The Rose Behind the Verdict -The Visitor from the Chapel - Part 9

 The twelfth strike of the clock still echoed when the household rushed downstairs.

Servants clustered near the main entrance, too frightened to open it fully. Rain lashed the carved doors from outside. Someone stood beyond, knocking with slow certainty.

Three knocks.

The same rhythm heard from the wardrobe.

Arindam opened the door himself.

A young woman stumbled inward, drenched, breathless, clutching a shawl around her shoulders.

Mira cried out.

“Leela!”

Leela Bishan swayed where she stood. Her hair was wet, her wrist bruised, and one sandal was missing. Yet her eyes were clear.

“Bolt the door,” Arindam said at once.

Niraj obeyed faster than anyone expected.

Mira embraced her sister, but Leela pulled away.

“Not yet,” she whispered. “Please... not yet.”

Dev stepped forward instinctively.

“Are you hurt?”

She looked at him only a second.

“That depends whom I trusted.”

The words struck harder than any slap.

Harish laughed bitterly despite his bandaged shoulder.

“So the runaway bride returns!”

“I did not run,” Leela said.

Her voice was quiet, but everyone heard it.

“I was taken.”

Arindam moved a chair near the fire.

“Sit. Speak slowly. Begin with this morning.”

Leela remained standing.

“I packed before dawn. I meant to leave this house.”

Mira lowered her eyes.

“With Dev?” asked Harish.

“No.”

That answer surprised everyone.

“Then with whom?” Arindam asked.

Leela turned toward Sarojini Devi.

“With her.”

The widow’s face did not change.

Niraj whispered, “Excellent. Every answer opens two more doors.”

Leela continued.

“She told me Father’s old chapel outside the estate was safe. She said we would go there before sunrise and then onward.”

Sarojini spoke calmly.

“And we did.”

“You left together?” Arindam asked.

“Yes,” said Leela. “Through the rear staircase.”

Dev stared at Sarojini.

“You said nothing to me.”

“You were never asked,” she replied.

Leela’s hands trembled.

“At the chapel she showed me documents... Father’s accounts... debts... threats... plans to force my marriage. Then someone came.”

“Who?” Arindam asked.

“I could not see clearly. It was still dark. A man entered, arguing with her.”

Sarojini’s gaze sharpened.

“You heard the voice?”

“Yes.”

“Whose was it?”

Leela looked around the room slowly.

At Harish.

Then at Dev.

Then at Mira.

Finally she pointed toward the old family servant standing near the pillar.

Gasps broke across the hall.

The servant dropped to his knees.

“Forgive me, bibi! I was told only to frighten you!”

Harish shouted, “By whom?”

The servant sobbed uncontrollably.

“He said if I spoke, I would hang for the master’s death.”

Arindam stepped closer.

“Which master?”

The servant raised a shaking finger toward the torn portrait of late Raghav Bishan.

“The first one.”

Silence swallowed the hall.

Raghav Bishan’s death two years ago had been declared natural.

Arindam’s eyes narrowed.

“So tonight’s mystery,” he said softly, “began long before the bride vanished.”

Then Leela spoke one final sentence before collapsing:

“And the man who killed Father... is in this room.”