A PAINTED GATE
PRE-NOTE:
Kindly excuse correct the grammatical mistakes. Thanks
in advance. :-)
PART 9:
Priya stepped down slowly from the stand and went out calmly.
While Vimal was summarizing, Gowtham slipped out quietly and caught Priya
outside. He grabbed her by the upper arms and pushed her up against the wall.
“How dare you mess up with me! You don’t know me.”
Gowtham turned around as he heard a voice saying, “Stop
watching full-fledged commercial movies, Gowtham. Leave her alone.” It was
Vijay. Priya ran towards him and hugged.
Gowtham smiled. “I am sorry.” Vijay shook his head and turned
around to leave. “Vijay, what’s in that video?”
“Why would I tell you?”
“I wonder why you didn’t tell the court yet if that is going
to save Sravya.”
“Why would I tell you?” Vijay repeated.
“I can guess though. 1. There is nothing important in the
video. 2. You’re not willing to show it because Indhu is the killer. 3. You’re
waiting for something to happen before letting out the video.”
Vijay grinned. “Your second guess is very brilliant that I so
want to give you a tight hug.”
Gowtham ignored the mockery. “I know that the third guess is
very likely. When was the last time that you took seven months to solve a case?”
Vijay stopped smiling. “Never.”
“See? You can’t solve this case. Not your fault really – even
I can’t do my job properly if it involves my family and close friends. Step out
of this case, please.”
“Did I hear ‘please’? Interesting. If I say ‘no’, are you
going to threaten me?”
“It won’t be interesting to do it the second time. You’d have
already recovered, I assume.”
“I did. And…” He
pulled a pendrive out of his jeans pocket. “… have a look at it.”
“What is it? The video?”
“No. Evidences against all your old clients – murderers. I
dug some of your past cases in which you saved the sorry asses of your filthy
clients. I believe that they won’t be glad if their cases are reopened.”
Gowtham’s lips twisted into a bitter smile. “Are you
blackmailing me?”
“No, not yet. I just realized that you are the one who deal with
dangerous people and not me.”
“Very clever. What do you want?”
“Leave us alone. If you can beat Vimal in court, go ahead and
do it. But don’t use his friends against him with a cheap leverage.”
“What are you doing
now, if I may ask?”
“I collected the evidences against you just to show that I
can. That’s why I gave them back to you. Don’t disturb Priya and Karthick
anymore.” With that, he turned to his heels and returned to his friends. Indhu
smiled at him.
Priya jumped. “That’s so cool, Vij. I love you so much.
Indhu, if you…”
Vimal interrupted. “What video is this?”
“I’ll show you soon. Get in the car.”
**********
“Vrunda, how long are you married?” Gowtham looked tired but
his voice as strong as ever.
“Just above a year now.”
“How do you know Vimal?”
“I did bachelors in science before I got my medical degree.
We all know each other when we did undergraduates. Me, Indhu, Vijay, Vimal,
Karthick – we all are from the same college. Bunch of rich kids, if you prefer
that.”
“Love marriage?”
“Yes.”
“Sravya was living with you?”
“No. She never lived with us. She stayed close though. But we
hung out together mostly. And I invited her to stay with me whenever Vimal had
to work late.”
“So you know her well.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think that she is capable of murder?”
Vrunda shook her head with a smile. “She isn’t even capable
of killing a cockroach. Besides she doesn’t know the contents of my medical
kit. I wouldn’t say that she could differentiate a cough syrup from morphine.”
“There are labels on them and I believe your sister-in-law
could read. But let’s come to that later. Now let’s go back to step number 1
and climb from there one by one instead of crashing to the final step
straightaway.”
Vrunda shrugged. “All right.”
“What’s your opinion about Jason?”
“An ambitious young man. He could make Sravya laugh and after
all that is very important. I approved of their relationship unlike Vimal.”
“You don’t care about money?”
That same smile appeared on her lips again. “I do. But Sravya
doesn’t. That’s the difference.”
“What do you know about JK chit funds?”
“I am afraid that I couldn’t help on that matter much. The
only thing that I know is that Jason tried very hard to impress Vimal and failed
every time.”
“So when Jason defaulted…”
“I don’t know. I trusted Sravya. She said that Jason was
innocent. I didn’t question her belief.”
Gowtham considered pushing her on that point but then decided
against it. “Okay. Let’s talk about New Year Eve. What happened?”
“I don’t remember much and I am not part of anything. I came
down to the house, Priya and Sravya told us about Jason’s return, I felt so
sticky and so I went to take a bath. I came back last to the dinner. Within a
minute, Jason was dead.”
Something struck Gowtham. He never asked anyone in what order
they arrived at the dinner table. He made a mental note that he should ask
Karthick about it.
“You were in Indhu’s room.”
“Yes.”
“It’s next to Vijay’s room where Jason and Sravya were
talking. Did you happen to overhear it?”
“Bits and pieces of it. He asked her whether Vimal was mad at
him because of the money. Sravya agreed. She defended her brother very well.”
Gowtham remembered that Karthick said the same and nodded to
himself. “All right. So you have no idea who did it.”
“No. But I’d regret forever for bringing that medical kit.”
“Good that we reached the final step now. How many people are
well aware of the medicines in your kit?”
“No one. None of them is a doctor.”
“Okay, so how did Sravya know that your kit holds aspirin?”
“Come on, every doctor’s kit has…”
Gowtham stopped her and repeated the question louder and
clearer. “How did she know?”
Vrunda hesitated for a second. “She packed my bag in the
morning.”
Gowtham grinned. “No more questions, my lord.”
To be continued.
For previous parts, kindly check
Thanks & Regards,
Lavanyaa
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