The Astral Alibi (33 page)

“I’ve been on the computer for hours, looking up options, but unfortunately I’ve had no success,” Sonia said in a low voice.

Outside, the night was dark, silent, and very cold. It was past midnight and the world seemed to be fast asleep. A thick mist hovered in the garden of the Stellar Investigations Office. Inside the office, Nidhi sat curled on a pillow on the window sill. Occasionally, she opened a sleepy eye and made certain that the low drone of voices continued. Sonia and Mohnish sat on the Panchgani rug, wrapped in warm woollen blankets. The night was pitch black and if it hadn’t been for the small night lamp that Sonia had insisted on leaving on, sight would’ve been impossible. They had a good view of the window, but someone peeping from the outside would see nothing inside.

They had eaten dinner and returned to the office around eleven and settled down to keep watch. After an initial awkwardness, Sonia tuned herself to Mohnish’s professional approach to the task. Now, as she poured some
chai
into cups and handed one to him, she found herself smiling in the dark. It was a good thing her parents were unorthodox enough to allow this night out. Which was mostly because they trusted and liked Mohnish, of course. Perhaps it was time she trusted him explicitly as well.

His mobile trilled and Mohnish dug hastily into his pocket. One look at the number and he cut it off.

“Who was it?” Sonia whispered.

“Nobody important.”

But the phone again rang insistently. Mohnish glanced at the number and this time he switched off his mobile.

“Obviously somebody really wants to contact you at this late hour. Why don’t you answer the call once and for all!”

“Because I don’t wish to!”

“Why not?” Sonia pressed, surprised at his brusque tone.

“I told you, it’s nothing important. Anyway, I ought to have switched off the mobile long ago. Can’t have it making so much noise when we are supposed to be on guard!”

Sonia accepted his explanation dubiously. Who wished to contact Mohnish in the middle of the night and why didn’t he wish to take the call? And why did he sound so annoyed? Once more, she realised that Mohnish had a side to him that she was not a part of. That probably she would never be a part of. And until she knew what lay in that part of his life, she would always find him a little unpredictable and unreachable.

“You were telling me about your search for Asit,” Mohnish prompted, tucking the cell back into his pocket.

“Only that I found a whole lot of Asit Raos on the Internet. I’ve tracked down some, but so far no success. None of them seems to be the Asit Rao I’m looking for. I shall contact more Asit Raos tomorrow and hope that at least one of them responds positively. If not, I shall start again, with new search engines and new words. This man could be anywhere in the world! If I can find some more of his attributes as keywords, at least one, and if he is on the Net, I shall definitely find him!”

“Why do I get the impression that once again you are getting more involved in this than necessary?” Mohnish took a sip of tea and turned in his seat to search her face in the dim light.

“Because this time it is necessary. I’ve always been curious about love and how long it really lasts. And this is a case in time. An older woman and a younger man. So madly in love but trapped in the wrong time, at the wrong age, and in a terribly complex situation. None of it was their fault or of their making. What I’d like to know is what really happened to their love. It is obvious that she never forgot him and loved him with all her heart. But what about him? Did his love survive, pitted against distance, time, age, and society standards? That is what
I
would really love to know!” Sonia remarked.

“You mean, you think that this guy moved on, forgot their great love, and just enjoyed his life?” Mohnish asked dryly.

“Something like that. He is a man after all!”

“I don’t believe this! You
are
biased! Don’t you believe that men can profess undying love and mean it?”

“Of course they do. I mean, most men probably do. But does that declaration really and truly last through life!”

Mohnish scrutinised her face, then suddenly leaned forward. “So if I told you that I love you, you wouldn’t really believe me, would you?”

Sonia blushed, glad of the cover of the darkness. “No. I wouldn’t believe you!”

“Why not? Is it my horoscope?”

“Your horoscope?” For a moment she was surprised, then she answered truthfully. “Partly.”

“What do I have to do to make you believe me?”

The husky note of his voice had sent her pulse racing. The earnestness in his voice, his steady intense gaze seemed to hold her eyes even in the dark. He took the cup from her hand and placed it aside. Then he clasped her hands in his.

“Sonia, you know I’m not kidding. I’ve waited too long to say this, but you’ve been jittery every time I broached the subject. I—”

Suddenly the room was plunged into darkness and Mohnish cursed under his breath. What perfect timing!

