Inspector Varma Investigates
The rain rattled on the tin roof of my neighbour’s house. I wished it would stop so I could hear better. But I was also happy with the noisy distraction.
The situation was too tense for silence. The lashing rains soothed my jumpy nerves. I knew the end was near!
Inspector Varma was closing in on the culprit. I was praying and hoping the handsome inspector was not wrong.
It was the mystery of the death of Mr. Hegde, one of the richest men in Bengaluru. It looked like a case of natural death. Only Inspector Varma was unconvinced.
The man was dead and his entire estate was in favour of his wife! Even when the whole town knew he was seeking a divorce!
“Maybe he loved her. The mistress was just a distraction,” countered Sub-Inspector Phule.
“Maybe! Or maybe she killed him before he could change his will! How could someone so healthy, fit, and young have a heart attack so suddenly?”
“There are so many cases of young, fit people dying, sir!”
“True. Yet, there’s something fishy in her demeanour. She’s hiding something. There was an unmistakable gleam in her eyes when we handed over his body after the autopsy.”
“But there was nothing in the autopsy and lab reports given by Dr. Naresh Agarwal, the best in the city!”
“I know! No traces of any kind of poison in the lab report. Nothing! Nada,” said the frustrated Inspector Varma.
“Sir! Sir!”
Constable Gowda came running in! “You could be right sir! Here’s probable proof,” he said, handing over a photo to Varma.
“Whoa! Where did you get this?”
“Remember you cancelled my holidays, thanks to this case? My wife and children decided to go to Ooty anyway. Why waste the booking, sir? This is a photo they sent me today of their boating trip to Pykara Lake. I took a print as soon as I saw Dr. Naresh Agarwal and Mrs. Hegde in another boat in the background!”
“They seem very happy together!” Inspector Varma’s eyes gleamed gleefully!
He got the arrest warrant in a couple of days after a friendly police chat with Dr. Agarwal.
They rang the bell. She opened the door and her face turned dark! She turned and ran.
The startled team of Inspector Varma recovered quickly and pursued her. But it was too late. She entered the bedroom and shut the door. In a few seconds, the sound of a gunshot echoed through the neighbourhood.
The last scene was the flight of scared birds over the mango tree outside her house!
“Yay, Inspector Varma, you are the best!” I shouted happily. I paused the TV as the unrelenting rain pattered non-stop on the tin roof!
“What can be better than this? Rains, a plate of pakoras, chai, and a thriller serial!” I told myself as I bit into a pakora.
“Darn! It’s cold. I should make a fresh batch before I watch the next episode of ‘Inspector Varma Investigates’!”
Penmancy gets a small share of every purchase you make through these links, and every little helps us continue bringing you the reads you love!