A PAINTED GATE
PRE-NOTE:
Kindly excuse correct the grammatical mistakes. Thanks
in advance. :-)
PART 7:
“I,” said Vaishali, “want a drink of whatever is in that cup.”
Gowtham did things with milk, tea bags, sugar and passed the long-haired young
woman the result. The window was open wide; the courtroom was hot and noisy and
as turbulent as a carnival.
“Well,” said Gowtham, watching his wife, “what are you
searching in the law book?”
“I’ll tell you what I search,” said Vaishali, crossing her
legs and setting down the cup. “A prosecution deputy has the rights to examine
the witness. And she has the rights to make her husband sleep in the couch if
he says no.”
Gowtham grinned. “First point sounds valid. In which law book
is the second one written?”
“Laws of marriage.”
“Do you know how marriages work? I love you so much that I
involve the government to keep you with me forever,” said Gowtham; the smile
didn’t fade away from his lips still. Vaishali laughed out loud, forgetting
that she was in the courtroom. When one or two heads turned, her cheeks turned
crimson.
After pretending to look at her notes for some time, she
asked again. “Shall I take charge from today?”
“Why?” asked Gowtham, looking surprised.
“You underestimate Vimal. It’s no good for you.”
Gowtham frowned. “Seriously? I’ll admit the man struck me as
capable enough. But, damn it all, the facts are there! He simply can’t have
anything important which he hasn’t disclosed.”
“Look here, Gowtham. He is not alone. He has complete support
from Vijay. Do you think Vijay’s a complete fool? Give me a butt, somebody.”
Rajeev who was standing next to them nodded his head. “I’m
inclined to agree with the lady, Gowtham. Vijay wasn’t born yesterday.”
Gowtham flushed angrily but didn’t explicitly express it.
“All right, all right. Will you kindly tell me what I can expect this magician
to pull out of his hat? I know this case like the palm of my own hand. Vijay’s
been misled by his own eagerness to get a break in a sensational case. It’s
been done before, but not this time.”
Vaishali bit her lips. “Listen to me, you idiot. Vijay has
one of the keenest minds in this city. He was weaned on a law-book. He knows
old Judge Bhaskaran the way I know the facts of life. And he’s an expert on your witnesses because they are on his side. Do you think the city’s best
detective like that would pull such a boner? I’m telling you, Gowtham—watch
your step.”
Gowtham simply shrugged his shoulders.
“You feel, then,” asked Rajeev, “that there’s no chance for a
defense?”
“Not a chance in the world. I tell you Judge Bhaskaran won’t
even take a second look at this case. The law’s the law in Chennai as anywhere
else. When Vimal rests, I’ll make the usual motion for conviction, and I’ll bet
you every cent I’ve got that Bhaskaran throws the girl in jail then and there.”
His wife sighed. “You poor, poor egomaniac. Maybe that’s why
I’m wasting all this time and energy on you. Confidence! I adore you, Gowtham,
but there’s a limit even to my patience.”
Gowtham smiled. “What if Sravya is the culprit?”
“Well…” Vaishali began but Judge Bhaskaran’s arrival
disturbed them. The entire courtroom rose and sat down when the judge waved his
hands. Gowtham adjusted his gown and walked to the witness box. “I call Vimal
as my next witness.”
Vimal whispered something on Vrunda’s ears and walked towards
the stand. After he took the oath, he regarded his opposing counsel with an
appalling look.
“Mr. Vimal, let’s skip the advertisements and start the main
picture. Were you okay with Sravya getting married to Jason? Not now. I mean
the time period even before this entire JK chit funds drama – were you okay?”
“No,” Vimal answered simply.
“Then why were they together?”
“Sravya is a major and her life’s decisions are her own,”
said Vimal in a matter-of-fact tone.
Gowtham lifted his eyebrows. “He worked for your best friend
Vijay. Still he failed to make an impression?”
“For him. Not with him. That’s the difference.”
“So you have concerns regarding his financial status?”
“Obviously.”
“Vijay didn’t tell you anything?”
“I don’t have to answer that question. It’s irrelevant to the
case.”
“It’s very much relevant, Vimal. The person you hated is dead
now.”
Vimal fixed a determined eye on Gowtham and replied quietly. “Right.