“Electricity failure! I’ll find the emergency lamp!” Sonia sounded breathless. She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved with the interruption or not.

She rose, completely blinded by the darkness. Mohnish stood up at the same time and their heads bumped.

“Ouch! What are you doing?”

“I told you I can’t stand the dark!” he whispered.

“Then sit still, please, I’m trying to find the lamp!” she hissed.

Her hands groped in the dark and came up against a woollen sweater. She shrank back instantly.

“Don’t worry, it’s only me!” Mohnish reported.

All the more reason to worry,
Sonia thought.

She turned quickly. This electricity! Why wasn’t there some semblance of order and discipline in power cuts? And where was the emergency lamp? She had specifically kept it on the table, so as to reach it in the dark!

She stepped aside, banged her foot against a chair, and stumbled. Instantly, strong arms enveloped her. For a minute, she froze, transfixed and dazed with his proximity, the pleasant odour of Mohnish’s body, hearing his heart beat even faster than hers. The atmosphere was charged and heady. A great warmth suffused through her and she experienced a sudden craving for the moment to extend into eternity!

Nidhi meowed, staring at the window. The fur on her back began to rise.

Sonia stepped back hastily, blushing furiously in embarrassment as the cat’s meows registered through the thick mist of attraction.

“Take it easy, okay?” Mohnish murmured. “There’s no desperate need to find a light.”

“But I thought you hated the dark.”

“Yes, but
you
are the one who’s all panicky,” he pointed out in a low, amused voice. “Just stand still. I’ll find the lamp. My eyes are quite accustomed to the dark now. And I know where it is. I moved it to the window seat, near Nidhi, before we settled down.”

“Now you tell me!” Sonia snapped.

Suddenly Nidhi’s loud angry hissing filled the room. The little cat was standing on two paws, clawing the pane. A figure in white hovered outside the grilled window.

“Shh…” Mohnish whispered urgently. “The ghost!”

Sonia darted to the window and grabbed the lamp. But just as she did so, a loud howl of pain pierced the night. Mohnish yanked the office door open and they raced out into the darkness. Just in time to glimpse the ghost stumbling over tree roots and fleeing into the dark. A white bedsheet trailed behind him and his waistlong dreadlocks hung like rags flapping in the wind. As the figure dissolved into the mist, Mohnish broke into a run, plunging into the darkness, chasing the ghost down the lane.

Sonia stared in amazement as another figure appeared out of the shadows. She switched on the emergency lamp. Jatin! And he had a hockey stick in hand!

“What are you doing here?” she asked incredulously.

“Keeping watch, of course! I couldn’t trust the two of you together, so I decided to extend my duties and add my experienced vigil to the watch tonight. And am I glad I did! I’ve given that ghost such a whack with my hockey stick, he’s not going to turn up again in a long time!” Jatin reported triumphantly.

Sonia stared in disbelief at her assistant. “Don’t you think trying to catch him would’ve been a more profitable option for us? Instead of just driving him away?”

“Well, actually I didn’t really think of that. I was longing to get my hands on that troublesome ghost and I certainly got the satisfaction. Anyway, the goal has been achieved. He won’t turn up again. Ultimately that’s what we wanted, didn’t we?”

Sonia sighed. “Yes, I guess, though finding out why he was haunting our premises would have been a bonus, right?”

“Oh…”

Mohnish returned, a little breathless. “Got away! What’s that?” He stooped and picked up something from the grass at his feet. “Another note?”

Immediately Sonia shone the light on the slip of paper. The printed words stood out clearly on the crumpled sheet.

“You did not heed my warning. Now your cat will die!”

“Nidhi!” Sonia exclaimed and wheeled towards the office.

She rushed inside, her heart pounding with terror. The others followed close on her heels.

“Nidhi!” Sonia called again, desperately, and for a breathtaking moment heard only silence. Then a complaining meow answered loudly and firmly, and relief swept over Sonia. Nidhi was sitting by the window, awaiting Sonia’s return.

The detective swooped the cat up in her arms, cradling her like a child.

“My little darling!” she cooed. Turning to the others, she announced, “She’s here and safe!”

“Thanks to my whack!” Jatin reminded.

The night lamp flickered, announcing the return of the electricity, and Jatin switched on the tube, flooding the office with light.

