Patang (16 page)

Rathod knocked on the door of the interrogation room and a constable opened it. Aditya entered the room and Rathod followed him inside. The door was shut behind them.

In the middle of the room, Iliyas Raza sat in a chair with his head held high and an enraged expression on his face. Two officers in plain clothes were speaking to him. Bhave was standing at a distance and greeted Rathod with a soft nod. Rathod walked up to him and asked softly, ‘What’s he saying?’

Bhave brought his mouth close to Rathod’s ears and said, ‘The usual.’

A rugged-looking plain-clothes officer sat on the table in front of Iliyas and said, ‘You do know that you can’t lie to us inside this room, don’t you? Why are you lying then?’

Iliyas looked at the officer with an expression that would send cold shivers down anyone’s spine. But it failed to have its intended effect on the officer, who was clearly cut out for the job.

‘I’m not lying,’ Iliyas said in a hoarse voice.

Another plain-clothes officer strolled down casually from the other end of the room and stood before Iliyas. Then he stooped down and brought his face uncomfortably close to Iliyas’s and asked in the most casual manner, ‘Why did you kill your brother?’

‘I didn’t kill anyone!’ Iliyas screamed, making the second officer retract his face an inch or two.

The two officers began to slap Iliyas around, softly at first, then with increasing intensity and frequency. Rathod saw Inspector Aditya observing Iliyas’s expressions keenly.Very soon, Iliyas was in bad shape, although it was quite evident that he was not about to break down.

Bhave said, this time out loud, so that everyone in the room could hear him, ‘It’s going to be a long night!’

Rathod made up his mind. He turned towards Bhave and
said in a low voice, ‘Listen, I know it’s highly unusual, and feel free to say no, but I’d like to speak with him for a few minutes.’

Bhave shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Yeah, all right.’

‘Alone,’ Rathod added.

Bhave had clearly not expected this. He stared at Rathod for a while. Then he nodded his head and said loudly, ‘Everyone… clear the room for 10 minutes.’

As the others began walking towards the door, Inspector Aditya walked up to Rathod and said eagerly, ‘Sir, is it all right if I stay?’

Rathod thought for a few moments and nodded. ‘All right.’ Then he looked at Bhave and said, ‘Thank you, I really appreciate it.’ Bhave shook his head understandingly and walked out. As the heavy door clanged shut behind them, Rathod drew a chair and sat in front of Iliyas. Aditya stood a short distance away.

Iliyas seemed to be quite shocked at being roughed up. He wiped a small trickle of blood flowing down the corner of his lips and looked at Rathod, breathing heavily as he did. Rathod’s voice boomed across the table, ‘Do you know how your brother died?’

Aditya glanced at Rathod and then watched Iliyas’s expressions closely. Iliyas looked at Rathod coldly and said briefly, ‘No.’

‘Someone took him to an abandoned steel mill, tied his hand and feet to poles set up in front of a high-speed industrial cooling fan and switched it on. His backbone snapped into two pieces…like a twig.’

For several seconds, Iliyas looked at Rathod with a horrified expression of shock and disbelief. Rathod and Inspector Aditya exchanged glances. Then Rathod calmly said, ‘I know you had nothing to do with your brother’s murder.’

Iliyas was looking at the strange man in front of him and trying to gauge if he was playing games with him.

‘You may be aggressive and obstinate, like a mule,’ Rathod continued, ‘but you are not an idiot. You know that killing your brother wouldn’t get you your share of your father’s fortune. In fact, your benefit lay in him being afraid, not in his death. At the same time, you are not smart enough to devise the gruesome way in which he was killed. Neither you, nor any of the men that you are being accused of having hired to do the job.’

There was absolute silence in the room. Iliyas was breathing normally again, although he looked at Rathod with suspicion in his eyes.

‘But you see, Iliyas, we need to find the killer. It’s a job, and like any other job we want to finish this off as quickly as we can so that we can all go home. So, your saying “I don’t know” to everything we ask you doesn’t cut it. Because, trust me when I tell you, if I leave this room without any answers, those guys will come back and keep you up all night. And no matter how strong you are, no matter how obstinate, I can assure you that you will confess to having killed your brother by tomorrow morning, even if you didn’t. I
absolutely
guarantee that.’

A slight tremor shook Iliyas’s shoulders briefly.

