The Complete Adventures of Feluda: Volume II (45 page)

The doctor on duty at the clinic was called Dr Bardhan. He examined Feluda thoroughly, and confirmed his injuries were not serious. But he was naturally curious to know what had happened, and we were obliged to tell him.

‘But who should want to attack you like this?’ he asked, puzzled. In order to explain that, Feluda had to tell him who he was. Dr Bardhan grew round-eyed.

‘You are the most famous investigator,
the
Pradosh Mitter? I have read so much about your cases, but never thought I’d get to meet you in person. Are you here to look into the death of Mr Majumdar?’

‘I am involved in it now, yes.’

‘He was one of my patients.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. A man with the most extraordinary will power. No one could tell how much he had suffered and, in fact, was still suffering. He kept himself busy with his hobby, and went about riding everywhere.’

‘What do you mean by suffering? Do you mind telling me?’

‘Well, to start with, his health wasn’t very good. Then he lost his wife seven years ago. She died of cancer. Apart from all that, there were problems with his son.’

‘You mean Samiran Babu?’

‘Yes. He was quite a gifted young man, but speculation in the stock exchange ruined him totally. He’s now up to his neck in debt. I felt very sorry for Mr Majumdar. Samiran was, after all, his only son. Since I was his doctor, he used to tell me many things, share his worries with me that he wouldn’t with anyone else. I am sure Samiran decided to visit this time only to ask his father for more money. But Mr Majumdar, I know, was so angry and disappointed with his son that he wouldn’t have helped him out. He may even have given him an ultimatum. The whole thing is so unpleasant, so shameful, I really fee! sad to think about it. Particularly ever since the murder. I feel afraid it isn’t over, something else might happen. I couldn’t tell you what, but I cannot shake off this feeling.’

‘Do you know if he made a will?’

‘No. But if he did, I’m sure he left everything to his son, unless he changed it recently.’

‘Thank you, Doctor,’ said Feluda, ‘you have no idea how much you’ve helped me. I came here to get first aid. But you’ve given me aid of a very different kind. It’s an added bonus. I cannot thank you enough.’

Dr Bardhan waved his thanks aside and refused to accept a fee. When we came out of the clinic, Feluda said, ‘If you two wish to have a little rest, you can go back to the hotel. I must go to Nayanpur Villa. I have to begin my investigation all over again, keeping in mind every new thing I’ve learnt today. In my eyes, the whole case seems entirely different now.’

Lalmohan Babu and I both said we had no intention of returning to the hotel. If Feluda could carry on working in spite of his brush with death, there was no reason for us to retire quietly. I couldn’t stop marvelling at his stamina. He had rolled at least a hundred feet down the hill.

By the time we reached Nayanpur Villa, the mist had almost totally gone. The house had a rather sombre air about it, but the beauty that surrounded it was as breathtaking as ever. Rajat Bose came out as we got closer to the front veranda. Perhaps he had heard our footsteps on the cobbled driveway.

‘Namaskar,’ Feluda greeted him, ‘I can see that you’re feeling at a loose end. I need your help, Mr Bose.’

‘Yes?’

‘Do you think I might see Mr Majumdar’s study? I’d like to see your room as well, if I may, and ask some questions.’

‘Very well. Please come in.’

‘Where is Samiran Babu?’

‘He is probably having a bath.’

‘OK, let’s sit in the study.’

We followed Mr Bose to the rear portion of the northern wing. Mr Majumdar’s study was large, tidy and comfortable. The pine wood behind the house was partially visible through a window. A heavy mahogany table stood before the window, together with two chairs. At the far end were other chairs and sofas for visitors. We walked over to this side. Feluda did not come with us. He took his time inspecting the room, occasionally picking up objects from the table. I saw him pick up a paper-knife and look at it closely.

‘It’s got quite a sharp blade,’ he remarked, ‘one could even kill with a small knife like this!’

‘I think it’s one of a pair, Felu Babu,’ Lalmohan Babu piped up. ‘Pulak has used the other one on his set. In one of the scenes, the villain uses it to scratch his back.’

Even from a distance the knife looked sharp and sort of lethal.

Feluda put it back on the table.

Rows of shelves stood on one side, packed with long, thick ledgers—Mr Majumdar’s scrapbooks. We had seen two of these already. Feluda took out a couple more and glanced idly through them. ‘Who used to cut out and paste these before you came?’ he asked Mr Bose.

‘Mr Majumdar used to do it himself.’

