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Deaths in Spandan
Kavya returned to Dhruva’s ‘think of the devil’ welcome and Radha’s ‘what’s the news’ query before Raju greeted her with a cup of filter coffee. As Radha began exhorting Kavya to lead her to the leads that she might have laid her hands on, Dhruva would have none of that for he felt that, as it was not wise to mix drinks, so it was prudent that his assistants did not mix their leads in between them. What with her enthusiasm reined in thus, as Radha kept mum, Dhruva led Kavya into the study to have a first-hand account of her fact-findings.
Kavya told him that her enquiries at Guntur led her to an elderly woman, who, having recognized Ranjit from his photograph that she had carried, recalled that he lived next door with his newly wed wife, who kept aloof from all, save Shyamala, aunt of her childhood friend Rani. As Ranjit did not mix much either, all suspected that they could be an eloped couple trying to cover their tracks, and soon, as he disappeared deserting her, the neighborhood was agog with ‘I told you so’, but when she too left shortly thereafter, no one knows where, the grapevine only grew. Well, that was so long ago but Shyamala, who was due to return soon from the U.S, where she had been to help her daughter deliver, might be in the know of the aftermath of the elopement that went awry.
Recalling Radha’s intriguing description of her childhood friend as ‘full-soul mate and half-namesake’, Dhruva thought what if Shyamala’s niece happened to be Radha’s childhood friend, and if it were so, won’t it mean that Ranjit’s deserted wife was none other than Radha herself. What a circle of love it makes if Radha’s friend Rani were to be the Rani, his child bearer! Whatever, he realized that Shyamala’s niece holds the key to Radha’s fate but thought it was premature to share the clue with Kavya.
That evening, when Radha proposed that the apprentice should celebrate her maiden foray with three cheers over Gin with Thums Up, even Kavya said that she was a game for it, Dhruva said in half jest, that Radha might rue her move for Kavya might out drink her. Mixing the drink for Kavya, Radha said in jest that it always paid to keep the other woman high, especially when the stakes were high, and after a couple of drinks, a thrilled Kavya said that she would oblige Radha so as to make up for the lost drinking time, and, as if to make good her promise, when she wanted to have a third one, Dhruva said that she better stopped at that. While as a tipsy Kavya insisted, Radha broke the deadlock by mixing a small one for her, and when Raju came to announce dinner for them, Radha said bottoms up, Dhruva stubbed his cigar and Kavya sipped the last dreg.