Now it occurred to E Babu that both Manyawar Diwakar
and Chahcha Reba were always with him through the night while the corpse lying there
did not show signs of rigor mortis. Then a thought occurred to him the import
of which hit him with the force of a thunderbolt. He yelled ‘Billu!’ and dashed
towards daand house. When he reached the hill top breathless waited to recoup
his strength. First sign of the dawn cracking on the eastern horizon was
reassuring. He uprooted a thick stick from the fence of vegetable bed, which
made a handy club, walked purposefully into the house. He moved in
surreptitiously into the large room where they had spent the night. He saw a
completely immobile Manyawar Diwakar slumped on a chair, his mouth stuffed with
green paste, an uprooted plant of Cannabis
Sativa carelessly lying near his chair. At the other end of room he saw Billu
tying Chacha Reba, also not fully conscious to his chair with his own belt.
Curiously a hookah was set bang in the middle of the room, apparently to
take care of him. Something must have gone wrong with Billu’s plan; he was not
expecting E Babu to return. Taking advantage of Billu’s carelessness E Babu
moved closer to him surreptitiously and banged the wooden club on his head, not
very hard but enough to temporarily cripple him; he wanted the rogue alive .
Billu, eyes bulging in surprise, crashed to ground. Quickly, E Babu tied both
his hands and legs very hard. Put him on chair and splashed water on his face
to revive him. It was important for E Babu to know why this macabre dance of
death was played out in serene ‘fiza’ of Badolgaon.
In about fifteen minutes Billu revived, opened his eyes
gingerly. When he could not move his arms, he immediately realized that he was
trapped proper. He looked at E Babu curiously and sighed, ‘So that trap at
gadan did not work!’
‘What trap?’ asked E Babu.
‘Never mind’, he said uninterestedly.
‘Why did you have to kill all of us?’
‘Why not? If you were me, you would do the same.’
‘Who are you?’
‘Now that is a good question.’
‘Well!’
‘I am Shashi Vader!’
Next revelation and conclusion.....
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