Murder Under a Red Moon by Harini Nagendra

Author:Harini Nagendra
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2023-03-28T00:00:00+00:00

19 The Flutter of a Feather

The night was muggy and sweaty, and Kaveri kept the windows open and drew the curtains aside, hoping to cool the room down. She slipped into an uneasy slumber, snoring lightly.

In her dreams, she and Ramu were at a Yakshagana theatre performance. The artists, wearing grotesque, magnificent painted masks, began a complicated dance. Mr Sharma crouched in a corner, his hands held up in supplication as Shanthi, Chitra and Kumar circled him steadily. The rhythm of the music grew faster and faster, as the dancers whirled around him, raising pistols high in the air. When a shot rang out, Kaveri sat up with a scream. Ramu pulled her into his arms, patting her back to sleep as she lay curled in his arms.

The rain continued steadily until 8 a.m. Kaveri dressed carefully, selecting one of Ramu’s favourite saris – pale yellow with a border of green parrots. Ramu poked his head into the bedroom through the open door. Seeing his wife looking at the sari blouses neatly arranged on wooden hangers, he said, ‘I hope you’re planning to wear one of your fetching sleeveless blouses.’

Soon after, she heard his brisk footsteps as he hurried downstairs. Bhargavi had gone to Shanthi’s house again that morning, and Kaveri fretted about that as she got ready.

In one of those mercurial changes of weather that Bangalore was famous for, the sun was now out amongst the clouds, making the wet mud steam. With the sun shining steadily down on them, Kaveri navigated a number of muddy puddles dropping Ramu off at the hospital.

‘Be careful.’ Ramu hesitated, feeling oddly nervous about opening the door and stepping away from the car. ‘I don’t know why, but I am feeling very uneasy. If my mother wasn’t involved, I would have asked you to drop the case.’

‘Drop the case?!’ Kaveri could not believe her ears. ‘Why would you ask me to do that?’

Ramu touched his wife’s hair gently. ‘I cannot stop thinking of Mr Sharma. Married for just two years, and now – gone. Just like that. I could not bear it if something happened to you.’

‘Nothing will happen to me,’ Kaveri said, caressing his cheek with her hand. She looked around to check for curious eyes but no one was near, so she leaned forward and gave Ramu a small peck on his cheek. ‘I will be careful. I promise.’

A crow landed on the bonnet of the Ford, shuffling its feet and cawing noisily at them for a moment before flying off.

Startled, Ramu let out a huff that was somewhere between a snort and a sob. ‘Lucky I’m not a superstitious man. If I was, that black crow would have confirmed my feeling – that something bad is going to happen today.’

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