‘Did he leave this job entirely to you after your arrival?’

‘More or less. Lokenath helped me sometimes.’

‘You mean the bearer?’

‘Yes. He had finished school. He could read and write very well indeed.’

‘That’s unusual in someone working as a bearer. Could you tell us why he had chosen such a job?’

‘Mr Majumdar paid him well.’

‘I see. He chose a fine way to show his gratitude, didn’t he?’

Mr Bose said nothing. Feluda continued to walk around the room, looking at and touching objects as he asked his questions.

‘What did you do before coming here?’

‘Work in a private firm.’

‘Where?’

‘In Calcutta.’

‘How long did you stay in that job?’

‘Seven years.’

‘Did Mr Majumdar put in an advertisement for a secretary?’

‘Yes.’

‘What are your qualifications?’

‘I have a degree in commerce. I graduated in 1957.’

‘What about your family? Where are they?’

‘I’m not married. My parents are both dead.’

‘Brothers and sisters?’

‘I have none.’

‘You mean you are totally alone in this world?’

‘Yes.’

‘What is this photograph?’

Feluda had picked up a framed photograph from a shelf. It was a group photo, possibly of staff in an office. There were about thirty-five people, most of them standing in rows. Only a handful of people sat in chairs in the front row.

‘It was taken many years ago, when Mr Majumdar used to work for Bengal Bank. One of their managing directors was leaving. This photo was taken on the day of his farewell. Mr Majumdar was the Deputy Director then.’

Feluda peered at the photo closely. ‘It doesn’t appear to contain the names of all these people. I can recognize Mr Majumdar, though.’

‘Perhaps there was a list at the bottom of the photograph. It may be hidden under the frame.’

‘May I keep it with me for a couple of days?’

‘Of course.’

Feluda passed the photo to me. Lalmohan Babu and I looked at it. It wasn’t any different from the usual group photos taken in offices.
Mr Majumdar was sitting in a chair. The man sitting next to him was probably the departing managing director.

‘Now I need to know how you spent your time on the day of the murder,’ Feluda said, taking out his notebook from the pocket of his jacket. He opened it and ran his eyes through the notes on a particular page. ‘Mr Majumdar used to come to his study at half past eleven every morning. You had to be here at that time, and you worked with him until half past twelve. Is that correct?’

‘Yes.’

‘What did you work on that morning?’

‘Chiefly his correspondence. Mr Majumdar knew a lot of people, both in India and abroad. They wrote to him regularly. Replying to those letters took up a lot of time.’

‘What were you doing before Mr Majumdar joined you at half past eleven?’

‘The film unit arrived soon after breakfast. I was standing on the veranda on the other side, and watching them getting ready for the first shot.’

‘Which one was it?’

‘It had Verma and Mr Ganguli in it.’

Lalmohan Babu gave a slight nod to confirm the accuracy of this statement.

‘What time would that have been?’

‘Probably eleven o’clock. I’m not sure, I didn’t look at my watch. I left in a few minutes and came here.’

‘OK. What did you do when you finished your morning’s work? Did you have lunch with Mr Majumdar and his son?’

‘Yes.’

‘What did you do after that?’

‘It was almost one o’clock by the time we finished eating. I went to my own room straight after that and spent half an hour reading.’

‘What were you reading?’

‘A magazine—
Readers’ Digest
.’

‘And then?’

‘Around two, I went for a walk in the pine wood. It’s a beautiful place. I go there whenever I can.’

‘So I’ve gathered. What did you do after that?’

‘I returned around half past two and went back to my room to rest. I came out of my room at four o’clock and started to watch the shooting again. Mr Ganguli was in the shot being taken.’

Lalmohan Babu nodded once more.

‘When Mr Majumdar did not make an appearance after five o’clock, didn’t you find it odd?’ Feluda went on.

‘Frankly, I had lost track of time. There was this noisy generator running all the time, and dozens of people coming and going and shouting; it was so distracting I forgot to look at my watch.’

‘How was Mr Majumdar as a boss?’

‘Very good.’

‘He didn’t get angry or impatient with you?’

‘No. He was most amiable.’

‘Were you happy with your salary?’

‘Yes.’

‘Lalmohan Babu told us about something he had heard the day before the murder, when he went to use the bathroom. He heard Mr Majumdar’s voice saying, “You are a liar. I don’t believe a single word you say.” Who do you think he might have been talking to?’

‘I can’t think of anyone except his son.’

‘Didn’t father and son get on?’

