the poisonous case (standard:mystery, 3178 words)
Author: tammana	Added: Dec 31 2008	Views/Reads: 4026/2483	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
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“Yeh, I know it is not a disease, people have right hand slightly bigger
because they use them more than the left one. However, look at the 
handwriting in this letter. These lines are smeared...but one could 
still read it” he said and looked at Kumar who was wearing a blank 
ex-pression on his face – so he continued 

“I mean, most of the left – handers are taught to spin the writing paper
slightly counter clockwise so the lower left corner is to the right of 
their midsection and to slide the paper from right to left as they go, 
to prevent their left hand from smearing and make it visible as in the 
suicide note. Understood. Moreover, that means Mrs. Sheela had not 
written this letter and hence it is not a suicidal case. I'm not very 
sure...I mean I can be wrong...maybe Mrs. Ranawat's handwriting was 
such...whatever the matter is...I have to get involved in it...Kumar, I 
smell a rat...” he said and waited to see Kumar's reaction. Expectedly, 
he found him bending down and searching something with great attention. 


“What are you looking for?” he asked trying to hide his smile. 

“Sir, although I can't smell any rat, but if you can then, maybe I am
wrong. Therefore, I am searching that wicked rat and I will throw it 
out so that it will not trouble you...you carry on sir...don't worry.” 
He said and then indulged himself to his ‘rat searching' work. 

“O my god! I have to give you a lesson on English grammar. It's a
proverb you fool!” 

Next day, they went to Mrs.Ranawat's residence. They met her
father-in-law. “Sir, I don't like this man's appearance. Such a shrewd 
man”, Kumar whispered. 

“Shut up Kumar and don't ever dare to talk to him...I will manage
understand...just stay behind. And remember – no teenage attitude”, 
D'souza whispered back. 

“Hello sir, can we talk to Sandeep.” He asked trying to be generous. 

“What? You want to talk to Sandeep. He is out of mind. You want to see
him. Out of question!” the old man shouted angrily. 

Now Kumar came to the rescue. He straight away went to old man and said,
“Listen old man! My sir is very strict... he will make you sleep 
forever with a bang. It is none of our business whether your son is 
inside or outside his mind. And don't try to fool us. My biology 
teacher told that mind or brain is a vital organ, if it stops working, 
that is, if you were out of your mind then you would die – understood – 
die! And by the way, you are not our students that we will ask 
something out of syllabus and you will answer us.” He said still 
bubbling with anger. D'souza pulled him back by his shirt's collar and 
whispered “Kumar Shut up! Forgot my warning. And it is ‘out of 
question' not ‘syllabus' understood and it means ‘impossible'.” Then he 
turned to the old man. “I want Mr. Ranawat.” He said looking sterner. 
This time he let them enter still grumbling. Mr. Sandeep Ranawat was 
sitting on the sofa. 

“Hello Mr. Ranawat. I am detective Roligue D'souza and this is my
assistant Mr. Kumar Desai. I would like to exchange a few words with 
you and my assistant will have a look on your possessions...I hope you 
don't mind. ”he said and gestured Kumar to go inside. 

Sandeep said nothing but gestured them to proceed. He sat there for half
an hour looking here and there. Then he started his interview. 

“So, how long were you married?” D'souza asked. 

“Twenty five years.” Sandeep replied shortly. 

Meanwhile Kumar returned back hitting his head as if trying to insert
all that he saw, into his mind. 

“Any children?” 

“Yeh, one son.” 

“Really!” D'souza almost jumped on his seat. 

“Any problem with it?” he asked sharply 

“No...nothing. Anyways, was your wife left handed or right handed?” he
asked, turning the pages of a notebook kept on the table unknowingly. 

“What?” this time Sandeep was astonished by such strange question. 

“Am I not clear...? I mean with which hand your wife wrote?” he asked
looking professional. 

“ri...right hand” he said hesitantly. 

“Can you tell me something more about your wife honestly”. He asked 

“Well Sheela was a far-sighted person. She would always think about her
future and waste her present. However, she was not so foolish to end 
her life just for such silly cause. She was sensible and happy. Maybe 
her worry for future overtook her life in present.” Sandeep sighed. 

“So, do you think she committed a suicide?” D'souza asked eyeing him
with suspicion. 

“Yeh” replied Sandeep looking uneasy. 

“Well then we must leave” he said and stood up, then suddenly
remembering something sat down. 

“Umm... if you don't mind... can you please write your statement for
me... actually yesterday my assistant had to encounter a very big 
criminal and he got his hands injured...and I am not very good at 
spellings...moreover my handwriting is horrible...even I cannot read 
it.” He said appealingly. Kumar understood why D'souza had tied 
bandages on his hand before visiting the Ranawat's. “Very well.” 
Sandeep replied and started writing – with his left hand. D'souza 
exchanged a glance with Kumar and smiled. They then went back. 

