Murder at Crescent Point (13 page)

Nikki rushed to Taneja Mansion in a taxi and reached there in half an hour. As soon as she entered, she saw Mrs Taneja sitting in the living room with her husband. On seeing Nikki he got up and asked, ‘What happened to you? Savitri said that you had gone to Khanna’s house. But Khanna told me that you just vanished the next evening leaving all your things in their house. Where were you? We were so worried! I wanted to call the police, but then I was worried the kidnappers would think I was calling to report them...’ Mr Taneja looked haggard. He probably hadn’t slept in days.

Nikki said, ‘I was walking on the road in front of Mr Khanna’s house when someone got hold of me and rushed me away in a red car. I think he was one of the men who had kidnapped Aunty. He said he had seen me coming out of this house.’

Mr Taneja kept quiet with his head in his hands. Mrs Taneja who still looked shaken, got up and hugged Nikki, ‘I am sorry, my child. You also got entangled in this mess.’

Mr Taneja asked, ‘Where did they take you?’

Nikki said, ‘It was a kind of private guest house in a lonely resort about an hour’s drive from the city.’ She turned to Mrs Taneja and asked, ‘How are you, Aunty? I was very worried about you. I hope they did not ill treat you.’

‘I have gone through hell. First, we lost Jyoti and now this horrifying experience. I had lost all hope. I thought they were the same men who murdered Jyoti and their purpose in taking me away was to kill me. But they turned out to be mafia thugs who were after money,’ Mrs Taneja said.

Mr Taneja clearly did not want this line of conversation to proceed. He said to Nikki, ‘You must be tired. Please go up to your room and take some rest. Your Aunty would also like to rest now.’

Nikki sat in her room and reviewed the situation. We seem to be nowhere near finding the killer of Jyoti and Asha Sayal, she thought. She had come to Somabad because the arrow of suspicion regarding the death of the woman pointed towards the Taneja family. But they would obviously not get their own daughter killed along with that woman. Initially, she had thought that Mohan Lal could be involved in the killing. But he also turned out to be a thug aiming at the money. The kidnapping of Mrs Taneja appeared to be a corporate heist. And that baldy John, whom she followed, was after all, not the bald moustached man whose sketch she had seen.
It seems a ‘no go’ situation on all fronts.

Thinking of Inspector Rajan she rang up the police station. The man who came on the phone line told her that Inspector Rajan had gone back to Sangalina Hills two days ago. Nikki was wondering whether he had been able to get some lead on the bald man. She felt there was hardly any point now to stay on in Somabad. She could as well return to Sangalina Hills and check the status with him there.

That afternoon at lunch, she said to Mr Taneja, ‘My school will be re-opening soon. I would like to go back to Sangalina Hills.’

‘Tomorrow is Sunday. My driver will drop you to your hostel. You will need to start early in the morning,’ he said.

‘But my things are lying in Mr Khanna’s house. Can the driver go and fetch them? I am not up to it to do that myself,’ said Nikki.

Mr Taneja assured her, ‘Don’t worry, the driver will go and get your things.’

‘You were so close to Jyoti. She was always talking about you. Please consider this house as your own. Whenever you have holidays you must come and stay with us,’ said Mrs Taneja.

‘Thank you, Aunty. Whenever I have the opportunity I will do so. You have gone through a terrible time. Please take care of yourself.’ Mrs Taneja came forward and held Nikki’s hand, touched by her concern.

Nikki reached her hostel on Sunday evening. Only a few girls had come back from the vacation, while the others were due to return in the next few days. As soon as she dropped her bag in the room she went to the common room and dialled Inspector Rajan’s number, ‘Sir, I have come back to Sangalina Hills.’

‘Oh, hello. Where did you go from Taneja’s house? When I rang up, the maid said that you had gone to some friend’s house,’ said Inspector Rajan.

‘Yes, I am sorry I should have informed you,’ she said. Then changing the subject she added,‘I called up to enquire whether you could lay your hands on that bald moustached man whose sketch you had shown me in Somabad?’

‘Unfortunately, no. We checked all the known and suspected criminals in Somabad but none answered his description. In the meantime, there were some urgent matters here and I had to rush back.’

‘Does that mean that the murder case of Jyoti and the woman has gone into cold storage?’

‘Not exactly’, the inspector replied defensively, ‘But some new priorities have emerged which need immediate attention.’ Nikki was dismayed.

Back in her hostel room she wondered how new priorities could have overtaken the old one, like turning a fresh page of a book and getting onto a new episode. That is what seemed to have happened in the case of Inspector Rajan. And that also seemed to be true for Mr Taneja. The need to pursue the investigation of his daughter’s murder had been overtaken by the new priorities of saving his wife and his business. As for Asha Sayal, the poor woman had no one in the world to even mourn her death. Who would be interested to find her murderer?

Nikki felt sad and despondent.

