THE ZODIAC WHEEL - Part I

THE ZODIAC WHEEL – Part 1

-Shivam Murari

In life, we often cross paths with our alter egos. More often than not, we hate them to the core. For, we profoundly criticize those qualities in others that we secretly hate about ourselves.

Aman was a diligent hardworking scientist. Was. Now his wrecked body was lying on the desk where, earlier, his towering files of completed work had stood. His files, all on the ground. The optical tube of his telescope, with which his head had been smashed, was half outside the window, all bloodied up. The eyepiece had been broken and punched into his chest. Papers from his files appeared to have been deliberately spread up in the cabin suggesting pre-murder struggle and a tensed look of a murder scene.

While the forensic department scanned the area, the inspector talked with a mourning Shibu. A thin, curly haired, tall man with sharp eyes, Shibu was a very close friend of Aman. Private detective by profession, Shibu was the first person to be informed about the murder when Aman’s research assistant arrived at 7 am that morning.

“Small talk aside, inspector, I really wish if I could contribute to the investigation of this case”, Shibu said, visibly tired of the inspector’s words penetrating his private life.

“As comfortably easy as that sounds, Shibu, neither the family nor the company has approached you for investigation.” Inspector Palla stopped to let out a burp. “The case, as of now, will be handled by the police.”

“I’m sure that Nilisha will ask me to handle the case as soon as she gets the time to.” Shibu said patiently.

“As of now, we’d appreciate any leads you may have to offer and as much distance as you can maintain from the crime scene.” Inspector Palla walked away letting out another burp with painful expressions.

Prevented from entering the crime scene, Shibu went to the office of the president of Indian Science Research Corporation (ISRC). The label read Varun Agrawal. Shibu smiled, reminiscent of Agrawal-Agarwal jokes he used to make about Aman and Varun in college.

His hand automatically reached out for the doorknob, but then he retracted and knocked the door. Varun was now the president of an MNC, he thought. A soft voice from inside was followed by Varun’s secretary smiling and unlocking the door from outside and leading Shibu in. Varun and Nilisha were seated on opposite sides of his desk.

“Hey! How’s my friend!” said an enthusiastic voice, while his body didn’t show the same enthusiasm.

Shibu seated himself next to Nilisha, “I had told him his habit of working up late will get him some day. Didn’t know it would be this way.”

“Such a dedicated lad”, Nilisha’s voice so soft and quite. “It’s sad he had such a pitiable end. God is cruel.”

“Admirable sentiments aside,” Shibu said without looking at Nilisha, “when are you going to hire me on this case? I require the permission of the company and the family to get in on this one.”

“I think the CBI is doing a fine work. They have forensics over and they’re digging. We’d have the killer recognized by the end of the day. By the look of the room, the crime looks pretty reckless.” Varun commented matter-of-factly.

“You got to see the room?” Shibu said, confused.

“Yeah, they let me and him in. I’m the CEO, he is the president. We own this company.” Nilisha said proudly.

“You know I am efficient enough and I am far too intrigued to let any information pass. At least let me inspect the area.” Shibu said ignoring Nilisha.

“I don’t know about that, man. I don’t want to interrupt their work, really!”

Shibu knew he wasn’t getting any help here. He got up and left the office.

***

Nilisha unlocked the door of her house, turned on the light, swung her purse aside and sunk into the sofa. Her brother, Shubham, was looking at her I-am-swamped routine and smirking. Nilisha didn’t care to ask the reason and got up to grab a beer from the fridge.

“You do know Aman was super organized, don’t you?” Shubham continued to smirk.

“So?” Nilisha said, scrolling through the reminders on her iPhone.

“Missing files will not be too tough to find.” Shubham said.

Nilisha looked at him, her brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Just saying that even though there was a massacre of files on the death scene, a missing file won’t be too hard to notice, given his file numbering system.” Shubham smirked and made a scathing laughter sound.

