Doosra (30 page)

He had been here before but it was the first time he browsed through her music collection. She sat on the settee in the living room.

'You've got a lot of jazz and rock,' he said, returning with two tumblers and the bottle of Jim Beam.

'My dad always said there are only two genres of music — besides the classic of course, which are the roots for all music — Jazz and Rock. The rest, in his opinion, was all bastardisation.'

'And what's your opinion?'

'Like father like daughter. I hold that view too, I'm afraid. What about you?'

'I listen to the radio, mainly classic rock. I have occasionally ventured into jazz but I don't know where to begin. Why don't you put on something while I make the drinks?'

Fastidious as she was Rita knew where each of her records was in the collection. She walked over, pulled out “Black Saint and Sinner Lady” and put it on the turntable.

Despite a few crackles Charles Mingus' “Solo Dancer” sharply rose and fell in the otherwise still room.

'Did you get some time to think about my case?'

'Oh yes, of course. You had any new developments while I was away that I need to be aware of?'

Rita told Ash everything. Interviews with Honey Singh, his mum, his girlfriend. That Veer Singh and Kitty once dated. The brace of Honey Singhs: the spotting of Honey Singh's doppelgänger. The unexpected call she received from Veer Singh, and that he was coming to Mumbai to see her.

'You see, if the murderer isn't a relative or business associate, if an old vendetta isn't revealed, if the person who informed the authorities about the murder isn't actually the doer of the misdeed and, like in your current case, if the victim and killer are not connected in any way and, again like in your present case, if the killer hasn't left clues or a picture of himself behind, even Sherlock Holmes would have a hard time finding the murderer. You have to find the connection. Of course, you've got a motive: diamonds. You have no DNA, no fingerprints, no clue, not even the dead body.'

Rita nodded, not wanting to break the rhythm of his analysis.

'Then you've got links to previous equally efficient burglaries. You have one instance of the suspect's girlfriend in the area where the burglary was committed. One in three occasions could merely be a coincidence. Totally random. And as if it wasn't complicated enough already, you've found a dead ringer of the suspect, and an old animosity that you think might be working at the heart of it.'

'You mean I'll fail?'

'I didn't say impossible, I said hard time, which is what you're having. Anyone can win when they have aces; the art is in winning when you are dealt a lousy hand, Miss Ferreira.'

Smartass.

But correct.

'You have the classical investigation dilemma. How far can you go searching for the suspect? You can't cover every person in the world because, quite simply, in this particular situation anyone could be the murderer. And the reverse is also challenging. If you contact only the people who knew Jogani you might leave out the actual murderer who, I now think, wasn't Jogani's acquaintance,' Ash carried on.

'Why do you say that?'

'Firstly, if it were, you and your team would have certainly found them by now. No one can bury all the clues, some link would have steered you to them. Secondly, how do you explain the other two previous burglaries that occurred at non-Jogani places then? Ergo, this guy or group has no tenable connection to Jogani. You with me on that?'

Rita nodded.

'Now here's the thing, no matter how smart you are a jigsaw cannot be completed till you have every piece. An important piece is either missing or you have overlooked it.'

'Like what?'

'Are you sure you haven't eliminated someone from the investigation a bit too early?'

'You mean his wife and business associates?'

'Could be, but as I said if anything linked back to someone acquainted or connected to Jogani it would have been a lot simpler. Who else have you eliminated so far?'

'No one. If anything more people are getting added to the list. This duplicate Honey Singh is the latest one. All along, our premise was that Veer Singh could be working behind the scenes—'

'You mean with Kitty Varghese?'

'Yes. I had a strong hunch they were still in the game together, somehow. But, if there is a second Honey Singh, and if that isn't Veer Singh who is he and how is he connected?'

'Why do you think that the duplicate Honey Singh isn't Veer Singh?'

'Because it he was, he wouldn't have called me and agreed to see me.'

'But he hasn't turned up yet.'

'Oh, he will. Or we will find him if he's in India. And if he isn't in India then he's obviously not in the frame. We should check with the immigration authorities, and if we are assured that he hasn't visited India in the time frame, we should eliminate him from the investigation in any case.'

'That is if the guy who called you was indeed Veer Singh.'

Rita's eyes rolled. That was something she had totally missed with a million other things running in her brain simultaneously.

'Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's not who he says he is, but it is a possibility, don't you think?'

'Of course. But, when we trace the call we'll also know who was at the other end of the phone, so I'm not so distraught about missing that.'

'You know what I find most amusing in all this?'

'Amusing? What?'

'I thought about what you told me last time. Do I understand this correctly that Mr Honey Singh missed being followed by Mr Raja who in turn missed being followed by your police guys who in turn missed being followed by another party? That's three groups of people who failed to spot a tail. It's ridiculous, how is that even possible? Particularly the police guys — they are trained to keep looking over their shoulders for any kind of surveillance?'

'So what do you think happened?'

'I have no answer, I just find it odd. I wish I knew. So what's your view about Honey Singh's lookalike?'

'I can't decide if the original knows about his twin or not? The duplicate went into the building while the original was still there. He either hid, waited — risking that someone else might spot him — or he went straight in to see the original Honey Singh.'

'In which case, there is something even more suspicious.'

'Which is?'

'Why wasn't the duplicate spotted for over three months? This can't be the first time they met if they are hand in glove. So how was he missed in Mr Raja's surveillance all this while?'

They debated till well past midnight. The candles were sleepy now, almost nearing the end of their life. The bottle of Jim had been cherished to a good level. They went to sleep.

