eFiction India eFiction India Vol.02 Issue.09 | Page 37

STORIES

36

WITHIN THE WALLS
    TRIPPAYAR SAHASRANAMAN PRIYAA                                   

Priyaa Trippayar is a software engineer who has harboured a long-term
relationship with writing. Her stories
draw their essence from her experiences in life and social issues.

O

NLY THE WINDOWS would
have known what happened at
the Kumars’, and they contributed their share of secrets. Hell seemed to
be deficit of evil when it just took a blotch
of crimson and a missing knife to mar the
bonds of fraternity, loyalty or one of those
words used to describe an ideal family who
had been paid back for their generosity to
their servants. It would have been termed
a mysterious murder if not for the stacks
of notes that were piled in the trunk under
Keshav’s cot. Each time Rati looked at that
place where a mysterious trunk with notes
had appeared underneath the gloomy cot,
her tears refused to pour out. She recalled
him screaming, “Dinesh sir gave me the
trunk because he didn’t trust his brotherin-law. I didn’t kill him for money.”
“My husband could be a thief but he is no
murderer. He had been hand-in-glove with
Dinesh sir all these twenty years. Someone
cast a jaundiced eye on their friendship,”
she said to herself, as she cleaned up Uma’s
room.
Uma, the sister of the victim Dinesh,
the only other heir to the railroad of the
Kumar’s fortune, had been ensconced in a
sedan with her face sunk into her husband’s
lap as he stroked her hair.
“Sujay, her husband killed my brother,

that maid and her family, have...have...no
loyalty,” she said pointing to Rati, in a shaky
voice that had a touch of contempt to it.
“Tell her to leave forever.” Sujay’s face was
expressionless. He raised his hand signalling
Rati to leave the room. Rati took in a deep
breath as she walked out. She could hear
Sujay whisper, “Let her be here till the case
is closed, you should understand.”
***
“I think Sujay could have killed Dinesh
sir,” Rati told the inspector. “He is always
worried about money. I have seen Sujay and
Dinesh fight several times over Sujay stealing money from home. He had an itchy
palm and even took bribes from people who
needed favours from Dinesh, that of course,
without Dinesh sir’s knowledge,” she told
him stressing on the word ‘stealing’.
Her theory didn’t seem to cut much ice.
“Then what do you have to say about the
money that we found in your out house
on the morning after Dinesh Kumar was
stabbed t