Twist in the Tail
Sumathi was disturbed. It was their wedding anniversary. Her husband, Dr. Jaishankar had phoned her saying that he had to rush to Delhi to be a part of a surgery team at AIIMS, Delhi, to attend to a VVIP. She mulled over his behavior over the recent past. He seemed very preoccupied. Their conversations were lifeless and to the point. Her mind did a quick rewind.
****
Sumathi had finished her mechanical engineering at NIT, Bhopal with a gold medal. She specialized in automobile engineering with advanced diploma in electronic control systems and automation. She was offered a fabulous job at Chandigarh with a large auto maker. Her childhood friend, Rama had thrown a welcome party in honour of Sumathi’s move to Chandigarh. Both Rama and her husband being doctors, this party had several doctor couples. And there was amongst them, this one particular bachelor, the handsome Dr, Jaishankar! Ever a matchmaker, Rama created several private moments for Sumathi and Jai. Rama claimed she had “green thumbs” as far as growing romantic relationships were concerned. True enough, Suma and Jai fell in love. After a tempestuous courtship, Jai asked Sumathi to marry him and they were married in an intimate ceremony. Immediately thereafter, Jai had a medical conference in Delhi which coincided with the convocation for Suma. They flew out to Delhi. While Jai attended his conference, Suma took a quick hop to Bhopal, got her degree and they met up back in Delhi after two days. Then they took a flight to Kullu, the high road to Manali with twists and turns and enjoyed a weeks’ stay in the resort midway from Kullu to Manali. The resort had an all-glass restaurant with the glorious view of the mountainside, a cozy cabin and wonderful food. The seconds merged into minutes and living in heaven, their honeymoon passed off too soon. Every moment was glorious, imprisoned in their memories as well as in the intel chip. Back in Chandigarh, the days passed. Busy as they both were, their wedded life was pure bliss. They found time to be together, snatching a minute here, an hour or two there, even days in between. Jai’s practice grew steadily; now he had a nursing home with 10 beds. Sumathi’s ’s progress in her company was even more remarkable. Jai hired Dr. Nalini, a post graduate from PGIMER, Chandigarh. Suma liked her immediately. She was pretty and petite who had finished at the top of her class. Her specialization was in neurosurgery which complemented Jai’s specialty. Few months passed. Suma, busy with her own work did not notice anything amiss in the beginning. Gradually, Jai started missing dinners. Late night surgeries, early morning rounds, mood swings. They were hardly spending time together. A distance seemed to be developing between them.***
And now, a missed anniversary dinner. Suma had taken off, sent her housemaid and cook off, early. She had cooked a special dinner with all of Jai’s favorite dishes. To top it off, she had a Patek Phillipe watch inside a casserole as a surprise gift. She half-heartedly had a meal by herself and retired to bed in their luxury condo. Sleep eluded her.***
In the meantime, Jai and Nalini had a cozy dinner with champagne in a resort just outside Shimla. They had grown closer the past few months. Jai had decided to end his marriage with Suma. With silent prodding from Nalini, he had concluded that divorce will be a messy affair. He was leaning towards a permanent solution. This dinner was more of a war meeting than a romantic affair. Earlier in the day, Nalini had surprised Vinay, the muscular owner of a high-end auto garage, specializing in luxury cars. She had gone to pick up Jai’s Jaguar XJ and just as she was about to barge into his office, overhead the tail end of Vinay’s telecon with a client of his. She heard him say, “Yes boss, the job went without a hitch. Now about my payment?”. She quickly turned on the voice recorder in her phone and hid herself behind the door. Vinay, unaware of his silent witness, dictated his swiss bank account number and confirmed the receipt of 50 lakhs. Hearing this from Nalini, Jai was excited. Jai would return to Chandigarh early next day. He would profusely apologize to Suma for missing the anniversary dinner. He would plan a second honeymoon at the very same, Midway resort in Manali, where they had celebrated their first one.***
Suma was pleasantly surprised to hear of the second honeymoon. It was planned for the coming republic day weekend, some twenty days away. Nalini and Jai confronted Vinay with her recording in a fancy restaurant. They asked him to arrange an accident somewhere between Kullu and Manali. Nalini insisted that she would follow Suma in Jai’s car and would personally watch Suma roll down to her death. A suitable compensation was fixed for Vinay. He proposed a sophisticated plan. He would set up a very small explosive charge in the brake system of Suma’s Alfa Romeo. Nalini and Jai would follow her a little distance behind. When she reaches the dangerous hairpin bend with a sudden twist, Jai would operate the remote control. The brake will fail, the car with Suma will disappear into the deep gorge. Even if the wreck were to be found, there will be no trace of the explosive. It will be ruled a sad, unfortunate accident. Jai questioned Vinay, “How would I know when Suma reaches the critical twist?”. Vinay said that he will fix a sophisticated tracking system to Suma’s car, which will be synchronized to Jai’s i-phone. As soon as he hears the beep, all he had to do will be to press the remote button.***
