The Last Wish

The pardon

"Do you remember? You asked me to catch the mouse and kill it. I was postponing for a long time. So you placed a mouse cage. Once it was trapped you asked me to kill it." questioned Ramana to his wife, and before she answered, he went on.

"I did not kill it. Instead, I left it in the open woods. Do you know why? Because my parents taught me that only Mahashiva decides the death or life of a being."

Ramana's wife's face turned red, "I did all the work to catch the mouse, and you could not kill it? What a wuss you are?"

"It was not like I did not hate that thing. The mouse ate a few wires on my precious Polo car, and I spent one and a half lakhs servicing it. Even then, I decided to let it go."

"Pardoned a mouse? What man are you?" loudly murmured his wife.

Ramana was a hangman at a remote jail in the country. He completed 30 years of service without having to hang anyone. That week was, however, going to change everything. A prisoner was waiting for the president's pardon. The chances of amendment of death to life were little. So started the long rants of life and death at Ramana's house.

Vintage 

Even after reaching the prison, Ramana continued to pray for the man. However, as the man on duty was preparing for the day of hanging. He checked on the noose. Got the new cloth to cover the man's face ready. He spent time inspecting the scaffold and found it was strong even after 75+ years, thanks to vintage work. The only issue he came across was with the pulley. Due to long years of not being in use, it was stuck. Immediately he ran to the officer.

"Sir, the pulley is stuck. I think it will not work. We might have to postpone everything.", Ramana announced loudly, ignoring the commotion in the room. 

"Get lost, you idiot", shouted the officer.

"Sir, but the pulley".

Before Ramana could finish, the officer stopped him, "Go and put some oil on the edges", dismissed the officer, and continued the conversation.

Returning to their serious conversation, the Superintendent asked, "Is it his last wish?" 

"Yes." replied the Inspector General.

"Tough last wish."

"I know. How can we get that detective now? He retired 15 years ago. We don't know if he is alive or not." 

"Try and find out his whereabouts."

"Yeah. But to what end?"

"Don't be like that. The man also must be struggling to function, like that pulley. We can do our job and then say he is not available."

Closure

To the luck of the officer and the convict, the detective was alive and was ready to meet the prisoner. But, he had a condition and was struggling to walk. So, he requested for his daughter to be allowed to accompany him. The officer readily agreed. 

They were to come any moment, and the officer was waiting near the door. The president's letter came the day before, and the president rejected the pardon. The officer was anxious as that was the last day before hanging. His eyes were fixed on the door anticipating their visit. The door opened, and in came an aged man wearing a white shirt and khaki pants, who stepped in. Following him was a lady, probably in her 40's. He introduced himself and thanked them for coming. The lady and the man were surprised by the welcome. The officer did not read much into it. 

Officer took them to a room, where the convict was waiting. He was in handcuffs on one side of the table. A guard was outside the room, ready to take action if he got aggressive. The lady and the man were seated on squeaking old iron chairs on the other side of the table. 

"We will be just outside, and if anything is required, call us", said the officer, leaving the room.

Convict: You got the wrong man

Absolute silence from both the lady and the man.

"Your father got the wrong man. I was not in town when the murders happened. I was in a different city that day", said the convict wiping his tears. 

The man did not respond. He just looked at the lady to say something.

"You said that during your case. You had no proof, and no one believed you.", replied the lady.

"That is the point. Proof. None who saw me that day came forward".

"Do you know why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Have you asked yourself all these days why?"

"Yes, I was dying trying to figure out all these years. But could not come with an explanation."

"I know why. It is known as karma."

The convict was confused about why the lady hated him so much, and the man was silent.

The lady continued.

"I waited all these years to tell you this. You did not rape any girl that day, or you did not kill anyone that day."

The convict's face turned a mix of happiness and sadness. He was hoping for the man to say something or do something to stop the hanging. But the man did not react to his face.

The lady continued, "But, that girl died because of you. She died not knowing what she did wrong. I wanted you to die like her, not knowing what you did. But my father convinced me to tell you today. Only if you knew what you did can my father have closure. "

What's the truth?

There was a knock on the door of the jail. The door opened, and an aged man in a wheelchair came in. He was accompanied by a lady. They were taken into the officer's room. The officer enquired the constable, "Who is this?"

