At 6 p.m., the girls of Ayappa's college poured out of the buildings in a steady stream between the school's gate and the bus stop. The sky was brilliantly red, the air was hot, and the parrots made almost as much noise as the girls' chatter.
Mugil didn't feel like squeezing herself in the over-crowded bus. She asked her friends if they'd like to walk home. It was a couple of miles before reaching the first houses of Andavur, and they could get to the busy streets before dark. Since the girls had been sitting all day, they all agreed and took the shortcut, that narrow path between rice fields.
It was a hot summer day, and, in the vibrant light of the evening, the bright colours of their long skirts and the light green of growing rice seemed a perfect match. Their joyful walk, their laughs, the coconut trees bending over the path, the fields stretching on to the flat horizon, everything blended in an image of happiness and fertility.
The girls were talking about their teachers, their parents, and most importantly about cinema.
"Have you seen Satyaraj's latest movie?" asked Rajeshvari to her friends. They laughed. Most of them had. They hardly had any interest in the story of the film, fascinated as they were by the actor's virile beauty. Only Mugil remained quiet about it.
"Ah, but our friend Mugil has someone else in mind!" The girl blushed violently... Well, it was no secret she loved Ramachandran.
"Come on, Mugil, you will soon exchange the wedding garlands! He will tie the yellow thread around your neck! Why be shy about it? Your parents must be happy! After all, isn't he your distant maternal cousin? According to the rules of your family, they would have married you to him anyway. They must be so happy you're in love, it will make the prenuptial bargaining easy!"
Mugil looked annoyed. Yes, they would be married soon, but that they were in love didn't make things easier. Since their parents had nothing to fight about, they had to invent quarrels! How could they marry their daughter without some hard bargaining with the groom's father? Her parents never made things easy... It was a matter of pride... She could have been married by now if it hadn't been for her father's pride.
She was not in a joyful mood anymore. She walked fast and was soon ahead of her friends. Slowly, clusters of huts appeared on the way, signalling the town. The outer wall of the Snake-Goddess temple was now well in sight. Maybe she should stop and offer a prayer. This was the temple of a powerful Goddess... It could only help unite her sooner with her beloved.
The girls entered the courtyard and went straight to the shrine. Inside, in the darkness of the hall, the acrid smell of oil lamps and the sweet fragrance of incense soothed their minds. They were silent, looking at the black statue in the inner recess of the sanctum. The priest came from outside.
"Do you want to offer a prayer?"
"Yes, please. To Ramachandran and Mugil... and all of the other girls.."
The priest took a piece of camphor, held it close to the flame of an oil lamp until it started burning and threw it quickly in a brass plate. He waived it in front of the Goddess while singing some prayers. He then came back to the girls who put their hands on the flame and touched their eyes, to get the blessings.
As they were walking out in the courtyard, they noticed that the night had set in. In the sky, the stars were twinkling around the tiny crescent of the moon. In two days, the white planet would be swallowed by the monster Rahu, as it happened every month. Tonight, it was like a bow of diamond, and it had been chosen in this phase by Lord Siva to adorn his brilliant locks.
In the darkness, the sculptures on the walls seemed to take life, while the trees looked bigger. In the old anthill covered with turmeric powder, the Snake might wake up. Some women had offered Her small pots of milk and hard boiled eggs. But who knows when She might come out of the earth to accept the offerings and bless Her worshippers with fertility? Better hurry back to the city than risk facing Her.
Just outside the temple, a huge banian tree covered a large brick platform on which statues from ancient times had been gathered. There were unknown Goddesses, Buddhas and other stones with snakes. The path to the city was going through the darkness of this tree. The girls hurried, with an uneasy feeling, as if the black statues were looking at them. Suddenly, Mugil screamed. The other girls didn't wait and ran to the light of a busy street, some 50 yards away. They didn't look back. They didn't even realise Mugil was not with them anymore.
Mugil was trying to look at the gods through the darkness when she realised something was moving. She screamed. A tall man jumped at her from behind a large Buddha statue. As the prey of a snake, she felt paralysed. He was so close she could feel his breath. She rose her eyes and saw his face, a black face in a black night... a face with fangs.