Nilisha walked into her room without another word.

***

“Time != Money, dad. Also work != everything” Shivam texted.

“If your novice coding practice is over, can we close whatsapp?” Shibu said out loud, smiling briefly.

“Dad! I’m easing down for you! Anyway, you’re struggling way too hard on this case.” Shivam said disapprovingly.

“He’s my friend, your uncle Aman-”

“Uncle, mom, whatever.”

“Now! We do not speak ill of the dead. I have made up my mind.” Shibu said lost in thoughts. There is something really fishy going down at ISRC. The murderer is one of them. I just have to find the proof.

“Those people are not only going to be non-cooperative, they’re also going to cause hindrances. You know you hate that woman Nilisha for a reason.” Shivam said with a tone of urgency.

“Yes that woman is a walking-talking pile of hindrances. Spoilt my friendship with Varun.” Shibu mumbled as he pressed his forehead against his palm. “If it’s going to be a long running case, so be it.” He said letting out a sigh and got up.

“If anything happens to me, remember your dream of pursuing Computer Science at Harvard won’t be hindered.” Shibu said and left the drawing room without hearing Shivam’s response.

He was about to go lie on his bed when Anurag came in whining about how Shivam had used cheat codes in a game and ruined the experience and Divyanshu had thrashed him in wrestling.

“Why do we even have to tolerate him dad? Now Aman uncle is gone, send Divyanshu back.” Anurag said.

“He needs us now more than ever.” Said Shibu taking off his glasses and putting them on the side table of his bed.

“But Dad! He’s an adult! He can take care of himself!” Anurag said lowering his voice yet maintaining the squeakiness in it, “Besides, you are busy with this case. You travel miles away and you spend all day. You said, sometimes, you may be gone for weeks. I am not living under the same roof as….” he looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping “some low class adopted boy!”

“Is this what I have taught you!” Shibu said with a raised voice. “What world are you living in? Your mother infiltrated your brain with piles of garbage before she left, didn’t she?” Shibu said sitting up. “Now go back to your room. You’re grounded till you learn to behave!”

Anurag gave an offended look and went out.

Shibu’s mobile buzzed. He checked the message.

“We hire you for the case. Let’s meet tomorrow. GN. ~Nilisha.”

***

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea.” Varun’s voice sounded genuinely concerned.

“It is our best option. Believe me, I’ve inherited a lot of intelligence from my mom Aria.” Nilisha said with pride. “Just stick to what I’ve suggested to you.” Her Ss sounded very high pitched.

“Good morning people.” Shibu came in, led by Varun’s secretary and seated himself next to Nilisha and nodded to her fake-smile.

They discussed the parameters of the case and limitations to be maintained. Conditions were agreed upon and Shibu was hired.

“So let us get you a coffee.” Nilisha said with her ear-piercing shrill voice and buzzed the secretary in with three cups of coffee. The secretary handed coffee to Varun and Nilisha. Shibu asked her to put it on the table and took it after she left.

***

A week later.

A sound of knock.

“Uncle?” Divyanshu was peeking through the half-open door of the house library. Shibu signaled him to wait outside. He folded up his notes and put them inside the folder along with the documents that came in the folder this morning from an anonymous source. He then put the folder in the lowermost drawer of an old almirah, far off into the room, took off his new latex gloves, switched off the lights and came out.

“Yes, son?” Shibu said signaling Divyanshu to sit down.

“Uncle, the call from IMA has come. I have to get tickets done for Dehradun.” Divyanshu said looking straight into Shibu’s eyes.

“Your dad has just …” Shibu hesitated, “…. passed away. I mean you have held up really well and I understand when military calls one has to go but given the circumstances, it must be so hard for you. Is there nothing you could do?”

“Uncle I chose to become India’s son the day I started dreaming of joining NDA. I love my father; I’m going to miss him. But I know, as work-oriented as he was, he’d be happier to see me getting trained to protect our nation.” Divyanshu stood up. “I know you will find the murderer soon uncle. I trust you. I hope you will bring justice to him as soon as you could.”

