On the Lake

Chapter 1: The Fog Lifts…

A seasoned Kolkatan at heart, Krishanu Moitra, took off his jogging shoes wearily and rubbed his sore feet. “Goddamn health freaks!” said Krishanu under his breath as he watched a group of giggling ladies and men stroll by.
It was an unearthly hour for any sane person – 5:30 AM in the month of November and Kolkata’s residents know that at that time of the year, the city is swathed in a soft, inviting fog that makes you want to stay in bed, all warm and safe and just enjoy the thought of the fog enveloping the city in its seductive embrace. Krishanu was highly annoyed at the fact that he was not able to do just that – sleep it off. Instead, his mother had pushed him awake at 5:00 AM and then almost pushed him out the door at 5:15 AM to go for a walk at the nearby Rabindra Sarobar lake.
With another muttered exclamation about mothers and their nagging in general, Krishanu leaned back on the painted green and yellow park bench. He badly wanted a cigarette but the goddamn health freaks had banned that as well in that area.
Unable to do anything about it, Krishanu went back in his mind, to the day a week back, when a casual visit to the doctor had shown up some unpleasant truths. Mr. Moitra, though a private detective with a razor-sharp mind, had, unfortunately, let his body go to seed.
A heavy drinker, and fond of Bengali cooking at its best, Krishanu’s once lean body was now running to fat. The mischievous eyes remained the same and having inherited his mother’s peaches and cream complexion, he was still judged to be good-looking by most members of the opposite sex. But the doctor had been very clear. Lose some of those extra kilos or you could be looking at a life whose quality you would not like.
Krishanu would probably have ignored most of these warnings. However, the canny doctor was an ex-classmate of his mother’s and took it upon himself to tell his friend about her son’s hypertension and high cholesterol.
That was the end of peace for Krishanu at home, and he was now being woken up at all ungodly hours to go for walks and given rabbit food that made him want to puke. The worst part was he did not even have a case to sink his teeth into, which he could use as a cover for eating all the street food, he was not able to at home.
Feeling sorrier for himself by the moment, Krishanu stretched his legs out and looked out onto the slate grey waters of the lake. Even at that hour, he could see the club rowing teams going full force into rowing practice. To pass the time, before he had to start the God-awful running again, he began following the boats on the lake.
As his eyes adjusted to the early morning fog that hung over the water, Krishanu saw something odd as he kept looking. Amongst all the rowboats, there was one boat that was not moving anywhere with a purpose. It was kind of drifting and as far as he could make out, there was no one in it.
Being familiar with the lake all his life, he could not remember ever having seen something like that. His investigative brain seemed to light up and he felt he had to know what the matter with that particular boat was and why it was drifting on its own.
All of a sudden, the relative stillness of the morning air was broken by the dulcet tones of Arijit Singh, as Krishanu’s cell phone came to life.
Praying that it was not his mother trying to track his running progress, Krishanu pulled the phone out of his pocket and saw that it was the crime officer of Bhawanipore Police Station, Mr. Nilimesh Basu who was calling.
“Good Morning” was his crisp greeting to his old partner in “crime”. Mr. Basu as usual came directly to the point. “We need you here. How soon can you make it?”
“In about 15 minutes” was Krishanu’s reply as his heart lifted at the possibility of some interesting work coming his way. The last few months had all been about photographing cheating spouses and threatening some poor soul about paying up his credit card dues.
Standing up quickly, Krishanu decided to let caution fly to the winds, and lighting up a cigarette started walking briskly back to his red Chevrolet.
It was precisely, 5:50 AM when he walked into the police station to find Mr. Basu sitting with a whole bunch of police officers and looking extremely worried…