‘You are a businessman, Iliyas,’ Rathod continued. ‘You understand the concept of profit and loss, don’t you? You see, it is in your best interest to work with me on this. Help me identify your brother’s killer. For your own sake.’

There was a brief pause before Iliyas said, ‘What do you want to know?’

‘Did your brother have any enemies?’

‘He had lots of enemies…he was stupid, and he was greedy, and dishonest,’ Iliyas screamed.

Rathod thought for a few seconds and then pulled his chair closer to him.

‘Yes, but did he have any enemies who would do
that
to him?’

Iliyas thought for some time and nodded his head. ‘No, I don’t think so.’

‘Did he seem unusually disturbed or scared or excited in the last few days?’

‘How should I know? We live in our own worlds, and I hardly met him. The times I did meet him – yeah, he seemed pretty disturbed to see me!’

Rathod paused for a few seconds and said, ‘I’m going to give you a few names. Tell me if your brother had any dealings with these people.’

‘All right…’

‘Father Raphael Patton.’

From the corner of his eyes, Rathod saw Aditya steal a glance at him.

‘Who?’ Iliyas grimaced.

‘Never mind,’ said Rathod. ‘Sukhdeo Saran. Builder.’

‘Wasn’t he murdered a few months ago?’

‘Yes. Did your brother have any dealings with him?’

‘No…at least none that I know of. I just saw his name on TV.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure.’

‘All right…Rudolph D’Costa?’

‘No…who is he?’

Rathod didn’t respond. He was silent for some time. Then he asked, ‘When did you last see your brother?’

‘About a week ago.’

‘You had gone to his house to threaten him?’

‘Yes, and why wouldn’t I? He forced my father…’

Rathod shut his eyes and raised a hand. ‘Was he at home?’

‘You bet he was. He must have crapped in his pants after I was done speaking with him.’

‘And then you left?’

‘Yes.’

‘Where did you go after that?’

‘I went home. You can ask my…my…girlfriend. She was at my place that night.’

‘I believe you. Was that the last time you saw him?’

‘Yes.’

‘You never called him or met him after that?’

‘No…it seems the asshole had come to you people to complain against me, like a sissy girl, and Bhave Sir called me here and gave me a warning. What could I do? No point picking a fight with the police, I told myself. I went home, drank the fuck out of my head and passed out. I realized I had to lie low for some time.’

Rathod stared at Iliyas for a long time. ‘Iliyas, I want you to tell me the truth,’ he said slowly. ‘Did you happen to meet your brother yesterday, or did you speak to him? Think carefully before you answer that.’

For several seconds, Iliyas stared right back at Rathod. Inspector Aditya’s eyes were locked on to him as well. Finally, Iliyas said, ‘No.’

Rathod realized he had hit a dead end. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t think of anything else to ask Iliyas at the moment. He rose from his chair, gesturing towards Aditya to follow him and turned towards the door.

‘But I tried to,’ Iliyas’s voice piped up from behind them.

‘What?’ Rathod turned.

‘I said I tried to meet him.’

‘When?’

‘Last night, at around half past eight.’

‘You called him?’

‘No, I went to his bungalow.’

Rathod and Inspector Aditya exchanged glances. This was an important development.

‘Despite the warnings?’

‘Well…I was drunk.’

‘Brilliant! So what did you tell him?’

‘You see, that’s the point. Just as I reached his house, he left in his car.’

‘Left for where?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You saw him leaving?’

‘Yes, I saw him.’

‘Was your brother driving, or was his chauffeur driving?’

‘He was driving. I saw him at the wheel.’

‘Did he seem agitated, or afraid, or anything of that sort?’

‘I was drunk, remember?’

‘But you are sure it was him?’

‘One hundred per cent.’

23

‘You think it’s the Patang Killer?’

The two of them had walked out of the station and reached the parking lot when Aditya asked Rathod the question. Rathod looked at him curiously.

‘I mean Anthony Matthew?’ Aditya clarified.

‘“Patang Killer”, eh? Who the hell came up with that name?’

‘That’s what they used to call him in the media after he was arrested.’

‘Yeah, the “media”,’ Rathod said mockingly. ‘Anyway, what makes you think he did it?’

‘You asked Iliyas about the Patang Killer’s victims back there. And this seems like a serial…’

‘Don’t be foolish,’ Rathod interrupted him irritably. ‘Tony Matthew is in jail.’

