Chapter 19
Team Alphabet Soup
Please visit Sajith's blog to read Chapter 18
Jennifer’s
mind was racing with questions after seeing the photographs. She wasn’t sure if
she should go back to the team and tell them about what she had seen. If she
was sure of something, it was that she had hit a jackpot.
She
decided to pay a visit to the old priest before heading back to brief the team.
She questions the priest once again. Her gut feeling told her that there were
some more secrets to be divulged. However, she needed a way to get the priest
to answer her questions before she could continue solving this puzzle in her
mind.
She
asked the priest about his family. The priest stares blankly into space
avoiding answering her question. She probed him further. Asking him about how
he decided to become a priest. About his parents. Then she asked him if he ever
got married. She was hoping that he would answer her. That was the only way she
would know if the priest was being honest or not.
The
priest continued to avoid her questions. He kept chanting some shlokas softly.
He was praying. Jennifer could understand very little of what he was mumbling,
her own malayalam being weak. She leaned in closer to enable herself to hear
the priest clearly.
“My
wife… she died while giving birth to my son. I couldn’t fulfil any of her
dreams. I hardly earned anything from my job. She did not consider it enough money
to run the house and bring up the children. She always wanted us to move to the
city. She was tired of the village life. She had big dreams and aspirations for
me and the children. ‘The city is where we will fulfill all our needs’ she
would say every night while serving us dinner.”
“You
had children? How many?” Jennifer questioned him while pretending to not be
aware of it.
“Children…
aah… yes… My lovely children… they always promised to never leave me….” The
priest paused for a while as he felt a hot stream of tears ready to flow down
his face.
“I
had two children. A son and a daughter.” The priest told Jennifer.
“What
happened to them?” There was still no response from the priest as Jennifer
noticed his tears flow down.
“Namboori, what
exactly happened on the day of the procession fourteen years ago?”
“You
asked me this question a few days back. Didn’t you?”
“And
you said, you fell unconscious. Did you fall into the water?”
The
priest thought for a while, “I don’t remember. Many years have passed.”
“But
how can one forget something this important?”
He
turned his face away from Jennifer saying nothing.
“Namboothiri, did you fall into the
water?”
“Eh?
Aah yes. I did.”
“Are
you sure?”
“Now,
I remember. I fell into the water while giving the idol.”
She
showed him the picture.
“Then
why isn’t your upper body wet Namboothiri?”
The
priest looked at the picture and then at Jennifer. His expression changed in a
second from sorrow to fear. That was her cue.
“Your
expressions too are betraying you Namboothiri.
I know that there is more to your story. If you don’t answer me now, I’ll come
back with the villagers and the authorities.”
The
priest sighed heavily. He realized there was only so long he could keep all his
secrets hidden within himself. He looked at Jennifer and said, “I made a
mistake moley. One that has continued to haunt me day and night for
all these years. That child should never have died. She didn’t deserve to.”
Jennifer
sat listening to every word. Stunned. Speechless. She wanted to know more. Her
heart beat began racing as she realized the truth might be revealed to her by
the priest. He might know where the original idol was. He knew more than what
he had been telling all the people who had visited him over the years. She held
onto his hand and said, “What happened that day?”
He
continued with his story, “I gave the sketch of the idol to my son. He made the
fake idol. His craftsmanship was excellent. Nobody would notice the idol was
fake. I had placed the fake idol in a crack I had made, in the pond’s wall.
During the procession, we the child and myself went down the pond steps. The
plan was to switch the idol without the child’s notice, when she took the dip.
But unfortunately, she saw me doing it. I knew I would get caught if the child went
back and told the villagers or even worse, if she told the royal family the
truth. It would be the end for me and my children. We would lose everything.”
Jennifer
felt his hands beginning to tremble. She pacified him so that he would
continue. “I killed the child. That was the best thing for me to do at that
time. I, with these hands, pressed her underwater until she died. What I had
forgotten was… Devi’s wrath. Devi took away my children from me for what I did.
She punished me. She left me to live like a vegetable and see my family rot.”
he said as he broke down into a sob.
“I
had planned to take the idol and the child, and my children and leave the
village that night. I would sell the idol in a place where nobody would know of
its powers.”
“What
happened then?” questioned Jennifer, still trying hard to digest everything she
had heard.
“After
killing the child, I was climbing the steps of the pond, there was a flash of
light and I felt a blow to my head. It was as though I was struck by lightning.
Her eyes were blazing with anger. I felt it. Devi’s wrath was upon me for
killing her beloved.”
“What
happened to the idol after you exchanged it with the fake one?”
“I
don’t know. I had kept the original idol in the crack on the wall. After I fell
on the steps, I lost all consciousness. When I woke up, I got to know of the
death of my daughter. My son and the royal family took care of me. The doctors
told me I would not be able to walk again and that I was semi-paralyzed. My son
mentioned the idol once or twice and I asked him to forget about it. After a
few months, he too...”, the priest was sobbing now.
Jennifer
placed her hand on his and sat with him for a while. After sometime, she got up
to leave. She reached the door, turned and asked, “So you’re absolutely sure
you are unaware of the whereabouts of the original idol after you stole it?”
“Believe
me. I do not know anything about it.”
Jennifer
left the house. She had to tell the team about it. She was slightly disturbed
at leaving the priest when he was in an emotional turmoil after having revealed
everything to her.
She
saw Roohi playing with a few children in the village. She walked further down
to the temple office, where she had requested everybody to gather so that she
could update them with the news.
“Ravi,
Roohi is playing with Chinnu and other kids in the ground. Shekhar has gone to
bring us food. Can you send someone to bring Roohi?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll send the constable.”
“I’ll send the constable.”
“There
is a problem. She might be a bit too adamant. She won’t go with strangers. The
constable will have to ring me up and give her the phone. Only then will she
come.”
“Haha
smart kid. Will tell him to do that.”
Tara was about to get into the office when she noticed a distraught Jennifer walking towards them.
“Have some important info. Pls meet in temple office asap.”
Was Jennifer’s text to Tara and the others. Tara kept wondering as to what Jennifer could possibly have found which nobody else had.
Jennifer
briefed everybody gathered in the temple office about what the priest had
revealed to her. A sudden lull took over the office. Nobody said a word after
Jennifer narrated the story.
The man walked up to where Roohi was.
“Roohi
moley! Your mother sent me to bring
you to the office.”
“Who
are you?”
He
bent down smiling, “Haven’t you seen me? We met in the temple.”
She
ran away playing again with the kids.
“Roohi
moley! Come, let us go. It is time for lunch.”
“I’ll
come only if Mumma or Pappa calls me. I won’t go with strangers.”
“I’ll
call up your Mumma. Wait!”
He
called up and gave the phone to Roohi.
“Ok
Mumma! I’m coming. Roohi was a good girl. She didn’t go with stranger uncle.”,
she gave the phone to him, said bye to her friends and left.
*****
Inspector Ravi finally spoke up saying, “This means that the idol is in the village. If the boy is dead, there has got to be somebody else who knows about the idol.”
Jennifer
said, “Or, the boy hid the idol. After his death, no one knows about it. One
thing is sure. The idol has not left the temple premises since the child died.”
“So basically, we need to find if someone is still aware of the idol’s theft and whether he is after it. How is that possible?” Ravi looked at everyone for an answer.
“There is one way. If anyone knows about the idol, and he wants to take it out, he will be after the child.” said Sudheeran.
“But
she will be under our protection.” Tara said, albeit in a worried tone.
Suddenly, Ravi’s phone rang. He excused himself.
“Yes,
I just saw her playing in the village with some children. No one can take her
away just like that.” said Jennifer.
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