Chapter 2: The Man Who Went Missing

Mr. Basu’s face as usual showed no expression as Krishanu strode up to him and shook his hand. Lighting a cigar, he gestured to Krishanu to take a seat. There were a few crisp introductions with the rest of the investigative team.
Krishanu had helped the police solve a few cases in the past and had earned a reputation for being a successful investigator who unfortunately scoffed at all kinds of police or bureaucratic protocol. He had butted heads with some of the police force’s finest, but his success rate had forced many a honcho to come to him for help with a case that needed solving.
As Krishanu sat down, his eyes did a quick sweep of the police station, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see a beautiful lady and a teenage boy waiting on a bench in the visitors’ area. The expression on their faces spelled anxiety, fear, and something else that Krishanu could not get a read on.
Mr. Basu in his deliberate way, started to give a background to his team about the case on hand. A prominent member of Calcutta Rowing Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the city, had been missing for three days now. The man, one Atanu Halder, owned and managed a small logistics firm and spent a lot of time at the club socializing for personal and business reasons. He had a wife and a teenage son who had filed the missing person’s report that morning.
Krishanu’s eyes went back to the visitor area and he deduced that this was the Halder family. Waiting for Mr. Basu to wind up his brief, he lit another cigarette as his thoughts for some reason went back to that boat drifting aimlessly on the lake that morning. Some instinct made him speak up, “Basu, I am sorry to interrupt you. But I saw something rather strange on the lake today while jogging. Would you mind going with me to check that out?”
Mr. Basu stopped his commentary and gaped at Krishanu for a second. “Since when are you a jogger? More importantly, since when do you wake up early enough to jog, let alone go to the lake???” was his astonished exclamation.
Waving a hand at this irritating diversion, Krishanu got up and said, “Are you coming with me, or do you want me to row out by myself?”
The rest of the team sniggered and nudged each other. Basu and Krishanu were like an old married couple who worked well together but bickered incessantly too. Krishanu strode out exactly as he had stridden in, and Basu grabbed his phone and began following the man who was his bane and his saving grace. He muttered a few orders to his team before shaking his head and leaving for the lake.
On the way to the lake, in Krishanu’s car (Basu had by now given up trying to get Krishanu to ride with him in his police jeep), the two discussed the case further. Now that they were alone, Krishanu explained the morning’s incident in detail. “I have a gut feeling, that boat is somehow connected to your missing person. I don’t know why!”
“Hmmm – I hope not..” sighed Mr. Basu. “It might mean that Mr. Halder has come to a sticky end. But let’s check it out, or you won’t give me a moment’s peace…”
Given that Krishanu drove like a bat out of hell, despite having a police officer in his car, they reached the lake in record time. By then it was mid-morning, and the sun was shining down on the waters, making it look as if a thousand tiny jewels were hidden in its depths. The rowers had disappeared, but the lone boat remained on the water. It had drifted onto one of the small islands and was lodged against a tiny bay.
As Krishanu pointed it out to Basu, Nilimesh made a few crisp calls for a police boat and some forensic detail to come to the scene. While they waited, Basu smiled broadly and said, “So you are a jogger now?”
“Shut up!” replied Krishanu and walked a little way away. “Are you jogging with Indira? I hear she is a fitness freak..” laughed Basu. Dr. Indira Ghoshal was the forensics head, who conducted a lot of the autopsies for the police. Krishanu and Indira had a difficult working relationship wherein both respected each other’s abilities but rarely saw eye to eye on anything.
Krishanu did not even bother to reply to this latest salvo but looked at his watch pointedly. “They are coming as fast as they can…” shrugged Basu as he bought a bottle of water from a vendor nearby.
Sure enough, it was a short wait, before two policemen, Basu and Krishanu were all rowing toward the mystery boat. As they approached, a foul stench permeated the air and Krishanu could see that there was a bundle in the boat – a large one.
“Stay back” warned one of the uniformed policemen. They docked their boat carefully on the island and then bent over the boat to investigate. Even before the bundle was opened up, Krishanu knew this had to be a body. His hunch was confirmed, when the police uncovered what looked like a man, in the early stages of decomposition. He was wearing a CRC rowing jacket and the flies had already started to settle on his wounds.
Despite having quite some experience with murders and dead bodies, Krishanu wanted to throw up. He had had no food since morning, and the smell, combined with the fact that a human being had been left to rot like that, made him angrier and sadder than he had ever been.
Basu and the two policemen were all in professional mode. They packed up the body to take it to the morgue for proper identification. The whole thing took about an hour, and while the other people at the lake gaped and pointed, the police for once, behaved as they should in such cases, and entertained no questions. Instead, they marked the island with yellow tape, left one man behind on the shores, and left.
Krishanu and Basu got into the red Chevrolet and Basu asked, “Are you up for going back to the station, while we wait for the identification? I would like Mrs. Halder to do a preliminary viewing.”
“Sure I am. But it has to be Atanu Halder…” was Krishanu’s response.
Stopping for a quick breakfast, where Krishanu broke all his health rules by eating five kachoris at record speed, and some milk tea to wash it down, the duo once again entered the gloomy interiors of the police station.
“I would like to talk to the family if you don’t mind,” said Krishanu. “I don’t, but just wait for them to identify the body, please…” replied Mr. Basu.
Krishanu nodded and asked a few questions to get a better idea of who the man had been. Atanu Halder had lived in Lake Gardens in a two-story house with his wife and son. Apparently, he was doing quite well with his business and was one of those rare men, who had a balanced family life as well. The family regularly went on vacations and seemed like a close-knit one. Basu had been doing some initial investigation into Atanu’s financial condition, and there were no surprises there either.
“Do you think it could be the wife?” asked Basu.
“Wouldn’t that be a stereotype? The beautiful wife killing the husband! But why? What would be the motive?” replied Krishanu doodling on a pad.
“Keno abar? Sex or money! Aren’t those the two reasons why a woman kills a man or vice versa?”
Krishanu smiled and looked up. “What about the son? He could be a suspect too..”
“Hmm – he could. But do you think a son killed his father, then bundled him into a boat and set him adrift? Would a teenager be that cruel?”
“Children…offspring can be very cruel to their parents” sighed Krishanu thinking of the trouble he gave his own mother on a regular basis.
Basu fell quiet, and his cell phone beeped a few times. “What is it?” he answered. “Hmmm, ok. We are on our way over…”
As he disconnected, Krishanu raised a questioning eyebrow and Basu’s nod told him what he wanted to know.