“So, what do you think Kumar?” asked D'souza after returning to their
office. 

“Sir, I don't know about Sandeep, but I don't like that old man a bit.
He is having a murderous look.” Kumar replied, looking very serious. 

“Whatever the matter is, but right now evidences point to Sandeep.” Said
D'souza. “And I never understood why you asked him about children?” 
asked Kumar. 

“Yeh, you see Mr. Sandeep Ranawat said that they had a son but there was
no mention of him in the suicide note. How can this be possible?” 

“Maybe she had forgotten...” Kumar tried to reason out. 

“What nonsense. No women would ever forget to mention her son, no matter
how forgetful...” 

“But sir...you said that the note was not written by Mrs.Ranawat...and
besides, we had seen Mr. Sandeep writing with left hand.” 

“No Kumar, we were wrong. When I was interviewing Mr. Sandeep, I just
unknowingly turned out the pages of a notebook...then I noticed that it 
was written by Mrs. Ranawat...some recepies...with the same handwriting 
as in the suicide note... she really had a horrible handwriting,” said 
D'souza. 

“Anyways, let's go through the forensic reports. Traces of arsenous
oxide were found. Arsenic was also found in nails... ok Kumar, now lets 
check your observation skills. Can you tell me what was there in Mr. 
and Mrs. Ranawat's room?” He Continued. 

“Umm... few medicines, perfumes, cosmetics...fruits,
biscuits...accessories... few soft toys and some other decors...and 
then of course wardrobe items.” Kumar said still thinking. 

“Very good! You remember them all. Now can you tell me exactly what
medicines were present there?” 

“Yes sir. They were domperon10, calphol, dart, streptomycin, pantac40,
zintec...and apart from all these... it seems she took betain 
hydrochloride.” Said Kumar. 

“Betain hydrochloride...that means hypochlorydria...her stomach did not
produce HCl acid...without medicine she couldn't digest anything. 
Umm...could you tell me something more?” 

“Yes sir. One bottle contained fowler's solution.” 

“Great job Kumar! You are getting intelligent day by day.” Said D'souza,
being cautious not to use any proverb. 

“Hey! See here...the report says she had traces of cyanide in her
stomach...but fortunately it was not in her intestines i.e., she was 
not able to digest it. Poor dear, she was poisoned from all four 
sides,” said D'souza, suddenly realizing his mistake. 

“But sir...”Kumar began 

“I mean she was poisoned more than once” he replied trying to correct
his mistake as soon as possible. 

Suddenly something struck to D'souza mind. “Can you tell me exactly what
the decors were?” he asked. 

“Umm... they were antiques. It seems Mr. Ranawat had great sense of
antiques. They were very costly and tremendously beautiful. They were 
artificial flowers playing cards, hat liners and many more of 
nineteenth century.” Said Kumar still unable to believe that he had 
collected so many information and was very happy that D'souza was 
finding his information very helpful. 

“But Kumar, how do you know that it was Mr. Ranawat who bought all those
antiques?” 

“Because sir it was written on them – ‘to my dear wife from Sandeep.'
Wasn't he a very good husband? I wish I could b like him some day.” 
Kumar was completely lost in his thoughts. However, D'souza who called 
out “time to be back from fantasies, Kumar” broke his chain of 
thoughts! 

“OK now we have to find more about that son of Ranawat.” Said D'souza
planning for the interesting future of the case. 

Next day they were back to Ranawat's residence. 

“Listen Kumar. This time we have to search secretly...we will not be
allowed to go through the rooms once again...you remember that old 
man...,” he said. 

Once again, old Ranawat opened the door. “Come in.” he said coldly on
seeing Kumar ready for action and went inside still grumbling. Mr. 
Ranawat was sitting on the sofa deeply lost in some thought. D'souza 
gestured Kumar to enter Mr. Ranawat's room. 

“Hello Mr. Ranawat. How is your life going?” he asked trying to begin
the conversation. 

“How would it go?” snorted Sandeep his face showing immense anger. 

“So what work do you do? I mean your profession.” D'souza asked trying
to carry on the conversation as long as possible. 

“Business. I have to travel out of India several times for business
purposes...in fact I could see my wife once in three months.” 

“How old is your son?” 

“18 years” 

“Tell me something about your business.” 

Well, I deal in medicines. It is our family business. My dad is a master
in it. I have a widespread business. We are whole seller as well as 
retailer...” Sandeep said, for a moment the sadness of his face was 
overtook by proudness. 

Kumar entered the drawing room with a broad smile showing a thumb up.
D'souza glared at him as if to say ‘no teenage attitude', which he at 
once understood. 

“OK then, I must leave” D'souza said standing up. 

