Varuni Villa Part - 2

“Are you a journalist?” Inspector Pawar asked Rohit as he idly mashed a mosquito into a tiny bloody dot on his arm.

“No...actually,” Rohit shifted uneasily in the chair of the local police station and said, “I live in Vani Villa.”

“Did Mehra’s ghost pop out of its grave to shake hands with you?”

“WHAT…? Rohit was evidently irritated.

“Then why are you digging the graves. It’s a closed case now. Why can’t you just let those sleeping dogs lie?”

Rohit’s gaze fell on a few cheap murder mystery novels that were scattered over Pawar’s desk. Crimes were rare in a small town like that and policemen didn’t had much work in their hands.

"Most probably these craps keep him entertained during his long hours in the office," he thought.

Rohit had a brain wave and he said, “Because I am a novelist and I am writing a novel based on the Varuni Villa murder case.”

Pawar jumped up from his chair and said, “Why hadn’t you told me earlier?”

“Calm down, Inspector. All I need to know are the facts that you have told the media and that you haven’t.”

“Shinde…” Pawar shouted at his subordinate, “Bring the file of Varuni Villa murder case. I am a huge fan of murder mysteries, Sir. These books have helped me a lot in solving various cases.”

“Of course Mr Pawar,” Rohit said with a mocking smile.

Shinde obediently brought the file and placed it on the desk.

“As you know Sir, there were no eye witnesses to the incident. According to the postmortem report, the time of death was sometime around midnight. After a preliminary investigation, we have deduced from the circumstantial evidence that a heated argument may have ensued between the husband and wife. The reason of which is still unknown to the rest of the world. Wife stabbed him with a kitchen knife. She hid it in her cupboard and then fled from the town. Police was not able to trace her. May be she has left the country, I guess.”

May I take a few pictures of the case file?” Rohit asked dubiously.

“Oh sure, why not?”

As Rohit flipped through the pages of the file his eyes became fixed on the photograph of the culprit – Mrs Avnita Mehra, who was none other than the girl whom he had seen in his garden last night. A cold sweat ran down from his forehead.

“Thank you, Mr Pawar,” Rohit said as he recovered. “I will not forget to mention your name in the Acknowledgement section of my book.”

“OH… I am honored, Sir,” Pawar’s eyes filled up with gratitude. “Don’t hesitate to ask me if you need any help for your novel.”

“I won’t Mr Pawar,” Rohit said as he got into his car.

In the evening, Rohit was jogging in the nearby park. After completing two rounds he was totally drained and sat upon a bench by the side to have some water.

“Your live in Varuni Villa, isn’t it?”

A man who seemed to be in his late thirties came to sit near him and asked.

“Yes, but how do you know?”

“Hi I am Vikas Chauhan.” He said as he shook hands with Rohit, “I am your neighbor.”

“Please to meet you Vikas.”

“Varun and Avani were also my friends,” Vikas said with a long face.

“Yes, I have heard about it.”

“They were so madly in love with each other. I still could not convince myself that Avani could kill her Varun although all the evidences are against her.”

“You were their neighbor. Did you hear any noises or notice anything suspicious?”

“I was suspicious of only one man – Neeraj, Varun’s best buddy and business partner. The guy is a real villain, shrewd, cold and inhumane. He can go to any limit for his benefit. I had warned Varun against him many times but he would not just hear a word of it. Many-a-times, I had noticed him staring at Avani the way he should not.”

“Do you think he has anything to do with the murder?”

“Well… according to the police records, he was out of town that night and so was I. Anyway, police has closed the case a long time ago.” He said as he let out a sigh, “It’s getting late and I have to leave. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

“Same here.”