London
1536 Words
I finally had the chance to travel. I have not travelled out of my house and Kolkata after 2007 and I was dying to travel but had no money to venture out. My name and reputation was spreading as a sleuth far and near. One of my flatmates had recommended my name to his brother living in London for my services. I took a direct flight in British Airways from Kolkata to London. It was my first international flight and it was very good. The service and food was good and it was very exciting. All the way I kept on thinking about the nature of the case. I had no idea at all. In the Indian time Night I reached London. It was very cold and raining. I was chilled to the bone as I was only habituated to Kolkata winters which are mild. They the Mazumdars had come to receive me at the airport. They seemed very well off as the car we were to travel was BMW. The house was in London.’smost posh area and was a mansion. There were more cars standing in the Porch and the door was opened by a maid in Agatha Christie books. I was very impressed by the opulence. My first question to Mr. Mazumdar was that why did he need to hire a new bird from Kolkata as a detective and why he did not hire a reputed detective of England. Mr. Mazumdar clarified that he needed secrecy and in London he had a reputation to protect. But I was totally ignorant about the police there. There he said he would help me I just needed to ask. The details of the case as given by him were as follows: His son was doing internship in a posh hotel in London. One night during his work hours he just disappeared and never reached home in the morning. The hotel had registered a missing complaint with the police and the conclusion drawn by them was that he had gone away on his own. That cannot be true as he really loved his family and could have given his life for them. He was married to an English girl and had a daughter whom he doted on. Therefore I was enlisted on his brother’s recommendation. I seeked the address of the Hotel and after refreshing myself went to have a firsthand glance of the Hotel. It was late and raining so I took a car and went. I just had a glance from outside and came back. It just took me 45 minutes of travel to and fro. I after a tasty dinner of grilled fish and soup retired for the night in my princely bedroom. As it was a new place so I had a restless night and kept waking up now and then. The morning was no different. London has a funny weather of rain and cold. It was still raining and it was cold that could chill you to the bones. The morning looked beautiful and gloomy and I had lots to do. I made tea for myself and sat down to watch the pouring rain near a spacious window. The armchair was very comfortable and while jotting down points in my diary I finally dozed off for the night. I got up at 9o clock and the attendant had come to take me for breakfast. I freshened myself and went down for my breakfast. I was greeted by the Mazumdar family and for the first time met Shantanu’s wife too. I wanted to talk to her and for that I needed permission. Indians even how liberated they are they have certain rules for the women of the house which is very different from others. So I spoke to the head of the family the mother and then spoke to Malini his wife. She had nothing much to say only this they had a happy life and he doted on his daughter. She knew nothing about his professional life so I decided to visit the site of disappearance. I took a car and visited the Hotel. There I met Stefano the manager who apprised me about the disappearance. It was a cold night and some staff had taken leave from work so Shantanu was filling in for them. His last order was for Room 303 an American guest James was staying in that room. It was 2oclock when he had ordered for coffee. It was not surprising because he was a writer and kept awake the whole night giving expression to his creativity. In front of 303 he was seen last. On talking to James over telephone I gathered nothing. I spoke to his fellow workers and got nothing. It was at zero that I was standing and actually did not know what to do. Suddenly it struck me that Shantanu must be travelling to and fro in a car o where was it. The manager told me that staff parking was in the basement and due to heavy snowfall it was an isolated area and they never had any security there. I decided to check the car for leads. T he manager accompanied me to the basement and there on reaching his Land Rover we could smell a foul smell. Shantanu was sitting in his car dead and his body had started rotting. Police and his family both were informed. Both came and the body was taken away for last rites. Police and I both did not find any marks on the body. I had checked the car and there were no signs of struggle. I now had to wait for the autopsy report of the police. I had asked the captain about it and he had told me that by evening I will get to know the cause of death. After a couple of hours when I reached the Mazumdar house I could feel the gloominess all around. Family and relatives were all there mourning the death of the son and Mr. Mazumdar came to my room to thank me that it was because of me the body was found. I never had to accept thanks for such tragedy. I told him that I needed to go to the captain’s office to find out about the cause of death. Lunch was served to me in the room only. It was vegetarian food as in Hindus we don’t eat non vegetarian for 11 days after a death. I had my lunch and decided to sleep for couple of hours. I did that and woke up during tea time. The household had retired for the day after crying and mourning their loss. I quietly left for the captains office and there found out that Shantanu had died due to a cardiac arrest. The trigger was missing. I had to consult their doctor for his medical history. I left for the house and contacted Malini to know the name of his doctor. It was an Indian doctor Dr, Anil Kamath and I headed for his chamber. I had to wait for 2 hours before I could meet him and he told me that Shantanu did not suffer from any chronic ailments which could have led to heart issues. I decided to go to the crime scene that is the basement of the hotel that evening. There I checked the whole basement but found nothing suspicious. What could have triggered a heart failure was the question? There suddenly near where the car was parked I found traces of white powder which to me looked like drugs. I collected a sample and went and gave it to the captain in his office for testing. The testing proved it to be cocaine. Shantanu was very health conscious so could never be involved in drug abuse. And the captain did not speak about any substance abuse as cause of death. I went back to the station to read the full report and there it was clearly listed the heart failure was due to over consumption of cocaine a popular party drug. I did not believe it because his wife also thought otherwise so I went back to the hotel to ask some more questions. The manager was very evasive as now it involved drugs and was reluctant to divulge details but nevertheless he did not stop me from talking to the staff and one controversial comment sent me looking for the owner of the motel. This was not as easy task to track him down as he was being saved from all quarters. Finally I asked Mr. Mazumdar to intervene as I was convinced that Shantanu has been killed because he had unwillingly stumbled upon drug trafficking racket in the hotel and he was killed using the same drugs. The owner was the mastermind of this killing and trade. Mr. Lewis was arrested by the captain the next morning and his confession confirmed my doubts. Mr. Mazumdar was very grateful for the closure and sent me home with my fees and bonus. It was a sad case and if I was rich then I would not have charged him anything.
- Writer