And how exactly does Vijay’s opinion about the dead guy manipulate me or you or
this case?”
Gowtham opened his coat and hooked his thumbs in his vest,
and then he walked slowly across the room to the windows. He looked out, but
didn’t seem especially interested in what he saw, and then he turned and
strolled back to the witness stand. From long years of experience, Vaishali
could tell he was trying to come to a decision about something. “I think I got
my answer. What’s your opinion about JK chit funds?”
“I didn’t know anything about it except that it was a
start-up of Karthick. I wasn’t even part of the inaugural ceremony.”
“So you weren’t aware of the inside job at JK chit funds?”
“That’s right.”
Gowtham grinned. “Now, now, sir, if you weren’t aware of
what’s happening inside JK chit funds, you possibly wouldn’t be aware of your
sister’s involvement in it if there was any?”
Vaishali almost clapped her hands but restrained herself at
the last moment. Indhu gasped and held Vijay’s hand strongly that would’ve hurt
him if not for the softness of her palms.
Vimal realized his mistake but it was too late. He could not
change his own statement now. He grunted. “Yes.”
Gowtham walked a little and stood in the middle of the court.
He said the words that were addressing Vimal but he was facing Judge Bhaskaran.
“Thank you, Vimal. I am proud of you that you valiantly fought for her even
though you weren’t sure of her innocence when she was arrested for
embezzlement.”
Vijay began to see the pattern of Gowtham’s cross-examination
towards Vimal. He was trying to establish a situation that Vimal’s witness was
unreliable to the whole case. He was taking him out and he was doing it very
easily that a lawyer of Vimal’s standard should’ve seen that pattern earlier
than Vijay.
Vimal began furiously. “She is my sister and…”
“I understand your commitment to your family, Vimal. I
appreciate it.”
“Let me complete my sentence…”
“Oh, the court doesn’t have time for family dramas…”
“There is none. I know my sister didn’t take the money.”
Gowtham prompted. “Because?”
“She said so.”
Gowtham’s lips curved in mockery. “She said so?”
Priya buried her head in her hands and even Karthick knew
that it was a foolish answer.
“She did. I raised her and I knew her better than anyone
else. She was not interested in money and that’s why she chose Jason in first
place much to my dismay.”
“A valid point. So you say?”
“Your motive is bullshit.”
Judge Bhaskaran hit his table. “Language, Mr. Vimal,” he said
crossly.
“Mind your language, Vimal,” repeated Gowtham. “Yet your
sister received 50 million dollars one fine morning. How did you feel about
it?”
“There was no time left for feelings. She was arrested
shortly.”
Vaishali uncrossed her legs as something in that answer
positively disturbed her. She pondered over it for some time and marked it on
her notepad.
“All right.” Gowtham nodded to himself. “What’s your opinion
about Jason? Is he capable of embezzlement and betrayal?” After a little gap,
he added. “Thank god that you didn’t raise him.” People in the court laughed.
“I can’t say. My opinions don’t matter in front of hard
evidence anyway.”
Gowtham snapped his fingers. “This is why I love
cross-examining lawyers. It’s easy and simple and you’re right. It doesn’t
matter – evidences in police records say that he did it which means that he did
it. You ended up paying for his sins.”
“In order to save my sister.”
“Ah, yes. I didn’t forget that. You paid all your money for
your sister, the one you raised. It’s great,” said Gowtham, fiddling through
his papers. “You did it even though you didn’t trust him.”
“I did not say that I did not trust him. Where did you pick
that, Gowtham?”
Gowtham walked to the court reporter’s desk and bent down to
the furiously scribbling hand. The reporter stopped, looked up and flipped back
the shorthand notepad. “He didn’t say that. He said that his opinions didn’t
matter,” she replied.
Gowtham turned around. “So you didn’t trust him?” He asked
again. Vaishali had to suppress the grin – she loved to watch him winning, she
always had been. She loved him more when he did it against people who were
intelligent.
Vimal lost his coolness and shouted. “Of course, I didn’t.
Who is he? My family? My friend? He just popped out of nowhere when Vijay asked
my sister to conduct an interview. And then she fell in love with him in a day.
How could I trust such a guy? The one who joked about Indhu’s bank account
password being very weak… The one who stuttered around that Sravya’s heart was
easy to win… The one who frankly told my wife that he liked Priya better than
Sravya… How could I trust him? Why would I trust him?”
