“No. I assumed it was some friend, or that she was taking tuitions - you know, teaching students for some extra cash? I didn’t feel the need to pry. I know it may sound odd, specially since I’d been following her around, but I did that only to ensure her safety! Not that it helped a bit!”
“Don’t be too sure of that,” Sonia said in an enigmatic tone. “I believe your persistence may have helped - a lot!”
Jatin quickly glanced at his Boss, but her face was non-committal.
“You two wait here. I’m going in to find out what I can. But I don’t want a crowd,” she said, and the others nodded.
Sonia opened the small gate which led up a path to a curved staircase. On the landing, she came across a shaded glass door with a nameplate. With her mouth gone suddenly dry, she read the name on the door.
“What are you looking for?” Renuka asked again.
With Inspector Shinde’s permission, Sonia had been foraging through cupboards and divans for the last half hour, her fingers determinedly probing hidden corners. Jatin studied his Boss for an explanation, but she gave none. He sympathised with Renuka’s exasperation. He had experienced similar feelings on many cases. But he had discovered that his Boss usually had a very good reason for her secrecy. And he had learnt to respect her investigative methods. Ultimately she was right.
Mrs Sahay followed them from room to room, glowering, her mouth spewing angry, ugly retorts and comments. “Messing around the house, disrupting my home! All because of that daughter-in-law of mine who had the misfortune of dying in the house! And they blame me and my family! Forgetting that we may be grieved, too, even though she was not the best of daughter-in-laws and had as many flaws as you could count! And the cheek of this. this stranger upsetting my sacred home! God knows which caste she is. She’s even touching my God! Hey Bhagwan - Oh God! - help us. Protect us from these invaders…”
Sonia ignored the woman. She continued her search in a cool, detached, single-minded manner. Her mind remained focused. She knew exactly what she was looking for. If she could only ferret it out… Where could it be?
Inspector Shinde arrived at that moment. His stance was severe as he announced, “I have an arrest warrant for Mrs Sahay for murdering her daughter-inlaw, Vidya!”
Renuka gave a spontaneous triumphant chuckle.
“No!” Mr Sahay screamed. “These are all lies! You can’t catch the real murderer, so you’re arresting my wife!”
“The residue in the glass of milk and the contents in the sleeping pill bottle found in your wife’s cupboard are the same. We don’t need further proof.”
“You can’t do this to us. We need to see a lawyer,” Parmeet spoke up.
“Go ahead and contact your lawyer. And say all you want to in the court,” Inspector Shinde retorted.
Sonia cleared her throat. “Inspector Shinde, can I speak to you for a minute?”
Renuka turned to her in surprise and even the Policeman looked curious, but he nodded. He gestured to his Constables to keep an eye on the Sahays, then followed Sonia and Jatin into the next room. Renuka stepped into the room, after them.
“Yes, what is it, Ms Samarth? You will have to hurry.” Shinde spoke a trifle impatiently.
“Of course,” Sonia agreed readily. “Let me come straight to the point. I’m afraid you cannot arrest Mrs Sahay for murder.”
“What!” Renuka exclaimed.
“We have proof, Madam,” the Policeman reiterated coldly.
“Let me explain. From the beginning I’ve had this feeling about the three M’s of investigation. The Motive was obvious enough. Harassment for dowry. But the manner in which Vidya was killed and with the Material used - in this case, the sleeping pills - puzzled me. Why kill your own daughter-in-law in the house with your own pills and then leave the murder weapon around to be found? Also, I was curious about what Vidya’s horoscope had to say about all this. It told me that Vidya had not been murdered, but that she had committed suicide!”
A gasp escaped the other three.
“Suicide!” Renuka cried in disbelief. “But why?”
“With Mrs Sahay’s sleeping pills?” Jatin demanded.
“But she didn’t leave a suicide note,” Shinde added.
“Vidya didn’t leave a suicide note because she did not want anyone to discover that this was a suicide! As we all know, Vidya was terribly harassed by her in-laws for dowry for a car. She knew that there was no way out of this mess. Especially since Parmeet, her husband, was incapable of keeping his parents from making such demands. But she wasn’t going to give in without a fight. She was fed up with life, but she also desperately wanted to teach her in-laws a lesson. She planned it well. She had a loud argument with her Mother-in-law, loud enough for Kartik to hear, for she knew he was following her and would prove a perfect witness. She planned it on a night when her husband would be away, because she did not wish to drag him into it. Even in her last moments, when she wrote in her diary, there was no malice or resentment towards her husband. After the argument, she dissolved his mother’s sleeping pills into the glass of milk, and replaced the bottle in Mrs Sahay’s cupboard. Then, at peace because she would finally have her revenge, she drank the milk. In the morning her husband found her dead.”
A heavy silence ensued, as each grappled with the narration.
At length, Inspector Shinde sighed. “But why go to so much trouble? Had she simply lodged a complaint with the Police, the Sahays would have been booked in no time.”
“But for harassment. And not for long. They would’ve been back home within months and with an appetite for vengeance. No, Vidya had to do this right. For good,” Sonia pointed out.
“But to kill yourself. ” Renuka murmured.
“You’d be surprised at the mental torture and low self-esteem
