Prey on the Prowl – A Crime Novel BS Murthy ISBN 81-901911-4-4 Copyright © 2014 BS Murthy Cover design Gopi’s water color painting by Lattice Advertisers, Hyderabad. Self Imprint F-9, Nandini Mansion, 1-10-234, Ashok Nagar, Hyderabad – 500 020 Other books by BS Murthy – Benign Flame – Saga of Love Jewel-less Crown - Saga of Life Crossing the Mirage – Passing through youth Glaring Shadow - A stream of consciousness novel Stories Varied - A Book of Short Stories Onto the Stage – Slighted Souls and other stage and radio plays Puppets of Faith: Theory of Communal ...Read More

Chapter 2 Shakeel’s Fixation When Inspector Shakeel entered the Saifabad police station, the echoes of the greeted him, and as he stepped into his cabin, as if calling stand-at-ease, the telephone had started ringing. Soon, as Shakeel opened the dak folder, the Head Constable Karim rushed into the cabin to alert him about a double murder. “Where was it?” “At 13, Red Hills, sir,” said Karim “Have you checked about the jurisdiction?” asked Shakeel, who was newly posted there. “It’s a stone’s throw away, sir, in our very own Hyderabad,” said Karim unable to hide his irritation as ...Read More

Chapter 3 Ranjit’s Predicament Dhruva stepped into the anteroom, he came face to face with a handsome man with an amiable face that bore the apprehensions of one who feared for the life and limb of a dear one. When the visitor introduced himself as Ranjit, the owner of Oasis Builders, assessing the middle-aged man as self-assured, Dhruva gave him a questioning look. But as Ranjit said that he came to seek his help in freeing Kavya, his thirty-six-year-old wife, kidnapped that very afternoon, Dhruva said in jest that he was not in cohorts with the kidnappers. ...Read More

Chapter 4 Rags to Riches Kavya, a child prodigy, was the only offspring of a financially hard-pressed from Kovvur. As her parents went to lengths to groom her well, she began to live up to their expectations, and that prompted them to shift to Hyderabad to cater to her big-ticket talent. While her father became a clerk in a real estate firm, her mother took to cooking for a ‘working women’s hostel’, she strained her every nerve to top the school. But coinciding with her entry into the college, her father ventured into the real estate business, which ...Read More

Chapter 5 Dhruva’s Dilemma Waking up early in the morning and quickly finishing his chores, stood in the portico; staring at the gate incessantly, he was at loss to comprehend his obsession for an unknown woman, possibly a murderess. But weary of a long vigil and wiser to the hopeless wait, as he retreated into his study, he was lost in fine-tuning the Operation Checkmate of Kavya’s captors. When Raju appeared at the lunch-time, Dhruva wanted to be served in the study itself; and after his siesta, grabbing the mail that Raju brought, he found the expected ...Read More

Chapter 6 The Gatecrasher While Dhruva was still lounging in his bed, Raju announced arrival of a middle-aged woman. Wondering whether it could be Rani, Dhruva asked Raju to make her feel at home in the study before he could receive her. So, while Dhruva took his sweet time to put his best foot forward, Raju began lifting him to the skies before her, and when he heard approaching steps, he left the scene to make way for his master’s entry. Sensing the import of the moment, even as she stood up in all eagerness, realizing at ...Read More

Chapter 7 Operation Checkmate It was 4 P.M the D-day. As Dhruva was raring to go, Rani in no hurry to desert her dressing table; but when he began hurrying her, as she hastened down the stairs, she slipped on the staircase. Though she said that she was fine, yet he drove her to the Hyderabad Nursing Home, where the doctor ruled out a fracture, but ignoring Rani’s pleas to be taken on board, he sent her home with Raju, who came in tow with them. Walking up to the nearby Tank Bund, Dhruva soon reached the Siddhendrayogi ...Read More

Chapter 8 Foul on Pravar Reaching 9, Castle Hills, Dhruva was nudged by Rani into the room, where Raju laid the drinks for them - Old Monk with Thums Up for him and Gin with Sprite for her. Even before he had had his first sip, as she pressed him to blurt out, tuning into TV9, he told her that she should first hear it from the horse’s mouth at 9. Lighting his cigar as he savored it along with the rum, she told him that in the excitement of the moment, the aroma of the lanka pogaku ...Read More

