Club You to Death by Anuja Chauhan (books to improve english .TXT) 📕

secretive stalking, he knew all about her dating Leo, even though nobody in the Zumba group did!’

The DTC Zumba ladies exchange startled looks. Clearly, this is news to them.

Bhavani nods gravely. ‘O yes. He had easy access to Pinko Hathni from the anti-social elements he represents in the lower courts all the time. As for opportunity – he dropped in on the DTC gym on Tambola Sunday to familiarize himself with the place, which had recently been renovated. Just a short visit perhaps, but it gave him ample time to observe the placement of the security camera and note that the gas balloons could easily be released through the window to obscure it at the correct moment. Later, when an argument broke out between Mukesh Khurana and Leo in front of the whole Club, he seized the opening to establish himself as a friend and well-wisher of the very man he planned to murder the next morning! And then, late that night, it was a simple enough matter for a fit young man to jog down to the DTC from Nizamuddin with his hood up, and then in through the gates as the security guards huddled up to their heaters in their boxes – and out the same way ten minutes later!’

‘You’re saying Kashi killed Leo because he was jealous?’ Bambi says incredulously. ‘Have you taken a good look at Kashi? I would’ve picked him over Leo any day!’

‘Bam,’ Kashi mutters. ‘Please. Behave.’

‘Shut up, Kashi!’ She turns back to the old policeman. ‘But I didn’t because Kashi has a girlfriend, and we’re just friends now. Wow, ACP, your age and your moral compass are really showing!’

‘Bambi—’

‘He’s accusing you of murder, Kashi!’

‘Yes, I know,’ Kashi replies in a low, level voice. ‘And it’s ridiculous and will never stand up in court.’

‘You’re right, Bambi ji,’ Bhavani replies easily. ‘Even we know that you would have picked vakeel sa’ab over Leo Matthew any day. And that is where we finally move forward out of all the fogs and confusions and come to the crux of this whole case, because you see, Akash Dogra did nat murder Leo Matthew because he was jealous of him. He murdered Leo Matthew because Leo Matthew was blackmailing him.’

‘Blackmailing Akash?’ Father Victor Emmanuel says blankly after the uproar in the room has subsided. ‘But Lambu didn’t even know Akash properly! I knew him! He repped some of our boys, he donated money to the orphanage because of me, not because of Lambu!’

Bhavani Singh gets slowly to his feet and looks about the room. Everybody watches him with bated breath.

‘Let us go back three years again. To the night of Bambi Todi and Anshul Poddar’s engagement. A glittering, spectacular night, put together in haste because the groom has to leave for a mountaineering expedition early the next morning. A guest list comprising of the wealthy Marwari committee, business associates of the Todis and Poddars, family friends, long-time retainers, and school friends of both Anshul and Bambi. And amongst this list of school friends, there is the twenty-two-year-old Akash Dogra, fresh out of law school with nothing to offer Bambi ji but his heart, putting up a brave front after being tossed aside by his childhood friend and girlfriend of the last few years.

‘We have seen the videos of that night. Akash Dogra arrives with two Doon School friends, and steers clear of Bambi ji all evening. He speaks little, eats even less, flinches when Bambi ji calls Anshul the A to her B, and drinks a lot. He meets Bambi for one short moment, hugs her awkwardly and shakes hands with Anshul, who gives him his hand in an open friendly fashion, with no suspicion whatsoever that the man he is shaking hands with has black hate in his heart.’

‘You can’t just say things like that, Bhavani ji!’ Bambi says in a shaking voice. ‘You weren’t there, you can’t possibly know the state of Kashi’s heart from a video. You’re acting like Guppie Ram, now!’

‘Yes, do please cut out the filmi flourishes, ACP,’ Roshni Aggarwal says testily. ‘I’ve given you access to this space because I want to get to the bottom of this wretched business, but this situation now seems to be entering the realm of wild guesswork.’

Bhavani spreads out his hands.

‘We are just now coming to the point, madam. Here is what happened that night, and we have abundant proof of it. Akash Dogra left the party after congratulating Bambi ji and her new fiancé, and went out drinking with his friends. Presumably they tried to cheer him up and so on. Eventually they dropped him to his house and left.

‘But instead of going upstairs and to bed, Akash Dogra got into his parents’ Maruti Swift, drove back to the DTC, parked in the parking lot, and went back into the gardens of Guest Cottage No. 1.

‘Because Akash Dogra had dated Bambi Todi for years, he knew that she would do with Anshul what she had done with Akash many a time. Sure enough, a few hours later, when the party had well and truly wrapped up, and everybody including Bambi ji’s parents had gone home, and she herself had retired to Guest Cottage No. 1 where she was spending the night, Anshul Poddar returned. He had stowed his bags on the bus leaving for Garhwal and was dressed in his travelling clothes. A giggling Bambi ji let him into the cottage and they were cloistered there for two hours, while Akash Dogra waited outside. When Anshul finally emerged, alone, at about four in the morning, Akash Dogra was waiting for him. We do nat quite know how the lapis lazuli Shivling Cookie ji had carried into the party so proudly as a gift to the engaged couple entered the picture, but our guess is that Bambi ji gave it as a “joke” parting gift to her fiancé when he left her for the mountains.’

Kashi is staring at Bhavani with open fascination. ‘Then