Compass Box Killer (14 page)

By now, the killer had reached a ridge next to the highway that jutted out over the valley between the ghats. He walked up to the edge of the ridge to the point where the earth suddenly disappeared, creating a steep fall of about 200 metres. A familiar knot of fear began to form in his stomach as he thought of the day he had last stood there in 2004, trying to look down into the valley to spot the exact point where Tracy’s airborne car had met the valley floor.

A
thin ray of sunlight broke through the thick foliage outside Virkar’s window and fell directly on his shut eyelids. Feeling the heat, he opened his eyes, only to flinch when the unrelenting beam hit his corneas. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and looked around the room, heaving a sigh of relief when he saw that he was alone…and still fully clothed. He raised himself off the bed and walked into the attached bathroom. Peeling off his clothes, he stood under the shower as the memory of last night came flooding back to him.

Raashi was waiting outside his room when he had reached Katrak Villa on his Bullet. Realizing that there was no getting away from her, he unlocked his door and opened it to the embarrassing sight of his wet clothes and underwear drying on a chair kept right under the ceiling fan. Excusing himself, he quickly transferred his wet clothes to the towel rack inside the bathroom. When he returned to the bedroom, he saw Raashi sitting on the same chair with the now familiar amused expression on her face—an expression that never failed to annoy him.

Suddenly, she became business-like. ‘Your colleague, Senior Inspector Sonavane, is quickly moving forward with the investigation,’ she ventured. ‘He has already arrested three different men who match the description of the Compass Box Killer and is interrogating them. He is sure that one of them will turn out to be the actual killer.’

The last part of her sentence was said with a raised eyebrow, as if wanting Virkar’s concurrence. Virkar didn’t say anything, staring at the rain-lashed night through the window as he sat across from her on the edge of his bed.

‘So what have you found here…in Khandala?’ Raashi finally asked.

Virkar remained silent.

Raashi sighed. ‘Look, Inspector, I’ve already told you that whatever you share with me is off the record. I…I…just feel very guilty about how my reports affected you. I really want to help.’

Virkar looked directly into Raashi’s luminous brown eyes.
Thank God she isn’t wearing her blue contacts tonight
. He had always wondered why she wore blue contacts when her eyes were a naturally beautiful colour. Gazing at her intently, he realized that there was something different about her today. There was no rebuke or sarcasm written on her face. Rather, he saw something he had not seen before—an earnestness that led him to believe that what she was saying must be genuine. Mentally debating how much to share with her, he began to speak. Hesitant at first, he slowly opened up and soon, his thoughts and theories began to flow freely as he told her everything—how Akurle had been the policeman in charge of Tracy’s case, how Dr Bhandari was the doctor who had signed Tracy’s death certificate and how Nigel Colasco was the man who had buried her in the ground. He told her about his theory of the conspiracy hatched by the three men to make Tracy’s death look like an accident. Virkar added that he felt the conspiracy could have been hatched at the behest of the fourth conspirator, namely the Smooth Operator. And, of course, the possibility that the Compass Box Killer might have been a hidden fifth conspirator—one who had been a part of the cover-up earlier but had later decided to go against his co-conspirators. Perhaps someone unknown to the dead men, otherwise they would have tried to stop his killing spree. But why after nine long years? Why not earlier?

Raashi listened to him patiently and then asked him a simple question: ‘Have you checked the hospital ward where Tracy’s body was kept? Maybe Colasco was trying to tell you that the clue to the conspiracy lies in that ward?’

Virkar reacted as though he had been struck by lightning. ‘Aai cha gho!’ he cursed under his breath for not having thought of a clue that had been staring him in the face. He rose to his feet and gave Raashi a firm handshake, thanking her profusely. He wanted to find that hospital as soon as he could.

But his body suddenly refused to comply with him. His journey to Khandala, the events of the day and the three and a half pegs of Doctor’s brandy had all taken their toll on his body. He sat back down on the bed, feeling tired to his bones and completely drained of energy.

‘You need to rest,’ Raashi said as she got up and made her way to the door. She turned to look at him one last time and broke into a wide smile. For the first time since he had met her, Virkar could not interpret the attractive crime reporter’s expression and the slight dilation of her pupils. What she said next only increased his confusion. ‘Well, Inspector, I hope you’re not so tired tomorrow.’