***
Once again, Kannagi hoped her husband would be able to move soon to Andavur. It would be so comforting to feel his arms around her after a hard day of police work. He was going to come this week-end. She just had to be patient. The night had surrounded the town with its cloak of darkness, just lit by the dying crescent of the moon, and she felt awfully lonely, unable to sleep. She turned on the light and looked at the phone... "Maybe I could call him", she thought. The phone rang. Surprised, she picked it up. Alas, it wasn't her husband's voice, it was inspector Rajesh's.
"Chief, I'm sorry to call you at this hour. Something terrible has happened. You have to come and have a look. It's... It's really awful... I've sent your driver Anandam. He'll take you to the Snake-Goddess temple."
"Isn't it that temple just outside the city towards Uttaramerur?"
"Yes, that's it. Be prepared for a shock. This time, the pey has killed. A young woman, a student."
Kannagi put the receiver down and looked at herself in the mirror of her bedroom. Her face seemed pale, highlighting her big black eyes, still full of sleep. Quickly, she put on a blue sari and combed her hair. Outside, she heard her car arrive. She went in without a word. Anandam looked too horrified to speak. He drove with no hurry through the night. The city streets, usually full of light and busy people, were empty and dark at this time. It was almost surreal.
They turned off the main road into a small street. At the end, lights illuminated the entrance of the Snake-Goddess temple and the huge banian tree standing in front of it. A crowd of maybe fifty people had gathered. They all remained silent, except for a woman wailing.
Under the banian, at the feet of a statue, was the severed head of a woman, white in a pool of crimson blood. Her body lay below the platform surrounding the tree, bearing obvious marks of violence. Police cars surrounded the scene, with their lights turned on, illuminating this nightmare with a shameless brightness. Inspector Rajesh came to meet Kannagi.
"Chief. Here it is. The girl was Mugil. She was walking home from Ayappa's college with many of her friends. They went to the temple to pray, and as they went out, something frightened them. Mugil screamed and all the girls ran to the main street, not realising that they had left her behind. When the girl's mother didn't see her returning, she went to one of her friend's house and inquired. Then that girl understood Mugil had been left behind. With her father and Mugil's they walked back to the temple, and found this!
"The woman crying over there is Mugil's mother. One of the girls who went to the temple with Mugil said that she thought she saw a tall dark man hidden behind that statue when she heard Mugil scream. She could hardly see him, but for some reason she thought it was a pey. After all, aren't peys supposed to live under such trees? Also, you may notice the head. It was set at the feet of this god. It seems like a sacrifice... But no-one knows who this god might be."
"Did you ask the priest about that?"
The priest was sitting under the porch of the temple, clad in a red shawl. He looked totally confused. Kannagi approached him and introduced herself. He told her that the God was Karuppan, 'The Black One', a god who wasn't popular in this region, but was very widely worshipped in the south of the country. He was the god of the thief and warrior tribes so common down there. These people would kill goats to honour him. They would cut the heads off and offer them. Just like what had been done to this poor girl.
Kannagi finally had a clue. This roaming pey was from the South, probably from one of those tribes. When she thought about it, maybe the drowned man too might have been from there. She'd see about that in the morning. Right now, she'd better go back, although it would be hard to find sleep, with this horrifying sight still in her eyes.
She told Rajesh to gather carefully any possible clue, and have the priest check all the ritualistic details. She said a word to Mugil's mother, but the woman wasn't listening. She advised her husband to take her home and call a doctor. Finally, Anandam, still silent, drove her back to her house. She didn't feel like being left alone, but she had to rest. The next day would be a busy one. This pey, whatever or whoever he was, had to be caught. In a town like this, where everybody knew everybody, it shouldn't be too difficult. She also had to take measures to protect girls before he was found.
Here she was, sitting again on her bed, lonely and tired. She looked at the phone, and, although it was very late, called her husband.
He was asleep, but, feeling her frightened tone, he talked to her for a long time. She wasn't easily impressed. She was usually hard and strong. But that night was one of those when she felt like a little girl again, and when he wished he could be with her. Maybe he could ask for some days off and come right away. He promised to try, and sensing that she had calmed down, he kissed her good night through the phone.
***
Inspector Rajesh was sitting at his desk, looking outside at the purple bougainvillea covering the wall behind the police station. In his head, questions as many as the bright leaves of the plant were blooming. Was it the pey who had killed Mugil? Indeed, how could there really be a pey? Then who had killed the girl? Why?
