Sleight Of Fate by Balaji Narasimhan

Author:Balaji Narasimhan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sherlock Holmes, mystery, crime, british, crime, novels, short story
ISBN: 9781780924786
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2013-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

The torturer’s thoughts

Finally, the case was progressing. My lawyer told the court that the design was mine and to prove it, he said that the plans for the same were locked in my safety deposit locker way back in April last year and that I joined the jeweller’s employment only in December of the same year.

My lawyer also gave the keys of the locker to the court. The officials of the court then went to the bank, found that it has not been operated since April, and opened the locker and presented the drawings of the necklace to the court.

It looked like there was some amount of proof to show that I was telling the truth, and this made me feel that I would win. However, the lawyers of the jeweller - I should probably say board of attorneys at law, he had a huge law firm with many top lawyers defending him - came up with a cunning stratagem to defend him.

Apparently, in January last year, robbers had broken into the jeweller’s shop and made away with several jewels and papers. The police report at that time, which was drawn up before I put my own designs in the locker, said that various precious stones and designs were stolen.

In a masterpiece of chicanery and mendacity, the opposition lawyers hinted at the fact that the plans for my necklace might have been one of the stolen designs. They did not positively say that I had broken into the jeweller’s store and stolen the plans, but since the robbers were never apprehended, they hinted that there was a possibility that I might have got the idea for the unbreakable necklace from there.

“Let’s assume, My Lord,” said the jeweller’s lawyer while concluding his thoughts, “that this gentleman is sitting in a restaurant and the thieves are in the next table discussing the loot. What if their discussion, overheard by the designer here (pointing to me) led to the implantation of the idea of the necklace in the mind of the said designer unconsciously? I’m not saying that this was the way it happened. All I’m saying is that the possibility exists, and this throws a certain amount of doubt and the benefit thereof, My Lord, should be given to my client, the jeweller.”

And since there was a remote possibility that the jeweller was innocent, he was released. The court told me to pay damages, but the jeweller graciously said this was not necessary. In fact, it would have been impossible because the court case had ruined me and left me indigent.

The quiz

“‘In my profession all sorts of odd knowledge comes useful, and this room of yours is a storehouse of it.’ Where did Holmes say this?”

“The Adventure of the Three Garridebs.”

The victim’s thoughts

Was father solely to blame? Was not society, which has always praised one’s capability to earn money, also at fault?

After dad’s death, I spent time finding out the full extent of his wealth, and it was enormous. To do what he and my mom wanted, I spent liberally and built several hospitals and temples.

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