And leaving him with that thought, she left the room. Virkar slumped back on his bed, allowing sleep to overtake his senses. He didn’t remember anything after that.

Now, as he turned off the tap and reached for his clothes drying on the towel rack, he decided to deal with the reporter later as there was a potential lead to be followed and he had no time to lose. Grabbing his wallet and his motorcycle’s keys, he walked out of the door, crossed the veranda and headed towards the small parking compound.

But just as he entered the area, his feet came to a sudden stop. Raashi was casually leaning against her car, texting on her mobile phone. She looked up at him with a broad smile.

‘Good morning! Shall we take my car, Inspector?’ she asked.

‘I…I…don’t…’ Virkar fumbled for words.

But Raashi cut him off. ‘You weren’t thinking of going alone, were you?’ She threw him a challenging look.

Virkar tried to evade the question. ‘I…I first have to find out where Tracy’s body was kept.’

‘At the Government Hospital in Khandala; they have a small morgue there,’ she replied immediately.

Smiling at Virkar’s flabbergasted expression, Raashi added, ‘Uff oh, Inspector, you think you’re the only one with investigative abilities? I’ve been up since dawn, making a string of phone calls.’

Virkar realized that he had lost the battle, but he was not going to lose the war. ‘I only travel by my Bullet,’ he said, taking brisk steps towards his bike. As he mounted it and turned the key in the ignition, Raashi flashed him the same enigmatic smile she had the night before. In a flash she was next to Virkar’s Bullet, swinging one leg over the back seat as she straddled it. Placing a soft hand on Virkar’s shoulder, she said, ‘Ready to take me for a ride, Inspector?’ The confusion rose in him once again, but this time it was mixed with the embarrassment that made blood rush to his ears. To cover it up, Virkar accelerated the Bullet and roared out towards the main road.

‘T
racy Barton? Ah, yes, I remember her. An unfortunate accident case that occurred in…2003…no, 2004. The body was shattered from head to toe…very sad!’ said Dr Tupe, the chief of the government hospital, letting the corners of his mouth droop. Something in his bulbous eyes, however, didn’t read right to Virkar. Raashi and he were sitting opposite the doctor in his small office chamber at the Khandala Government Hospital.

‘Was her body kept in a ward before she was moved to the morgue?’ asked Virkar, looking around the small room whose walls were adorned with medical diagrams and duty charts. ‘Were you on duty that night, Dr Tupe?’

The doctor straightened his reed-thin body in his chair and scrunched his middle-aged forehead, as if trying to get his eyebrows to meet his receding hairline. His frog eyes stared into the distance while Virkar studied him closely. Finally, when he stirred, Virkar concentrated on Dr Tupe’s body language rather than his words. ‘As far as I remember, she was declared dead on arrival and taken straight to the morgue,’ said the doctor, blinking his eyes rapidly and scratching his head. ‘Tch…so beautiful, so young…her face was smashed beyond recognition.’ He shook his head a little too vigorously at the last bit.

He’s definitely hiding something
, thought Virkar as he sipped the tea served to him by an orderly. Virkar looked around the cramped room as if there were hidden clues calling out to him. He replayed the events of the morning in his head.

As a result of Raashi’s early morning phone calls, Dr Tupe had been expecting them when they had arrived. ‘I was surprised to hear about your documentary film on dead bodies. We don’t get many dead people in Khandala,’ he had smiled as he shook hands with them.

Virkar had caught on to Raashi’s lie and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes.

‘Thanks for agreeing to meet us at such short notice, Dr Tupe,’ she said, suppressing a smile. ‘Well, the documentary film is more about the history of dead bodies in old morgues.’

Dr Tupe’s smile widened. ‘Oh, yes! Now I understand. Our morgue is very old. Established during the British era. They loved to come and die here.’ Raashi flashed him a broad smile acknowledging his dark joke. He smiled back, pleased with himself. This was probably the closest the doctor had ever got to celebrity, however minor, in his staid existence in Khandala, Virkar thought to himself.

‘Um…can we take a look at it? The morgue?’ Raashi asked.

‘Sure, sure…no problem.’ Dr Tupe then led them to the small morgue at the back of the hospital.

