The Astral Alibi by Manjiri Prabhu

moment, his words defusing the tension like a bomb. Sudden respect replaced the bewildered expression in her eyes. “You have struck the nail on the head. I think that’s exactly what I need to do. Focus.”
    “Good.” Mohnish flashed her a pleased smile.
     
    A key turned in the lock and he entered the dark room. For a time he stood motionless, then he walked to the next room. The room which overlooked her window. There was no light there, either. She had gone, gone forever. He didn’t need to follow her anymore. It was all over. He couldn’t understand if he felt relief or anger. He felt empty. Had it all been worth it? he wondered. He stared at the dark window across the street and for an instant thought he saw a movement there. Somebody was in her room! He strained his eyes. A woman? Not
her…
He quickly lifted the binoculars and trained them on the window across the street. And that very instant, the lights were switched on in the room. He whirled around and stared in shock. Inspector Shinde, Sonia, and Jatin stood in the doorway.
    “Mr. Parmeet Sahay, you are under arrest for cold-bloodedly abetting the suicide of your wife and leaving her to die!” Shinde rasped.
    At the same time, the room opposite the street was illuminated and Renuka stood in the window.
     
    Jatin poured out hot cups of
chai
and handed them to Renuka and Sonia. Nidhi was cuddled on her mistress’s lap.
    “But, Boss, you said that Parmeet was innocent!”
    “I didn’t say he was innocent!” Sonia corrected. “I said that
Vidya
did not want him to be involved in her plan.
She
was loyal to her husband and wanted to keep him blemishless!”
    “But then, what exactly happened? Are you saying that it wasn’t Kartik following Vidya?” There was a confused look on Jatin’s face as he drew out a chair and settled down opposite his Boss.
    “Kartik
was
following Vidya to ensure her safety, but he wasn’t aware that both he and Vidya were being followed by Parmeet. Parmeet had always suspected that his wife was involved with someone before marriage and he wasn’t convinced that it was completely over between them. Perhaps because he found the college photograph of Vidya and Kartik in her cupboard. And he grew more suspicious when Kartik began calling Vidya. That was when he decided to do a little bit of his own investigating. He followed his wife around whenever he could. He’d stay away from his night shifts, and from his own vacant flat across the street, he often checked out her activities. Sometimes it was intentional spying and sometimes plain voyeurism!”
    “But how did you know all this?” Renuka asked.
    “It was Vidya’s horoscope which gave me the lead. In her horoscope, Moon, the planet which controls the mind, had been negatively influenced by Harshal and Neptune. Moreover they all co-existed in the eighth house, which is the house of death. I realised that this was indeed a horoscope of suicide, not murder. But there were references in Vidya’s diary which were confusing. For example, Kartik told us that Vidya was aware that he was following her. She had even asked him to stop following her around. But in her diary, in the last entry, which was written
after
her meeting with Kartik, she once again mentioned being followed. Which meant that it wasn’t Kartik she was hinting at this time. She also mentioned a glint of glass from across the street. I immediately thought of the apartment in the opposite building. Kartik had admitted that he had been following her, but he never mentioned that he had been observing her from an apartment. Besides, Kartik had a perfect alibi. He was at the Mula Retreat with friends when Vidya was on the verge of committing suicide. I even saw him there. Which meant that someone other than Kartik was keeping tabs on her.
    “In Vidya’s horoscope, Sun—the planet of the spouse—was in conjunction with Saturn in the sixth house, clearly revealing that her husband would be useless for her in