Entangled Lives – Chapter 19 - #GameOfBlogs to #CelebrateBlogging

We are Team #PotliwaleBaba who are playing the #GameOfBlogs initiated by BlogAdda.com to #CelebrateBlogging

Links to all previous chapters (read them if you haven’t read them already)

Chapters #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 | #18  

Now you can move on to Chapter 19 … link to Chapter 20 at the end of the chapter below.

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A lot of gray-matter scratching and stretching had been done and now it was time for some muscle stretching. His teams had gone around and done a background check on all of his suspects. Unlike in the movies and detective TV serials, solving a real crime involved a lot of physical legwork which included boring stake-outs, talking to a lot of people, asking a lot of questions, connecting a plethora of random dots and eventually praying that hopefully the criminal made some mistake and somewhere the random dots make some sense and the murderer emerges out of it.

He had already obtained the search warrants for Cyrus and Jenny’s current residence on account of their being present at the scene of crime at the time of crime; but did not want to barge into their homes without any substantial reason.

Now it was time for Java to exercise his own muscles. Java wanted to check out the stories related by both, Cyrus and Jennifer, on how they had landed up at the Dutta residence. He decided to start with Cyrus’ story first – the kitten, the tree, the doctor. In all these, he would have to find someone who could vouch for the kitten and the tree, probably the watchman could give him some insights unless he was like all the watchmen’s of the world who decide to take a leak right before something critical is to happen.

He took 2 constables with him and went straight to the watchman’s cabin. The watchman was already nervous and Java decided to use it to get the info faster. “Oye, we do it the easy way or the hard way. You decide. I ask, you tell the truth and the complete truth with all details – easy way. I ask, you hesitate or forget to tell me something, then I take you to the police station and give you the time of your life – the hard way”

The already nervous watchman readily agreed to the ‘easy way’ and offered Java the only chair in the cabin. Java came straight to the point and asked him about the kitten-in-the-tree story. Java did not have to interrupt him or ask any further questions since he took ‘easy way’ quite literally and filled his monologues with all possible details. Details, that Java might not even have asked himself. After all, watchmen are ubiquitous and ‘invisible’ to people. They observe everything and know everyone in the societies. They know almost everything about everyone in the society and hence serve as a wealth of information at times. That is … if you have a smart watchman rather than the sleepy lethargic one. This one seemed like the smart type.

“Saab-ji, it is true. Roohi baby was bringing the kitten down from the tree and when she screamed, Cyrus babu helped her. But strangely, Cyrus babu did not help her before she screamed. He was there all the time, even before Roohi baby climbed the tree.

If you are wondering, why I did not help her, let me tell you saab-ji that this was not the first time Roohi baby was helping the kitten. That kitten has been up on the tree several times in the past 2 weeks and Roohi baby has brought her down safely every-time. They both have had good practice of tree climbing now … heheehe. Sorry. So this is why I did not go. And Cyrus babu was anyway there, so what was my need.

By the way Saab-ji, Cyrus babu has been there at all the earlier kitten-rescue missions by Roohi baby. He usually sits around the same tree which the kitten always climbs.

And he is a generous man saab. He gives me 50 bucks every time I allow him to sit below the tree where he reads and I have also seen him give money to cleaner of the society. Probably for keeping that patch of grass clean for him.”

By this time, Java’s internal alarm bell was ringing very loudly and he immediately asked the watchman to call the cleaner. The cleaner came to the cabin and as soon as he saw Java, he started his own monologue of how he was honest and had done nothing wrong. Java stopped him in mid-sentence and repeated his ‘easy-way-hard-way’ philosophy and then he simply added, “Cyrus giving you money has something to do with that tree under which he sits. Explain”

Java could see the color drain from the cleaner’s face. He was now positively trembling.

“Saheb. Believe me, I have not done anything wrong. I was just helping Cyrus babu teach Roohi tree climbing. Cyrus babu told me that he was Roohi’s teacher and wanted her to learn the virtue of helping others, whether people or animals. And in the process also learn to climb a tree. He gave me money so that I could put the kitten on the tree.

