A Secret that Lies in the River

The river carries so many secrets. It carries the stories it has heard from the banks and the tributaries bring in news from the mountain tops. Through the religious towns the flowers have stories to share and through the big cities the sewage shares its woes. The river carries water, waste, flora and fauna.  It carries the ashes and sometimes the river also carries those people who find death in its embrace.

                                          ~

The yellow light from the bulb shone down on his daughter’s lifeless eyes, her soft brown hairs were still wet from the river water and her skin was sickly pale. Mr. Sharma held the wall as he nodded at the officer in the morgue. His wife who stood behind him, saw the body and burst into tears.

                                          ~

Payal sat in the officer’s cabin as he settled down with his notepad and fixed her with a penetrating glare. Her eyes were bloodshot and a sob was barely being held back by her.

“The girl who died, Avika, was your twin sister?” the officer asked. “No, she was my cousin--" Her voice broke, “Uncle and Auntie took me in when my parents died in a car crash. I was five at that time.”

The officer nodded as he scribbled on the notepad, “You were at the party I believe.”  Payal replied, “Yes, the whole semester was having a big party on New Year’s Eve at the restaurant by the river.”

“Did you see Avika go out?”, the officer questioned.

Payal shook her head, “No, sir the party was filled with people and we separated quite quickly. I don’t know where she went.”

“Avika knew how to swim?” Payal shook her head, tears filled up in her eyes, “She was afraid of water, didn’t even like the beach we visited two years back.”

 The officer gave her time to pull herself together before questioning her further, “Was Avika feeling upset for some days? Was she acting in an unusual way?”

Payal looked up at him in confusion. “I don’t understand, Avika was Avika- I mean she was bright and cheery as always.”

“So, it couldn’t be that she was depressed”, the officer mumbled and began to scribble down.

Payal spoke up, “Officer, are you indicating that she committed suicide.” The officer cleared his throat, “Well suicide cases are not that uncommon among college students.”

Payal stood up and anger filled her face, “Let me tell you something officer, my sister’s death is no accident, she would never-ever attempt suicide. It is something else, I tell you, something else.”

The officer nodded. “I understand, you can head out now.”

Payal stomped out of the room and blinked back her tears but then she let them fall. Tears kept streaming down as she finally realized that her sister will never come back in her life.

                                          ~

The river was gurgling nearby as three boys bent down in the tall grass with their mobile lights on.

“Did you find it?” the tallest and the most handsome one spoke out.

“No, Ravi, I think it’s lost forever”, said one of them. The third said, “My friend, the police would never find it, you have nothing to worry about. Let’s head home”.

“Alright let’s go.” Ravi spoke.

Giving a last glance on the grass Ravi thought, ‘How could that thing be found? Even if they did find it, he will always remain innocent. After all, that girl drowned. She was not stabbed.’

                                          ~

His wife was still shaking and crying in his handkerchief as she and Mr. Sharma sat in front of the officer. “Should I order tea?” asked the officer. Mr. Sharma stared at him stonily. His daughter was dead, murdered probably and all this officer cared about were biscuits and tea after every hour. The officer coughed awkwardly, “I am sorry for your loss. We promise to find the accused person”.

Mr. Sharma thought, ‘Yeah. Right.’

The officer continued, “Can you think of anyone who could have done this? Anyone having a grudge against your family?” Mrs. Sharma hiccupped but offered no reply.

The officer locked eyes with Mr. Sharma, who questioned him back, “Did the autopsy report come out?”

“It will be out by tomorrow evening until then I need to know about your suspicions”, the officer answered.

 

Mr. Sharma spoke carefully; “All the people I know would have never harmed my daughter. It has got to be one of her fellow students.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes I am. I think you better start interrogating all her friends at the party. Payal will give you their details. It’s one of them. I know my daughter. She was a princess. She was never wrong. One of those stupid kids have done this to her, I know it, I just know it,” Mr. Sharma shouted as he stood up.

His thoughts were whirling about the secrets he had held back from the officer.

                                          ~

The sun was setting as Payal moved about clearing things in her hostel room. Her hands worked but her mind was straying off.

It has been four days since her sister died. The first two days were spent in hope that she had just bunked classes and gone to have some New Year fun but then her body had appeared in the river bank. Today it was confirmed that she was murdered as there was a knife’s wound in her stomach.

Payal was packing Avika’s things for her aunt who now cried all day long. She opened Avika’s makeup box which was filled with shades of lipstick, gloss, mascara and all other things she used to wear on the weekends.

The makeup mirror reflected Payal’s face. Her eyes were swollen and her nose was red. But they were not what ruined her face- it was shadowed by heavy burn marks, the reminder of the accident she had been through at the age of five.

 In Avika’s case, makeup made her even more beautiful but in Payal’s case she resembled a female Frankenstein with makeup on.

Her phone pinged, it was a text from Suman, Payal and Avika’s roommate.

‘Hi Payal, hope you are doing good. The officer just called me in for interrogation. Is it true then; was Avika really murdered?’

Payal frowned. The way she was putting it made her sister's death appear as a bit of Cafeteria gossip.

Still, she replied ‘Yes.’

She got a chat back instantly,

‘I knew it. Avika couldn’t just end her life. It had to be some devil who killed her. I told the officer and now I am telling you too, it was Ravi who killed her.’

Payal stared at the message and typed in the query. 

‘Ravi Malhotra?’

Suman texted back.

‘Of course, Avika started to hang out a lot with him, always together. Even at the party when Ravi was bragging about his new pocket knife Avika was standing by his side. Bet you, he took his chance then and there only. Always thought he was a crooked case.’

