CH 1 A RELAXATION
The sun rose as usual. The residents of the city woke up with a cheer to see the Saturday. They had finally got a weekend after 5 days of hard work. And now, many people came out to go to parks, playgrounds etc to cheer up themselves. Children were so happy because this day was the beginning of their summer holidays, which had no chance of ending for 45 days. And, this created a feeling of happiness in children which would last long.
One can see many cars and bikes driving towards the seashore, that is, beach. The newly-laid roads of the city were crowded with crazy people who were enjoying the day. It was the beautiful scene of sun rise in the beach, which was not enjoyed by many people because of work pressure. But, I wanted to enjoy my life with the nature.
So, I took my car and went through the busy roads of the city, to reach my destiny. Once I went there, I went nearer to the waves and sat there, enjoying the cool sea breeze. I was able to see many people walking and jogging here and there which they thought as a necessary thing for their fitness. But as I am a bit lazy, I liked to lie down on the lap of the beach sand, which was happier to me than anything. I lay down on the beach. I was able to see a man coming nearer to me who I recognized as my friend.
But, he was not my regular friend. I mean a person whom I last saw at my age of 14, which was 20 yrs before. At once, I found that he failed to recognize me as Kumar, his childhood friend. But I refused to give up.
I stood in front of him, much to his annoyance. I found suspicion in his face. I tried to make him remember by some ways.
I said, “Hello. Don’t you remember me? I’m Kumar, your school friend.”
He said, “I do not recognize you.”
He dropped his license. I saw that his date of birth was in 1986. He is 2 yrs younger than me. Yes, I have mistaken
He said this and retraced his path towards the beach road. So disappointed, I was, by his words. It was a nice day. It was 6:30 in the morning. I always wanted a day like this. So enchanting it was. I lay down there, in the sand. I was enjoying the scene of sunrise. My mind was full of absolute silence as I slept… the silence was broken by a hand, which woke me up. The man said, “hi, Kumar. Don’t you remember me? I’m Harish.”
I was shocked at once. I did not expect the same man to return back to me and say these words. I said, “But you did not recognize me, I think?”
He said, “No, I recognized you at once. Now leave all those meaningless conversation. Come to my home, it is next to the beach.”
I asked him, “What is your age. I often forget my age.”
He said, “34. And so you are also 34.”
As we walked along the beach, I was exhausted. He laughed, saying, “You are so weak. I walk this distance daily.”
I was so puzzled about the matter that the man who said me as being mistaken returned to me and recognized me as his friend.
We reached his home, which was a big one. It had a lawn, which was the double the size of my house. I lived in flats. I was not a rich person to own such a large house. As I am a police man, I don’t get much to build a large house, but I like the job of maintaining the justice. And as I entered his home, I was shocked to see a well-built pit-bull dog, which looked so hazardous for me. I am always afraid of dogs. So I requested him to move the dog from the house. As he did so, I was relieved so much and I entered the house. It was beautifully painted, because it was painted with my favorite colors.
I had a cup of coffee in his house. We waved our hands and parted at 10’o’ clock. It took a long time for me to get off him. And I returned to my home. When I returned, I saw a car riding on the beach sand, which I thought as, unwanted.
CH 2 A SHOCK
After returning home, I got a call. A woman said to me, “oh. Please come back. Don’t you know that Harish is dead?”
As I heard the news, I was taken aback. I was surprised to see that the man I met just now has been found dead. It was half past ten when I heard the news, and it was ten when I last saw him.
I thought that day was a day of unusual happenings. At first, I met with my old friend who took a long time to recognize me. And the next hour, I saw him to be dead.
I can’t help myself from going to Harish’s house. At once, I took my car and rode it straight towards Harish’s house.
As I reached his house, I was able to meet a no of people. I also met with a boy of about 10.
An old lady, who I understood as the mother of the victim, advanced towards me. She said, “My son died of a cardiac arrest. He has been a heart patient for past 5 years. I knew that he would not live till his old age. But I did not know that he will leave his 5 year old son…” she broke down and sobbed. The scene was totally pathetic.
