Assistant Commissioner of Police Pinakini smiled. Inspector Murthy from the Anti-Corruption Bureau had just been ushered into her office. She had gathered that he was not the type to curry favour with his seniors and hence had remained an inspector even after several years of service. She had met him earlier at some departmental meetings and parties. He had once been a hot-shot detective with the Crime Branch, but had been having a pretty bad success rate of late and had hence been transferred out to the ACB. She also felt that he had been shunted to the ACB because corrupt politicians and bureaucrats liked to have either inefficient or corrupt police officers there, so that cases never reached court. She knew that Inspector Murthy had a reputation of being clean. So it was the former reason, she deduced.
ACP Pinakini had been aptly named by her parents, who had lovingly called her Pinky, referring to her complexion. Pinakini means 'bow shaped'. No, she did not have bow legs. But her entire demeanour was that of a bow with its string drawn taut. She appeared to be ready to shoot anytime. She was sure the doddering middle aged Inspector, though not corrupt in the monetary sense, would be bowled over by her charm. She was sure he knew that she was single. She also knew he was single, and hopefully susceptible.
She did not worry about being the subject of the ACB's investigation. She had a clear conscience with respect to corruption. She knew with absolute certainty that she was not corrupt. The ACB would not be able to pin anything on her. They were probably working on the complaint of some disgruntled person on whose toes she might have trod.
Her present position in the department included various tasks including assisting the Deputy Inspector General, who too was a woman, and an ex-officio member of the State Women's Council. The SWC handled complaints about ill-treatment and harassment of women in workplaces and families. It was her dream job, because she got the opportunity of ensuring retribution on erring men. She had seen plenty of such men and despised them.
Inspector Murthy greeted her, as he entered, "Good morning, Madam."
She smiled again. She had got used to older male colleagues not saluting her though she was technically senior to them. She had objected to it initially, but seemed to have taken it in her stride, though deep down she still resented it.
"Please be seated, Inspector," she said, subtly reminding him of his rank.
"What brings you here?" she asked, adding, " I am sure you know that I, like you, am equally averse to bribery."
"Yes, Madam," he agreed. He continued, "But some of our colleagues have brought such a reputation for the force that the public believes otherwise."
Pulling out a sheet of paper, he added, "But the ACB is bound to investigate complaints received by it. I will be honest with you. Some influential person seems to have been aggrieved at something you have done and has lodged a complaint. We have received a telephone call from the Home Minister himself, asking for immediate action. I have the duty of searching your office, bank lockers and residence. Here's the search warrant, signed by the magistrate."
"My men are waiting outside and will forthwith search the premises. After that I request you to accompany me to your residence for further action," he continued.
"What a cheesy pick up line!", she thought.
As she had foreseen, the search at her office yielded nothing. They next drove to her residence, Inspector Murthy recalled a meeting he had had with the DIG a few months back when he was still in the Crime Branch.
**
"Of late the number of untraced missing persons has shot up," the DIG had told Inspector Murthy. "We need to solve these cases early," he had added.
The Inspector had replied that he had studied the profiles of several missing persons and disclosed what he had found common between many of them. The DIG concurred with him.
"This is a very sensitive matter, " his boss had commented, saying, "We need to be very careful in handling it."
"Do you have a plan?" he had enquired.
Inspector Murthy said, "To handle this and succeed I need to be shifted out from the Crime Branch for some time. As you know, I have been training my subordinates in their endeavours to solve cases and let them take the credit, without coming into the picture myself. You can cite my inefficiency in solving cases and say that I am incapable of handling cases myself. You can then make my transfer. We need to build a reputation that I am past solving mysteries."
**
As they reached the ACP's quarters, he asked his team to wait there and asked her to fetch the locker key. Then they drove to the bank. As she opened the locker for him, she said, "Inspector, you are free to have a look. As you will see, there's no cash here and all the jewellery that you will find is pretty old. You will not find any significant cash or jewellery at home too." She explained, "I have never found the need for jewellery to adorn me."
He had no other course of action than to agree to her statement.
They returned to her residence.
**
As she admitted him and his team to her house, she teasingly told him, "I request that your team can search the remaining part of the house, except my bedroom. I think only you will be sufficient to carry out the search there."
Maintaining a stoic face, he had nodded consent. As required, a woman constable was present in the room, but the ACP had asked her to be seated and let the Inspector do his work. Pinakini had kept a close watch on him as he rifled through the contents of the room. She was amused by his seemingly unperturbed demeanour as he ran through her garments in the closet. He did not find any substantial material, especially amongst the lingerie. She was playing Despacito on loop on her mobile. As the song reached the liness Quiero respirar tu cuello despacito, Deja que te diga cosas al oido, she gave voice to the words in a husky voice just loud enough for him to hear.
Then she asked him, "You know what that means, right? I read somewhere that you know quite a bit of Spanish."
He merely nodded, knowing very well that the first part meant "I want to breathe on your neck slowly", thinking to himself, Let me get one bit of evidence, I shall be breathing down your neck, in a way you would not appreciate. It had taken a lot of will power to control his reaction. The second part meant Let me whisper things in your ear – it reminded him of a Hindi song that went Raat Akeli Hai, Bujh Gaye Diye, Aake Mere Paas, Kaanon Mein Mere, Jo Bhi Chaahe Kahiye. He hoped that she did not voice the more explicit lines of the song which were to follow a little later. Though he liked the music of the song, he knew the Spanish lyrics were too scandalous for his taste. It could have got embarrassing if she continued, he felt.