‘He was disappointed with his son, in some ways.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘He said things in my presence that seemed to imply it. You know, things like “Samiran has become rather reckless”, or words to that effect. He loved his son most undoubtedly, but that didn’t stop him from ticking him off every now and then.’

‘Do you know if he left a will?’

‘I’m not sure, but as far as I know, he did not.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘He had once said to me, “I feel just fine at the moment. I’ll make a will only if my health gets any worse.”’

‘That would mean all his assets would go to his son.’

‘Yes, naturally.’

‘May I now see your room?’

‘Sure. Please come with me.’

Rajat Bose’s room was rather sparsely furnished. There was a bed, a small wardrobe, a table and a chair. On the wall was a bracket, from which hung a shirt, a brown pullover and a towel. A suitcase stood in one corner, with ‘R.B.’ written on it. On the table were strewn a few paperbacks and magazines.

‘A Hindi magazine!’ Feluda exclaimed.

‘Yes. I spent my childhood in Kanpur, you see, That’s where I
learnt Hindi. My father was a doctor there. I moved with my mother to Calcutta when he died.’

We came out of his room. ‘Did you know Mr Majumdar used to take sleeping pills?’

‘Oh yes. I used to buy them for him sometimes. He liked to get a whole month’s supply.’

‘Hm. All right, thank you very much. I’d like to speak to Samiran Babu now.’

Samiran Babu had had his bath, and was in his room, reading a newspaper. He hadn’t shaved since he was in mourning. Feluda tried talking to him, but he didn’t say very much. However, he admitted to having frequent arguments with his father. ‘Baba wasn’t like this before. He changed a lot after his illness,’ he said.

‘Would it be wrong to say you changed, too, which might have caused him distress?’

‘Some of my speculations went wrong, but that can happen to anyone, in any business.’

‘Did you have an argument the day before your father was murdered, say around half past one in the afternoon?’

‘Why, no!’

‘Did you ever ask your father for financial support?’

‘Yes, why shouldn’t I? He had made a lot of money.’

‘Did you know your father hadn’t made a will?’

‘Yes. He had told me once he wouldn’t leave me a penny if he did decide to make a will.’

‘But now you’re going to inherit everything.’

‘Yes, so it would seem.’

‘Most of your problems are going to be solved now, right?’

‘Right. But I don’t understand what you’re trying to imply. Surely you don’t think I killed my own father?’

‘Suppose I do? You certainly had the motive, as well as the opportunity, didn’t you?’

‘How could I have poisoned his drink? Lokenath got his milk ready, didn’t he?’

‘Yes, but don’t forget he left it in the room and went away to call your father. You could have tampered with it then. Besides, you had every opportunity to stab your father. You must have known there was an excellent weapon in the same room.’

Samiran Babu gave a twisted smile. ‘Have you gone totally mad, Mr Mitter? Why aren’t you thinking of the missing statue? Would I
bother with a small statue if I knew I was going to get every penny my father owned?’

‘Who knows, Mr Majumdar, you might have been in a hurry to get hold of ready cash? After all, even if you inherited everything, you wouldn’t have got it all in a day, would you? The whole legal process would have taken a while, and you knew it.’

‘Well then, where has Lokenath gone? Why did he run away? Why don’t you try to catch the real culprit instead of wasting your time here?’

‘I have a reason for coming back here, Mr Majumdar. A very good reason.’

‘All right. I don’t even wish to hear what it is. All I can tell you is that it is simply by chance that I’ve got involved in this awful business. I am certainly not your man. You’ll have to look elsewhere to find the killer.’

We returned to the hotel. Feluda said after lunch that he wanted to take the framed photograph to a studio on the Mall. ‘Then I must go and see Inspector Saha at the police station,’ he added. ‘I need some information urgently, which I think the police could get far more easily. If you two want to go anywhere, do so. I am not going to go out when I return. All I want to do then is think. This case hasn’t yet formed a definite shape. A few things are still unclear . . . still hazy.’

Feluda left. Lalmohan Babu and I decided to go for another walk. A cool breeze was blowing outside, which made walking very pleasant.

‘There’s something you haven’t yet seen,’ I said to Jatayu. ‘It’s the pine wood behind Mr Majumdar’s house. I went there for only a couple of minutes, but I thought it was a beautiful place. Would you like to go there?’

‘Do we have to go through his house to get there?’

‘Oh no. The main road forks to the left, which goes straight to the wood. Haven’t you noticed it?’

‘No, can’t say I have. But if that is the case, let’s go.’

