Murder on the plane
Rajdeep looked outside the glass window, as the wheels took off the ground and wings kept rising higher and higher from the surface, he sighed a sense of relief. Only a matter of hours and then he would be a free bird. He slipped his hand in his right pocket, took out a tablet strip, popped one in his mouth and slipped the strip back in the same pocket. The taste felt bitter, and unusual. It burnt his tongue. He stood up to go to lavatory. There were loud voices coming from the seats behind him. His old friend, Sharad, was highly inebriated and had started behaving violently towards anybody who intervened. Rajdeep stood up and walked in his direction to cease the matter. He experienced a sharp pain in his temples. With one hand on his head, he tried to calm Sharad. But it was futile, and all of a sudden Sharad slapped one of the stewards, it caused a big trouble, everyone stood up and came to intervene. Amidst all this, Rajdeep started rapidly breathing, and in a few minutes he collapsed.
There were attempts made to resurrect Rajdeep, but he had passed away. The pilot was informed and was instructed to redirect the plane back to the city. Rajdeep’s wife Aparna sat next to his lifeless body and wept. Pallavi, Rajdeep’s secretary consoled her. Meanwhile Sharad and Javed (Rajdeep’s bodyguard) stood still as they watched the unexpected turn of events. Sharad broke the silence when he said, “It’s all my fault, because of the fight he got a heart attack and died.”
“He had a heart attack, but it was not because of this fight. His lips have turned blue, this is no ordinary death, he has been poisoned”, said the bald man who stood afar from them.
The man was no other than the famous detective Harry Peixote.
When Harry met Rajdeep a couple of days back, the latter looked worried and requested him to accompany him to his next trip as he feared his life was under danger since he received several death threats in past few days, he said as he popped gum in his mouth pulled from his pocket in every few minutes.
Harry began the interrogation. He called them one by one in a small cabin at the back of the plane.
Suspect #1 — Javed
“I have been working for him since past 8 years. My job was to protect him from any threats, and I have failed gravely”, grimly said Javed.
“Did he have any enemies that he might have mentioned?”, Harry enquired
“He got some threatening phone calls. Recently a 20 year old case was reponed against him” -Javed
“What was the case about?” — Harry
“His company was responsible for building a bridge that collapsed in a few months killing several people” — Javed
“Did you see anything unusual about Rajdeep?” — Harry
“I saw him right before the scuffle began, he felt uncomfortable after taking his nicotine gum.. he was in pain”
Harry thanked Javed and called upon the next suspect
Suspect #2 — Pallavi
“Sir had always been very kind to me. He employed me when I had no experience. But he fired me today before he had his attack.” — Pallavi
“Why?” — Harry
“I shared some photos with him of his wife Aparna and his bodyguard Javed.. together.. he didn’t believe me, he was very angry” — Pallavi said as she showed Harry the same pictures.
They were indeed quite intimate. She told Harry about how she suspected them of having an affair and hence she started spying on them with an intention to expose them one day to Rajdeep.
“Your boss Rajdeep liked to eat gum a lot?” — Harry
“Yes.. sir was chewing 15–20 gums every day, he always kept it in his left pocket, he was addicted to cigarettes, so his doctor recommended to take them as an alternative” — Pallavi
As Pallavi left, the next suspect was called in.
Suspect #3 — Aparna
“Did you poison your husband because he came to know about your affair?” — Harry
“I didn’t!” — Aparna
“Yes, it’s true I wasn’t happy in my marriage, and Javed was always there for me.. I did cheat on him, but I would never harm Rajdeep” — Aparna
“I find it difficult to believe you Aparna, if it was not for Pallavi, you would have never confessed to him?” — Harry
“Pallavi.. she is not exactly a saint. I heard her talking to someone on the phone yesterday about a possible evidence and how she plans to use it against Rajdeep. I wanted to warn Rajdeep against her, alas I was too late” — Aparna
“What evidence?” — Harry
“I don’t know because when I came in the room the other day, she abruptly cut the call.. my guess is she could be an undercover reporter on that case that has been recently reopened and she is collecting evidence against Rajdeep” — Aparna
Suspect #4 — Sharad
“How do you know Rajdeep?” — Harry
“We have been friends for some time now” — Sharad
“Why were you on this trip?” — Harry
“I helped him against his court cases, I’m his lawyer afterall. We were looking for a temporary residence in another country for him and his family, to stay away from legal troubles that followed him.” — Sharad
“Whom do you think would want to harm Rajdeep?” — Harry
“Successful businessmen all over the world are under constant threat from their enemies, Rajdeep was no different. But these seemingly nice people that accompanied him were no better than the snakes in the grass” — Sharad
After interrogating everyone, Harry examined the body once. Rigor mortis was setting in. His face muscles were tightening. He checked his pockets and was shocked when he found the object he was looking for.
He addressed them and began explaining his observations.
“The killer never intended to kill Rajdeep, but circumstances were such that they were left with no means but to kill him. The killer wanted Rajdeep to be captured but his lawyer was smart enough to pull him away from that matter. Which left no choice but to kill Rajdeep. It’s quite simple, they know Rajdeep had a habit of chewing gum every few minutes, so they carefully replaced his gum with cyanide ones. When Rajdeep started observing the harmful effects of the poison, the scuffle broke, it was a lucky distraction that happened, when the killer carefully replaced the poisonous gums with normal ones. Except one mistake they made, Rajdeep was right-handed, he always kept his gum in his right pocket, but while replacing the killer accidentally placed the normal gum in the left pocket. And when I enquired about this habit, everyone except the killer said the right pocket. It’s because killer knew they had made a mistake, and this is none other than Pallavi!” — Harry
Pallavi was immediately captured by the stewards and she confessed her crime. She lost her family in that bridge collapse and had vowed to take revenge against Rajdeep.