"The detective you asked for."

"Who was the one who came earlier?"

"They said they were his family and wanted the last visit", replied the constable.

"Why, no one told me?"

"You did not ask us, sir", replied the constable politely.

The officer ran to the room. As he was reaching the room, he saw the man and the lady coming out of the room. They were wiping off their eyes. The faces, however, looked happy and very relaxed. He also heard the prisoner shouting, "I am sorry", from inside the room.

Stopping them, the officer asked, "Who are you?"

"We are his distant relatives?" replied the aged man.

"But, I thought you were the detective in this case."

"We did not tell anything of that sort. We requested a visit as relatives."

Officer also had no other comeback. But, as the in-charge of the prison, he asked them to leave the premises immediately, in an angry voice.

He then called the detective and his daughter into the waiting room. This time he also stayed next to the prisoner. Surprisingly the prisoner had nothing to say. In an angry tone, the officer asked, "You asked for this man. He is here. Tell him what you want to tell him."

"I wanted to say to him he convicted the wrong man. But, now I am not sure of anything. Sorry for calling you here. Please, go away", the convict said, crying. 

The officer took the detective and his daughter to his office. He ordered some coffee for them and started chatting.

"What do you think all this was about?" asked the officer.

"It was common for every prisoner to say they were innocent, nothing new", replied the detective.

"But, why now? What is he getting? "

"His lawyers would have given him some advice. Helping the presidential pardon or something."

"The president did not give him any pardon."

"I don't see any reason for me to be here. Can I leave now?", asked the detective.

"Okay, sir. Thanks for coming." said the officer, bidding goodbye.

As the detective was leaving, he remembered something. He quickly asked his daughter to take him back to the officer. 

The officer was puzzled seeing the man back in his room.

"As I was entering, I saw an aged man leaving the prison cell, who is he?" asked the detective.

"They said they are the convict's relatives."

"No, they are not", announced the detective.

"How do you know, sir?" asked the officer.

"I know the old man very well. He came to my station for three years, every day."

"Every day for three years?

"Yes."

"But the real question is, what's that man doing here? What has he got to do with the convict?" asked the officer.

"That question only made me come back." said the detective.

"When you called me about his case, I got all the copies of the case with me. See here there is a maroon colour dress piece drenched in blood. There is also traces of semen next to it."

The officer nodded a yes, in reply.

"This here is the bike of the convict. You can see a small red cloth hanging on the silencer. That was the clue that convinced us that we got our man. When we asked about his whereabouts that day, he did not give us convincing answers. He kept changing the story. After probing a lot, he said he was there where we found the blood. But he said he was there with his lover. They met in that abandoned spot for teenage fun."

Officer had nothing to add but watch the detective in awe.

"To cover all angles, we enquired. In our enquiry, we could not find the lover. All his friends heard his love story, but no one saw the girl. When his friends asked about her, he kept giving unclear responses. So, we concluded there was never a lover."

Finally, the inspector asked, "Why are you telling me all this now?"

"The man we saw."

"What about him?"

"His daughter was killed in an accident. A minor kid learning to ride a bike ran over his daughter. He wanted to convict the man who caused the accident. As he was a minor, he hardly got any punishment. The man was not ready to let go. He spent all his money on lawyers chasing the case for years."

"Are you saying the two cases are related?"

"Possible. See this picture. Do you recognise the girl here?" asked the detective, pointing to a silhouette of a girl, in the file photo.

The officer could not identify who was in it and nodded to say No.

"She is the one who came with the old man. If I understand right, she was the lover. She had sex with him that day."

"I did not understand", said the officer.

"The father must be miserable after all that happened in the case. So, the girl decides to take revenge. She makes him fall in love with him and creates a scene of rape and murder. She had sex with him for the semen as a solid proof."

"A common middle-class family can do this?"

"Middle-class families go to any lengths for their own."

P.S: Ramana came back home from prison. His wife was still angry with him for letting go of the mouse. He said, "I did not kill the mouse. But it did not live long. A cat came running as I was about to open the cage and caught it in its mouth. Everyone needs to pay the due for their karma in this life. One more lesson my father told me."