The Astral Alibi by Manjiri Prabhu Page B

was not murder.”
    “Firstly, I think, because he was entirely unaware that Vidya had planned such a clever ruse to trap his mother. He was confused, because he’d seen her commit suicide with his own eyes. The bottle in his mother’s cupboard confused not only us but him, too. Then when he had finally figured out his wife’s ingenious scheme, there lay the risk of exposing his own hideous behaviour. He would have had to reveal that not only had he seen her suicide and heartlessly done absolutely nothing to stop it, but he had deliberately hidden the fact! It was his mother’s neck against his neck. And probably he didn’t really expect it to come to an arrest. Perhaps he thought he could stop the whole accusation process at some point,” Sonia analysed.
    “I’m glad at least one of them is going to face serious charges,” Renuka remarked bitterly. Then she looked a little abashed. “Sonia, I really need to apologise! I’ve been insufferably rude to you. You must think me to be—”
    “Renuka, don’t apologise. I understand. You were devastated by your friend’s death and you suspected that I was deliberately letting the Sahays off the hook. At that point, I couldn’t reveal my suspicions to you. Not without proof.”
    The other girl shrugged, but added with a smile, “Thank you, Sonia. Thank you for finding a way to see justice done.”
    “I just feel sorry for Vidya. What an unpleasant, irreversible mess of a beautiful life,” the detective sighed.
     
    The March evening was hot as Sonia approached a bench in Sambhaji Park. Families strolled around the sprawling park, eating
bhel
and
ragda
patties. Kartik sat waiting for her, a photograph clutched in his hand. Sonia took the seat beside him. As usual he was dressed in a
khadi
kurta and jeans, his hand clutching a sling bag beside him on the wooden, red-painted bench.
    “You knew, didn’t you?” he asked, without preamble.
    Sonia nodded. “It was there in the diary. That she was tired of taking the medicine. And also in her horoscope. That she would suffer from a terminal disease.” Sun and Saturn in the sixth house, which was the house of disease; Jupiter rendered weak in Virgo; Lord of the sixth house, Mercury, trapped between Saturn in the sixth house and Mars in the eighth house; Lord of the first house, Mars, in the eighth house, the house of death, in conjunction with Moon and with Saturn aspecting it—all extremely damaging planetary positions, leading to disease and death. Sonia recalled the numbness and deep sympathy she’d felt when she first realised the truth of Vidya’s failing health.
    “I spoke to the Doctor at the clinic where she underwent her regular treatment. She did not have long to live,” she told Kartik.
    Tears glittered in his eyes. “So she found a way out. Suicide was the answer to all her problems. That’s why she told me not to look back, no matter what happened. She wasn’t going to sway from her plan.”
    “Perhaps it was for the best,” Sonia consoled. “Perhaps the pain was too much for her. But she proved that she still possessed that fighting spirit you knew in her. Did you do as I told you to do?”
    Kartik nodded. He turned the photo frame in his hand and removed the cardboard back. A piece of paper slipped out. Without a word, he handed it to Sonia.
    With a sudden thudding of the heart, she opened the single fold. Vidya was speaking to them from the dead.
    Dear Kartik,
    I’ve always cared for you. But life must go on. So must you. Don’t grieve for me. I told you, life is not always only about living…. This note is to say that I will soon be at peace. My in-laws have not murdered me, as I planned it to look. My intention was only to teach them a lesson—in harassment. And hope that they will never harass anybody ever again!
    Vidya.
    Sonia stared at the note, her eyes moist. Vidya had never intended to harm anybody in a long-lasting manner. Sun and Jupiter in her horoscope had helped Vidya keep her