“Hey, that boy was with you? I never saw him!” asked Ranawat astonished.


“I...er... I was there throughout the conversation. You – you must not
have noticed me. I was standing right behind you. I am not so short 
that you never saw me ...hey, wait a sec that means YOU IGNORED 
ME...HOW DARE YOU?...” snorted Kumar pretending to be angry. 

“I... I think... you were going somewhere,” said Sandeep, taken aback by
Kumar's strange behaviour. D'souza and Kumar rushed out with D'souza 
laying a praising hand over Kumar's shoulder. 

“Sir this is the address of Ranawat's son's college. St.Stephens
University, Delhi” said Kumar after reaching their office. 

“Grand! Let's hurry up.” Said D'souza. 

Soon they were walking through the corridor of St.Stephens hostel
heading towards room no 201. 

“Mr. Yuvraj Ranawat?” D'souza asked. 

“Yeh” he replied, a little puzzled. 

“May we come in?” 

“Sure” 

“Do you know your mother is no more?” asked D'souza. 

“My mother was dead long back,” he said ex-pressionless. 

“What! We mean Mrs. Sheela Ranawat,” said D'souza, trying to explain. 

“She is not my mother,” snorted Yuvraj. 

Hold on... are you not the son of Mr. Sandeep Ranawat, a businessman who
deals in medicines” asked D'souza, irritated. “Of course I am... but 
she is not my mother. She hates me and I hate her much more than she 
hates me. My mother was long dead. Sheela was my step mom...” 

“Hey – hey mind it. Don't you have any respect for your mom? How dare
you take her name?” shouted Kumar. 

“She –is – not – my – mom,” Yuvraj shouted back angrily. 

“Calm down you both. Yuvraj were your mom dead before Mr. Ranawat
married Mrs. Sheela.” Asked D'souza. 

“Nope. My mother was still alive...she was very good...I was only nine
years old when that stupid sheela killed her. She was jealous of my 
mother.” Yuvraj said with asperity. 

“Why did your father married her then?” asked D'souza puzzled. 

“I don't know.” He said 

“Very well, we must leave now. You continue with your studies.” Said
D'souza and they both returned to office. 

“You know Kumar, while interviewing Mr. Ranawat I saw a cake container
on which it was written ‘to papa – from Yuvraj' anyways you must leave 
now. Give me sometime to think over it.” D'souza said. 

Next day, D'souza and Kumar went to Ranawat's residence. They found
Yuvraj at home; Mr. Ranawat was still looking sad and the old man as 
usual busy with his grumbling. 

“Hello everyone. The case is almost solved. I have heard that you are
Master in medicines Mr. Ranawat,” asked D'souza to old man. 

“Any doubt in it?” he grumbled 

“No, in fact I have a question. Can you tell me which chemicals are
contained in fowler's solution?” he asked. 

“Yes why not. Its potassium arsenate.” 

“Thankyou. That was the only thing left. So, my friends the case is now
fully solved.” 

“What! Tell me who has murdered my daughter-in-law. I will kill him.”
Shouted the old man. 

“Very well then. Mr. Sandeep, you gifted your wife antiques...you had a
great interest in it. Isn't it. That means you knew everything about 
it. Am I right?” 

“Almost” 

“ then you must be knowing that most of the nineteenth century antiques
contain a lethal amount of arsenic – you found it a very easy to spread 
that poisonous substance around her.” 

“What nonsense!” 

“Shut up! And that was the arsenic found in lady's nails. BUT THE LADY
DID NOT DIE BECAUSE OF IT. Poor lady, she was unlucky. Not only her 
husband poisoned her but her father-in-law also did the same. Am I 
right old man?” “What...” 

“Yes...you knew that prolonged treatment with fowler's solution might
prove fatal and as it is a medicine, sheela would not suspect it. What 
an intusion Kumar. BUT THIS WAS NOT THE CAUSE OF LADY'S DEATH” The old 
man only grumbled. 

“And last but not the least, the third one... what... Yuvraj didn't you
send cake containing cyanide. You named it to your father and sent it 
at the time when he was not at home? That's because you knew your 
mother would not suspect it if it was for your father and hence she 
consumed it. Am I right?” 

“She – is – not – my – mother. And yes, I killed her. And I am very
happy at that.” 

“I am afraid you can't be happy. Because you had no idea that your
mother was out of medication at that time...so, she was unable to 
digest your cake, which resulted in vomiting. Anyways it gave a chance 
to your grandpa to use his medicines...I mean the fowler's solution. 
And you all did it just because sheela didn't liked Yuvraj – your only 
heir. You know Kumar sheela was the luckiest one to escape all those 
poisons, do you know why...because she poisoned herself...and the 
reason was of course, as Sandeep suspected...her far sightedness. 
Anyways I arrest you three in charge of attempt murder.” 


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