This started 2 weeks ago and every time, Cyrus babu would ask me to put the kitten a little higher. This way roohi baby would learn to help the kitten and also tree climbing, step-by-step. I swear on goddess kali that I was just trying to help the teacher teach the kid. I have nothing else to do with Cyrus babu or Roohi baby or the murder in that house. Believe me Saheb”.

Java was already up on his feet and out of the cabin before the cleaner could say anything else. His mental machinery was whirring and clicking and he could see clearly that Cyrus being in the Dutta household was not a coincidence at all. “It was a well planned move, something that had taken 2 weeks to yield. Cyrus had used Roohi to enter the Dutta house. He had been planning this for a while. This gives a new dimension to the whole story – it just moved into the realm of ‘planned murder’ rather than an impulsive one. It is time to put the search warrant to use.”

Java immediately headed to Cyrus apartment block and found him getting out of the elevator. He stopped him from coming out, joined him in the elevator and ordered him to lead back to his apartment. Cyrus was left with no choice but to comply. In his own head, he was wondering what all could Java see in his living room that could create trouble for him.

When Cyrus opened the door to his apartment, Java held his arm and placed the search warrant in his hand. For a second time in the day, Java could see the color drain from a face. Cyrus tried to protest but Java gave him an angry look and simply said, ”I know how the kitten got into the tree”, and walked into the house, signaling Cyrus to stay put at the door and not enter the house till he was finished and asked him to. He also instructed one of his hawaldars to stand behind Cyrus, lest he attempt to run away.

Java was very hopeful of finding something explosive in Cyrus’ temporary accommodation but was surprised to find it with minimal furniture. A few things lying around and a large travel bag with his belongings. Java was having a feeling that he might have to get the search warrant for his permanent residence too. After all, he seemed to have been occupying this temporary one for only a couple of weeks.

While the hawaldar was rummaging through the travel bag, Java spotted Cyrus’ shoulder bag and started going through it with one eye on Cyrus. He saw the sudden change in his expression and was taken back to the conversation he had with Cyrus at the Dutta residence. 

The devil inside his head began their conversation yet again. “Yeah yeah, notice that change in expression. As if he is going to be caught now. There is something in this bag that he does not wasn’t us to see. And this change of expressions reminds of the earlier interrogation we had with Mr Virus. Even during that conversation I did notice a slight smile and smirk which almost seemed like satisfaction when Cyrus mentioned the discovery of Mrs. Dutta's dead body and the almost invisible sigh when u mentioned the discovery of her being alive. You almost relished talking about Mr. and Mrs. Dutta and their sorry state. Are you simply a sadist would-be-lawyer or are you a sadist specifically for the Dutta's?”

And right at this point, the other devil popped in “Naah, not a mere sadist. There has to be some connection, some history. But, what is connection to the Dutta's and why were you trying to get into their house using Roohi and the kitten? And why would you kill their maid?"

As he went through the sparse belongings of the shoulder-bag, he found an envelope with a letter inside. He pulled it out and read it. As he read the letter, the devils began once again - “WOAH !! This Virus is more complicated than it appeared. So he has come to Mumbai in search of the father who abandoned him and his mother. But who is the father?”

Java did not have to hold that question for too long. Turning around the envelop to check for postage marks, he saw the name and address staring at him in the face. He simply could not believe his eyes.

Right there, on the envelope, just above the Mumbai address, was the name he himself loathed – Shekhar Dutta !!

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Chapter #20

 

“Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.”

 

Our Team for the #GameOfBlogs to #CelebrateBlogging with BlogAdda.com is called "Potliwale Baba" and I got to team up with a superb set of very enthusiastic and diversely talented bloggers - Deepak Nare, Hemantkumar Jain, Nirav Thakker, Ritu Pandey, Shameem Rizwana, Shoumik De, Sneha Bhattacharjee, Srilakshmi Indrasenan,  Tushar - in simple alphabetic order

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