Chapter 3: The Wheels Turn

Dr. Indira Ghoshal was feeling not at all like her usual calm and organized self. A person of science, she liked a particular method in her mad days of autopsies and police visits. She had a single-minded focus on her work and hated it when some urgent case or police intervention interrupted her routine.
Today, like most other “normal” days she had gotten up in the morning, run her autopsy schedule through in her mind over her cup of Darjeeling tea, and dropped off her mother at her aunt’s place on her way to work. However, her early start was ruined, when Mr. Basu called to say a murdered body was on its way to her and that took precedence over everything.
To make matters worse, she had heard that detective’s voice on the phone. Krishanu was a man Indira both admired and disliked with equal intensity. His keen mind, and his ability to solve cases no one else could have earned her respect. But the man was a walking talking ego trip in her opinion. Wrinkling her nose at the prospect of having to endure Krishanu’s antics again, she gestured to her assistant to open up the body bag for her.
Having spent a few years of her medical training in the US, Indira often used things like Dictaphones to record her observations and a DSLR camera to take the best photos of wounds et al. Today, she did both, as she grimaced at the many bruises and cuts on the semi-decomposed body.
“We will cut him up after lunch…” was her instruction to her lab assistants, as she started going back to her office to transfer her audio to the laptop and take a second look at the photographs.
While she worked in her tiny office, Mr. Basu and Krishanu entered the laboratory where Mrs. Halder was waiting in the reception area with a face chalk-white in color.
Nilimesh took the lady’s arm to steady her while they waited for the staff to ready the body for viewing by immediate family. She truly was beautiful, observed Krishanu as he waited. Idly wondering where Indira was and how pissed off she already was with him, Krishanu felt strongly tempted to light up a cigarette.
It was only the memory of Indira sending him reams of text messages and emails on the problems smokers have and create for others during an earlier case that stopped him in his tracks.
A record ten-minute wait later, they were taken to the viewing area and one look at the body made Mrs. Halder turn even whiter. Looking with burning eyes towards Nilimesh, she nodded in affirmative.
Mr. Basu looked at Krishanu over her head and a look passed between them. They knew now that this was a murder case, and not a missing person’s one.
While one of the police officers, escorted Mrs. Halder from the morgue, some perverse instinct told Krishanu to disrupt Indira’s day further by appearing before her in person.
Disregarding protocol, as usual, he strode to where he knew, she was holed up in her office, poring over cases and drawing up reports for investigators and other bureaucratic divisions.
Wanting to needle her but not make her mad at him this early in the case, he knocked on the door that was firmly closed. He could hear the laptop keys being struck at an abnormal speed.
“That is the beauty of Indira. She might be a stickler for routine, but she works fast and accurately when she is pushed…” smiled Krishanu to himself. He had to knock a second time, before a mutter from inside said, “Come in!”
Turning the handle Krishanu walked in and as always he was struck by the contrasts in that office. Walls full of the clutter of the goriest of photographs vied for attention with medical certificates, and in all that professional glory, there was a photo of Indira and her mother that spoke of a close bond he envied.
His eyes went to the woman in question who was looking up at him, her face revealing none of the irritation she must be feeling. Indira was not beautiful, but there was something interesting about that oval face with its tiny chin and wide-set eyes behind practical glasses. Her hair was the most beautiful thing about her, falling straight and thick to her waist but she kept it tied up most of the time.
“Good Morning! How are you?” smirked Krishanu.
“I am fine. What is it that you want now?” came the direct and honest query from Indira, her eyes on his face.
This time Krishanu smiled his genuine smile. “Sorry, I know we messed up your day and I know I will do that more in the days to come..can you tell me anything useful right now?”
Indira took off her glasses and sighed. “Well, I can tell you that he was murdered for sure. Knife wounds in so many places on his body did not happen by accident nor were they self-inflicted. The second observation is a guess though. I can confirm once I cut him up today..”
“Hmm..thanks Indira! You are a pal – a grumpy one, but a pal all the same!” retorted Krishanu making a beeline for the door before Indira lost it and threw one of her human skull paperweights at him.
Indira shook her head and went back to staring at her laptop screen, mentally telling herself to be calm and patient with this impossible man.


