Have you read previous chapters? If not I promise you won’t regret!
Recap:
Jezebel remembers her last day with Arjun when he says, "I love you for who you are." Jezebel tries to kill Abhimanyu but stops because she realised it wont work. Saman threatens her that she has to kill Abhimanyu in a day. Saman tells Arthur that Arjun, Jezebel's fiancee has the secret to immortality.
“Do you have any conclusive evidence?” said Arthur defending himself against Adv. Vidur. ‘If you get this dead-on, we’d be immortal’ whispered Saman. ‘We have to’ replied Arthur.
‘We haven’t ever lost’
‘But at what price?’
‘Immortality is priceless.’
Arthur could still feel his wife’s hand, holding a gold necklace with a blood red ruby. He could hear her brother playing the church organ. Kindle of sunlight shining upon them as they held hands. She was glowing with serenity in her white wedding gown. They both could not stop looking at each other. Now he can never look at her.
‘yeah, it is priceless’ thought Arthur.
“Answer me Adv. Vidur” Arthur questioned. He then turned to High court justice and said, “Your honour, neither the murder weapon, nor any conclusive evidence has been put up by the prosecutor. Prosecutor can waste all of our time in framing me, whereas the real killer is still out”
The whole courtroom started murmuring. Raman was whispering something in Vidur’s ears.
“What do you mean?” inquired the chief justice.
“You will know in a minute your honour. This case will be over soon.” Arthur again turned around and said, “I’d like to question Mr.Raman”
“Objection your honour, defence has not given Mr.Raman’s name in advance” said Vidur.
“Your honour, I think prosecutor has forgotten that defence can question plaintiff” said Arthur.
“Overruled.”
Raman helped himself to the witness box, missing his son’s hand.
“Mr. Raman, where were you the night Parikshit was killed?”
“I was in my room, sleeping.”
“You told us, Parikshit used to come home quite early”
“Yes”
“Why did you go to bed so early?”
“In my years of training, discipline and bravery is what I’ve learnt.”
“And also learnt living with the consequences of killing people in the war zone”
“Objection your Honour! Leading the witness” shouted Vidur from behind.
“Sustained”
“What do you mean?” asked Raman.
Vidur’s secretary murmered something in his ear. A guy entered the court, pacing his steps to give Vidur a file. “Your honour! Post mortem reports are in” he said.
He handed over a copy to the judge. “Large amount of aconite was found in Parikshit’s body, the same was found on the glass he drank juice from that night.” Vidur turned towards Arthur and said, “The juice, as his father said in her report, was brought home from none other than Mr. Arthur’s home.”
‘it’s impossible!’ Saman said.
Arthur stood silent. He could hear the whole courtroom whispering. His legs trembled.
“You monster! You killed my son for your shares? For greed!” Raman continued, “Yes, I have learnt living with the consequences of killing insatiable and greedy people like you! People like you are scum of the Earth and nothing more.”
‘Why here?’ thought Abhimanyu, standing at the main gate of ‘Ananias foundation’. A small beige building in the outskirts of Pune. He could hear children playing inside. Scratching his head, he opened the front gate.
A couple of children were on the swings, some were playing merry go round. They were screaming with joy. ‘there’s a young you and I here brother’ he thought. At far end of the ground he could see a crowd. There she was on her knees, applying Band-aid on a kid’s knee. ‘Ma would love her’ he thought as he walked towards her. ‘Why would anyone want to hurt such a beautiful soul?’
“Healing wounds as usual Ms. Jez?”
Jezebel looked at him and smirked. She got up and said, “Everyone deserves someone.”
‘I’m lucky to deserve you’ he thought.
“Let’s go” she said, “my office” as she signaled to the wooden door inside.
“After you”
She opened the door. He could see her organised table, her certificates on the wall.
“Jez, what happened yesterday?”
Jezebel turned around and put her hands on the table. “I can’t tell you. I cannot risk your life.”
“And I can’t risk yours”
He took a step closer to her and said, “I will always be with you”
She turned around, he could see tears in her eyes. He held her hand and said, “All I ever want is your hand in my hand”
“My sins have brought me here Abhi” she looked down and continued, “I have done many terrible things in life.”
He gently held her chin and said, “What do you mean?”
“The demon you saw yesterday was my karma”
“I don’t understand this. What does he want from you?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that he can kill anyone for the pursuit of immortality. He’s the one who killed Parikshit.”
Abhimanyu felt a jolt of shock.
“No! He committed suicide.”
“Saman slipped a red-pill of wolfsbane into his drink. Those pills can resurrect a person at the cost of their love. He has killed countless people; he torments their soul in hell.”
