Dreamy Red

Episode 5 - The Vaulted Gallery

I woke up around 9 AM. My diary and pen were right beside me on the bed. I had slept halfway through the writing and had got that weird dream. I quickly freshened up and left for the Villa. I had to check the only room that was left for investigation, the 'Gallery'. On the way, I had stuffed roti cooked by mamu as breakfast. Arush left the villa after seeing me. "Take good rest, my boy", I told him patting his shoulders. "Yes, mam", he said with a salute. He sure was a funny guy and he never stopped calling me madam.

*****

I stood near the massive Italian doors. They were intricately designed with golden-coloured ornaments. The doors had no latch and made a loud screeching noise when I pushed them open. They were quite heavier than normal doors. The entrance area of the gallery was a long narrow hallway with large artistic photo frames of the couple and other people hanging on either side of the wall. The wall was painted sandal with designs of beautiful red roses here and there and the bottom portion was made of wooden planks placed vertically in a beautiful arrangement. The floor was also made of wooden planks that looked like mahogany.

Nishanthi looked stunning in all her photographs. She and Armaan looked so happy in them. As I walked further, my sight fell on a person's photo hung there. He looked aged with wrinkles. He seemed to be familiar. I knew him from somewhere and felt a phenomenal connection. But I didn't bother much about it as it was codswallop then. My only task was to find the barbaric killer who had caused all the havoc.

At the end of the hallway, a partition made with exquisite turquoise bead strings changed the environment totally into an enigmatic chamber with artefacts and trophies. The wall was red and the floor was made of walnut-brown wooden planks. I scanned through each of the objects in the room. Nothing appeared suspicious. Most of the artefacts were ancient urns, bronze animals and ceramic plates with patterns. At a corner was a steel spiral staircase covered with red velvet carpet. I peeped up and saw that there were two more floors to cover. The Gallery was actually like a twin building attached to the mansion except that the entrance was within the mansion. The work of the architect to create such a sensation was remarkable.

I took the stairs to the first floor. It was no less than any public art gallery. Nishanthi's creations took up most of the space. I heard that her art was sold at the general auctions of Jaipur at a great price. Wicked and heinous art, they called it. Most of the paintings were of horses or creatures that were like horses - unicorns, centaurs, pegasus and even hippogriffs. Others were that of trees with strange fruits which do not exist in the real world. One short tree with a wide canopy had a dark brown trunk with perfectly round light green coloured leaves and star-shaped fruits that were purple with tiny black spots. Another tree had pink lengthy leaves with yellow cubic fruits that had thick silver stripes. Yet another tree which looked like pine but had golden square-shaped leaves with orange flowers and no fruits. Strange imagination she had, I thought to myself.

In the centre of the hallway was the most striking artefact that was placed on a flat high circular cement platform. It was a wooden sculpture of a pregnant lady swinging the pallu of her long saree. The lady was the same prominent one at the entrance pillars. I felt bad for the poor soul of Nishanthi. The sculpture depicted how much she had desired the child and how much pride she would have had in it.

On the top floor, the walls were not red, instead were fitted with plain shining rose-gold wallpaper. The ceiling was an arched false one with beautiful circle patterns. That storey too had paintings made by Nishanthi. But they were not horses nor trees with weird patterns, instead were basic normal paintings like houses, castles, barns, mountains, waterfalls, animals, temples, etcetera.

At a corner, I saw a red curtain hung distinctly with a thin slightly rusted iron chain. Above it, on a white plastic board in red bold capital letters was written "DREAMY RED." It seemed like it was finger-painted. I dragged a wooden stool from near the stairs to beside the painting and climbed on it to examine the paint. When I looked at it with my magnifying glass, I confirmed that it was just acrylic paint and not blood. Anyways, I clicked a photograph just in case. I got down from the stool and stared at the curtain. I snapped that as well from different angles. I was quite surprised that an artist such as her would hang a screen that was not even dreamy. Perhaps it was hand-loomed. And then it occurred to me.

I pulled the screen aside and unveiled an impressive painting of a red cave made of stone. It was going deeper and deeper inside. As a matter of fact, any person would notice the cave second. First, one would stare at the two hands drenched and drooling blood. The blood flowing from the hands was indeed hysterical. The painting was enhanced by the colours, which were mostly shades of red. Hence the name I guessed.

While I was looking at the painting and moving sideways for a better angle, my feet bumped into something on the floor. I looked down and noticed that the wooden floor was cracked up at that spot and a small portion of a plank was sticking out from the floor. I looked up automatically. There was no hole or crack from which anything heavy could have fallen and made the mark. Then I caught sight of a beautiful large circle chandelier hanging in the centre of the ceiling. It had three layers of crystal lights arranged asymmetrically. While admiring it, with a little more keen observation, I noticed that a circle in the ceiling a little further away from where I stood was slightly astray.

I took my camera and zoomed in on the pattern and photographed the same. I also captured some photos of the Dreamy Red artwork. And then I ran down three floors and again three floors up to the couple's bedroom and climbed onto the attic to find a path to the gallery. But with no help unlike before.

The chest remained as it was earlier only that it shimmered in the daylight. I went closer this time. I saw trail marks of the chest being moved in the dust. So there must have been a path underneath the chest that led straight to the gallery. But there was no footprint nor boot-print in the dust except for that of mine. Did the guy who moved the chest fly to get here, I thought to myself. How else did he manage to get there without a single shred of evidence?

I photographed the chest from different angles before trying to move it. However hard I tried, I couldn't move the chest, not even an inch. It was very, very heavy. I sat down disappointed facing the light, staring at the round dormer window. While I was thinking of the ways how the killer could have moved the chest, I noted that the glass window was actually unscrewed. Ah. Finally, some evidence, I heaved a sigh of relief. I clicked a close-up picture of the unscrewed screw from the dormer window and collected the fingerprint using a latent lift card. The killer must have come through the window, I decided. And then, I opened the window and dared to do the foolishness of trying to squeeze myself through the small window. I even achieved it. I was on the rooftop which was made of horizontally laid red mud tiles. There was only about a foot gap distance between the window and the edge of the roof. I shrugged. I should get back, I thought, or I could fall and die. So I turned to squeeze back inside.

"Aowooh", the hound howled on seeing me atop the roof. I didn't know what enmity it had with me, I dropped the fingerprint in fear. I was foolish to hold it in my hand while doing such a task. The fingerprint was on the edge of the roof a little away from where the window was. I crouched and crawled to it tediously. My hands were just about to grab them when, unfortunately, a strong wind blew and the fingerprint swivelled into the backyard.

*****

The backyard was a mini-farm with many fruiting plants and a servant's quarters at the end of the villa's bounds. The quarters were a couple of twin houses that matched the Villa. It was weird that it was all locked up and not even one servant was present to save their master. Or perhaps they were all shooed away to kill her.

The mangoes in the garden were ripe and emanated hunger in me. I plucked a juicy mango and satisfied a mouthful. Slurp. While I was enjoying the fruit, a miracle happened. After bountiful trails, the hound finally freed itself from the chains. It ran across me and past the servant quarters. I followed it. But it had fled already. However, it led me to a dense forest of tall pine trees behind the quarters. There was a clear-cut path from the back gate. It was a deja vu. I had been there before but in my dreams. Anyhow, I was unsuccessful in finding the fingerprints. I was such a miserable detective! I lost the only good evidence I would have had.