Chapter 9 Stockholm Syndrome When Ranjit reached 9, Castle Hills, in its sprawling backyard, Dhruva was playing badminton with Rani. As Raju announced Ranjit’s arrival, Dhruva playfully told Rani that he would like to flaunt her before the visitor. Turning coquettish, she told him that she had no eyes for any other man, and not to be outdone, he said that had she been there on the Tank Bund the other day, Ranjit would have lost his eyes for her, thereby putting Pravar in a fix. She said joyously that though she was flattered, she was eager to ...Read More

Chapter 10 An Aborted Affair Rani proposed a trip to Ooty to let him bide his time she did his bidding. Though Dhruva was inclined towards ‘train journey’ as she opted to ‘air dash’ so as not to ‘lose time’, they had boarded the Indian Airlines flight that very evening. On their way from the airport to an Ooty hotel, even as the serene surroundings of the hill resort refreshed his mind, her innate romanticism enamored his heart, and once ensconced in the hotel suite, they made it their love nest, and rarely ventured out of it. Soon, ...Read More

Chapter 11 Psyche of Revenge When a dejected Dhruva returned home that evening, Raju informed him that woman named Radha came to see him in the morning. What with the lost love and his hurt ego haunting him, he thought no more of petticoat chasing, even if it were Radha the suspected murderess, so he thought. Whatever, to catch up with the lost time and to get back to business, he invited Shakeel to review the Operation Checkmate afresh over a couple of drinks. Lying in wait in mufti near Maisamma temple, said Shakeel sipping Teachers on rocks, ...Read More

Chapter 12 Victim of Trust Next day, Dhruva woke up earlier than usual to Radha’s thoughts, and the bed-coffee in the portico, as he thought about the inimical twists and turns in her chequered life, he had a gut feeling that it was she, who came to see him the other day. What with his earlier fascination for the alleged murderess coming to the fore again, he was seized with an urge to see her. While he was lost in his thoughts, as Dicey began to bark, he looked towards the gate, and seeing a fascinating dame, he ...Read More

Chapter 13 Backyard of Life When Radha reported for work the next day, Dhruva led her into study to thrown open his collection of Holmes, Mason et al for her to pore over them, and as she was engrossed with the former, Raju went up to her to usher her to join his master at the dining table. When she approached him with the lunchbox she brought along with her, as Dhruva said that the perquisites included free lunches, smiling coyly, she said that she would not mind working extra time if she could have dinners as well. ...Read More

Chapter 14 Cuckoo’s Nest As Raju announced Ranjit’s arrival, Dhruva said jocularly that Radha might as well Mr. Interval, but she told him that it pays to retain his Ace of Hearts for the development implied that the stakes were raised. Leaving her with a pleased look, Dhruva reached the study to find a downcast Ranjit, who said that Kavya had come under Pravar’s spell, and sadly, he had every reason to believe that she was carrying on with him. As Ranjit bemoaned how his upright wife chose to have an affair with a hardened criminal, Dhruva said ...Read More

Chapter 15 ‘Untried’ Crime On reaching her ‘new home’ as she learned that Dhruva was away with and was not expected till late in the night, Radha began scanning Mithya’s closets to delve deeper into her past. Not finding any sleazy stuff therein, as she was on the verge of giving up on spying, she located a false bottom in the dressing table that led her to many unusual items. Elated at the discovery as she rummaged the shelf, she found Mithya’s jottings, leafing through which she came across a handwritten Untried Crime that read: ‘That was when ...Read More

Chapter 16 Kavya’s Quagmire When Radha took Dhruva to cloud nine, as if to bring him back mundane world, Dicey fell seriously ill; though he felt gratified to see her tending the pet like her own child, when it succumbed to the mysterious ailment in a week’s time, he was truly downcast. While it took him quite a while to recover from his loss, courtesy Natya, Radha coverd much of Pravar’s crime ground into which Kavya had ventured. After she got him bail, Kavya was wont to spend long hours with Pravar to prepare his defense. While he ...Read More

Chapter 17 Murders to Mislead After Radha left Castle Hills to meet Natya, as Dhruva was wondering Ranjit’s death might have affected Kavya’s relationship with Pravar, Raju informed him that a woman came to see him; irritated though about the intrusion into his reverie, he, nevertheless, headed towards the anteroom. Seeing Kavya seated therein, even he was immobilized at the threshold, struck by his enamored demeanor, she stuck to her seat. When he walked up to her, as if out of trance, waking up to the reality, she got up in greeting, and as he gesticulated to be ...Read More

