Blue Angel - Chapter 4

Previous Story...

Drizzly moonless night with pin drop silence would have enthralled me, if my mind wasn’t turbulent like sea. Theft case was pondering me a lot. How can a person steal from a closed room? Now, I too felt, it would have been some witchcraft work. I felt shameful of not getting any clue in this mysterious case. Initially, I doubted Sathya, that’s why was shocked knowing Reshma was his friend. Today evening, I met Reshma and had a casual talk with her. She was so friendly and lovely. I asked about Sathya too. She said, she met him in a book exhibition first and then at a singing competition. He was a good Classical singer. “We are friends for about five years, he has been a very good friend of mine”, was her quick statement.

After talking to blue angel, I was forced to remove Sathya from my suspect list. Mrs Jayaram cannot be doubted as she is a very soft weak lady; how can she lift those big shutters? One possibility is someone could have stolen the keys, used it and replaced it perfectly. Mr. Jayaram believes the keys remained undisturbed. Even inside the shop, there weren’t any signs of disturbance. If these were all true, what would have happened that mysterious night?

After dinner dad sat near me and touched my hands gently. I turned towards him. He smiled back with a question in his eyes.

“What happened dear? Why do you look so disturbed?”

I detailed dad about the mysterious theft case in Crimson Street.

“Don’t worry my son; you will surely crack this case. Be confident dear. Try to bring out what you have seen and heard today. Jot it down on a piece of paper as though you are taking notes. Read it again and again. You may get a clue. Your guess may be right or wrong. Investigate your guess, may be this will lead to additional information regarding the thief. My intuition says thief is somewhere near.”

I felt enthusiastic hearing my dad’s words of encouragement. This idea seemed to be good. Rather than being blank, gathering more details in relation to this theft might help me.

Next morning with a clear mind I read the paper once again loudly.

“Satish got down from his Indica, the first thing he saw was a gold-plated mini car parked in front of Sathya Jewellers. As Satish walked in, he could see the cash counter on the left, next to it was the bangles section. Bangles were neatly arranged in the showcase. Opposite to bangles section was earrings and rings section and in between there were separate sections for Necklaces, Chains and miscellaneous jewels. Small ventilators were closed using iron bars. Through a small door in the cash counter we can enter into the office. Office was neatly arranged with ten blue chairs for visitors. A large office desk had a group photograph of the employees along with Mr. and Mrs.Jayaram. Mr.Jayaram was sitting on rolling chair. There were three files on the right of the table arranged in order. A pen stand near the files was holding two Parker pens and a pencil in it. The only outgoing door was the shutters at the front of the shop.

Closed Circuit Television camera didn’t give any clue; there was a power cut that night due to some problems in the transformer. Varun said there was no way to doubt the staff. Everyone is from far off places and they left the premises immediately after closing the shutters. There wasn’t a way for them to gain access to the key. Moreover they were getting good salaries and Jayarams treated them as their own family members. They were so subservient to the Jayarams. Reshma’s certificate for Sathya said he is a good responsible boy. Mr.Jayaram didn’t have any doubts on his family or his employees. According to watchmen and neighbors’ words, they didn’t find anything doubtful.”

After my loud reading, some doubts and guesses arose in my mind. Again I took another piece of paper and started writing my deductions.

Will be continued...