Keeping Secrets

Chapter 4

As another evening rolled in with misty clouds from the surrounding hills, it felt nothing like the previous day. The beautiful villa with a pool that overlooked the valley, in the heart of a serene coffee estate and surrounded by the breathtaking view of overhanging hills wore a chilling look today. The silence felt sinister, and eerie shadows seemed to lurk in the darkness between the neat rows of tall oak trees and freshly pruned coffee plants. Nobody could believe how one fateful night had changed everything.

The four friends sat at the gazebo, shaken and shrouded in utter silence, in stark juxtaposition to the evening before, when they were having the best time of their lives. Ruby rested her head on Kevin's lap, still snifling and as Maya leaned on his shoulder, he threw an arm around her, holding her close. Ryan stood on the side smoking a cigarette, and Kevin stared emptily at whatever wild things he saw in the smoke before it faded away into dense, formless clouds.

Meanwhile, the officers and the forensic team scoured the rooms, the estate, and the area surrounding the villa for a murder scene and weapon. The fog was not being too kind, and Gwam's little police force was hardly enough for a massive case like this. They had to call in officers from a nearby city too. Involving local volunteers to help search the valley was the last resort, but the media had to calm down before that. The swarm of journalists had finally left late in the evening after getting a statement from Gaurav and profusely protesting his denial of their pleas and later, demands to interview any other residents of the villa yet.

Luckily, however, the first breakthrough in the case was just around the corner; and it wasn't a small one. Oscar, the singular sniffer dog in Gwam's little force was quick to locate Nikki's phone, and the killer seemed to have made a hasty slip here. The phone had recklessly been shoved into a marble urn tucked perfectly in the conspicuous iliac crest of one of the large statues at the reception. It looked like the killer never got a chance to do whatever they had intended to with the gadget. It was promptly put into an evidence bag and taken away for analysis. The hope now was to find a match for fingerprints.

##

Gaurav decided to start with Kevin, his second choice after Aryan, who had been taken on a much-needed trip to a counsellor before any further conversation.

"Let's start with a simple question, Kevin. Can you elaborate on last night, in as much detail as possible?"

Kevin's beady, inquisitive eyes looked dull and motionless today. His shoulders were hunched in as he slumped into the chair. His hands were still tucked into the pockets of his pullover as he started narrating with a sombre nod, "Sir, we freshened up and met near the pool at about half past seven yesterday evening. We had a drink or two and then played some games..." he drifted off like his mind had wandered off somewhere.

Gaurav had to knock on the table when Kevin didn't respond to his name being called out twice.

He seemed to be too distraught to connect the events.

"Huh?" Kevin seemed to snap out of a trance.

"You met up, drank and played games, and then?"

"Oh yes, we played games and by then, the bonfire started, and we had so much fun. We were on top of the world. This holiday had been our dream since the first week of college, and we were finally doing it. In fact, we all pitched in so that Aryan could come too. It was Nikki's idea, of course. She was the happiest," for a second Kevin seemed to forget the situation at hand, a genuine smile lighting his face up like a kid who had found his favourite toy after crying all night over losing it.

"We spoke about old times and favourite memories and stories from our first year and laughed till our stomachs hurt," he continued. "Then Debbie and Anushka came, asking for a lighter, and they just... joined us. At first, we were all a little peeved and wanted to be left to ourselves, but these girls turned out fun and they fit in so well that we didn't mind having them around. They joined the conversation and danced with us. Nikki and Anushka even gave this killer performance together and Debbie seemed to have lots in common with Aryan and me. Then... then I think Ryan's girlfriend called and he went upstairs to talk to her. Anushka also went back into the gazebo to catch a breath, and Debbie continued to dance with us. After a while, Nikki said she wanted to lie down, so I took her to the gazebo, but Maya said we should take her to the room since it would get colder at night, so we did that." He was taking long pauses after each sentence, sounding incoherent; but putting it together still gave Gaurav a rough timeline to work with.

"What time was that? When you dropped her there?"

Kevin's brows furrowed as he closed his eyes and pressed a finger against his lips trying to recollect, "I think it must have been past midnight because we were still dancing when someone joked that it was the next day already, but I don't know the exact time. By the time we dropped Nikki at the room and came back, Ruby had gone to shoot some videos with the band guys and Debbie and Anushka were still dancing with Aryan. Once we were back, we joined them too. Everyone was opening up and having fun. Maya has never danced, so we were really excited to see her enjoy herself. I think Ruby also got a video of it to show Nikki and Ryan later. Soon, the band guys and Ruby also went upstairs to smoke, and Debbie said she wanted to join."

"What do you mean went upstairs to smoke? Weren't they already smoking outside?"

"Well, they said they were going to smoke something else," Kevin raised his eyebrow hoping Gaurav would get it without making him say things on the record.

"So they went up to smoke weed?"

"I don't want any problems, sir. I'm just telling you what happened."

Gaurav's tenured eyes did not miss the glint of fear in Kevin's eyes over what he had ended up saying.

"Look son, this is a murder investigation. Sure, I could throw the bunch of you in for substance abuse right now, but my job doesn't require me to care about anything but catching killers. So let's focus on what's important here, okay? Now, can you confirm it was weed they were smoking?"

"We were."

"What do you mean?

"We all smoked with them when we joined them after some time. Then, Maya said she wasn't feeling so well and wanted to go to the room, and Anushka stepped up to take her there since she was pretty drunk. A little while later, Aryan and Ryan also headed back to the room. I wanted to check on Nikki, but I eventually left with Ruby because she was pretty high and was getting a little flirty with the band guys."

After another long pause, he continued, "It was very late. We were all really high. Anushka had fallen asleep with Maya. We put Ruby on the bed next to her. Then we decided that one of us could go lie down next to Nikki."

"And?"

"All three of us went to her room to check if there was space on the bed there, but it seemed to be locked from inside. We assumed that Nikki had locked it by mistake while shutting the door, because we had all been out in the corridor balcony a while back, and it must have been noisy."

"What? What time was this?"

"It's quite hard to tell, but maybe somewhere between 3 and 5. I saw Debbie leave and I think Ahmen and his friends followed her downstairs. By then we all just wanted to lie down. I was not being able to register much of what was happening."

"Do you remember anything else about when the room was locked?"

"Honestly, the more I think the more confused I get. I think I did see all the people I mentioned where I mentioned I did, but I'm really sorry sir, that's all I can remember.

"Anything else out of place? Any fights? Anything suspicious about anybody's behaviour?"

"Definitely nobody in our group, sir. I can vouch for that. Besides, the owner and the staff here seemed to get quite... creepy last evening. That Raghav was trying to find all the wrong reasons to talk to the girls and started getting indecent. In fact, he said something to Maya and she slapped him."

"What? Raghav? What did he say to her?"

"I don't know. She said she did not want to talk about it, and we did not push her to. Maya is not the kind to create a scene. She's usually very quiet and sweet, so we assumed it would have been something offensive. We all felt angry, but everyone was drunk and we did not want to scare anyone else or ruin the night, so Aryan and I gave them a tip and sent them all away. Now, I'm wondering if that was a mistake."

"Okay. Anything important that has happened in the last few weeks? Anything or anyone Nikki was worried about?"

Kevin's eyes welled up at the grim reminder of the reality at hand. "I can't think of a single thing. Nikki was neither the kind to hold a grudge nor could anyone be upset with her for long enough," he said after a pause.

With that, Kevin was dismissed. He did not seem to be lying blatantly, but Gaurav also sensed that he knew more than he was letting on. The best-case scenario was that he was just too blinded by the idea of his perfect friends but in the worst case, he could be the friend he was trying to save.