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Horrified would be too small a word to describe my fright on seeing the dead body behind Satish. I had seen only two dead bodies until then. One of my paternal grandmother and the other of my maternal grandfather. I was a child when the former passed away. But never had I ever seen a badly mangled body lying in a pool of blood with the murderer standing face to face with me. I shuddered. For a moment I thought that I was going to faint. I caught hold of the door and tried to compose myself. Then I moved my head in another direction and threw up.

‘Disaster. Now you have left your finger prints around.’ Satish slapped his forehead and roared again, ‘What brought you here?’

When I didn’t answer, Satish asked me again, ‘Will you please tell me what the hell are you doing here?’

‘I thought… you had called me here.’

‘Have you gone mad?’ His angst reflected in his eyes. ‘Now that you have come, get inside soon or both of us would land in trouble.’ He said.

‘Listen I have killed this woman in a fit of anger. I have no time to narrate the entire story to you. You have to help me to get rid of this or else you too will land in trouble with me. You have touched the surfaces and the forensic team would easily collect them.’

All that little sap was left in my body was sucked out. With the body still before us, I was embroiled in a murder which I had never committed. I scraped my back down the wall and crouched on the ground. I didn’t know what was expected of me. I was too scared. I was afraid that if I didn’t follow Satish’s directions, he would kill me as well.

Reading my thoughts Satish said, ‘No need to worry. I am no professional killer. You are safe here. This just happened.’

Then Satish explained me my role. I had to walk to the terrace and keep a watch on the surroundings. Meanwhile Satish would dispose off the body. My feet staggered and my teeth clattered as I slowly climbed the fleet of stairs that led to the terrace. I could smell the murder. The smell of coagulated blood permeated every pore of my body. Then it began to rain. A cascade of rain drops severely affected my visibility. I shivered. I thought that the shower would wash away that obnoxious smell. But strangely it accentuated it. I felt like I was soaked in the blood. Every second looked like an eternity. I don’t know how long I stood on the terrace.

Satish came to the terrace panting. He sat on his haunches and cried in the rain. I moved at a safe distance from him. After sometime we came down. Satish removed all his clothes and burnt them in the hearth. The same body which had made promises of fragrant dreams was now stinking of blood. I looked the other way round when stark naked Satish scrambled to another room and came with a change of clothes. Thereafter, he cleaned the hallway and the door. ‘Let us go now.’ He said. I meekly followed him like an animal being taken for sacrifice.

I had nothing to do with the murder. I didn’t even know how Satish had disposed off the body. Years later I came to know that Satish had picked her up from the bar and he planned to have some good time with her.  Once at Swarg Sadan both of them had a drink and she casually mentioned that her father too owned one such  property. A property which he highly spoke off. She told him that her father too had named the property Swarg Sadan and he had promised her to take her to the site on her next birthday.

Satish had casually asked her what was the name of her father.

‘Ram Madhavani.’ She said.

‘And your mother?’ He said.

‘Sheila.’

The moment Satish heard her mother’s name, he stabbed her in her chest, not once, not twice, but multiple times until he was assured that she no longer breath. 
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