Chapter 4: The Investigation Begins…

Mr. Basu began the investigation in his usual methodical way, interviewing associates of Mr. Halder. It was dull, tedious work as none of it turned up anything interesting or out of the way. Mr. Halder had been one of the businessmen that Kolkata has by the thousands. He had worked at supplying gemstones to the city’s prominent jewelers. Most of Mr. Halder’s time had been spent in traveling for work and whenever he was in the city, he would spend a lot of time at the rowing club, socializing and making new contacts for business.
A look at Mr. Halder’s business records revealed the normal irregularities that all mid-size businessmen have and when Mr. Basu questioned the small set of staff, Mr. Halder had employed, none of them had anything to say that would give him an avenue to follow up.
Nilimesh persisted, knowing that somewhere someone would say or do something that would give him a solid lead. He also knew that he had to take a closer look at the family – the trophy wife and the son, and what the story was there. Then Nilimesh smiled to himself – “I will leave that to Krishanu…” and let the fireworks happen.
The man in question in the meanwhile could not get the boat on the lake out of his head and ultimate discovery of the rotting body in it. He thought of it, every time he thought about the case and he dreamt about it at night. Convinced that his rabbit food diet was getting to him, he shouted at his mother one day to give him some “real” food and then felt bad about it afterward.
One morning, still in bed, he was lying wondering how he could properly sink his teeth into the case when the phone rang and he saw that it was Mr. Basu. “Do me a favor, Krish! Please start questioning Mrs. Halder and the son…you are the best person for it….”
“On it” responded Krishanu and glad to have a direction in the case, he jumped up and decided to pay the grieving Halders a visit that very day. It was 10 AM by the time, he drove up to the Halder home in Lake Gardens. Mr. Halder has obviously been doing well in his business was his first thought when he saw the three-story gated property and two cars, one Mercedes and one BMW, parked outside.
The gate was not locked, and after parking his car, Krishanu entered the property and rang the doorbell. A couple of minutes later, the door was opened by a young girl in her twenties, hair oiled, and with a cloth in her hands. Correctly surmising, that this must be the household help, he identified himself and asked for Mrs. Halder.
The girl nodded quietly and went into the annals of the house to fetch her mistress. Krishanu in the meanwhile started looking around with his keen eyes. As expected, the house was beautifully decorated, boasting décor pieces from all over the world, expensive draperies, and furniture that made everything come together well.
There was a massive family portrait of the Halders in the living room and he sauntered up to it to look at all three of them. “They had been a handsome couple,” he thought to himself and once his eyes settled on the son, he could see a vague discontent in that young chap’s eyes that Krishanu himself could identify with, having always had a difficult relationship with his parents.
“Mr. Moitra?” said a melodious voice behind him and turning he saw the drop-dead gorgeous lady he had seen earlier, standing in the doorway.
“Mrs. Halder, I have a few questions for you and everyone else who stays here. Is it a good time to ask them?” said Krishanu courteously.
Nodding her perfectly shaped head, Mrs. Halder walked in and sat regally on a sofa. She was dressed casually in palazzos and a kurti, her curly locks loose, with no makeup –yet she was a vision of loveliness.
Krishan began with some simple questions of “how”, “when” and “why”. The answers came back with equal directness and then he shot one of his arrows. “Why exactly did you kill your husband?”
Mrs. Halder’s poise did not falter for a second, as she looked him in the eye and said “I did not.” Krishanu immediately knew she was not lying. This was his instinct and he had no proof, but he knew that this lady was not her husband’s murderer.
He nodded and then asked to question her son. “He is at my sister’s place…” came the reply with the faintest of lines appearing between her eyebrows for the first time since Krishanu had seen her. “So she dotes on her son and does not want me grilling him about his father’s death…” he thought to himself.
He did not press the matter further but instead asked to speak to the young girl who had opened the door to him. Sandhya was summoned by Mrs. Halder over the intercom. A couple of minutes later, the girl entered the room and immediately collided with a brass bell showpiece. Mrs. Halder gave no visible reaction to this and stayed on her sofa.
“I would like to ask her questions one to one,” said Krishanu. A corner of the perfect mouth moved a little and Mrs. Halder exited the room without a word. Krishanu focused on the girl and saw that she was visibly nervous. “She would be. Her master has been murdered and I am here to question her about it. She is afraid of being framed” he thought.
To make her comfortable, he again began with a series of innocuous questions and then all of a sudden asked her the son’s whereabouts. “He is upstairs sleeping. He did not kill his father!” came the exclamation with a sudden fiery light in the submissive girl’s eyes.
“Hmmm, I did not say he had” replied Krishanu quietly, writing something on his pad. “The girl’s eyes flickered as if she wished she were anyone else but in that room. Taking pity on her, he got up and said, “I have what I have for now, but I will be back to question Master Halder soon.”
In his abrupt way, he left the house and drove straight to his office and the first thing he wrote on the whiteboard he kept there was a quote his mother often said “Jar tor jar moje mon, ki ba hari, ki ba dom!”