He had questioned the doctor who had performed the autopsy. The head had been cut off with a big knife, or perhaps a sword. But by that time she was already dead. She had first been strangled and then her head had been neatly cut off and offered to Karuppan. Who could do all these horrible things? Rajesh had never seen such violence in all his career.
First of all, how could this man had lived in this town for a few days and not have been identified. He had sent policemen to every lodge and hotel, to every prostitute and everybody he could think of. He had inquired in restaurants and bars. But no-one had seen a tall dark stranger, with or without fangs. This was a provincial little city. Everybody knew everyone. Whenever something happened, the news spread like the wind. No man could hide he had a mistress or went to the women in the little street between the two Ganesha temples. Someone always managed to see what was going on and gossip it until it reached the right person... the wife. This was not a great place for privacy. Lovers who wanted to keep it quiet had to go to Madras. So, how could this man hide himself so well?
During his ten years as a police inspector, Rajesh had never had such a hard case. He had seen a lot of things, even murders, even someone crushed to death by an elephant, but the culprits were always quickly identified and arrested. Anything unusual was always noticed by someone who would come forward, only too happy to give substance to his gossip. Yet, in the darkness of last night, only two young women had noticed that tall dark man, and one of them could not depict him anymore...
As he couldn't stop thinking about this strange case, Rajesh heard someone knocking on his door. He stood up and let the visitor in. It was Varadaraja, the local journalist.
"Inspector Rajesh! I'm so glad to find you here. What a story you've got on your hands! If you solve it, you'll be a national hero. My paper is interested in this case. What have you found out so far?"
"I wish I could tell you something. Alas, all we know is that a crazy pey, who appears only at night, killed a poor girl and offered her head to one of those wild gods from the South. I'm sure you know that too. Chief Kannagi told me to get all the help I wanted. I've got dozens of policemen working for me now. They've been all around town asking if anyone else had seen him, or someone like him. So far, we can't imagine where he slept and ate these last two days..."
"You don't think it's really a pey? It could be that man they found in the temple's pool."
"That man is dead, and well locked in a refrigerated room in the hospital. How could it be him? It was just a coincidence he died the day the alleged murderer was first seen. Actually, there might not even be a connection. There's absolutely nothing to prove that the pey inspector Govind saw is the killer. Nothing. But there's also nothing that could give a reason as to why Mugil was killed. She was a good girl. A good student. She was in love with a distant cousin, on the mother's side, so the parents agreed and they were planning the wedding. Everybody liked her. Why would anyone kill her?"
"That's your job to find out. If I learn anything, I'll let you know. And, well... please remember to keep me informed."
"There's something you can do for me. Try to have a story run in your paper and the others about the danger. Parents should not let their daughters out at night until we've solved the case."
"Are you doing anything about that?"
"Well, policemen will be watching girls when they go out of school. Every evening, we'll have as many patrols as we can, and especially in dark streets. We've asked some neighbouring towns to send us extra men if they can. We keep our eyes open. But God only knows if this chap is still in town."
"You think he went away?"
"Well. If he stays here, we're bound to catch him, and if he's identified before WE catch him, we'll find him stoned to death! If I were him, I'd go as far as I could!"
"Don't you think he had a reason to do what he did?"
"I can't think of any."
"Maybe he's a member of a weird cult.. You know, in olden times, in the North, you had those Thugs... They were worshippers of Kali, and they killed people... And you had all these rituals with corpses..."
"Maybe... But not today! In all my years as a policeman, I never heard of a case of murder involving any form of ritual. Murders here are done either for money, or because of quarrels, usually between relatives. I always know who did it before he can run away very far. And that's only a couple of cases a year."
"I know. When my paper sent me here, I thought this was the most boring place on earth."
"What about now? Do you still think it's the most boring place on earth?"
"No, now I've been to my mother-in-law's village!"
The two men laughed and starting chatting about lighter subjects. Still, while the heat was getting close to intolerable, deep inside his heart, Rajesh felt sick. As the midday light poured its burning rays on the receding hints of humidity, they went out to lunch at a nearby restaurant. As soon as they stepped in the refreshing shade, they noticed Govind, sitting alone, his fingers playing on the table's marble top.
They sat in front of him, and looked at his sad face. He didn't even raise his eyes. He was deeply engrossed in his thoughts.
"Govind! What's up with you? Did your mother-in-law call back your wife?"
