A MURDER AND A MYSTERY

CHAPTER 14: WILLIAMS GOES UP

As a child, Williams had been quite observant. He liked to watch people and imagine what they thought. His favorite pastime was sit and watch people. He observed that most people talked to themselves all the time. Some did not show while others made a show of it. He had seen men and women gesticulating and even having a loud conversation with themselves. He had seen his father doing that. Looking at his father while he was alone, Williams would wonder what sort of conversation he was having with himself. It occurred to Williams that people had so much stuff in their mind that they were unable to handle it. He would observe other things as well. All this observations would then be retained in his mind and he would try to work out the character of the person. Later, this became an obsession with him and he would try to read people's mind and watch their facial expressions. He would try to figure out whether someone was speaking the truth or lying.

Williams joined the police through a relative of his who worked in the department. After years as a beat constable,Williams got noticed for his deduction skills by one of his superiors who suggested that he should join the investigation team. After successfully working on many cases, he had built a small reputation for himself.

Williams was onto something really big here; he knew that well. Now this could either make his career or mar it. By now, Williams was fairly certain how the murder happened; but he still did not know who did it and why. There were certain things to be confirmed, and he decided to see Sebastian once again.

"Mr. Sebastian. We have made progress with our investigations and I need further information from you. We have identified the dead woman though we are yet to make it official. She was a girl called Shipra who lived in Parel. Do you recollect the name?"

"No; I did not know anybody by that name."

"Mr. Sebastian, you understand the gravity of the situation you are in. The body was found in your flat, so your involvement is confirmed, whether you committed the crime or not. As owner of this flat, you are responsible for what is kept here. You have no logical explanation to provide about how the body came in. It could have walked in here with you, but the murder did not take place here. It is therefore certain that the body came here after the crime was committed. Now, it is possible that you brought in the body to hide it in your loft. Or it may be possible that someone you are related to you, someone whom you know and someone who had access to the flat apart from you did it. Now, you have to tell me who, apart from you, has the keys to the flat."

" I have few relatives, but none with whom I interact frequently. In fact, after the death of my wife, followed by the death of my parents, I have lived in isolation. In fact, it was only a few days ago that I went to meet my uncle. I thought I would tell him about the dead body. Actually, no one except me has keys to the flat. I have no maids or servants and no visitors at home. But it is funny you mention about the keys. I visited the shop I frequent and the shopkeeper asked me the same question. I had once misplaced the keys in his shop and he sent one of his boys to return the keys to me. He asked me whether it was possible that someone made a duplicate set of my keys."

Williams was excited. "Which shop do you go to? The one just outside your building? What is it, 'Gupta Provisions'?"

"Why, yes. That exactly is the shop! But how do you know that?"

"Sebastian; look at these keys." Williams took out a bunch of keys from his pocket and offered it to Sebastian. " Come, let us try."

Two of the keys fitted into the lock at Sebastian's flat. One could open and get into the flat with the keys.

Sebastian was dumbfounded. Who could have made these keys without his knowledge? Meanwhile Williams pulled out a sheet of paper and asked Sebastian to have a close look at the sketch of the person on it.

"Do you by any chance recognize this person?"

"Yes of course! This boy works at the shop. In fact he was the person who brought me my keys. Who the hell is he and how is he involved? Did he make these duplicates? Have you nabbed this boy? Has he confessed?"

"Hold on Sebastian. The boy is dead; killed in a train accident."

"Williams; you must tell me what is going on. Look, I have nothing to do with this murder, you know that. But I have nothing to prove that I am innocent. You must help me."

"Sebastian, the case is complicated and beyond my control. All I can say is I have been able to dig out certain things and made some inferences. The dead girl's brother met me and it was he who told me about this boy. Look, I can't tell you much at this stage but I believe you are innocent. There is much more to this case than I imagined and what may happen now may put you in trouble. I suggest you see a good lawyer to defend yourself. At least prepare yourself for any trouble."

The next day, Williams went to meet his boss. He carefully briefed him about the murder case and told him everything he had done in the days after the body was discovered. He also put forth his apprehensions about the involvement of some high and mighty from the party. He then sought further instructions.

Williams' boss spoke to his superior. The superior spoke to his boss and finally the minister concerned was briefed. Two days later, Williams was called by his boss and asked to go ahead with investigations. He was empowered to question and even detain anybody he wished. He was also asked to co-ordinate with Parel police about the girl. The family should be informed. He also wanted a surveillance on certain party workers. Williams was instructed to keep his boss fully briefed on developments. No action must be taken without informing him.