Chapter 18 The Other Woman When they reached Spandan, as Dhruva recalled his earlier rendezvous, gave him a free rein to scan her dwelling; as she ushered him into the master bedroom, unable to take his off at the wedding photograph on the wall, he said that she looked divine in her bridal attire but as she flung herself onto the bed sobbing, he apologized for his indiscretion, and she, affected by his empathy, was impelled to confide in him tearfully. Ranjit was mean and selfish besides being secretive and so she could never bring herself to love ...Read More

Chapter 19 Shakeel’s Demise That early dawn, waking up to the first ring tone of his mobile, as not to disturb Radha lying beside him, Dhruva swathed it off readily, and moving out of the bedroom, he realized the call was from Shakeel’s cell. As he was kept on hold for long when he returned the call, he dialed Shakeel’s residential number he found it ever engaged; however, the stalemate ended as Shakeel’s son got Dhruva on the mobile. Shocked at hearing that the cop had died in his sleep, Dhruva was dumbfounded, and recovering, he wondered whether ...Read More

Chapter 20 A Perfect Murder Helped by Dhruva’s counseling in his ambient dwelling, as Kavya recovered from trauma sooner than expected, she wished to go back to her place, but he said that he was not so naïve as to put his client’s life at risk. Radha chipped in saying that until the venom behind the poison was identified, it was better that Kavya stayed away from Spandan. As Radha added jokingly that she might deem it as a protective custody; Kavya said in half jest that she would like to earn her freedom by lending them her ...Read More

Chapter 21 Deaths in Spandan Kavya returned to Dhruva’s ‘think of the devil’ welcome and Radha’s ‘what’s 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 ...Read More

Chapter 22 Arraigned in Remand Closeting with a nonplussed Kavya when Dhruva asked her about her house she pulled out a key from her purse, and told him that after Ranjit’s death, she got the old Godrej lock replaced with a new one and kept the other two keys in the bank locker along with her jewelry and a bunch of cupboards’ keys, which she volunteered to show him. Giving him possession of the key, as she led him to the Andhra Bank, he asked her what for she got the door bolt removed while replacing the door ...Read More

Chapter 23 Depressing Discovery While Simon took Kavya to the Chanchalguda Jail his jeep, Dhruva drove Radha straight to Spandan in his Esteem, reaching which he collected the door keys from the guard. Radha alerted him to a heap of burkas on the clothesline in the master bedroom’s attached toilet, and seeing him seemingly unenthused, she proposed that she might wear one of them to have a feel of it. Saying in jest that even that tent-of-a-garment might fail to hide the alluring features of her hourglass figure, he let her take him around the bungalow before he ...Read More

Chapter 24 The Red Herring With Kavya in judicial custody, Simon had redoubled his efforts to nail down, but seeing no scope for a breakthrough, he thought it was an idea to ascertain the goings on in her camp. When Simon made it to 9, Castle Hills that evening, inviting him to have drinks with Radha and him, Dhruva began to mix a Bagpiper large with soda. Though Simon said that he wanted a private audience with Dhruva, handing him his drink, and holding out his glass to clink, Dhruva said that Radha being his confident and companion, ...Read More

Chapter 25 Wages of Abuse Next day, as Simon reached 9, Castle Hills, with a woman constable tow, to apprehend Radha, as if on a cue, Dhruva kept away from the scene. When Radha, who remained haughty, wanted to know what were the charges brought against her, Simon informed her that she was being arraigned on the charge of murdering Ranjit, Shakeel, Pravar and Natya, in that order. Overwhelmed though by the unexpected turn of the events, as she remained cool and wanted to know what evidence Simon had against her, he said that her fingerprints were found ...Read More

Chapter 26 Decoding the Crime When Simon led Kavya back to 9, Castle Hills, Dhruva in the portico, she rushed to him as though to dispel his pensiveness, and the cop, handing him a copy of Radha’s confessional statement, went into the anteroom to allow them a free reign on their emotions. Discerning myriad emotions in his demeanor as he read it, as if to share his feelings, Kavya nestled her head on his shoulder. Sensing that he was overcome with grief as he had finished with it, she exhorted him to be strong, so that he could ...Read More

Chapter 27 A Poignant End Wanting to strategize Radha’s defense in the impending trail as Dhruva reached Chanchalguda Jail with Kavya and Pratvadi in tow, she sent word to him that even as she was ashamed to see him, she was averse to recounting her crimes to any lawyer, but if Kavya were willing, she would love to see her. As Kavya was led away to meet Radha, Dhruva pleaded with Prativadi to bear with Radha’s reluctance until they got her around into proper groove. While Kavya set out with empathy, Radha awaited in repentance, and when they ...Read More