Aditya realized that Rathod was in a bad mood and didn’t say anything further.

‘Hi!’ A woman’s voice made both of them turn around. Rathod was surprised to see Ananya standing at a distance.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.

‘I was in the neighbourhood, following up on a story with a colleague. Then I saw you here, so I thought I’d come up and say hi.’

From the corner of his eye, Rathod saw that Aditya was looking at Ananya with an expression of intense admiration. Clearly, he had been struck by her beauty. Rathod felt a little uncomfortable and decided not to introduce the two.

Ananya continued, ‘Just this morning, some folks at work were talking about the Patang Killer, and I was thinking about you.’

‘About me?’ Rathod asked.

‘Yeah, it was amazing how you caught him.’

A warm feeling of satisfaction and pride welled up in Rathod’s chest briefly but quickly disappeared. He frowned. ‘Wait a minute…how did
you
know?’

‘How did I know what?’

‘How did you know that I caught him?’

‘Of course I know – you caught him…that night, at the beach?’

A strong sense of apprehension crept up Rathod’s spine.

Ananya smiled as she looked at his bewildered face. ‘Don’t worry, I know I can’t write or talk about it, and I won’t, I promise…’

A car came and stopped just behind Ananya and a man spoke to her from behind the wheel. Must be her colleague, Rathod surmised.

‘But…who told you?’ he insisted, as Ananya began to walk to the other side of the car.

‘Sorry, what?’ she asked, glancing meaningfully at the man behind the wheel and shaking her head. Rathod understood that she didn’t want to speak in front of her colleague.

‘Bye!’ she said as she smiled and slammed the door shut.

The car drove off. The episode seemed quite mysterious to Rathod. But then, people in the media were known to do anything to get such scoops. Anyway, he had other important things on his plate right now. He turned to Aditya and realized he was still standing at a distance and staring at the direction in which Ananya had driven off. Rathod shook his head and got into his Gypsy.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, are you leaving, sir?’ Aditya came out of his trance.

‘Yes, I’m done here.’

‘Can I do anything to assist you in this investigation?’ the young officer asked with an enthusiastic smile.

‘No, I’ll manage on my own, thank you.’

‘Please, sir, it would be an honour to work with you…or even to assist you.’

‘But I don’t need your assistance.’

‘Please sir…I…I am a big, big fan of yours…’

Rathod realized that the young man was adamant and felt a little bad for him. He sighed. ‘All right, try and see if you can find the security guard at the steel mill. Ask him if he saw anyone loitering around last night. And, if possible, speak to your contacts and try to trace where Raza had driven to last night.’

‘Right, sir!’

The next day, Rathod methodically and systematically visited the people connected with Imtiaz Raza and questioned them. Inspector Aditya was with him. People at Raza’s office had not noticed anything unusual in his behaviour, nor could they say if he had known Sukhdeo Saran, Father Patton or Rudolph D’Costa. At Raza’s residence, Rathod spoke to his wife.

‘I’m sorry for your loss, Mrs Raza, but I need to…’

‘Please,’ said Amina Raza calmly. ‘I appreciate you doing this. If I can help you find my husband’s killer, I’m more than willing to do so.’

Rathod took a closer look at the woman. Evidently, she was exceedingly strong; even at this tragic hour, she had a sense of calm on her face, although her eyes betrayed her pain.

‘Did your husband mention anything to you that could be related to his murder? Anything at all?’

Amina Raza took her time to think, and when she spoke, she did so in a measured voice. ‘Mr Rathod, as you know, my husband was a businessman, and
al-hamdu-lillah
, he had done quite well for himself. He was, if you don’t mind my saying so, quite well off. As you know, if one does well in life, one tends to pick up a few enemies along the way. And my husband was no different. Although, sadly, his biggest enemy was his own brother.’

‘You mean Iliyas?’

Amina nodded in affirmation. ‘It was quite sad, really. Iliyas was a nice guy. A bit…hot in the head, perhaps, but he was devoted to his brother. More than that, he was devoted to his father. However, after my father-in-law’s death, when his will was read and it was found that he had left everything to my husband, Iliyas lost his mind. He threatened my husband and
started calling home and abusing him. He would often turn up at our door, drunk to his gills, and make a scene.’