Free Doosra by Vish Dhamija

connect — what did you mean when you said it took us some time to come by...?'
    'Oh, nothing. Ronnie died... I mean he was murdered,' Anita corrected herself, '…some months back. I'm surprised no one came around back then.'
    'Wasn't the Indian Embassy in Belgium in touch with you?'
    'They were, but no one came here personally.'
    'Well, all I can say is we got the case only when Interpol got involved. But the information we have is that you declined to identify or take custody of the body, which is still unclaimed and freezing in some drawer in a morgue in Brussels. Am I correct?'
    'You are. Ronnie… I mean Ron and I divorced over a decade ago, and it was because of his cheating on me. I have no feelings for him — dead or alive — and I don't want to have to do anything with him. Shouldn't talk bad of the dead but isn't it funny how people get what they deserve and, in my humble opinion, some people deserve a bullet.'
    'So, if you don't mind me asking, how are you living in this apartment?'
    'Well, I know Ron has no relatives, so when I got the news that Ron was no more, I thought I should come and take care of this property before one of his cunning whores got into it. We lived in this place, so I moved in.'
    'Did you break the locks?'
    'I didn't have to. I still have my set of keys.'
    'What about the alarms? Surely, Mr Jogani would have alarmed the house before he went abroad…'
    'That was the problem with Ron. He was so predictable. When we lived in this place together the alarm code was our wedding date. I was sure he changed it when we got divorced and I moved out, but I could guess what he would have changed it to. It was the date we got divorced. Easy.'
    'Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to harm Mr Jogani or threatened him?'
    'Don't know anyone else besides me.' Smirk. Wiseass.
    'So I take it that your divorce with Mr Jogani was… acrimonious?' It was best to ask for it to be on record.
    'The man couldn't keep his pants zipped. I caught him here, in our home, with a young bitch.'
    'And you let him have this apartment at the divorce?' Rita rolled her eyes to emphasise the valuable property.
    'I didn't want to live here visualising him with some whore all the time.'
    'So you took the cash and moved out?'
    'I suppose you can say that.'
    'And now you're back in this very house and that doesn't bother you?'
    'For one he's dead, and after so many years... I guess it doesn't matter anymore.'
    'Do you have a legal right to be in this property?'
    'Possession is nine-tenths of the law, isn't it?'
    Gold-digger. Either Anita was a smart woman or there was a brain somewhere who was feeding her the intelligence.
    'Am I a suspect?'
    'Everyone's a suspect until the murderer is caught, so to that effect you are in the pool too, but you aren't convicted. Are you planning to leave the country in the coming weeks?'
    'No, but are there any restrictions?'
    'No, but it would be good if you let us know of any travel plans in case we need you for any questions that would help us get to Mr Jogani's killer.'
    'But the murder happened in Brussels in some hotel, and I was told it was a burglary that went wrong…'
    'You're right about the location, but whether Mr Jogani's murder was collateral damage to burglary or not is something we're re-evaluating, Anita.'
    'No, I'm in town, and though I said I have no feelings left for Ron, I now think I should at least give him a decent send-off. How can I arrange to bring his body back?'
    Rita noticed some moisture in the other woman's eyes. Maybe, the hurt of being cheated ages ago was over, maybe she was redeeming Ron. Who knew?
    'That's nice to hear. I'll let the Belgian authorities know, and they shall be in touch.'
    'Thanks.'
    'Where is Mr Jogani's office?'
    'He worked from home. The office is one of the smaller bedrooms.'
    'We'll need to search the place, especially his computer for anything we can find that might lead us to the murderer.'
    'Of course.'
    'Have you been in the office