‘Use the tongs, Manu,’ Athreya reminded him.
Clutching the tongs firmly in his right hand, Manu dipped it into the water and closed its arms around the dagger’s handle. When he was sure that he had secured a firm grip, he held the tongs tightly with both hands and pulled it out. Gopal was waiting beside him with an open bag.
The keen metal glinted menacingly in the morning light as Manu pulled it out of the water and dropped it into the bag. It turned out be a crude, country-made dagger, with a slim blade that was an inch wide at the base and about six inches long. The short handle comprised two wood pieces, bound together by what looked like leather.
There was no hope of retrieving any fingerprints from the weapon. Athreya doubted if DNA information could be retrieved either. All he could do now was to try and find out if someone could identify it.
* * *
Back in the drawing room, Athreya showed the dagger—still in its protective bag—first to Bhaskar. The older man studied it for a long while, then silently shook his head.
‘It seems vaguely familiar, but I can’t place it,’ he said as he handed the bag to Manu. ‘It’s certainly not from my collection of antiques, nor does it seem like it belongs to the kitchen. It’s a rough, crude weapon. Can you place it, Manu?’
Manu had been frowning at the dagger just as his father had, and he too, after long thought, shook his head.
Athreya then asked all the others to look at the weapon and recall if they had seen it anywhere. Everyone drew a blank.
‘The next thing I need to do is to talk to each of you–’ Athreya began when Bhaskar cut him off.
‘Let me spare you the unpleasantness, Mr Athreya. I know where you are heading. Allow me to say it instead of you.’
Bhaskar looked enquiringly at Athreya. After a moment’s thought, the latter nodded.
‘Now listen, everyone. There has been a murder, and each one of us here is a potential suspect. In addition, there may be, by my reckoning, at least three other potential suspects who are not in this room. That makes it a dozen of us in all.
‘Of these, eleven are innocent. One is not. Justice demands that the cloud be lifted from these eleven. To my mind, that is far more important than finding the one who killed Phillip. But to clear the eleven, we must find the one. Unless we do so, the cloud will hang over us forever.
‘Most of you are young, and have too much of your lives ahead of you to allow that to happen. There is nothing worse than to have a shadow of suspicion hang over you. Take this advice from a man who knows, one who has suffered because of it.
‘I was once suspected of being a fence, of having passed off a stolen antique sculpture. The shadow of suspicion dogged me for two years, and it ruined my business and reputation. People looked askance at me wherever I went. They whispered behind my back. Invitations to parties and weddings stopped coming.
‘Until, by happy chance, the real culprit was found. My business bounced back, and my friends returned. But I never forgot how I was treated during those two years. I don’t wish such a fate upon any of you. I want a resolution to the mystery of Phillip’s murder, and will seek it with all the energy and resources at my disposal. That is why I have commissioned Mr. Athreya to investigate.
‘For those of you who don’t know, there is nobody better in the country for the job. So please, do yourselves and your loved ones a favour. Do me a favour. Cooperate with him. Help him do his job.
‘Now, I suspect he wants to speak to each of us in turn, in private. He would want to know about our movements last night. Please do not consider it an insult. Please do not be affronted by his having dared to suspect you. The way it works is that everyone is a suspect until proved otherwise.’
Bhaskar turned to Athreya and asked, ‘Is that what you were going to say? That you’d like each one of us to tell you about his or her movements last night?’
‘Yes, Mr. Fernandez. That’s precisely what I wanted to do, although I lack your eloquence.’
‘It’s decided then. Use the study or the library for your discussions, whichever suits you. If there is anything else you need, tell Manu or me. Sebastian will be away for most of the day, I suspect.’
‘Thank you.’ Athreya swept the anxious faces with his gaze. ‘I would like to speak to each of you in the study. I have no preference for the order in which I speak to you. For now, I need you to tell me about your movements last night as accurately as you can. Take your time if you want to gather your thoughts. I’m happy to wait, but I’m now ready to start with the first person.’
A long, pregnant silence followed. People looked nervously at each other, but nobody spoke. After a few awkward moments, two people spoke up simultaneously.
‘I–’ Varadan began, but stopped since Dora also started to speak at the same time. He glanced at her and gestured to her to continue.
‘I don’t know about the others, but I want to speak in public,’ she said. Her usually affable face was puckered in unpleasant rumination. ‘I agree with what Uncle said. There is nothing worse than the suspicion of my being a murderess hanging over me. I’m on this side of thirty, and have a life to live. I still have to make my name in the world. I can do without a cloud hanging over me.
‘I am therefore insisting—I repeat, insisting—that I speak