Vrunda ran out of the court, trying to blink back her tears
and Indhu followed suit to convince her. Sravya’s lips parted as she watched
him in horror. Vijay stared at him in disbelief and shook his head
disapprovingly.
Even Gowtham looked startled for a second before the lines on
his forehead cleared. “Priya? He liked Priya?” His lips uttered the words
inaudibly but he didn’t want to go there. He didn’t want to dig some unprepared
ground. “Well, thanks, Vimal for being honest. But you trusted your sister.”
“For the umpteenth time, yes.”
“Let’s quickly go through the happenings of the new year eve.
Explain in your own words. I won’t interrupt. You’re a lawyer and you know how
this goes.”
Vimal massaged his forehead and looked around for a minute.
He heaved a deep sigh and said, “I picked Vrunda from work, she insisted that
we should go home first, change our clothes but I drove straight to Vijay’s. I
said that Indhu is a wonderful host and she would understand. She did indeed.
Priya welcomed us and shouted a loud announcement about our arrival. Sravya
came out of the kitchen with a huge smile and asked us to settle down.”
He continued. “Priya and Sravya exchanged looks and finally
Priya told me that Jason was here. I disliked it, damn it all, I hated it but I
saw a little ray of hope on Sravya’s smile and so I held my tongue. I so wanted
to catch Indhu’s throat for playing this drama along with two foolish girls and
at the same time, she appeared. They – I mean Vrunda and Indhu chatted for some
time and Vrunda went to take a bath. I was about to confront Indhu but then
Vijay’s call changed her fate. Priya was annoying me further with her story
about how she and Jason worked together and…”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “And then suddenly
no one was there. I was left alone in the hall with a 53 inch TV. Some dumb
movie was going on and I was thinking about how to get my sister out of this
mess. My head was hurting and I heard Sravya’s voice saying that she came for
the aspirin. I wondered how she found out about my needs and I was about to
tell her that she was my blood and flesh, but then she disappeared again. And
then I believe that the dinner was served.”
Gowtham kept his promise and he did not interrupt anytime. In
fact he listened attentively as though an actor was listening to the story from
a director. “Is that the right order of events?” He asked after some time.
“I suppose so.”
“You didn’t miss anything?”
“No.”
Surprisingly Gowtham said, “No more questions, your honor.”
**********
“What the hell have you done?” Vijay’s tone was unbelievably
high.
“I didn’t make anything worse. It was already bad.” Vimal put
in defensively.
“You’re playing around with your sister’s life. How the devil
can you be so cocksure of yourself?” This was Vrunda.
Vimal stared out the window. “I’ll tell you,” he said at
last. “Neither of you is a lawyer and so you can’t see my point. All you can
see is the usual layman’s misconception of circumstantial evidence.”
“It sounds pretty strong to me,” said Vijay.
“What the hell do you mean?”
“Oh my god,” Vrunda snapped her forehead. “You were supposed
to be the alibi for Sravya. You could’ve said that she didn’t pick anything
from my medical kit. You should’ve said that you saw it with your own eyes. You
should’ve promised on all gods that she didn’t…”
“Exactly,” agreed Vijay. “And why on earth did you talk about
Priya and Jason. You just brought a theoretical double motive of uncomfortable
potency. It now looks very bad for Sravya. Gowtham would say that she killed
him for double betrayal – one for money and other for Priya.”
“Don’t throw a fit over it, Vij. Gowtham’s case is all
embroidery and I am going to break it. I am working on it and I’ll get there
eventually.”
“I hope so,” His face looked hard but his smile was tender.
Caesar jumped a little high and put his paws on Vijay’s lap.
He patted Caesar’s back and then asked, “Where was Caesar during this whole
episode that day?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see him,” answered Vimal.
Vijay looked at Vrunda and she clicked her tongue. “He was
with Karthick and Jason. Sravya was so mad at them for tiring him out when he
was already sick. Is he okay now?” She asked concernedly.
“Yes,” said Vijay who was still thinking about the court and
the case. Despite Vimal’s awful outburst in the last minute, Vijay was sure
that something else disturbed him very much but he could not put his finger
where.
To be continued.
For previous parts, kindly check
Thanks & Regards,
Lavanyaa