Chapter 5: Investigative Routines
Krishanu and Nilimesh approached this particular case as they did all other cases – one relying on his investigative instincts and the other on methodical police work. Indira supported both with her systematic and organized forensic evidence.
The next step was to question the son and others in the Halders’ social circle. Surprisingly, Aniket Halder himself called and made an appointment to appear at the station for questioning. Krishanu let Nilimesh drive that particular interview and stayed in the background observing and making notes.
On the first Saturday of December, both detectives had spent all day working the case. They decided to take it a step further and went undercover for the first time, as traveling jewelers. The objective was to visit CRC and talk to Halder's cronies there.
The first hour passed innocuously enough and Krishanu was just getting irritated at whiling away time in the club when they had a small breakthrough. As they sat at the bar sipping drink, a man from a nearby table suddenly raised his voice. “Atanu bought a cluster of my best diamonds on credit.. Now, I don’t know if his wife will pay me for them. Damn!!” he exclaimed banging the tabletop. He was half drunk and was speaking on the phone to someone. A few grunts more, he hung up and ordered another drink for himself. The two detectives immediately went on high alert as they both realized that this could be a lead on their case!
A subtle nod passed between the two. Krishanu smoothly got up from the bar stool he had been sitting on and took a seat right next to the angry man's table. “Damn him! He had to get himself killllled” slurred the man, as he morosely took a sip of his golden Scotch.
A nod at the waiter and the man's glass was swiftly refilled. Seizing his chance, Krishanu extended his hand, at the same time asking, “Nomoshkar! May I sit here?” The drunk man waved acquiescence and raised his bloodshot eyes to look at the man behind the voice.
“Boshun!” he grunted. Krishanu knew he had to be patient and wait for the man to talk about Atanu Halder. He took a careful sip from his own glass and leaned back.
He did not have to wait long. “Damn Atanu! He bought my best diamonds for his…..”came the tantalizing outburst before the man slumped forward on the table and abruptly started snoring. Krishanu felt like punching the drunk or himself. “Idiot! Had to pass out now!” he grumbled to himself and got up to join Nilimesh at the bar again.
He quickly related what had happened and Nilimesh immediately sat up straight. “That’s great, Krish! We have a new lead to look into..”he said. “Hmm…” came the thoughtful reply as suddenly Krishanu's eyes were drawn towards the doorway where a middle-aged man had just walked in, with a svelte lady in a black evening gown. His sharp detective eyes homed in on the lady's feet which were surprisingly, not in heels but sensible black flats. His eyes immediately sought to see this practical woman's face and Krishanu felt as if someone had punched him right in the gut. “Indira! What is she doing here?” he wondered and then felt extremely irritated because he realized that this bothered him.
As he watched, Indira and the unknown man walked up to a table by the window and sat down. Krishanu kept listening to Nilimesh plan aloud as to what they would do next, while he studied the man with Indira. His instinct told him that this was not a romantic date and immediately he felt more irritated with himself. What was wrong with him? He had never had any kind of romantic interest in Indira and how she spent her evenings or with whom, shouldn’t be any of his business.
At that precise instant, Nilimesh who had realized that his partner’s attention was elsewhere also looked towards Indira and her companion’s table. The policeman’s eyes immediately recognized the good doctor and he gave a shout, “Isn’t that Indira?” The policeman had completely forgotten that they were supposed to be undercover that evening. Of course, by that time, there were not too many folks in the club for this to be any kind of disaster.
Krishanu could have happily strangled Nilimesh as Indira’s head immediately turned towards them. A smile broke out on her face and she got up gracefully and walked towards them.
“What are you doing here?” asked Nilimesh oblivious to the dark looks from Krishanu. “I am here with my father’s friend, Uncle Somdev!” said Indira gesturing back towards her table. “What about you two?”
“We are supposed to be undercover. But Krishanu here just got a solid lead, so I think we are done with pretending to be who we are not…” replied Nilimesh with a wink and smile.
And then Krishanu did something stupid. “Isn’t your Uncle a little too old to be out on a romantic dinner date with you?” he asked Indira.
Immediately as he watched, the pleasant light in Indira’s eyes was replaced by a sharp glint that he knew all too well from his past interactions with her. Her mouth turned downward, and without even acknowledging his comment, she said to Nilimesh, “I must go back now. Do let me know later what you found out on the Halder case…”
Krishanu’s eyes followed Indira’s return and all he could think of was how attractive she looked in that black dress. He shook his head and decided he must be delusional that night to be thinking of Indira as anything but an irritating colleague.
He could see that Nilimesh was obviously eager to wind up their evening to go home to his wife and kids. Sighing, he signaled for the bill, took one last look at the table where Indira was determinedly ignoring them, and then the two men finally left the club with new insights on the case, and in Krishanu’s case, some new and disturbing feelings that he had never realized he had.


Chapter 6: The Glitter of Diamonds

Both Nilimesh and Krishanu agreed that it was time to check out Atanu’s business dealings and exactly what he had done with those diamonds. The obvious place to start was with his employees and Nilimesh took this task upon himself, delegating some members of his team, to question Atanu’s office workers.
Krishanu, was intrigued at the thought of this hard-core businessman buying loose diamonds, without a trace and possibly not for professional reasons. He did understand that they may have been a surprise gift for his wife, Mrs. Halder. However, his sharp instincts kept screaming that Mrs. Halder had not received any gift from her husband in the recent past, diamonds or otherwise. So, he tried a different tack.
Throwing investigative protocol to the winds, he called up the Halder residence and asked for Aniket Halder, the son. Luck was on his side, as Aniket happened to answer the phone himself that day.
“Son, can you meet me for coffee today?” asked Krishanu, not expecting a ready acceptance but the surprising answer was a soft “Yes, but where?”…
“Coffee World opposite Ice Skating Rink? At 4 pm today?” asked Krishanu.
“I will be there” came the reply and the click of the phone being hung up.
Krishanu could hardly believe how easy it had all been. No enraged mothers interrupting his attempts to harass innocent and protected sons! “Maybe he won’t show up,” he thought cynically.
He was surprised a second time, when he walked into Coffee World at 3:58 pm and found Master Halder sitting at a corner table, reading a book. “The boy likes to be before time just like I do!” he thought in surprise.
Five confident steps later, he was standing at the table, and Aniket glanced up, adjusting his glasses at the same time. He had a small band-aid at the juncture of his thumb and forefinger. Someone had signed that tiny bandage. Krishanu smiled to himself, remembering his own youthful follies.
Aniket started to stand up. Krishanu waved him back and sat down opposite the boy on a nice cushy armchair.
“Good afternoon!” said Krishanu. The boy nodded, his eyes behind the glasses, looking steadily back at the private detective. “He has his mother’s poise..” thought Krishanu and then got down to the reason he had called the scion of the Halder family to meet him.
“In the course of our investigation, we found out that your father had purchased some loose diamonds from one of his associates. Do you know anything about that?” he asked.
Aniket slowly took a sip of his latte and shook his head “No”. “Hmm. Would your mother know anything about this?” asked Krishanu trying a different tack.
“You would need to ask her that” came the quiet response.
“What is it with kids of today? They don’t like me, or they don’t like to talk!” grumbled Krishanu to himself. He realized that the young chap had the wisdom of an adult when it came to sharing information on a murder case.
He tried another approach to see if this would get any response out of this cool kid. “How is Sandhya?” he asked abruptly.
The boy’s head jerked up from the scrutiny of his latte and though his expression did not change, his eyes spoke something that Krishanu had noticed in another person’s eyes as well. “She is fine. At home, working for my mother” replied Aniket tight-lipped and grim.
“Good. I might ask her too, about the diamonds..” replied Krishanu. This did elicit a response from Aniket, whose eyes now flashed fire at the detective. “How would she know? She is a maid and my father would hardly tell her what he did with whatever he bought!” replied Aniket, his voice rising a tad higher than all his previous replies.
Krishanu nodded and gulped down his espresso. He had no wish to push Aniket any further as he had surmised a few crucial things from the way this particular conversation had gone.
“Give my regards to your mother,” he said quietly and stood up. Aniket stayed where he was and did not respond. “Goodbye and take care,” said Krishanu before walking out of the café.
He did light up a cigarette this time and decided to meet Nilimesh at his office.