"I wish she did. My wife is completely hysterical now. Although our daughter is in a boarding school in Madras, well protected, my wife can't stop telling me to arrest this demon. What can I do? It's not even my case. All I have to do is to identify the drowned man."
"Anything new about that? Did his wife come and claim him? Or his mother?"
"No. For sure he wasn't from here. First I waited to see if anyone came up. As it didn't happen, I went back to the hospital and examined his clothes. He just had a veshti, tied in the way we all do in this State of Tamil Nadu. So he must have been Tamil or maybe from Kerala... He had no shirt or scarf. He had no jewels either, except for a black string tied on his upper arm. On it there was a silver amulet and a tiny coin representing a dog.
"Now, I thought, that's unusual! Who would wear a picture of a dog in these parts? You know how we consider dogs... Some people like them, but we wouldn't carry a picture of one as a talisman! Then the doctor, who is from the South, told me that down there some tribes wear theses coins with dogs, and that they worship Bhairava, the form of Siva who is always with a dog. So this man must be from the South, and maybe from a tribe.
"Why he came and jumped in the temple's pool is still a mystery! In a few days, I'll have a list of people missing from every district in Tamil Nadu. Maybe he'll be in there."
The men remained silent. They were thinking about the two cases. A man had come from the South to kill himself in Andavur. And after he did this, another man who looked exactly like him killed a girl. Surely this was no coincidence. There must be a link between the two. A villager would have said that while committing suicide, the man's soul had escaped and become a pey. The pey would then seek revenge and... Still, why would the pey kill Mugil? What was the revenge?
If the two cases were linked, then it was vital to find out why the man had killed himself, thought Rajesh. He spoke to Govind, they agreed to work together, and see if they could make any sense of it.
"Of course, not a word to Kannagi. If she hears that we're trying to link the drowned man with the murder, giving some reality to the pey story, she'll take us off the cases!" Added Rajesh. Govind nodded. She wouldn't like that. From her cold point of view, there was no way a man who committed suicide and was frozen in the hospital's refrigerated room could possibly be linked to the murder.
***
Kannagi pulled back the white sheet over the dead man's face. She looked puzzled. It seemed totally crazy, but somehow she knew that this man and Mugil's murderer were linked. Govind had thought the corpse and the so-called pey looked alike. She had checked this point. With as much diplomacy as she could manage, she had persuaded the parents of the girls who had been attacked by the pey on the first night to come and see the corpse.
It had been a really hard time. One of the girls fainted, and the other one screamed! They both identified him. There was no doubt in their mind that it was this man's pey who had attacked them. And, of course, they believed in peys!
As Anandam was driving her back to the office, images from ancient tales kept appearing in her mind. She remembered all those stories her grandmother had told her when going to the small temples around her native village. That goddess was the spirit of a girl who had been killed by her husband. This demon was a low caste soul who had been murdered by the high caste father of his lover... Two of her own ancestors had committed "sati", throwing themselves on their husband's pyre, centuries ago, and had thus become goddesses. To this day they had been worshipped in her family. After all, maybe peys did exist. One day, when she was a simple policewoman in Madras, she had solved a case thanks to a little boy, who became possessed by the soul of a murdered woman and identified the culprit.
But such a real pey? Was it possible? And how could he murder so violently an innocent girl? As she was wondering, the car stopped in front of the police station's red brick building. The guard saluted. She quickly walked upstairs. As soon as she went inside her office, she closed the door and sat at her desk. She called Anandam and asked for some coffee. Looking with empty eyes at the papers neatly piled in front of her, she felt suddenly so lonely. She took the phone and dialled the number of her husband's office. He wasn't there. He was already on his way to Andavur.
Anandam came in with the coffee. She was now so radiant, she had to tell him her husband was coming. Breathing deep, she suddenly felt the strong fragrance of jasmine, telling her that evening was coming. Soon she'd be home, preparing for her husband's arrival. She started reading Govind's report on the drowned man's identity. Which meant reading a lot of excuses as to why he didn't have the slightest idea of who he was. He was from the South, probably from some backward community, and nobody had reported him missing so far.
After all, she thought, if this man was travelling, it will be some time before his wife or parents notice he is missing. Sometimes such young men go to Madras looking for work, and they don't give any news to their relatives for months. If it's the case, then it might be a year before anyone realised he had disappeared.
