my husband and later introduced the tall man in suit as one of India’s most popular criminal lawyers. The medium-sized man sat next to me and took my shivering hand very affectionately to check my pulse. In the meantime, the Police Inspector entered the room.
Seeing him the lawyer said in a clear voice to me “Mrs. Kumar, you don’t have to fear anyone. You can decide when you can tell what you know. Don’t fear. We are there for you”.
The police Inspector was not at all happy to hear those words, but didn’t say anything. It looked like he too feared and respected these men.
“Why don’t you lie down on that sofa while I examine you?” said the medium size man, who was clearly a doctor. I got up from the place and suddenly the lights went off.