— CHAPTER SEVENTEEN —

Case Re-opened

As time passed, Nikki joined high school and studies took up most of her time. Years went by and soon Nikki graduated with excellent results. She also had a scholarship from the University of Somabad to pursue her college studies. But throughout the years, Jyoti was a void in Nikki’s life that nobody could fill. Her disappointment at not having been able to solve the mystery of her best friend’s murder disturbed her. At the graduation ceremony, Nikki missed Jyoti very much. Whenever she closed her eyes, the panic stricken face of Jyoti with her eyes wide open would emerge in front of her. Over the years, she had also lost touch with Jyoti’s parents, feeling a mixture of sadness and anger that they had not pursued the murder case more vigorously.

Nikki joined an Honours course in Science at the University of Somabad and stayed in a hostel which was at some distance from the college. She used to commute by bus to her college. One day from the window of the bus she saw a big building which seemed familiar to her. She looked at it more carefully on her return journey. She suddenly realised that this was Mr Taneja’s office which she had once visited. The next day she started early from her hostel and stopped on her way in front of the building. When she entered the office she found that it had been remodelled. There was a reception hall and a seating arrangement. The main office area which was earlier open was now hidden behind wooden panels. Only a receptionist was sitting in the hall. She went to her. The woman asked, ‘Yes, what can I do for you, Miss?’

Nikki said, ‘I want to meet Mr Taneja.’

The girl said, ‘There is no Mr Taneja working here.’

‘What do you mean? He owns this company.’ Said Nikki, taken aback.

The receptionist picked up the phone and said, ‘There is a girl out here who is enquiring about one Mr Taneja. She says he owns this company.’

The man said something on the phone. The receptionist said, ‘Please sign your name and address in this register. You may go and see our Chief of Security. The bearer will take you to his office.’

When Nikki entered the office of the Chief of Security she was startled to see a big bald ferocious looking man with a thick moustache. She looked at his face and found a cut on his upper right cheek which was partially hidden in the thick moustache. The man growled, ‘What are you staring at?’ Nikki felt awkward and said nervously, ‘I am very sorry. I thought I had seen you earlier. Sorry. In fact I came to meet Mr Taneja.’

‘How do you know Mr Taneja?’

‘We are family friends. His daughter and I were studying together in Sangalina Hills.’

The man said, ‘Mr Taneja sold this business years ago and he is no longer here.’

‘Sir, by any chance do you know his new address.’

‘I am not a post office,’ he said rudely and got up, dismissing her.

Nikki left. There was no mistake. He was the man in the sketch which Inspector Rajan had shown to her. Instead of going to the university, she went back to the hostel. She looked at the telephone directory and got the number of the police station. She enquired about the contact details of the police station at Sangalina Hills and dialled the number. A voice at the other end informed her that Inspector Rajan, for whom she had called, was no longer in Sangalina Hills. He had been promoted as Assistant Commissioner of Police and was posted in Somabad.

Nikki once again took the local directory and dialled the number of the Assistant Commissioner of Police. ‘I want to speak to ACP Rajan. Please tell him this is Nikki from Sangalina Hills.’

The ACP came on the line almost immediately, ‘Oh hello, Nikki! Good to hear from you! It’s been such a long time! Where are you calling from?’

‘From Somabad. I finished high school in Sangalina Hills and joined Somabad University.’

‘Very good. Tell me, what can I do for you?’

Nikki said, ‘You remember the double murder case at Crescent Point about four years back?’

‘Yes, very much. It pricks my conscience most when I realise it is one of the few cases I have been unable to solve.’

Nikki said, ‘I have stumbled on something which may have some relevance to that case. I want to meet you.’

‘When do you want to come?’

‘I am not going to university today. I can come anytime you want.’

‘Then come right away. Please write down my address.’

When Nikki reached his office, ACP Rajan called her in immediately. ‘Oh, you have become a big girl.’

Nikki said, ‘You have also become a big man.’

ACP Rajan laughed, ‘I always thought you were a clever girl. Now tell me.’

‘Do you remember when you came to Somabad you had shown me a sketch of a bald moustached man with a scar on his face?’

‘Yes, now that you describe him so vividly, the whole thing has come back to me. He had hired a small-time criminal in Somabad for trailing the woman. Yes, what happened to that man?’

‘This morning I met him.’

ACP Rajan almost jumped from his chair, ‘What! Where did you meet him?’

‘He is working as Chief of Security in a firm which earlier belonged to Mr Taneja, the father of my friend Jyoti who was killed along with Asha Sayal.’

ACP Rajan asked, ‘Has Taneja employed him?’

‘No I don’t think so. I went to that office to meet Mr Taneja. This man told me that Mr Taneja had sold his firm long ago and is no longer there.’

‘This is very interesting. Tell me the address. I will get him over here immediately,’ said ACP Rajan.

‘Please don’t do that. He is our only link to the case. If you call him to your office he might get scared and alert the others. We have to first confirm that he is the man,’ Nikki said.

ACP Rajan agreed. ‘The papers of the case, including the sketch, are at Sangalina Hills. I will get them here and also the man whom he had commissioned. If he recognises him then I will proceed,’ he said, adding, ‘give me the address of the office where you met that man and also your own contact number. I should be able to give you some news within the next three days.’

Nikki got up and ACP Rajan came outside to see her off. He said, ‘I appreciate your devotion to your late friend and your help to the police department. I will be in touch.’