The planning for the service continued into lunch, with Father Tobias, Dora and Manu taking the lead. Sebastian was the one organizing it, and his lunch plate was surrounded by pieces of paper with lists on them.
Athreya retired to his room and checked with his contact in Delhi to see if he had learnt anything new about Phillip. Apart from having developed a greater confidence that Phillip was indeed the Philipose who had disappeared from Austria seven years ago, he had nothing. The high-resolution photographs Athreya had sent him had only confirmed his suspicions.
With his investigations temporarily stalled, Athreya decided to take stock. He sat and wrote down the timings at which various people had been outside the mansion on the night of the murder.
According to the autopsy, the murder had taken place sometime between 12.30 a.m. and 1 a.m. But experience had taught him that these estimates were not cast in stone. Coroners went by averages derived from empirical estimates, which were based on diverse studies. Case-specific variations had to be taken into account over and above that.
Some people digested food faster than others did. If that had been true for Phillip, the murder could have taken place before 12.30 a.m., except that Varadan had seen Phillip at around 12.25 a.m. Similarly, if Phillip had been a slow digester, he might have been killed even as late as 1.30 a.m.
This meant that Athreya had to operate with the time window of 12.25 a.m. to 1.30 a.m. With that in mind, he went down the list of people and their time logs.
Dora had returned to the mansion at 12.27 a.m., and had been seen by Varadan. Unless she had gone out subsequently, she seemed to be in the clear.
Varadan had gone out at 12.27 a.m., and then conversed with Michelle till about 12.50 a.m. Unless they were both were lying, they provided alibis for each other for that time window. But Varadan was alone after that and had the opportunity to kill Phillip.
Michelle had said that she had returned a little before 1 a.m., but there was no evidence to corroborate that. Dora hearing her door at 12.50 a.m. didn’t mean much. It could have been any door other than Michelle’s. Even if it had been Michelle’s door, it did not mean that she had entered and stayed in her room.
Richie had stepped out of his room at some time between 12.50 a.m. and 1 a.m. He too would have had the opportunity to kill Phillip. There was little doubt in Athreya’s mind that Richie had lubricated the chapel door in anticipation of nocturnal activity. He was sure that Richie was one of the several people who had visited the chapel that night.
Abbas had ended his discussion with Michelle at 12.25 a.m. at Sunset Deck. Nothing was known about his movements after that, although Athreya did suspect him of meeting Murthy sometime later in the rock garden, where they had smoked together. So, Abbas too had the opportunity. Besides, his last admitted location–Sunset Deck–was close to the chapel.
Murthy had been skulking around Greybrooke Manor till about 2 a.m. He too had been in a position to kill Phillip.
Then there was the whole matter of the mongrel. He had been at the resort on the night of the murder, having returned to complete his aborted mission of killing Bhaskar. He would have conducted extensive reconnaissance of the estate, and would have known his way about in the fog. In fact, the fog would have aided him.
And, if Jilsy was right, he was already hand in glove with Abbas, Murthy and Phillip. The question that remained was whether the mongrel had killed Phillip by mistake, taking him to be Bhaskar.
That left Bhaskar, Manu, Sebastian, Ganesh, Father Tobias, Bahadur and Jilsy. None of them had alibis, and all of them, with the possible exception of Jilsy, could have slit a throat. Nothing could have stopped any of them from stepping out into the fog and killing Phillip.
Bhaskar and Manu had their own private French windows through which they could have passed unnoticed. So could have Sebastian, if Bhaskar was asleep. Ganesh and Father Tobias were in the annex, and would have been completely hidden by the fog. Nobody knew precisely where Bahadur was at any point in time.
The list of suspects was still too long. He had to find ways to eliminate some names from it.
With a start, he realized that his right hand had been sketching while his mind had been churning. It was a crude picture of Jesus on a cross, looking down upon a man in a wheelchair. Between the two of them was a broken altar.
The memorial service turned out to be a long, sombre affair that was attended by between thirty and forty people. Athreya hadn’t known that there were so many people in the vale. The chapel had been full. All the pews had been taken, and people were standing in the area behind the pews.
Bhaskar had asked Mrs Carvallo to sit in the first row, with Dora beside her. The family had taken the first row on the right side, and invited guests had sat in the other rows in front. But Jilsy had refused to go anywhere near the spot where Phillip’s body had been found, preferring to take the last row on the right.
Athreya had stood in a corner at the back and watched Father Tobias conduct the service with grace and empathy. His tone was just right for the occasion, solemn but clear. He invited people to speak about Phillip, and was kind and encouraging to Mrs Carvallo, who spoke wistfully between bursts of emotion.
Ganesh’s loud voice boomed through the chapel as he recalled his relationship with his neighbour. Michelle and Dora said short, quiet pieces, and Bhaskar
