Under the Tamarind Tree

Chapter One

Now

There were no crowds of people standing around and gossiping , no smart asses trying to play at detective and not even swathes of school children or concerned parents in St. Hilda's church yard as Inspector Aman Poornesh drove through the main entrance gates that morning.

Instead, there was an eerie silence as five members of the Forensics team headed by Dr. Sadiq Khan, a pock-marked reed-thin man with perpetually oily hair, went calmly about their work.

Around 12 policemen had been deputed for crowd control, but Aman could see that they weren't really needed here as they stood around silently watching the cold, distorted body on the floor framed by a circle of congealed blood.

Apart from this, there were three grim-faced nuns seated on plastic chairs and an anxious-looking old watchman who seemed about to faint. Aman wanted to tell the man to sit, but then thought it was none of his business. Those fat nuns could take care of their own.

Inexplicably, he felt a surge of irritation at the sight of them and before he could think the better of it, he strode quickly to where they were seated and told them in clipped tones to leave at once.

At first the nuns behaved as if they hadn't heard or seen him. He looked at the watchman who gave him a frightened look and quickly began to walk away.

"Muniram, come back here at once," thundered nun number one, but the man had lived for many years in the real world beyond the thick walls of St. Hilda's and he knew better than to cross a policeman.

Aman looked at the retreating back of the watchman with a smile and then turned to look at the nuns.

"This is not done sir, it is our property and the poor girl is one of our own, a...ahem...a faculty and an old girl from the school. You really think you can order us to leave our own home?" said nun number two, frowning up at him in a manner that was no doubt intimidating to a lot of people. However, Aman Poornesh had gone up against enough authority figures in trouble to not even bat an eyelid.

"You will have to leave or I will have you detained right now for obstruction of justice etc, etc, etc," he said softly. The last nun, the one seated silently so far, got up heavily, and Aman guessed this was the leader of the bunch.

"Listen, young man. I only have to make a few phone calls and all of this will be sorted out, and not to your advantage I fear," she said, in a dangerously soft voice. Her eyes were steady and he knew instinctively that this was a woman who usually got what she wanted.

"Well, you could do that then, I suppose. Meanwhile, my people here can bundle you right now into the police bus. So many people will be delighted to see three such important nuns being detained for preventing the police authorities from carrying out their duties,"

Aman stared down the old lady and was satisfied to see her look away first. He watched them waddling away and he felt his mood slightly improving. "Well, well, it looks like someone hasn't had their coffee today, or perhaps these nuns frighten you in some deep unconscious way?" said a mock-jolly voice and Aman turned around to see the Dr. Sadiq shifting from one foot to the other.

Dr. Sadiq Khan had grown up in the neighbourhood and gone to the boys' convent down the road, and had like everyone who had attended such institutions, an instinctive fear of nuns and priests and therefore he had done nothing but wish the three nuns a good morning and solicitously answered all of their questions as he set to work that morning.

However, Aman Poornesh with his new-age education had no such fear of authority figures, a trait that was often an advantage in such environments.

Dr. Sadiq turned away before Aman could reply and continued issuing instructions to his team. The body was ready to be moved. "I am wondering why she would climb up all the way to the church steeple and throw herself down from there, there are easier ways to commit suicide," said Aman after being ignored by Dr. Sadiq for some time.

Dr. Sadiq muttered something that sounded like an insult. Aman could feel his anger rising when a fat forensics man approached them. He was breathing hard from walking the short distance from the yellow tape to where they were standing and stood panting for some moments before speaking.

"The Commissioner wants you back in the office along with Inspector Philip to attend the special seminar. He wants you to prepare a preliminary report and meet him by this evening He told me to tell you."

Aman wanted to smash something but wisely kept himself under control. They had already scheduled a meeting in the evening where he would, as a matter of course, be expected to present his preliminary report.

And, it was quite unnecessary for Commissioner Sagnik Singh to relay such messages through these creepy forensics people who needed to be kept in their place.

"Thank you," he managed to say, but Dr. Sadiq had already turned away and was busy speaking to another creepy-looking member of his team. He was about to walk away when Dr. Sadiq called out his name.

"There seems to be bruising around the neck, we have yet to do the post-partum and run a DNA for traces of another person, but I can tell you right now that this was no suicide. And, another thing, there was some sort of chemical, milder than acid but still very strong that has burned the hand. The victim may have managed to thwart an attack from this chemical and then maybe she slipped or was pushed."

Aman nodded. Disgusted. A chemical attack gone wrong resulting in murder? That was somehow even worse than murder itself.