Chapter 7: Following up on new leads

While Krishanu had been talking to the family members and Aniket Halder, Nilimesh had used his investigative team to delve deeper into Atanu Halder's business dealings. Earlier, his office employees had not yielded any useful information. So, the police officers got hold of all Atanu's suppliers and buyers, systematically talking to each, trying to trace the loose diamonds bought by the murdered man. It was a tedious task especially as people tended to clam up when police questioned them in a murder investigation.
The weekend turned to Monday and the investigation continued. Krishanu felt restless every time he heard the officers make lists of who all to talk to. He tried to hijack this particular line of investigation. However, Nilimesh knew his partner's tendencies very well, and had effectively prevented that by insisting that Krishanu talk to the family while he took charge of professional associates. 
As a result of the meticulous police work, one of these professional associates revealed that he had been given the loose diamonds Atanu had secured from his clubmate to make a stunning necklace. The man, a mild-mannered jeweler, was extremely unwilling to reveal anything else. Nilimesh used all his investigative and persuasion skills to deduce that the necklace was meant for someone special in Atanu's life. Yet none of their investigations had revealed any love affair that Atanu had been indulging in.
When Krishanu and Nilimesh met face to face, they both agreed that it was time to talk to Mrs. Halder again and find out if she knew anything about this aspect of her husband's life. The lady was summoned to an interview room at the police station on purpose to get her out of her comfort zone.
Krishanu stood by the tiny window, while Nilimesh faced Mrs. Halder across a ricketty, tea-stained table. Her face revealed nothing, yet Krishanu could sense her disdain at them both...
"Mrs. Halder, I think it is time that we start being honest with each other.." started Nilimesh on a polite note. An eyebrow went up and Mrs. Halder kept quiet.
"Errr...we have found out that Mr. Halder had bought some loose diamonds and was intending to get them set into a necklace!" continued Nilimesh. "Did you know anything about this?"
This time, Mrs. Halder shrugged her delicate shoulders and said, "He was a jewelry businessman. That was his work. What is so important about that?"
"Well, he did not buy this for his business!" replied Nilimesh. There was a moment's silence, that was broken by a laugh from the good lady. "Ha! Oh, I had completely forgotten - it is my birthday next month - the necklace must have been meant for me..." she said. 
Krishanu took a step forward at that moment and observed a brittle and hard light in the woman's eyes. "She is in enormous pain...emotionally.." he realized with shock. "Was this grief at her husband's murder or the pain a wronged woman feels?" he wondered silently.

Nilimesh realized too, that the lady was upset, and he nodded, ringing a bell in the room, for someone to bring her a cup of hot tea. No one said anything more.
The tea arrived a few minutes later and Mrs. Halder took one sip, then asked, "May I go now?". The two men both nodded and escorted her out of the room, the station, and into her car.
Krishanu looked at the dark smoke billowing out of it, as the car drove off. "He hurt her badly. I sensed that. Did she kill him after all?" said Nilimesh looking at the road as he spoke.
"No - I don't think she did - although she may know who did!" replied Krishanu. "How do you know that?" asked his police partner. "I just do.." replied Krishanu, sounding at last like his usual confident self. The lady's hidden pain had shaken him more than he wanted to admit and for some weird reason, he saw Indira and the way her eyes had flashed when he had made that stupid comment the other night at the club.
"Hmmm - ok baba, please now find out who did kill this man!" said Nilimesh, shaking his head and going inside. 
Krishanu stayed a moment more outside thinking "I know who killed Atanu. I just need proof now." and he went inside as well. "We must now recreate some events that happened at the Halder house." he further thought as he went in search of Nilimesh inside the semi-darkened rooms of the old police station.



Chapter 8: Thana Theke Aschi

Nilimesh was used to his partner's inexplicable ways and wild demands. However, when Krishanu strode into where he was sipping a cup of tea himself after a non-productive interview with Mrs. Halder, and demanded a reenactment, he was quite taken aback and a little irritated. "This isn't a detective movie, you know?!" was his first sarcastic reaction.

Krishanu ignored this and asked pointedly, "Do you want your case solved or not?"

"I do! But there is a process and a protocol and I also want to keep my job and keep solving cases!" retorted Nilimesh, shaking his head in exasperation. "They are a rich and influential family. One complaint to the right boss and you and I will be investigating who cheated on whom for the rest of our lives!"

For a moment neither said anything. The other policemen and women nearby were following this exchange with interest but no one dared interrupt the two.

Nilimesh put down his cup and sighed. "Krish, please! A reenactment won't be easy. Can't we do this any other way?"

"No," said an implacable Krishanu. "Your job is to make sure we do everything within the law. You told me to handle the family and I am willing to ask their permission for the reenactment. How does that sound?"

Knowing that this was quite a compromise for the devil-may-care Krishanu, Nilimesh heaved another big sigh and nodded. "I have a meeting with my superior tomorrow but don't expect anything immediately!" He wagged a large finger at Krishanu, raising his eyebrows for emphasis.