***

The phone ring woke them a little before six in the morning. The sun had come up, spreading its light and with the trees standing still it didn't appear to be a windy morning like the day before.

'DCP Ferreira,' Rita voiced.

'This is SI Nene, ma'am. Sorry to bother you so early, we've just received a message from Kovalam.'

'Kovalam. in Kerala?'

'Yes ma'am, Veer Singh had called you from Kovalam last night.'

'Are you sure about this location supplied by the mobile company?'

'This wasn't worked upon by any mobile company, ma'am. The Kovalam Police called us. Veer Singh was there when he called you.'

'So where is he now?'

'Nowhere. He was killed last night at the beach resort, where he was vacationing. The local constabulary dug into his mobile and because the last call he had made was to our office, they called us to know who he spoke with and what?'

'What? Killed how?'

'Shot at close range. I don't have other details, but I'm leaving for the office now.'

'Shit. I'll meet you in the office in an hour.'

Rita had coffee, showered, dressed, had another coffee, kissed Ash bye and was out of the apartment in twenty-three minutes. Her driver wasn't available so she chose to drive. The tyres screeched, the rubber peeled as she took off. With minimal Saturday morning traffic at this hour she was parked in Crawford Market in less than twenty-five minutes.

S
I Rajesh Nene was already in office. He had already called Vikram and Jatin who were on their way when Rita walked into the Operations Room.

'Good morning ma'am.'

'Good morning Nene, tell me everything you know so far, from the start.'

Nene outlined whatever info he had received from the Kerala Police in Thiruvananthapuram. Veer Singh and Satish Menon were two guys whose bodies the police had recovered from the beach resort in Kovalam. Both the bodies were in for autopsy though the first impressions were that both targets had been shot at point blank range by a 9mm gun, which suggested that the victims knew their assailant and did not suspect him or her. The police were treating it as a double homicide, not two separate cases but they had no suspects at the moment. The beach resort being one of those joints where a lot of amorous rendezvous happened between consenting adults, the place was devoid of any surveillance cameras to capture guests coming or going. No one questioned so far — other guests and hotel staff — knew anything consequential. No one even remembered seeing Veer Singh except some staff but they had no vivid memory to give anything to the police. Satish Menon, however, was obviously a known face among the colleagues and even some guests as he was the bartender by the pool. There were no other records of any other phone calls that Veer Singh had made or received — except the one to Mumbai Police — that could lead them anywhere. The only local calls made were for taxis or to travel agents to book flights. He was booked to fly out of Trivandrum Airport for Mumbai on Monday morning just as he had told Rita. The police couldn't access his emails on the phone right away, but the unit was working on it. That was all they had so far.

'What do you think happened?' Nene asked after he finished his spiel.

'My hunch is,' Rita thought as she surmised, 'that we've somehow let the cat amongst the pigeons. The trouble is, we don't know which pigeons or what caused the panic, but it definitely has all the bearings of it. Someone got unnerved that we were getting too close. Someone knew Veer Singh was at that beach resort near Thiruvananthapuram, and that he had been in communication about the case and he might take some action that might not have suited them—'

'Or maybe they informed Veer Singh themselves via some means to ferret him out if they didn't know where he was.'

Rita kept silent, thinking for a minute.

'Which makes me think that there is indeed something dubious about Honey Singh and/or Kitty Varghese, since Veer Singh was connected to them... so whoever is framing Honey Singh didn't want Veer Singh to appear and we kept looking for him. The plan must be to frame Veer Singh in absentia, but that warranted Veer Singh still being abroad for them to be safe. But Veer Singh in India could have blown their cover and that was obviously not acceptable to them.'

'What about the duplicate Honey Singh. Who is he then?'

Vikram and Jatin arrived together, exchanged quick salutes and took the vacant seats. Nene updated them on the events of the previous night and the discussion Rita and he were having.

'What have we missed guys?' Rita asked herself as much as she voiced it for the three men.

There was a hush in the room for a while. The cogs in the four brains were roiling mutely.

'Nene, how soon can we get confirmation that the corpse found in the beach resort is Veer Singh?'

'I'll check. Though I don't know how they can confirm that except for the papers they found on him. There is no DNA to compare it with, and as he had no living family it would be impossible to prove that anyway.'

'You're correct, but see as much evidence as we can get. Photographs on his passport, driving licence, whatever — if that can be authenticated then, at least, we have some verification.'

Nene left the room to make the calls.

'Vikram, have we ensured safety for Mr Raja? Ron Jogani might have been an unpremeditated murder, but this one surely isn't, and I don't think these guys will stop at anything that can blow in their face. I ponder if we should ask Mr Raja to send a special report to his mystery client telling him about the two Honey Singhs. What do you think guys?'

'I have a feeling that the two Honey Singhs are arm in arm ma'am,' Jatin said.

'Walk us through that conjecture, Jatin.'

'I don't know how he has a double, but Honey Singh knows he has an evil double. I can't tell you who found the other one, as we have found no familial connection—'

'So far,' Vikram interjected.

'Yes so far. And I think it is impossible for two people to look identical without being from the same embryo. They can look similar, but not identical. So one of them is evidently plastic, he has to be. If they are identical we actually don't know which one is the real one, right? So how do we know which Honey Singh was captured on the camera in Brussels? Whichever one
we
followed would have been the one who never travelled to Brussels. Right?'

'Wait a minute. If there are two Honey Singhs why didn't the police informers find the other one too?' Vikram made his point.