Harish’s son advanced towards his grandmother, “where is dad? He said he will play with me at 11:00. See, I am waiting for him. I also have bat and ball. Where is he?”
She hugged him and said, “Your father cannot come.” I looked into her to correct her words. I tried to stop her from saying the truth.
She continued, “I mean. He has work. He has gone to the shop. He also said that he has to go on a business trip to the US. He will return only after a year.”
I appreciated her cleverness.
“I have another problem. Harish’s wife has gone to her mother’s house. She will return by the evening. What could I do?” said the mother.
I said, “let us first look into the case. I want some details about what had happened. His death took place between ten and half past ten, as you said.”
She said, “yes, sir. It was quarter past ten. I saw the clock.”
I said, “Okay. Can you please tell me what you were doing at that time?”
She said, “I was chopping vegetables. I suddenly heard a sound. I came out of the kitchen to see my son…” she broke down.
I said, “are you sure that it was the sound made by your son?”
She said, “Yes.” “How did you know that your son died of a cardiac arrest?”I asked.
She said, “The doctor said it. I shall be obliged if you meet him.”
I said, “of course.”
I was introduced to a tall man who she told me as the doctor.
I sank myself into an easy chair. I said, “well, are you sure that he died of a cardiac arrest?”
He said, “no, sir. I did not check it. I want to go to check.”
I saw the old lady calling the doctor to the kitchen.
Pity old lady, I thought, had assumed the reason for her son’s death.
He went out. I was not satisfied because Harish first said he did not recognize me and he came back and said he recognized me. I kept on thinking for a while. I called the old lady and requested her to get me a cup of coffee. I drank it. As I was drinking, I thought about the logic of the information given to me by the 2 persons.
I went down and sat on the same chair. I continued thinking. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of the clock. It was quarter to 11. The 10 yr old boy in the house came running inside the house. He shouted, “Grandma. Why did you fasten the clocks all over the house?”
She replied, “I had fastened it yesterday morning, so that you would be scared of time.”
CH 3 ASTONISHING OUTCOMES
I got confused. I scratched my head. I thought a lot about this time matter when the silence was finally broke by the doctor. He said, “Are you a friend of Harish? His mother said me.”
I replied, “Yes. I have studied with him in the higher secondary level. My name is Kumar.”
He exclaimed, “Even I studied with him in the same period. I have recognized you. My name is Deepak.”
I said, “Oh yes. I see. I recognized you too. Those days are always…………..”
And we started the usual conversation which takes place between old friends.
He said, “Ha! Do you remember that Harish was 2 yrs younger than us? He must be 32 at the moment.”
I remembered something. I then asked to him, “Are you sure?”
He said of course. I recalled all the things that happened today morning. I was confused a lot.
I suddenly got a message. I took my phone to see that. It was a usual advertisement. As I turned my phone, I saw that the back cover of my phone has been changed. I searched some contacts only to know that this was not my phone at all.
I walked here and there to think. I saw the old lady waiting for someone to come to the house.
I called my number from this unknown phone to know who was having my phone. The call was attended, “hello.” I said “I think that you have my phone. We have interchanged our phones as we both have the same Moto c plus model with same color. So let’s meet at the beach to get back our phones.”
He forgot to cut the call, and he was saying, “Hey! Come back to our home. How long should I wait outside to get the house key?”
As I said a man came to the beach. He was covered his face with a cloth in order to reduce the effect of sun’s heat, I guessed. I got back my phone.
And suddenly, I got a new way. I got the whole thing clear. I went straight to the house and sat in front of the doctor.
He said, “I feel something unusual here.”
I said, “today, what we think had happened actually did not happen. Today morning, when I went to the beach, I saw Harish. At first he did not recognize me. But after some time he came back to me saying he recognized me. I assume that the men who did not recognize me and who recognized are completely different persons.”