Abhimanyu’s knees gave up. He got down, with his head pounding with anger. “But why!?”
“He killed my fiancé Arjun, as he found out who he was. He’s a monster!” Jezebel got on her knees. “This NGO is just a shell for money laundering. Your brother used to help us. I’m sorry Abhi, I never should have…” she started weeping.
“No. Regardless of what happens, you cannot kill anyone Jez.” he said, trying to hold his voice from collapsing.
“He will kill my father.”
Silence filled the room. Flashes of his brother tormented him. His heart was filled with guilt. ‘And I abandoned my family!’ he thought.
“Listen to me Abhi, we will find a way.” he looked up as she said, “Your hand in my hand is all I ever wanted”
Abhimanyu hugged her, wailing all the while.
Jezebel looked at him, swiped away his tears. He leaned in. His lips fell on her’s.
‘I will make sure you rot in hell dad’ she thought as the pill in her hand warmed up.
‘Do it!’
‘No Saman, I don’t need your help’
‘I won’t let you sabotage my plan mortal! You are because I am!’
‘The last time you helped me, you turned my dearest possession into your toy’ Arthur said to Saman, looking at the red talisman in his hand.
“Mr. Arthur! Are you alright?” the judge said.
Arthur stood silent, blankly staring his hand.
“The defence has nothing to add your honour.” Said Adv. Vidur.
‘let me help you!’ said Saman.
Arthur clenched his fist and said, ‘Fine!’
The lights went off. The room got filled with darkness. The fans halted; mobiles switched off. No one had any idea about what was happening. Only thing aglow was a red light from the center of the room. It began moving towards the judge’s table.
Lights switched back on.
Jezebel got ready to shove the pill. ‘I knew this would work’ she thought. Abhimanyu’s eyes were closed. She could feel her heartbeat go up as she brought her hand closer towards his lips. She could feel him breathing heavily onto her. She could feel his hand on the small of her back, as he caressed her lips tenderly.
She was close enough to do it. Her hands began trembling. She opened her eyes, and saw Arjun in him. The pill slipped from her hand as she pulled herself back in shock.
“What happened?” said Abhimanyu.
Her head began pounding with ‘I love you for who you are’. She could only see Arjun in him. Abhimanyu came close to her and said, “Hey, are you alright?”
He looked at the pill on the floor. She could see his eyes, as if inquiring what it was. “Jezebel?” she was speechless.
“Did you?” tears rolled out his eyes as he said, “My brother?”
“I can explain Abhi” she said, frantically.
“Shut up” said Abhimanyu as he looked down in utter devastation.
“Whatever I did, I did for love Abhi”
“You can’t love yourself, let alone anyone. Nothing justifies loss Jezebel” he clenched his fists.
“I am sorry Abhi” she said while sobbing tears of utter guilt. He took out his handkerchief.
“I’m sor..” she was cut off by a slap on her face.
He picked the pill up with his kerchief and went towards the gate.
“Listen to me please!”
He rushed out with the pill in his hand.
“Mr. Raman”, Arthur continued “you knew your son was involved in tax fraud and money laundering”
“I did”
“Objection your honour! Defence has no proof” said Vidur.
“Overruled” said the judge. Vidur threw his arms up in dismay.
“Point to be noted your honour”
Arthur continued, “So Mr. Raman, why did you kill your son?”
“Objection your honour!” courtroom started whispering.
“Overruled”
Vidur sat down in shock.
“You knew your son was a greedy liar and you killed him with poison!” Arthur could feel the talisman in his hand warming up.
“Your honour, Defence is putting up baseless argument”
“He grew aconite in his home, and when he got the chance to slip it in his juice, he wasted no time. A perfect crime to kill a greedy no good son. I rest my case your honour”
‘Your judge is such an easy mind to play with’ said Saman.
Raman stood still in utter shock.
“In light of all the evidence and facts, the court declares Mr. Arthur George ‘Not guilty’. We further find true, the allegations that Mr. Raman Shukla, father of the deceased Mr. Parikshit Shukla, killed his own son and sentences him for life imprisonment under Section 302 of the Indian penal code.”
Abhimanyu came running into the courtroom gasping for breath.
“The court is adjourned.”
He saw his father in handcuffs. “Dad!” he shouted.
He ran across the room but was cut abruptly as he collided with Arthur. Abhimanyu broke down in utter shock as soon he saw the talisman in Arthur’s hand.
To be continued....
Maitrish Jain
Chapter 5: https://www.learningsutras.net/post/jezebel5
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