“I guess it’s time to go home,” Mohnish said, tugging on his jacket. “That ghost won’t return in a hurry, now that he knows we’ve made the connection between his notes and him!”

“And because of my whack!”

Sonia and Mohnish flashed each other amused looks. “And because of your thoughtfulness,” she acceded, and her assistant finally looked appeased and pleased.

Sonia settled Nidhi on her pillow and stroked her till she curled up again.

“Okay everybody, pack-up time!”

Sonia studied the horoscope intently. She could very nearly visualise Asit—tall, silent, and romantic. She grimaced. Her head was groggy and filled with romantic nonsense, she realised, thanks to Mohnish! She had barely slept last night and the few winks she had managed had been interspersed with images of a make-believe Asit and a very real Mohnish. She had awakened disoriented and finding difficulty in sifting imagination from reality. She couldn’t help thinking back to last night. He had been different. More like the Mohnish she had met for the first time. Confident, almost arrogant with some hidden, inner knowledge. Mysterious, too, about the phone call. If the power failure hadn’t happened when it did, what would he have said to her? And more important, how would she have reacted to him? Sonia sighed. She felt totally confused and ill equipped to handle anything beyond simple friendship. What had he said earlier.
A delicate boundary protecting friendship.
Had he overstepped his boundary of friendship? And had she also unknowingly trespassed over that line?

Sonia shook her head in frustration. She didn’t at all fancy her line of thinking. No doubt this case was giving her ideas and forcing amorous thoughts into her mind. She was an investigator and she had no time for relationships—at least, not yet. Besides, she wasn’t completely free of a certain man with blue-green eyes, who was invisible physically, but omnipresent like a road speed-breaker in her emotional path. There was only one thing to do, if she had to retain her wits and behave like a rational and practical human being—she had to forget the whole notion of romance!

With fresh resolve, she buzzed the intercom.

“Yes, Boss!”

“Jatin, I need music.”

“Right away, Boss!”

It was only when Jatin had slipped a hard-rock CD into the player and had speedily escaped from the room that Sonia recovered some semblance of peace. The loud guitar music raked into her brain noisily. She focused completely on the horoscope, her foot tapping with the rhythm. Suddenly, her eyes were drawn to a constellation. The Lord of the fourth house Mars was in the ninth house in his own sign Aries! Which meant that ultimately Asit would settle in a city and in his birth place and prosper there. Where was he born, she tried to recall. Mumbai! That was it! Mumbai was where he ought to have settled! Something else attracted her attention. Venus and Mars in the ninth house indicated a very fruitful career in arts and media. There was a great possibility of him changing his career along the way. A powerful Mars, and Venus and Harshal in opposition further hinted at a very technologically advanced artistic profession. Sonia raised her head and closed her eyes. A bell seemed to ring at the back of her mind. What career could Asit choose? Opening her eyes, she quickly rummaged through her drawer and extracted the wooden box, withdrawing the letters. One by one she scanned them again, and suddenly she paused, excited. One single reference leaped up at her. Photography! This had to be it! After all, his horoscope indicated that he was talented and could pursue a career in it. Perhaps that was why she had not succeeded in finding an Engineer Asit. Feeling excited, she realised that finally she had struck gold—found a clue to his whereabouts. Mumbai and photography, the two important key words!

Sonia thrust the letters back into the box along with the horoscope and hastened into the outer office. Jatin was wrapping a gift he had bought. But the moment he saw his Boss’s face, he paused.

“Found something?” he asked.

“I believe so. But I’ll know for sure in a minute. Jatin, you can do something in the meanwhile. Find out from the Mumbai phone directory if they have an Asit Rao listed.”

Jatin rose with alacrity and set to work, while Sonia settled once more at the computer. Within minutes she was Googling the words
Asit
and
photography,
and within seconds several sites scrolled on the screen. She ran an eye over them. The last name was a website called Sitara.com. Sonia stared at it. A photographer’s site. Sitara. Could it be? Sitara—a combination of Asit and Tara—her heart began a tattoo of anticipation, as she clicked on the site. Images unfolded—portraits and photos of men, women, and children in varied landscapes, seasons, and situations, touched up electronically, some with special effects. And then she saw a particular photo. She clicked on it to enlarge it. It was a black-and-white image of a beautiful woman dancing at a party. Her face was turned to the camera and she was smiling. And instinctively Sonia knew. This was Tara!