Outside the morgue, a khaki-clad man was lounging on a wooden bench, smoking a beedi. ‘This is Bhoir, our morgue attendant,’ said the doctor. Although a sudden visit by the chief of the hospital should have surprised him, Bhoir casually stubbed out the strong-smelling beedi. Placing the stubbed end carefully in his uniform shirt pocket, he continued to sit on the bench by the entrance as if he had no visitors in his midst. ‘Bhoir has been here for over twenty years. Not many people want to work in a morgue, even if it is in a beautiful place like Khandala.’ Dr Tupe smiled, but this time Raashi didn’t smile back at his limp joke, causing the doctor to self-consciously clear his throat. ‘I’ll be in my office. Please join me for a cup of tea later,’ he said, excusing himself and leaving them in Bhoir’s care.

Bhoir reluctantly rose to give them the grand tour of the bare fifteen feet by fifteen feet room, where there was not much to see except old metal stretchers with large aluminium trays lying by their side. ‘For keeping ice slabs. We don’t have ACs,’ he explained, noticing Raashi’s curious expression. In a corner lay an old, body-sized freezer connected to a portable generator. It looked as if it had been modified from a freezer discarded by an icecream shop. Pointing at it, Bhoir spat out, ‘That’s for the VIPs.’

Virkar used this as a conversation starter. ‘So, have you seen many dead VIPs in your twenty years here?’

Bhoir gave him a laconic smile. ‘Just about two or three, saheb. VIP tourists don’t stay in Khandala long enough to die.’

Virkar ignored Bhoir’s attempt at replacing his boss as the resident joker and asked, ‘Seen many foreigners?’

‘A few,’ Bhoir shrugged.

‘What about a foreign woman? About nine years back? Tracy Barton?’

Bhoir’s expression suddenly became guarded. ‘Mala kahitari mahiti nai, saheb, I don’t know anything,’ he said while reaching for the beedi in his pocket, lighting it quickly and clamping it between his teeth, signalling the end of the morgue tour. But Virkar continued to walk around the morgue, poking into its nooks and crannies. He didn’t find anything but he kept at it till a call from Dr Tupe had made it impossible to continue without being absolutely disrespectful to his host.

Now, as they sat sipping tea in Dr Tupe’s chamber, Virkar was determined to find out what he and his morgue attendant were hiding. He decided to dispense with the niceties and come straight to the point.

‘So, Dr Tupe, you knew Tracy Barton before she died?’

Dr Tupe blanched. ‘No, no, I didn’t. I didn’t know her at all, but I… The first time I came to know of her was when they brought in her body.’ He licked his lips and his gaze slid away, refusing to meet Virkar’s.

‘Hmm…so how did you ascertain that it was her if her face was unrecognizable?’ asked the Inspector, starting to enjoy the doctor’s obvious discomfort.

Dr Tupe opened and shut his mouth like a fish gasping for water. ‘I… It was a long time ago. I don’t remember what our staff doctors did nine years ago to establish her identity.’ He fell silent but realized that Virkar was not satisfied with his response.

Raashi, who had been silent until now, spoke up. ‘So you don’t really know too much about Tracy’s case?’

Somewhat relieved, Dr Tupe turned to her. ‘Yes, you’re right. I was only the deputy then, and all the high profile cases were handled by my boss, Dr Bhandari.’

Virkar raised an eyebrow. ‘Dr Prabhat Bhandari?’ He shot a glance at Raashi who returned his look with a non-committal shrug.

‘Yes, he personally performed the postmortem on Tracy Barton’s body,’ said Tupe, relieved at the change in the line of questioning.

‘Do you know that Dr Bhandari was recently killed in Mumbai?’ Virkar asked, looking at him pointedly.

‘Yes,’ nodded Dr Tupe. ‘Very sad!’ Suddenly realizing that this was the same way he had reacted to Tracy’s death, he looked away sheepishly and began to shuffle some papers on his desk. It was an indication to his visitors that he had other things that demanded his attention than a nine-year-old case of a foreigner who had died in Khandala.

But Virkar didn’t back down. ‘Do you think Tracy Barton’s accident and Dr Bhandari’s death could be linked?’

A thin layer of sweat had begun to form on Dr Tupe’s forehead, but he replied in a steady voice, ‘I’m just a local doctor who got a job in this hospital by chance. I’m only interested in doing my job and going home, sir. I wasn’t even interested in becoming the chief here till Dr Bhandari resigned from government service and set up his own practice in Mumbai.’