The Murder Suspect by Rani Ramakrishnan

Author:Rani Ramakrishnan [Ramakrishnan, Rani]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-27T22:00:00+00:00

The questioning at the CBI offices was, as always, a bore. The Creep was more thorough this time. He was sure of what he needed to know.

As soon as we arrived, I spotted a white flower lying on the table in the interrogation room. Out of habit, I picked it up and examined it. It was a datura.

‘You recognise it, I see,’ the Creep’s voice boomed behind me. He stepped into the room. ‘It’s not just a flower. It’s a murder weapon.’

I stayed quiet. He hadn’t asked a question. He continued after a weighty pause.

‘Do you know where I found it?’

‘No.’

‘In your own backyard! It was in the evidence we collected yesterday. So don’t tell me you did not know that.’

‘I did not receive a list of the items you collected as evidence from my house. Besides, it’s impossible that this plant is growing in my yard.’

‘Why?’

‘I am paying the gardener good money to maintain that patch. For the amount I pay him, if he is swindling me and planting things that grow without any care in the wild, he is in for a rude shock.’

‘What will you do? Kill him, just like you killed Piyush?’

‘I haven’t killed anyone—yet.’ I snorted, leaving the obvious implication out in the open for him to ponder.

‘Why do you have datura growing in your garden?’

‘I just told you that the gardener does the planting. I only pay him. Ask him.’

‘We did. You did not think we would question you without speaking to him first.’

‘What did he say?’

‘He said he only plants what Nalini madam asks him to.’

‘I never asked him to plant that.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.’

He pushed a piece of paper at me. I peered at it and recognised my credit card bill from a few months ago. He had underlined something—a payment made to the local nursery. Attached to it was a thin flap of paper: a copy of the bill issued by the nursery. I had purchased many seeds that day, and ‘Blackcurrant Swirl’ was highlighted on the list.

I had paid a premium price for this exotic-sounding seed. It was imported, the nursery owner had boasted—an ideal ornamental plant. He had also warned me that it could be poisonous if eaten. I had laughed at the notion and assured him that I was not in the habit of eating any flowers growing in my garden.

‘Yes, the nursery person told me it was a poisonous plant, but the flower looked beautiful and I had no plans to eat it, so it seemed harmless. What has it got to do with datura?’ I asked, confused.

‘It is datura.’

‘This blackcurrant thing?’ I asked, my heart racing with fear.

‘Are you telling me you did not know?’

‘Of course I didn’t know! The blackcurrent flowers are purple and nothing like this white specimen, you have here. How would anyone guess they were the same?’

‘Even if I believe that, which I don’t, tell me why you bought the seeds knowing that the plant was poisonous.’

‘The flowers were pretty.’

‘That’s not how I would describe the scene.

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