The fatal day was 48 hours away. Jai told Suma that he had a confirmed reservation for the resort. He told her that he has scheduled an important surgery early that morning. Suma should proceed by her car to the resort. He would join her later in the day. “I promise you a heaven you will never forget, my sweet!” he cooed. Everything went as planned. Jai left for the clinic at 5 am. He with Nalini in the passenger seat reached Roper and waited discretely near the turn to Kullu for Suma. Suma as planned left their condo at 6 am in her alfa Romeo. No problems whatsoever in following Suma’s red Alfa Romeo. In about 10 hours, Suma was just 10 minutes from the would-be fatal hairpin bend. Nalini was clinging to Jai in his driver’s seat, in anticipation. They could view Suma’s little sports car reaching the apex of the hairpin bend. The phone beeped. Jai pressed the remote with a firm hand. Nothing happened. Bewildered, he looked at Nalini, who looked more shocked than him. An explosion shook the Jaguar. And within no time, it fast disappeared into the sides of the mountain. Arriving from the opposite side, the Alfa Romeo came to a stop. Out stepped Nalini, crossed over and watched the burning wreck, thousands of feet down. “Have fun in Hell, Love birds!”, she said with grim satisfaction.***
Suma reached the resort late in the evening. She checked in, undressed and took a nap. At about 11pm, she phoned her boss and in a panic-struck voice informed him that Jai had not shown up at the resort. He promised to follow up and lodge a complaint with his friend, the DSP. She spent the next two days, sadness and satisfied vengeance alternating by turns. On the third day, one detective inspector from the Chandigarh CID office named Jaswinder showed up. In a somber voice, he said,” Madam, I have bad news. Your husband seems to have had a terrible accident on the way up here.” “Oh my god! Inspector, what happened to my Jai? Oh Jai, Jai!”. She broke into uncontrolled sobs. “I am afraid he is no longer with us. We found his Jaguar at the bottom of the ravine, adjoining the hairpin bend that is notoriously known as the ‘Killer Twist’. It was charred beyond recognition; so were the two bodies we found in it” “Two bodies? I don’t understand, Inspector. Jai was supposed to join me for our second honeymoon. Alone.” “Our inquiries reveal that he left the nursing home along with Dr. Nalini early morning last Thursday. The reservation made here was in the name of Dr and Mrs. Jaishankar. You were not mentioned by name. We suspect that they had planned to get rid of you and stay here as man and wife. However, I have no proof and I am afraid it will be ruled an accident.” Suma gasped and plonked down on the sofa. Seeing the deathly pallor on her face, the inspector picked up the water bottle and handed it over to her. Still apparently shell shocked and inwardly complimenting herself for her acting skills, Suma slowly sipped water, now and then letting a sob escape her lips. Suitably alarmed, the inspector asked if he should arrange a lady detective to stay with her in case she doesn’t have anyone to comfort her after the series of shocks he has administered to her. Suma in a soft voice replied, “Thank you for your concern, Inspector. I shall drive back to Chandigarh just now. I have to think about the nursing home, our condo, investments etc. which are held jointly by us. I have to consult my auditor right away. Whatever Jai had done, I still love him. I have to take care of his final rites, too “. “Madam, you should not be driving alone in this condition. I shall depute a lady detective who will drive you to Chandigarh and stay with you as long as it is necessary.” After thanking the Inspector, Suma got ready to leave. Within the next hour, she left for Chandigarh, a quietly efficient Detective Nirmala driving her Alfa Romeo. The events of the past few days floated before her mind’s eye.***
Suma was in seventh heaven, taking Jai’s apologies for missing the anniversary at face value and anticipating the upcoming ‘second honeymoon’ at Kullu-Manali. Jai was away at some medical conference. He said he will finish all his pending commitments so that they can have an uninterrupted holiday. Nalini will take care of the nursing home for the duration of their vacation. A doorbell awakened her from her dreams and she opened the door to find Sapna, the teenager from her neighboring condo. Sapna was a high-spirited girl with a high level of intelligence and Suma harbored a special affection for her. “Come, come Sapna. I am in such a great mood. We will treat ourselves to a bucket of ice-cream.” “Auntie, ice-cream can wait. I have something very serious to tell you.” The next few minutes were the most horrifying moments of Suma’s life. She listened to Sapna first with disbelief, quickly followed by consternation