He asked, “How could it be?”
I said, “Because, the person who recognized me said that his age was 34 and his visiting card also said that he was. But actual Harish was 2 yrs younger than us, that is, 32. How it could be, I thought for a while. I assume that the man who I met first is Harish, because I caught a glimpse of his driving license, which had date of birth at 1986. So his age is 32. And he also looked like Harish. The other man said his own age.”
And now, how did some other man know that I had met Harish and he did not recognize me. So they must have met each other. And they must have been close enough to share these silly things. And if they had met each other, where did the first man go. I did not see him after that. They may not have interchanged their place in between because the other man was with me. I got the answer for this question from the time matter. You said that Harish died at 10:15 seeing the clock of this house. But the boy just said that the clocks in the house had been fastened. So, 10:15 is not the correct time of his death. 9:45 was the correct time. But, at that time, both the persons who looked like Harish were at the beach. So, this pushed me to the conclusion that Harish died in the beach. Why did the grandma hide the truth from me? Why did she say it was a cardiac arrest? Why did she want to show it like a natural death?
Deepak interrupted me, “the first man you met could have come back to home and died. The old woman herself could have forgotten that she had fastened the time.”
I said, “He could not have come back because I did not see anyone like him coming in my direction.”
He accepted and I continued, “I also saw a car driving towards the beach. I also saw the same car in this house. Which mean that Harish’s body has been shifted to the house by the car? And so, Harish did not die. He has been sent to death. The both person would have met each other and one would have been killed by the other. The other man came to me instantly and took me to his house so that I would not get a chance to look at the latter’s death. He may have come to know that I was his friend and I did not recognize him by the conversation with the real Harish.”
He said, “Okay. But how can you prove the old lady to be guilty?”
I said, “Because she did not want to call me at all. She wanted to call the real murderer, but, as I had his phone, I attended the call and came here. All their plans were perfect. Their only mistake is, the old lady called me instead of calling the murderer.”
He said, “Clever. Very clever.”
CH 4 THE CAUSE
We went down to see the old lady talking to a man. She said, “we have succeeded. But I did not know how this man came. But anyway, I did it. At last, you, my 1st son made me to assist you in the death of 2nd son.” And she cried a bit.
I said, “see, my assumptions are right.”
he laughed and appreciated me. We did not want to disturb the sentimental family scene. So we came out of the room.
We see that the grandma did not wish for her son’s death. But still, she had done it. Why?
I didn’t see any motive in this crime. I wanted to find it. So I called Deepak we both went to the beach. I saw the same red cloth lying there which I saw when I came here to get my phone.
I checked my phone. I saw that there were some business calls from this phone. It was not sent from me. It was done by that man. I thought that he did this before he recognized it was not his phone.
I did not understand one thing. Whose house was that? I’m sure that it was not the house of the murderer, because he gave me his visiting card which was of a normal company. A man working in a normal company could not build such a large house in the city side. His work was also not related to business. And harish’s work was related to business. And I see business calls in my phone. So, what could I say from that? I turned to my friend. He saw my eyes sparkling. I said,
“he started replacing his dead brother as soon as possible. He took up his brother’s business. Why should he hurry? It is always known that after a murder, the first thing a murderer does is to hide the murder. And he had already done that. And the 2nd thing a murderer does is to fulfill his need. For example, if a murder is done to escape from the place, the murderer first does the escaping job. And if the first work done by the murderer is to replace his brother in business, what could the motive be? The answer is obvious. His motive was to replace his brother to become rich. The old mother wanted her son to become rich and so supported this. At last, she is heartbroken.”
My friend was astonished. We went to the house and called the two persons. I said, “I, inspector Kumar, charge you both for the murder of Mr. Harish, a businessman and of course, your brother.”
I showed my gun to them and they accepted their crime. And so, from this story, we see nothing but, police have no holiday. Even if there is a holiday, there will be an agent who would surely come to spoil it.
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