Silent Death

It's a day of great joy for the Sens. Their only daughter and her
husband have just returned from honeymoon in the Swiss Alps. Mr Sen is
a reputed neurosurgeon. His wife is a socialite who is involved with a
number of causes. Their daughter is a chartered accountant. It was
expected that she would marry a hotshot professional. Instead, she
chose an aspiring painter as her life partner. The painter who calls
himself Vincent though his given name is Lucky belongs to a rich family
too. His father owns five multiplexes and he will inherit all of that
property. Vincent met the Sen girl, Jasmine at a party. Jasmine has
always loved the arts though she has no talent for any of them. She was
attracted to Vincent's rugged good looks, his dreams of greatness and
of course his talent. Vincent started drawing quite early. You had only
give him pen and paper and he would get started. In the beginning his
drawings made no sense to anybody. Then he began to show a special
preference for drawing portraits. He made portraits of everyone-his
parents, his nurse and his teachers. He even drew a sketch of his dog.
Vincent was very fond of his dog. Since he had no brothers and sisters
the dog was his only companion. Vincent and Jasmine got married exactly
one month back.
In Calcutta a son-in-law is the most important guest you can ever have.
Sometimes the son-in-law is a jobless, penniless generally worthless
chap. Even then he is treated like the prime minister. Vincent belongs
to a rich family though he has no income of his own. This did not
reduce his prestige in the Sen household. Mrs Sen, like many
other
mothers-in-law in town, was delighted at the thought of meeting Vincent
after one whole month. He and his wife had a great time in Switzerland
where all expenses were borne by Dr Roger Sen, his father-in-law. This
is usually the norm in Calcutta among all classes of people. The Sens
live in a huge mansion-like house. The house has three stories and a
separate outhouse had been erected for the marriage. The outhouse is
where all the marriage gifts were stored. Of these there are many and
the six rooms of the outhouse are packed with the various things that
the bride and groom had received. The senior Sens live on the top floor
of the mansion. The banquet hall is also located on that floor. The
next floor has been redecorated recently. This is the area where
Vincent and his bride will stay for the next fortnight. The ground
floor has the servant's quarters. There are two cooks, one for
vegetarian and the other for meat-based culinary activity. There are
three orderlies or bearers and three chauffeurs. The cars are kept in
an air-conditioned garage behind the house. The ground floor of the
mansion also has a very special occupant. He is Dino, the Dobermann.
Dino is coloured black with a cropped tail. He lives in a separate room
which is really a cage. Dino's pedigree is impeccable and he is the
most feared canine in all of Calcutta. He is not allowed to move out of
his room during daytime. One of the orderlies called Chik looks after
Dino. Each night when everyone is asleep and all doors are locked from
inside Chik opens the door of Dino's cage and scampers away to his
room. For the rest of the night the Sen property is guarded by the most
magnificent dog there ever will be, Dino. When he barks the whole city
shudders such is the fear he evokes. He is known to spare no one that
opposes his authority. At the crack of dawn Chik carefully puts the
tired dog into its cage and runs back to his room happy to have
finished the job for the day.
Vincent and Jasmine arrived at the Sen's mansion at exactly six pm.
Both looked elated, but a little tired. "Jas," said Vincent, "We have
got to see our gifts." Mrs Sen was confused, "Who is Jas?" "Why its me
ma," Jasmine informed. Dr Sen remarked, "Did we give you such a nice
name so that you will be called Jas?" Jasmine frowned at her father in
mock anger. And suddenly all of them burst out laughing. After the
guests were through with ablutions dinner was served. Vincent loved
prawns and his mother-in-law was happy to offer him ten dishes that
used prawns of various sizes. It is quite normal for sons-in-law to be
treated thus in Calcutta. After dinner the four of them, Dr Sen, his
wife, his daughter and son-in-law relaxed in the lounge. They wanted to
watch the DVD of the wedding but the groom and bride were very tired.
They excused themselves at eight pm and went to the first floor. Before
retiring for the day Vincent said, "We have got to see the gifts." His
wife retorted, "Go to sleep." Very soon the whole house was silent and
that is how it remained for the rest of the night.
Early next morning Chik discovered Vincent's dead body near the
outhouse. His neck was split open and the marks clearly pointed to the
culprit. After Dr Sen examined his son-in-law's corpse everything
became clear as daylight. Like on any other night Dino was on vigil the
previous evening too. Vincent had tried to go to the outhouse to see
the wedding gifts. Dino, the faithful dog had attacked the most
important person in the household and killed him.