and seething anger. Sapna happened to be dining at the same restaurant with her parents, where Jai, Nalini and Vinay were hatching their nefarious plans. Sapna on the way to the washroom heard Suma’s name mentioned by an unknown male voice. Curious, she surreptitiously moved closer to the isolated table where she spotted Jai and Dr. Nalini with a handsome, muscular young man. It was thus she came to know the plot to its finest details. Hugging Sapna speechlessly, Suma saw her out with a promise of a big treat in the near future. Suma right away guessed that Jai’s fulfilling his pending commitments were only an excuse to gallivant with Nalini before the planned execution. Ironically, that gave her time to execute her counter moves. “You forgot that I am a gold medalist in auto engineering, didn’t you, Dr.Jaishankar?”, Suma muttered to herself. She thoroughly examined her car and found the tiny explosive charge with RFID chip. Since Jai was flying, his Jaguar was sitting in their three-car garage. Suma expertly transferred the explosive, reprogrammed the chip for her own remote controller.***
“We are nearing your home, Mrs. Sumathi. I have asked my colleague to pick me up from your place shortly”, said Nirmala. Suma thanked her profusely and insisted on sharing tea and biscuit with her. Nirmala left shortly thereafter leaving Suma to her own devices. Next few days passed like a whirlwind. Suma resigned her job, converted the nursing home into a charitable trust retaining full management control. She hired a couple of top-class specialist surgeons and took care of day-to-day functions of the hospital. Over the next few months, with an angel investor infusing funds adding to the substantial estate she inherited from Jai, their modest nursing home flowered into a multi-specialty hospital. She catered to economically weaker sections and middle-class clientele with her modest fees and charity programs. She has found peace.***
Vinay was bottling up his surging emotions and scorching fury biding his time. Nalini and he had been equal partners in the sophisticated assassination racket besides being long time lovers. Nalini’s medical skills and Vinay’s knowledge of cars and explosives came in handy in taking out high priced contracts and passing of assassinations as accidents or natural deaths. He had been awaiting news from Nalini about the successful elimination of Suma. They had plans for Jai to be executed after a decent interval. They would have taken over the nursing home and all of Jai’s assets as Jai had willed everything over to Nalini. Since Suma would have pre-deceased Jai , her assets also would find their way to Nalini after the successful removal of Jai from the scene. He was puzzled when he did not hear from Nalini and flabbergasted when he saw in the news about Suma escaping a possible murder plot by Dr. Jaishankar and his colleague, Dr.Nalini. His first instinct was to rush into Suma’s condo and blast her to smithereens with a shotgun. Reason took over and he muttered to himself, “Just you wait, Mrs. Sumathi. I don’t know how you did it. I mean to find out. Revenge is best served cold. “ Over several days, he pieced together the events leading to his beloved’s murder, as he saw it. He retrieved the Jaguar wreck as the police saw no point in retrieving it, even though Inspector Jaswinder was convinced that Jaishankar and Nalini were victims of their own nefarious plans. Vinay pored over the wreck inch by inch in an isolated part of his sophisticated garage. He finally understood that Sumathi had turned tables on them using his own device. He decided to bide his time and strike at the right moment. He installed bugs in Suma’s car, home, phones, nursing home and anywhere that had anything to do with her. At last. The opportunity he was waiting for, came his way. He had undertaken a contract to assassinate a business tycoon while he will be spending a week in Suma’s favorite restaurant midway between Kullu and Manali. Coincidentally, Suma had booked her vacation for the same week. Vinay decided that, he will stage a terrorist attack on the resort. He didn’t care how many innocents will die. He wanted Sumathi dead. Getting paid for it handsomely for the simultaneous assassination of the tycoon will only sweeten the pie. He made elaborate plans. He selected an unmarked AK47 from his arsenal. He prepared posters and flag purportedly from the ISIS-India branch. He planned to enter the sparsely guarded resort in the middle of the night and let loose a volley of bullets from his AK47 on several cabins, carefully including Suma’s and the businessman’s cabins in his list. On the day of reckoning, he left Kullu around midnight. It was a dark night, snowing lightly in the upper reaches of the mountain. He was full of adrenalin. His Harley- Davidson was purring like a prowling predator under his feet. He was close to the dangerous twist in the road where they had planned Suma’s demise. He took the hairpin bend at full speed. Just as he reached the apex of the hairpin bend, a fully loaded truck was rashly rushing headlong at him!! Mills of God grind slowly, but they grind so small! 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!