“Yes.” Shibu couldn’t look into his eyes but said with angst in his voice “Yes I would.”

***

“I would gladly agree to that. You can ask Waris. He has some great insights in the area. I will connect you to him.” Nilisha stopped and pretended to listen to what the caller was saying as she scratched something on her notepad. “Yes he is a new guy, but Prahalad trusts him and we all know that man won’t let loose a rupee on someone he doesn’t entirely trust.” She chuckled. “Sure… All the best. Hmm.”

Nilisha tapped End Call on her iPhone, retracted her fake-excited aura and resumed her bare smile as she looked back at Shibu.

“So Shibu I believe you have some lead on the case. Sorry, Varun won’t be joining us today. He has gone to Cambridge with his wife to meet his daughter. Family time is also important, you know.” Nilisha said with a cold smile.

“You mean the same family he is cheating on with you?” Shibu challenged monotonously.

Nilisha’s expressions changed from feigned smile to furrowed brow and dry lips to placid to smile again, in a matter of seconds.

“I have found out those pictures of you and Varun going at each other. The ones that Aman had found out as well. I’ve found out your motive” Shibu got up and walked close to Nilisha. “You’re going to jail for this one. You’re not going to get away like you did all those years ago. This time the mud will stick. Confess and your punishment maybe reduced.”

Nilisha continued to smile as she looked at him with a tilted head from the corner of her eyes.

***

Nilisha unlocked the door of her house, turned on the light, swung her purse aside and sunk into the sofa. Her brother, Shubham, was looking at her I-am-swamped routine and smirking. For the first time, Nilisha looked back at him and smiled. Shubham was taken aback. She took the remote from him and turned on a news channel.

BREAKING NEWS: Famous detective Shibu Mohan accused of murdering Aman Agarwal!!!

Shubham was stumped. It was Nilisha’s turn to smirk.

“You never cease to surprise me, sister. How did you manage it this time?” Shubham asked with a dry voice.

“Remember how we talked about no fingerprints being found on the optical tube or anywhere at the crime scene.” As usual her question sounded more like a statement. “We found the gloves that were used to commit the murder. Aman had been poisoned before, the Post Mortem revealed. He was already dead. But this paranoid fool didn’t want to take any risk. Aman had dinner with Shibu that night, we confirmed. That’s when he must have slipped the poison into his drink. The fool forgot to destroy the gloves properly. They were cut up but the forensics traced his finger prints and the name of his company on one of the pieces. Shibu Investigative Services.” Nilisha chuckled.

Nilisha stood up, walked to the fridge, grabbed a beer, gulped several sips and resumed, 

“When poor Shibu… ah, NO!” Nilisha shook her head frivolously and giggled drunkenly, “Murderer Shibu entered my office to frame me for a crime that he had committed and along with that to degrade the name of ISRC by throwing scum at me and Varun, he was overconfident about his amateurish crime. What did he learn as a famous PI?” Nilisha 

snorted sarcastically.

“The murder looked far more complicated than that.” Shubham said seriously.

“He might have used some oil on his hand or something, they found bits of leather, which might have, anyway, gotten stuck to the gloves in the drain.” Nilisha’s voice drowned in the beer.

Shubham stared at her in disbelief.

*******

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PREVIEW: The Zodiac Wheel – Part II

After committing a crime, a criminal usually doesn’t stop with one. When life unfolds its further complications, the choice between what is easy and what is right becomes a tough one and we usually turn to the old tested ways to succeed. That is when our lessons of History come of use.

In the next part, discover the politics at ISRC get uglier as humanity dies a thousand deaths. Find the innocent helpless, the powerful powerless and the unsuspected villainous, as the three generations take to war.

PART II out now. CLICK HERE TO READ IT.

© Shivam Murari