She heard noises coming from the hall. She opened her door and saw Rajesh and Govind arguing. They immediately stopped and gave her big bright smiles.
"What's up with you two?" She asked.
"Chief, nothing... We were just having a little discussion, nothing important..."
"About peys?"
"Not really... Well, as you mention it, we heard that you asked the girls to look at the corpse. What were the results?"
"They identified him. Now they're sure that they saw this man's pey! One girl fainted... But they're young and it was a difficult experience for them. I don't know if I should really believe them. Unless of course this man had a twin brother."
"If he did, where is this brother sleeping and eating? Where is he during the day?" asked Govind. Kannagi laughed.
"Inspector, you don't really think it's a pey?"
"Why not? Science can't explain everything."
"The doctor at the hospital told me this too. I just can't buy it. There must be some rational explanation. Inspector Rajesh, did you find anything?"
"About Mugil?"
"Yes, about that poor girl..."
"Her murder is a total mystery. Everybody loved her. She was going to be married soon, to a man she, and her parents too, agreed on. It's so stupid. A girl who had every possible reason to be happy. I'm convinced she was a victim chosen at random. It could have been any of those girls."
"This is my feeling too. Well, we have to make sure there won't be any other random victim in this town."
"Everybody is scared now! No parents will let their daughter out anymore. Many don't even send them to school anymore. And since this pey seems to be only visible at night, almost all the policemen are on night duty now. I think we're doing all that we can. But unless we catch him, the best way to know his identity is to find out about the drowned man..." Rajesh stopped suddenly, realising he was going to tell her about the agreement he had made with Govind. He expected her to state angrily that nothing could possibly link the dead man with the murderer, but she actually seemed to agree. After a silent pause, Rajesh spoke again:
"Don't you think so?"
"I'll surprise you. I do. After all, these two men seem to have many things in common. But I'd rather have you trying to find two brothers rather than a pey."
"Two brothers? "
"Why not? Maybe our murderer killed the drowned man as well. It would have been easy to keep him under water. They might have come here together, and fought over something. And then, the killer decided to pass as a pey for a while, to hide his murder... Who knows? We should not discard any possibility, including that it might not be a real suicide. See, inspector Govind, you shouldn't take your case so lightly and wait for someone to claim the body. By the way, I read your report and I found that it only shows your incompetence... If you want to stay here, you'd better forget about the pey and concentrate on your corpse. Police work never means 'wait and see'. You have to make some real investigation!"
"But... I did... I tried... He was old enough to be married and have children, and young enough to have living parents. I thought they were going to miss him..."
"If he had been from this city, and just out for the night, yes. But he was from the South. Maybe he left his folks to find work around here. In this case, his family would not expect news from him for months! They might not report him before a year! You cannot just sit here and wait for that to happen. Besides, they'd like to get rid of his body, at the hospital. He's taking a lot of room in their refrigerator!"
"Yes, chief... But I haven't got a clue!"
"When he arrived here, he surely did not go straight to the temple and jump into the pond! Someone must have seen him! Maybe he was looking for work? Did you ask the landowners? The hostels? The restaurants? The bus conductors?"
"Chief, he didn't, but I did. I've send a dozen of men all over this town, and no-one has seen a tall dark man from the South these last few days. He didn't even leave his shoes at the temple's gate."
"I doubt a man like this would have shoes. Anyway, he didn't fly into the pond. Even if he came walking and went straight in the temple, someone must have noticed him. Did you ask in the surrounding villages?"
"Do you think it's necessary?"
"If he didn't take the bus, then he walked. He probably stopped on the way in villages and asked for food or coffee. Ask in villages up to about fifty miles to the South."
"Do you know how many villages that makes?"
"Yes, and he might have come from Madras. For a man like him, it would only be a day's walk. It might be easier to locate the pey. That one has to sleep and eat somewhere." They all looked at each other. Crimson rays were illuminating the hall, indicating with a warm light that it was time to go home, except for Rajesh, who was on night duty.
Kannagi and Govind went silently downstairs. The shade of the banian trees seemed the perfect hiding place for ghosts. Anandam was waiting with the car, and that day, Kannagi didn't feel like walking home. She saw Govind take a small path to the left and relaxed on the back seat. A few minutes later, she saw Kovalan, her husband, sitting on the porch of her house.
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