Payal focused as the memory of the party reeled in her mind. How stupid had she been. Of course, she had noticed Ravi- everyone did- as he bragged about the newest pocket knife his uncle brought from abroad and Avika was standing right there. But she was not sure whether they were really hanging out together. The latest college project had hooked her up so much that she didn’t know about anything else going on.

But if Suman says they were together then it had to be true because Suman knew about every single affair.

 

Adrenaline surged through her as she typed a ‘Yes’ to Suman and without waiting for her reply headed out to the police station.

                                          ~

 

Mr. Sharma fingered his phone. Anxiety was rolling in again. He had already called Payal ten times a day after the gruesome incident.

 

She had talked patiently every time and assured him that she is fine but he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone will attack Payal too and it would all be his fault. He went out on the balcony and breathed in the aroma of the fields.

How he longed to be a young kid again and run carefree amongst them. But now in his father’s place as a Zamindar life had become too complicated.

The officer had asked whether someone had a grudge against them. Well, all the villagers would surely have a lot of grudges.

He, like his late father, have always kept taxes high, have exploited the peasants and built a mansion on their sufferings.

 

But it was highly unlikely that any of them would kill Avika. How could they even find her? Tears filled his eyes. Could he really have killed his daughter due to his greed? His wife had warned him but he never paid heed. Yes, it was all his fault but he had to save Payal, if someone was striving for revenge then they would kill her too. ‘I will reduce the taxes, allow them more time to pay the dues.’ He frantically thought of the ways to safeguard his family.

His phone rang. It was Payal. His heart skipped a beat as he picked up the phone. “Payal, what--”

But Payal stopped him, “Uncle, they found Avika’s killer”. She exclaimed.

“I am coming, stay in the police station”, he ended the call, thanking God he headed out.

 

 

                                          ~

The officer smirked as he saw Ravi squirming in discomfort in front of him. Ravi spoke up, “I don’t understand officer, why was I brought here in the middle of the night? I didn’t do anything…”

 

The officer shrugged, “Just wanted to ask you some questions.” “Doesn’t look like that, it looks like I am under arrest”, Ravi spoke scornfully, rattling the hand cuffs which bound him to the chair.

The officer replied peacefully, “Well, you can think of it anyway. Ravi Malhotra you are under arrest for the murder of Avika Sharma”.

 

There was a silence for a few beats then Ravi burst out laughing; “Nice try officer.”

 

The officer asked “Mr. Malhotra, on the day of the party can you tell where you have been?”

Ravi spoke quickly, “I was in the hall the entire time; everyone would tell you that”.

 

The officer pushed further, “You didn’t go to the river bank?”

 

Ravi replied with a slight stammer, “Why would I? You can call and ask my friends Mohan, Akash and others. I was in the hall with them throughout.”

 

The officer nodded, “But what about Avika? She was with you.” 

“I don’t know”, Ravi stammered.

 

The officer slammed his fist on the table and Ravi shivered, “Don’t lie to me. Many people have already claimed to see you both together. The CCTV footage shows you both together but there was an hour before midnight when you ordered a blackout. Was it to evade the recording?”

 

Ravi stammered, “This is wrong. I did not kill Avika. I liked her, why would I kill her?”

The officer's eyes shone as he spoke, “There can be many reasons but they will for you to speak in the court. Hawaladar, put him in the lock up”.

Ravi shouted in anger as two police men hauled him out of the chair, “You will pay for this officer, you will pay. My dad will make sure of it. You don’t know my dad.”

The officer smirked, “I know your father and your uncle too, are you sure all his weapons are licensed?” 

The color started to drain from Ravi’s face. The officer was practically bursting with joy, “Oh, and talking of your uncle, his latest gift to you, a pocket knife, wasn’t it? And oh! What a coincidence; Avika Sharma was stabbed to death by a pocket knife. Now Ravi Malhotra please keep quiet and enjoy your night in lockup”.

Ravi was taken out from his chamber and the officer sat down and sipped his tea; he can as well as feel his promotion coming.

                                          ~

February finally rolled in. ``There would at least be less days to cry in this month’, thought Payal as she stood clutching Avika’s photograph to her chest.

From her window she saw Ravi walk back into the college. He seemed a bit jumpy and his hair was ruffled out but overall, he seemed fine.

Payal spoke softly, “They let him free, Avika we lost the case. When money comes in, then things do fall apart.” Her Uncle had tried his hardest but they lacked a major piece of evidence- the pocket knife.

Payal opened her drawer and searched amongst the clothes, “What do you think Avika, should I have left the knife in your body? Would that have made Ravi go to jail?”

 

She paused. “You don’t know?”

Payal chuckled, “Well, Avika there were many things you never knew. You didn’t know I hated you since the age of five. You were beautiful but I was ugly due to these marks. You had both your parents to love you. Everyone thought you were perfect, but when they saw me, they noticed my face and had only sympathetic words to offer. No one bothered to find out I was more intelligent than you. Quicker than you and even better at killing, I suppose.

You could never guess the extent of my jealousy. That one day it will result in your death.

It was so easy to slip the knife from Ravi during the blackout. That stupid, arrogant boy was busy joking around to not notice me nicking it out.

 

You didn’t know death was near when I asked you to come out and enjoy the river. The shock in your eyes was a stamp to all the things you never knew.

 

No Avika, I won’t give away this knife, it will remain as a memorial to you.

It looks as if your secret will remain with the river forever.”