AHMM, December 2009 Read Online Free

Bharat sat down, resuming his meal, as though Remy had announced nothing more than a change in the bus schedule. He selected the best portion of sambar for his idlies, his eyes on his food.
    "No, Amma, he couldn't have! He wouldn't!” Sheela was too stunned to do anything but repeat herself.
    "I'm afraid it's true.” Remy fell into a chair, shaking her head, mumbling about the horror of it all. “They took him from his house. Poor Parvati! She must be beside herself."
    "Perhaps it is only to ask him questions,” Sheela said, growing agitated.
    "You can ask them when the constables come here,” Anita said.
    "Here!” Both Sheela and Remy stared at her.
    "Yes, why would they come here?” Bharat said, suddenly alert. His tone was sharp, and his look was fierce, a change in his personality Anita would not have predicted when she first met him. At their wedding he seemed such a mild, gentle sort, and she worried only that he wouldn't be able to keep Sheela from going off on a dozen different tangents. But she had been wrong—he had depths she hadn't imagined.
    "Karunkar did indeed kill the sorcerer, but he will claim self-defense,” Anita said. The other women protested again. “And they will want you as a witness, Bharat."
    "Me? What can I tell them? If he has done this, the crime is solved."
    "Why he would kill a sorcerer, in the first place,” Anita said. Bharat began to rise, but Anita raised her hand. “I wouldn't bother leaving, Bharat. The police will be here shortly."
    Bharat stiffened, then trembled, but slowly lowered himself into his seat.
    Remy grabbed Anita's wrist. “Tell me!” She shushed her daughter, and jerked Anita's arm closer to her.
    "It was the teeth that got me,” Anita said. “Why would anyone bother to knock out someone's teeth after they were dead? I could see bits of his teeth on the ground and in his mouth, so it obviously happened after he was strangled. And why was he strangled with muddy hands?"
    "I do not believe this,” Remy said. “I have known Karunkar all his life. He was to marry Sheela. Would we make a mistake like that?"
    "You didn't make a mistake,” Anita said. “Karunkar accepted the marriage of Sheela and Bharat, and he married as was expected of him, to a woman who loves him passionately. But Sheela and Karunkar could not ignore their feelings for each other. When Karunkar gave Bharat the antique wooden figure that Parvati found in an old shop, he didn't think anything about it, but Bharat did. To him it was not a sign of friendship. It was a sign of hostility, a warning that a sorcerer was working against him and Sheela, and he saw all the bad things that happened as Karunkar's fault."
    "Nonsense, Karunkar wouldn't do that, he wouldn't.” Sheela pressed her hands against her chest, imploring Anita.
    "You don't know him in business,” Bharat said. “Look how he has taken my position, my rises.” He gave his wife a cold stare, so cold even Remy flinched.
    "So you decided to get even,” Anita said to Bharat. “You hired the sorcerer to cast a spell on Karunkar that would ruin him. The sorcerer lay in wait for Karunkar at the tank where he did his morning puja, and began to do his work, but Karunkar had come to believe the figure with the iron nails perhaps was evil, and he didn't dare let the sorcerer do even more harm. He tried to stop him, and when the sorcerer wouldn't stop the curses, Karunkar stuffed his mouth with mud so the words wouldn't come out; the sorcerer choked to death.” Anita paused, thinking about Karunkar's dirt-stained fingernails when they shook hands that morning.
    "And then he had to break the teeth,” Remy said in a soft voice. “The sorcerer is only as good as his words, isn't he? And his words must be perfectly articulated. Once his teeth are broken in death, his spirit cannot torment anyone, especially Karunkar.” Remy slowly shook her head, a single tear forming and sliding down her cheek.
    "You did this?” Sheela turned to her