He wondered how she knew so much about him, as his knowledge of Spanish was not widely known. He suspected that she had probably dug into his past to find out more about him, when he was handling the cases of the missing young men in Crime Branch, not out of romantic interest, but to trap him if the need arose.
He observed that there was an ornate rosewood box with the word "PINKY" etched into its top in pink.
Picking it up, he asked, "Pinky?"
She nodded, agreeing. She explained, "That's what my parents called me. Short form of my name. Also a reference to my complexion. Now that they are no more, only my sister calls me that. There's nothing in that box except my mother's necklace and a few trinkets."
He opened the box, and found, as informed, a beautiful necklace which was clearly old, given the exquisite workmanship that was no longer seen. He took out the necklace and held it between his hands, admiring the composition of stones of various colours harmoniously blending in to create a masterpiece.
He remarked, "I am sure this necklace would look wonderful on you."
"Would you like to see me wearing it?" she inquired tauntingly, arching an eyebrow.
"No," he firmly replied, suppressing all his emotions and senses which were exhorting him to say "Yes, I would love that."
As he put the necklace back in, he observed that the inner depth of the container was substantially lower that its external height. Intrigued, he prised out the false bottom of the container. What he saw in the lower compartment shocked him to his core.
There were nearly fifty phalanges in the the box. He had enough knowledge of anatomy to recognise that they were phalanges from human hands. Some were single, separated into distal, intermediate and proximal, while some were attached to each other forming a pair. It was clear to him from the ones that had all the three parts, that these were the bones of the little finger, a fact that the forensic team would later confirm. When they did have flesh on them, one could have called them Pinkies. Pinky had been true to the name lovingly bestowed on her by her parents.
**
As the ACP was being taken away, Inspector Murthy recalled how his meeting with his boss had ended.
After the Inspector had apprised his senior that several missing persons had been themselves accused of harassing or ill-treating ladies. Their cases were being handled by ACP Pinakini, who was unable to proceed further due to political interference. Inspector Murthy had suspected her of taking justice into her own hands. No bodies had been found and it would be difficult to pin anything on Pinky.
The DIG had apprised the ACP's superior about the plan and had announced the same day that Inspector Murthy was being transferred due to his inability to solve the missing cases and all the cases would now be handled by his subordinate who had recently shown promise. The DIG had also obtained one of the complaints against the ACP that could be used to procure a search warrant.
**
On interrogation, Pinakini confessed having lured each of her victims to the forest, where her sister was the Range Forest Officer and done them to death, leaving the bodies to disposal by wild animals. Pinky had snipped off their right pinkies as a souvenir. After cleaning off the flesh from the them, she had stored the phalanges in the box.
Inspector Murthy was transferred back to Crime Branch.
***
Copyright notice: The contents of this blog may not be used in any form without the express written consent of the blog owner, who may be contacted at kishoremrao@hotmail.com.
Picking it up, he asked, "Pinky?"
She nodded, agreeing. She explained, "That's what my parents called me. Short form of my name. Also a reference to my complexion. Now that they are no more, only my sister calls me that. There's nothing in that box except my mother's necklace and a few trinkets."
He opened the box, and found, as informed, a beautiful necklace which was clearly old, given the exquisite workmanship that was no longer seen. He took out the necklace and held it between his hands, admiring the composition of stones of various colours harmoniously blending in to create a masterpiece.
He remarked, "I am sure this necklace would look wonderful on you."
"Would you like to see me wearing it?" she inquired tauntingly, arching an eyebrow.
"No," he firmly replied, suppressing all his emotions and senses which were exhorting him to say "Yes, I would love that."
As he put the necklace back in, he observed that the inner depth of the container was substantially lower that its external height. Intrigued, he prised out the false bottom of the container. What he saw in the lower compartment shocked him to his core.
There were nearly fifty phalanges in the the box. He had enough knowledge of anatomy to recognise that they were phalanges from human hands. Some were single, separated into distal, intermediate and proximal, while some were attached to each other forming a pair. It was clear to him from the ones that had all the three parts, that these were the bones of the little finger, a fact that the forensic team would later confirm. When they did have flesh on them, one could have called them Pinkies. Pinky had been true to the name lovingly bestowed on her by her parents.
**
As the ACP was being taken away, Inspector Murthy recalled how his meeting with his boss had ended.
After the Inspector had apprised his senior that several missing persons had been themselves accused of harassing or ill-treating ladies. Their cases were being handled by ACP Pinakini, who was unable to proceed further due to political interference. Inspector Murthy had suspected her of taking justice into her own hands. No bodies had been found and it would be difficult to pin anything on Pinky.
The DIG had apprised the ACP's superior about the plan and had announced the same day that Inspector Murthy was being transferred due to his inability to solve the missing cases and all the cases would now be handled by his subordinate who had recently shown promise. The DIG had also obtained one of the complaints against the ACP that could be used to procure a search warrant.
**
On interrogation, Pinakini confessed having lured each of her victims to the forest, where her sister was the Range Forest Officer and done them to death, leaving the bodies to disposal by wild animals. Pinky had snipped off their right pinkies as a souvenir. After cleaning off the flesh from the them, she had stored the phalanges in the box.
Inspector Murthy was transferred back to Crime Branch.
***
Copyright notice: The contents of this blog may not be used in any form without the express written consent of the blog owner, who may be contacted at kishoremrao@hotmail.com.