He was rewarded by one of Krishanu's rare smiles before the private detective picked his car keys up from the table and left to go home. While driving back, he thought to himself, "I will invite Indira to be at the reenactment. That way, she will feel included and may not be as angry with me as she is right now." This thought lifted his spirits and for the rest of the day, he actually tried to listen to his mother and ate all the mixed vegetable curries and brown rice (?!) she served him without too much complaint.

What Krishanu had not told his partner was that he planned to ask the son's permission, not the mother's. The son had just turned 18 and was an adult in the eyes of the law. Krishanu was very sure he would say yes. That night, before he went to bed, he looked at himself in the mirror and threw a mocking salute.

Poor Mr. Basu was grilled by Chief Inspector Sharma, his superior on the lack of progress in the case for over an hour before he could summon the courage to propose the reenactment. His sweating supervisor's face turned even sweatier, as he glared at Nilimesh. "What on earth makes you think I will say yes to this?" he barked.

"Krishanu" was Nilimesh's one-word reply. Sharma's glare changed to an expression of anger, and resentment, yet grudging admiration as Nilimesh watched in awe and fascination. A beat later, Sharma, curtly signed an order and almost threw it at Mr. Basu, who did not test his luck further, but gratefully clutched at the piece of paper, threw a hasty salute, and disappeared.

In the meanwhile, Krishnanu called Aniket directly on the cell number, the boy had given him during their earlier meeting. The boy picked up with a soft "Hello". Krishanu explained what he wanted and how he wanted to do it. There was total silence on the other side, and then Aniket said "Yes." Though Krishanu had been confident his proposal would be accepted, this easy yes took even him by surprise. He couldn't help but say "Are you sure?" The voice turned firmer and repeated "Yes".

Hardly able to believe his luck, Krishanu explained a few more things and said he would be emailing Aniket for his written permission. "OK" came the final reply before the phone was disconnected. Wasting no time, Krishanu put everything he had said into an email and as he stared at his laptop, within a minute or so, came the written acceptance from Aniket Halder.

The detective in Krishanu was happy at this turn of events, but the man in him felt very unhappy. For the first time in his life he wished that he wasn't a detective and he felt none of the adrenalin rush that he usually felt at the thought of catching a murderer. He rubbed his face wearily, wishing that he had never said yes to this particular case. “I will be spoiling so many lives,” he thought emotionally. Inexplicably, he wanted badly to talk to Indira about the little dilemma he found himself in.
Squaring his shoulders, he gave the good doctor a call. “Yes?” came her curt voice, a hint of impatience in it. Krishanu guessed she was in the midst of something, yet she had picked up. Without beating around the bush, he told her about the planned reenactment and his conclusion about who the murderer was, and he was about to tell her about how he felt about this whole case when Indira interrupted him to say “And you are now sad about it!”
Krishanu felt another odd feeling deep in his gut. He doubted anyone else would have gotten this point so quickly. He replied “Yes” to which Indira said, “Don’t. If you care about each one, you won’t be able to sleep at night!”
“Right! Thanks! See you on D-Day” said Krishanu before he hung up abruptly. He knew Indira wouldn’t take offense to his curt ways as she knew him too well. But he also felt he had not been able to tell her about all his feelings, silly though they might be. Krishanu had no idea how to do this. Girls had thrown themselves at him all his life and he had never quite felt anything much beyond a casual interest. Now he was all hot and bothered about what Indira was thinking! Shaking his head at his own stupid vulnerability, he determinedly put her out of his head, concentrating instead on his work.
The two investigative partners spoke on the phone and planned everything to the littlest of details. Four police officers rehearsed the part each one would play during the reenactment. Krishanu went all out to tell them exactly what they had to say and do.
His unease about the case did not really go away and Nilimesh quietly observed that the private eyes kept chain smoking and did not have much appetite.
The days fell off the calendar until the Saturday of the reenactment came around.

