Copyright © 2003 Anand Sairam Rainman. All rights reserved. 

    Seker knew well that if a wife was murdered, the prime suspect would be the husband. He should be very careful. The police guys are very shrewd and a small slip would land him in Jail.

    Sekar joined as a tailor in Anita Exports, a company exporting leather garments to America. He learned the tricks of the job within a year and he got promoted to Supervisor and then to Manager. He was good on both the technical and accounting side and soon he got the company under his control. The proprietor, Natarajan, liked Sekar and planned to write off his entire company to Sekar, with one condition; he should marry Anita. He had no son. He was getting old and planned to go to Kasi, a holy town in North India, where old people desired to spend their last days with sadus and saints. After death, their bodies would be simply left in the holy river Ganges to be eaten by the fish and vultures. Sekar seemed to be the right person to look after his company and his daughter.

    Sekar readily agreed to the proposal.

    But life was different after marriage. Anita was an MBA graduate and she was trying to prove that she was the boss. She got very innovative ideas and tried to implement them in his company.

    The other day, when Sekar came to the office, he was surprised to see a middle aged woman sitting in his seat.

    "Hey. Who are you?"

    "Newly appointed."

    She got up from her seat and offered him her hand.

    "Who appointed you?"

    "Madame."

    Sekar felt hot rage building up inside him. He walked out of the room and contacted Anita over his cell phone.

    "Anita. I don’t like it. What’s all this? I am surprised to see a woman in my place. I don’t want to remind you that I am the boss of this company."

    "Not you only. We are both bosses of the company. I also have equal rights. Don’t lose your temper. You are young and energetic. I don’t want you to waste your time supervising these girls. You go out and learn more about this business. You are going to attend a one month training program on leather exports."

    "No. I won’t."

    "Yes. You are. You must attend the program; I already paid the money. I am going to change you and the company completely."

    "No. It’s not fair."

    "Sekar. I am doing you good. I have already designed a work chart for you."

    "What?"

    "You get up early in the morning, that is exactly at 5:00."

    "No. I usually get up at 7:00."

    "No. Darling. You have to change yourself. After morning rituals, you should jog for one hour. Then you can eat diet breakfast and go for an English speaking course."

    "My God."

    "Yes. Your English is very poor. You are going to be a very big businessman. You should equip yourself. After that, learn to play golf."

    "What nonsense!"

    "All successful businessmen play golf. At 11:00, you visit our company; check the records and sign cheques and files. Exactly at one o’clock, you return home and eat a diet lunch. Then a little sleep; at 4:00 you go to gym and when it is five, you return home and a tutor will teach you basics in computers."

    "Oh. It’s going to be hell."

    "At 7:00, we go out and socialize with other business people. Between 9:00 to 10:00, we have dinner. We talk about the day’s events and before going to bed, it is reading time. You have to read business journals to know the current business trend."

    "And while making love, you ask questions and test my knowledge in English, business and computers. Correct?"

    Anita laughed and said.

    "You are naughty."

Sekar muttered to himself.

    "No. I won’t let this happen. Do you think I am your child? You will not be there to dictate terms."

    I am going to kill you. Kill you. Kill you.

    But how could he kill her? Paid killer? He would have to pay him. He would have to withdraw a huge sum of money from his bank account and it had to be explained to the police after the murder. They would definitely check his account and ask the reason for the withdrawal. He could lie but when the police cross-check they would soon find it was a lie and it would get them on the right track. Accident? He would have to make it happen and he did not have the nerve to face the police after the accident and answer their string of questions.

    When Anita woke him up early in the morning, he got an overwhelming urge to kill her.

    Kill her and go and surrender to the police.

    But he controlled his temper.

    No. He would lose all the money and the company.

    On one Friday night, Anita suddenly announced, "Come on. Lets go on a Holiday tour like all successful businessmen do."  They packed and started out in their car.

    While the car was moving on the hilly roads, Sekar envisioned stopping the car, getting out and pushing the car with Anita off the mountain road. But possibly the huge trees and the weeds would block the free-fall and the car would hang from the branches.

    They rented a bungalow. The scenery was good and when they went for a walk, Sekar wished that a tiger would spring from the bushes and kill his wife. But they only spotted a deer and rabbits.

    It became very cold in the evening; Anita decided to stay at the bungalow and Sekar alone went for a walk. He watched young couples and drank beer in a pub and returned to his place.

    While he was nearing the bungalow, his cell phone buzzed.

    Anita’s excited voice came over the phone.

    "Sekar. A burglar. He was hiding in the closet and he had a gun. He threatened to kill me if I did not hand over the jewels. I stalled him and said that it was in the suitcase. I walked over to the suitcase and opened it. I took out my gun and without wasting a second, I turned and shot him."

    "You shot him?’

    "Yes. I always keep a gun in my suitcase."

    "Is he dead?"

    "Yes. I checked his pulse. The bullet got him in the chest. Come on back. I am so tense."

    "Have you contacted the police?"

    "No. I have no idea what to do. Come on. We’ll discuss it."

    Sekar ran inside the bungalow.

    An opportunity to strike.

    An opportunity to kill.   

    He opened the door with his key.

    He would later tell the police, " I opened the door with my key. I walked in. The hall was empty. My wife was nowhere to be seen. I walked to the bedroom. Oh my god. My wife was lying there in a pool of blood."

    Anita was standing in the bedroom, pointing to the dead body. She looked excited.

    "It was between him and myself. How would I know that he wouldn’t kill me after I handed over the jewels? So I killed him."

    Sekar knelt down near the body. The burglar’s gun was lying beside him. Sekar had to pick up the gun and shoot Anita.

    He would later tell the police, "My wife and the burglar shot each other; both of them are dead." After he shot his wife, he would make the burglar’s fingers encircle his gun so that it would appear he shot Anita.

    An opportunity. A wonderful opportunity.

    He picked up the gun.

    He pointed it at Anita.

    Before he pulled the trigger, the burglar got up and snatched the gun.

    "Hello mister, wait a minute."

    Anita laughed.

    "I have been watching you. You've been very restless and I knew you were up to something. I wanted to know what was hidden in your mind. I set up an opportunity. The burglar is my cousin and he agreed to the plan. Now I understand that you will kill me if an opportunity arises. Please go away. It won’t work for us. I will send you the divorce papers."

    Sekar slowly walked out of the bungalow.