Butterfly

(2) U R V I

23/10/1964,
Holy Cross School, Goa

The police assists found it tremendously challenging to contain the swelling crowd near the crime scene. A dead body with severed fingers had been discovered at the school's storehouse.

"We don't even use that room anymore", Sister Agatha said with furrowed eyebrows.
"That's exactly why the culprit chose it." Sister Diana sneered.
"No, I meant that it's practically impossible for anyone from the school to land there, let alone an outsider, unless..."
"Unless?"
"Unless it's one of the fairly older members of the congregation. I'm just guessing; I could be wrong." Sister Agatha shrugged.
"I fail to see why you could go wrong. Who else knew about this place anyway?"
"Could it be someone from the helpers?"
"I wish there was a way we could know. However, I would like to know who discovered the carcass in the first place."
"Oh, that was Meera. Meera from the eighth grade."

Sister Diana narrowed her eyes in confusion. She had known Meera for a year now and always had thought of her as a compliant student. That was until now.
Her suspicion for Meera accelerated but she stopped herself from contemplating further as she saw a senior police officer approach her.

She stole quick glances here and there to realise that most of the room was empty. The people present included some policemen and a few elder nuns from the congregation. Others had been sent away, she thought.

"May I please ask for your help sister?" The officer gave her a tight smile.
"I am willing to provide all the help that I can, Officer?"
"William."
"Yes, thank you."
"So let us begin with this storehouse. For how long has it been untouched, and if I may know, why?"

"I do not know much but I'll tell you all that holds true to my understanding.
"They call it the incident that took place herein. A highly revered Mother of our congregation committed a sin at this very place. I do not know what. But since then, this place has been declared as unhallowed resulting in it being shut down for anyone.
"For how long, you ask. For about six to seven years.
"Forgive me. That was all I could contribute from my side."

"That's fine. Thank you.
"My second question to you is that have you ever interacted with Meera? If yes, then how would you describe her?"
"Do you think of her as a suspect?"
"I'm afraid I do. I rather have to. I talked to the other nuns and everyone spoke of the confidentiality of this place. That sadly makes Meera a prime suspect. But I'm obliged to wonder how she'd managed to get the key for unlocking this place, if she'd truly done something that bad."
"It is somehow hard for me to trust the reality right now. She was a very-well behaved student. No complaints, homework done... But it is what it is."

William hesitated for a moment. He thought of the incident as told to him and wondered if he could get any additional information about it.

"Do you seem to know the name of the Mother that had been associated with the incident?"
"As I said, that topic is excluded from conversations here. We, as amateur nuns, were kept naive about it."
"Where are the elder nuns then?"
"All except one died of old age. Tuberculosis took most of them."
"All except one? So the one that you are talking about is the current Mother of the congregation, I gather."
"No, no. Mother Mary, right over there", she pointed, "has recently migrated from West Bengal. The one that I was talking about is Sister Jane. She... she ran away. She was not in a very good state of mind, you see."
"That's very unfortunate. I hope I'm not pushing it too hard for you, but I have one last question."
"Please go ahead."
"We found a knife near Urvi's dead body. As strange as it sounds, it had a note attached to it which said:
'A BUTTERFLY IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS WINGS'
I would like you to bring to my notice if you can make any sense out of it."

All of a sudden, Sister Diana had a strange feeling that made her stomach clench. The air grew heavy on her shoulders and the silence tensed.
"I can't seem to think of anything right now. Maybe you could lend me some time."
"Sure, take your time.
"Alright then! Thank you for letting me borrow your time. Part of my team stays for the next few hours. We have to go for now, but might come back for another round of investigation. And I hate to say this, but the next time we come, we would have to interrogate some of the students. Please shall I ask the congregation to cooperate?"
"We will try our best. The rest is up to Him", Sister Diana said clutching the Cross in her hand.

Starting towards the exit of the storehouse, Sister Diana kept thinking of the gloom that daunted the place.
"A butterfly is only as good as its wings", she repeated to herself.