We left. Feluda’s words kept ringing in my mind. He had definitely found a powerful clue, but of course he wasn’t going to talk about it unless he had thought it all out. We would have to put
up with long periods of silence when he got back.

‘Tapesh,’ Lalmohan Babu said on the way to the wood, ‘tell me something. Where is the mystery in this case? Lokenath killed his employer and vanished with the statue. Surely that’s all there is to it? Why doesn’t your cousin simply leave it to the police? They’ll find Lokenath and deal with him. End of story.’

‘How can you say that? You’ve known Feluda for years. Have you ever seen him get worked up about anything unless there was a good reason? You saw for yourself how he was attacked. Surely Lokenath wasn’t responsible for that? Besides, Mr Majumdar himself had killed someone, even if it was an accident. Then there was that case of someone in his bank stealing a lot of money. He was never caught. Above all, you yourself told us you heard Mr Majumdar shouting at somebody. We don’t know who he was shouting at. So many questions need to be answered. How can you say it’s a simple case?’

By this time we had reached the wood. It wasn’t just beautiful, but also remarkable in other ways. I realized there were many other trees and plants in addition to pine. I could recognize juniper, fir and rhododendron, all of which were in abundance; I did not know the names of the other plants. Some of the bushes had red, blue and yellow flowers. Since the sky was overcast, the whole place seemed darker today. We walked on, feeling as though we were passing through a huge church with endless tall pillars. Nayanpur Villa occasionally came into view through gaps in the trees, but the deeper we went into the wood, the farther the house seemed to recede. It felt just a little creepy to make our way through the dark shadows in the wood. There was no noise, not even the chirping of birds, and certainly there was no question of running into other people. Perhaps that was why Lalmohan Babu was prompted to remark, ‘If anyone was murdered here, it would probably take a month to find his body.’

We walked on. The house had disappeared altogether. Suddenly, a bird called; but I couldn’t tell what bird it was. My eyes fell on another gap between the trees, and I realized the clouds had dispersed for the moment, so I could see a portion of Kanchenjunga. I turned towards Lalmohan Babu to tell him to have a quick look before it vanished again. To my surprise, I found him standing still, gaping at something with his mouth hanging open.

What had he seen?

I followed his gaze and realized with a shock what it was. Close to
the fallen trunk of a tree was a large bush. Protruding from behind it were two feet. No, two shoes. That was really all we could see.

‘Should we take a closer look?’ Lalmohan Babu whispered. Without making a reply, I went forward to peer behind the bush. I had seen those shoes before. Where had I seen them?

It all became clear a second later.

A dead body was lying on the ground.

We recognized him instantly. It was Mr Majumdar’s missing bearer, Lokenath.

He, too, had been stabbed, but the weapon was nowhere in sight. Not far from the body, scattered on a rock were the broken remains of a glass bottle, and a lot of small white pills. At least, they must have been white once. Lying on the damp ground had made them turn brown.

We didn’t waste another moment. We ran back to the hotel, to find that Feluda had just returned. ‘Felu Babu, what sensational—’ began Lalmohan Babu, but I stopped him before he could begin to get melodramatic. I told Feluda in a few words what we had seen.

Feluda rang the police station immediately. Within five minutes, two police jeeps arrived at our hotel. Inspector Saha got out of one. The other had four constables in it. We returned to the pine wood.

‘Stabbed!’ the Inspector exclaimed. ‘We were looking for him in local villages. Of course we had assumed he was still alive. Your friend and your cousin get full credit for this discovery, Mr Mitter. We are very grateful to you both.’

The police took the body away. We came back to the hotel once more.

‘Now the whole thing’s taken a completely unexpected turn, hasn’t it?’ Lalmohan Babu asked, flopping down on a chair.

‘Yes, you’re right. But it’s turned not towards darkness, Lalmohan Babu, but towards light. All I need is a few pieces of information. Then everything’s going to fall into place.’

Inspector Saha rang Feluda later in the evening. From the way Feluda gave his lopsided smile and said, ‘I see’ and ‘Very good’, I could tell he had got the information he was waiting for.

‘If that’s the case, I think you should ask everyone to gather in Mr Majumdar’s drawing room tomorrow morning at ten,’ Feluda said to Mr Saha. ‘We must have everyone from Nayanpur Villa, and a few people from the film unit—Pulak Ghoshal, Rajen Raina, Mahadev Verma and Sudev Ghosh. Your own presence, need I tell
you, is absolutely essential.’