The Heartless Man Pt.1
Adventures of Millie and Manav.
“Another unsolved mystery!” I yelled.
Manav, unamused, continued to drink his coffee and scroll through his phone.
“It’s Flambeau, again,” I said.
This time my husband put his phone down and turned to me. “What did he steal?”
I clicked on the article and read: “The famous diamond known as the Heart of Eternity was stolen from St. Stephens Church in Goa. The diamond is said to have first been discovered in France, then sold to the royals of Geneva and then found its way into India. An elderly priest who was in charge of the diamond reported it being stolen last Friday.”
“Nonsense!” Manav yelled. “It’s not Flambeau.”
“Why do you think so?” I asked.
“Well, for starters, there’s no woman involved here. Flambeau or whatever his real name is, always goes after women. He steals the most precious thing to a woman: Her Diamonds! Remember the blue diamonds of that actress or the royal Persian diamond of Queen Noor of Lucknow?”
“Well,” I scrolled through the news article. “It doesn’t say anything about any woman here. Only the elderly priest of the church.”
Manav put his head down and yawned.
“Aren’t you curious?” I asked. “They say, if a woman wears the heart of eternity, she would forever live in the heart of her lover.”
“You seriously believe in that?” Manav asked.
“I mean,” I replied. “It’s a romantic notion but I would wear those diamonds if I had a chance so I can live in your heart forever and torture you for an eternity.” I gave him my widest smile.
“You look like a monkey right now,” Manav giggled. “But I’m pretty sure that you’d live in my heart forever.”
There was a knock at the door. I got up from the sofa and opened the door. A young and beautiful girl looked at me with grief in her eyes.
“Is this Manav Mishra’s house?” she asked gently.
“Yes, come in,” I let her in.
I went into the bedroom and called Manav.
He drew her a chair and commenced talking immediately. “How can I help you?”
“My fiancé Rahul,” she cried. “is missing.”
“Miss,” Manav said. “Tell us everything from the beginning. Anything and everything about your case even the things that seem the most irrelevant.”
I gave her a cup of coffee and then she started. “Okay, My name is Allana Mathews. You must have heard of my father, J J Mathews, the real estate tycoon.”
“Yes, he passed away last year,” Manav said.
“Right, from last year I have been living away from home. I and Mother don’t get along very well. Anyways, I met Rahul in Delhi. I was living there and working at a Bank. It’s a strange thing to say but Rahul and I were really destined to be together.”
“Why do you think so?” Manav asked.
“One day, I was going to the bank as usual but on that particular day, a man dressed in all black from head to toe was looking at me weirdly. I noticed his gaze and felt something was definitely off so I turned around immediately and began walking the other way.
“Suddenly, I heard footsteps following me and soon they got louder and a hand grabbed my purse and tried to snatch it away. It was the man dressed in black. I resisted his pull but he pushed me to the ground.
“Just then, a man on a bicycle passed us. I yelled “Thief, Thief..” to the man and he raced his bicycle behind the thief. Soon, they were on the ground fighting, I chanced upon the opportunity and grabbed my purse. The bicycle guy tried to overpower the thief but the thief ran away.
“The bicycle guy who helped me was Rahul. After that day, we met every day and soon we were going on dates. He was always very sweet and thoughtful. I’d never known anybody like him. He was perfect in every way, although he had bad habits like smoking and cursing and got irritated quickly but always apologized when he did that.
“He promised me that one day he would be a good man. You see, I’ve heard of love that comes once in a lifetime and I know for sure that Rahul is that love of mine. That’s why we got engaged and decided to go to Goa and meet my mother. And that’s when things turned for the worse.”
“What happened in Goa?” I asked.
“When we arrived there, everything was good but Mother called me into her room and told me she didn’t approve of Rahul simply because he was a Hindu. I tried to reassure her that everything would be fine but she wouldn’t listen to me.
“She called an elderly clergyman and he tried to convince me but I didn’t listen to them. Rahul was upset about it too, although he tried to hide it.
“In the evening, a storm outside roared and howled. Towards eleven pm the sky cleared a little. I felt a strange uneasiness and had a terrible headache. I told Rahul that I wasn’t feeling well and would go to bed early. He told me he’d go for a stroll. He had a habit of going for walks after dinner. So, I went to bed and he went outside.
“When I woke up in the morning, I again felt a scary feeling. I had really bad nightmares. My head was still aching. I heard a loud thud which gave me a fresh feeling of terror. I looked out the window and the gardener Martin was digging something. He looked at me and smiled.
“I got up from bed. When I went downstairs I learnt that Rahul wasn’t in the house. I asked Mommy and she didn’t see him after last night either. Neither did the maid or the gardener.”
“You didn’t go to the police?” Manav asked.
“I did,” she said. “But they were more interested in finding a stupid diamond.”
© Shreya Sinha, 2023.
To be continued.