Chapter 9: Catching a killer

The investigative team including Indira all arrived together at the Halders exactly at 4 pm on Saturday. As they were ushered in by a pale-looking Sandhya, Krishanu's keen eyes noticed that the house did not look as well maintained as it had been on his previous visit.
They entered the huge living room to find Aniket and his mother sitting on two opposite sofas. Neither of them spoke nor looked at the other. Aniket briefly nodded at the police team while Mrs. Halder's expression was colder than a Siberian winter.
Krishanu and Nilimesh ignored the frigid atmosphere in the room, briskly setting about getting everything ready.
About twenty minutes later, during which the only sounds were of the team speaking or moving things around, Krishanu took position on a wide window seat and said "Start!"
A pretty lady police officer sat down at the dining table to play the part of Mrs. Halder. Another young police cadet who was playing Aniket burst into the room. His eyes looked wild and he rushed over to his mother.
"Ma, come quickly! Come, please Come!" Saying this he dragged Mrs. Halder from the room. All the others followed. The young chap dragged the lady right across a wide passage towards the back of the house. He didn't stop until he reached the last room. It was evidently a bedroom for service staff - small and plainly furnished. He dragged her into the room, exclaiming "Look, I killed him!"
As the group filed into the room, they saw a man (the police officer playing Atanu) lying on the floor. Another lady police officer was sobbing in a corner - she was acting as Sandhya.
"I killed him!" sobbed the young chap.
"Nooooo!!! Whhhhhyyyyyy?" wailed his mother.
"MA, I love her and he tried to stop us!!!!" replied the young chap.
Suddenly, the real Mrs. Halder screamed "STTTTOOOPPPP THIS NONSENSE!!!"
Nilimesh immediately signaled his team to pause. Krishanu who was relentless asked, "Why should we stop???"
"BECAUSE THIS IS NOT THE WAY IT HAPPENED!!!!" shouted Mrs. Halder, suddenly looking her age. Her son stayed calm and quietly stood looking down at the floor.
"Why don't you tell us how it happened??" pressed Krishanu.
"MY SON WAS NOT HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH HER! HE WAS…" screeched Mrs Halder at the top of her voice.
"Who?!" asked Nilimesh.
"HE! MY HUSBAND - ATANU. THE NECKLACE WAS FOR HER, EVERYTHING WAS FOR HER. AND NOW, I WILL LOSE MY SON FOR HER AS WELL!" said Mrs. Halder starting to sob. Her calm and composure were totally gone.
"Why?" interjected Krishanu quietly.
"Because Aniket caught my husband in bed with her and killed him…" cried Mrs. Halder covering her face with her hands. Aniket patted his mother, then walked over to Nilimesh, with his hands extended.
One of the officers cuffed him and led him out of the room. Before he left, the only person he looked at once was the real Sandhya, who was standing by the door, tears streaming down her face.
The reenactment was not needed after all. There was more work to be done to close the case, but they had what they wanted. However, Noone looked happy, Krishanu least of all…
The police, Indira, and Krishanu got ready to leave, while another officer escorted Mrs. Halder to accompany her son and for further questioning.
Krishanu, Indira, and Nilimesh got into Krishanu's car. On the way to the station, Nilimesh asked Krishanu, "But how did you figure it out?"
The only answer he got was a smirk and "Elementary, Watson!" as the private detective weaved his way in between the weekend traffic….

Chapter 10: The confession

So it was finally over - the culprit was caught and in the custody of the police. Krishanu's brilliant idea of a reenactment had worked like a dream. Yet, it was a somber three - Indira, Nilimesh, and Krishanu who went back to the station. They spoke very little and Krishanu looked very thoughtful all throughout.
At the station, the three of them were taken into individual rooms to record the confessions and get the stories straight. It was as if a dam had broken in Mrs. Halder and all her cold poise had been washed away. She looked broken and defeated, her mascara streaking on her face as she related the whole story.
"Atanu was a good husband and a good father..he worked hard and looked after us. The three of us had it all..and then she entered our lives. At first, she seemed like the perfect maid..she was docile, knew her job, and did everything neatly and on time. I liked her..." she said wiping her face.
"Slowly she started to get close to Atanu. She would do small things for him and he would give her a little extra here and there. That was fine too...until it became more than that. I noticed that something was going on between them. I decided to ignore it, thinking it would run its course and he would come to his senses.
I never dreamt that my son would fall for her too..even now I find it hard to believe. It's his age I guess...
That night, Aniket had gone into her room and found his father in bed with her!" Mrs. Halder's mouth turned downward again.
"The father and the son both realized that they loved the same girl and my son lost control. He took the first thing he could find and stabbed his father with it. The shrieks of that girl drew me there. When I came upon the body of my husband lying bloodied on the floor with my son standing over him, all I could think of was how to save my innocent child.
I swore the girl to secrecy and threatened to pin the whole thing on her if she blabbed. The three of us cleaned up the room and packed his body into the car. Aniket and I then drove to the rowing club.
No one questioned our presence there as we were regulars at the club. The tricky part was to get the body from the car to the boat and then take the boat out. I distracted the security guard with some small talk and smiles, while Aniket hurriedly dragged the body from the boot of the car into the boat. Those were the hardest 15 minutes of my life.
I remained outside so that the security guard could continue to ogle me and Aniket had time to push the boat out into the water and come back. Once he did, we got into the car and came back home.
You know everything after that..." she said raising her eyes to Krishanu's face.
Krishanu nodded and looked at his partner who pushed the written transcript of the confession over to her to sign.
"You will get aiding and abetting a murder and obstruction of criminal investigation charges against you.." he said to Mrs. Halder.
"I don't care what happens to me! Hang me and let my son go" cried Mrs. Halder.
"He’s turned 18 and so he will be tried as an adult, unfortunately," said Mr. Basu.
The widow said nothing, her eyes glassed over...
In the other two rooms, written confessions had been obtained from Aniket and the maid. They were taken into their cells for the night until their lawyers kicked in and the court proceedings started.
Krishanu lit a cigarette and sighed. Basu rubbed his face wearily and Indira stood up and said "Thank you for including me. I must go home now. My Mother is all alone.."
She looked at Krishanu once and seemed to want to say something more, then changed her mind and walked out.
"Why do you look so upset? I've never seen you like this after a case!" asked Nilimesh
"I've never caught an 18-year-old..he's not a murderer and this was a crime of passion - done in the heat of the moment. Yet Aniket will pay for it..."
"They are rich and will get lawyers who will do their best to see they get a reduced sentence or at worst maybe even go free - don't worry about them.."
"Yeah, I guess so.." sighed Krishanu as he readied to go home as well.
Driving back, his thoughts strayed to Indira and whether she would accept if he invited her to dinner with him.
Smiling at all the possibilities and fun he would have when he asked her, Krishanu entered his house finally feeling hopeful about the future...