The Vulture

April 1, 2015.

     The park was deserted. He stood outside, on the footpath. The roadside chat vendor had arrived and started setting up his stall for today, just like every other day. It meant the time was 5:00 pm. He walked over to the chat stall and started looking for money in his pocket. The vendor saw him, smiled and started filling a cup with tomato soup. He gave the money to the vendor, picked up the steaming cup and started walking towards the entrance of the park.  He wore a backpack which contained a notebook, a pen and some newspaper clippings some of which dated back to 2007.

Who was he ? This question has haunted him for a very long time now. Family and friends knew him as Vidyut, a tall and handsome engineering graduate. But to him, he was not sure who he was. The closest he could come to describing himself was as a wanderer, a nomad.  A nomad who is not merely in search of a place to live in, but a place to belong. This quest had grown to define him and it made him who he is. A fierce intellect. The necessity for survival had made him an engineer but Vidyut never let that part of his life control him. The search to discover a purpose in life, to discover himself is what drove him.

Vidyut liked coming to the park whenever he had a rough day at work. As the sunlight started to set, more people would come to the park. Some would walk, some would  jog, some listened to music and some chatted with others. But Vidyut did none of this. He sits in a bench, drinks hot tomato soup and watches the people in the park do what they came there for. He wasn't a lonely or depressed person, he just likes the anonymity it provided him with. Watching all the people around him somehow made him forget his own existence. He was not Vidyut anymore.   He was a soul trying to make sense of this world, this society, this life. Just like every other day, he sat in his usual bench, a secluded place under trees and started to open his backpack.

" Is this seat taken ? " a voice asked.

Vidyut turned to look at the stranger and was surprised. The man wasn't entirely a stranger, he was one of the joggers. He came to the park every alternate day jogged exactly ten laps and left. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and always came alone. 

"Um-mm... No. " Vidyut replied.

The man sat on the bench, threw his head back and relaxed. 

"Guru." he offered his hand.

"Vidyut."

The men shook hands and Vidyut continued looking in his backpack and pulled out a notebook and a pen, turned the notebook open and started writing. 

Guru looked into the notebook and saw sketches of a various rooms with a person lying down in each of the rooms. There was something written over each drawing in a really shabby handwriting, which Guru couldn't understand. However, one consistent feature was, every image had a Vulture hovering over the person lying on the floor. 

"Are you an artist ?" Guru asked.

"No. These are not art. " Vidyut replied.

"They look good. You should try selling them." Guru said.

"They are not art." Vidyut said again.

Puzzled, Guru asked, "Okay. What are they then ?"

"What do you think ?" Vidyut asked.

"Hm-mm.. Different rooms, probably from different houses.. A person is sleeping in each of them. That person looks like you." Guru replied.

"I didn't ask what you saw, I asked what do you think." Vidyut said silently.

Guru had no idea what to say. 

"These are illustrations. Not drawings. Illustrations of crime scenes. " Vidyut said.

Guru was baffled. "Why do you have them ?" he asked after quite some time.

"They fascinate me." Vidyut turned to face Guru. "Can you tell what crime is committed in these pictures ?" 

Guru found the conversation becoming more and more uncomfortable.

Intrigued, Guru said, " Errrr.... There is no blood spilled anywhere. So.. Robbery ?".

"You're wrong." Vidyut said and took a sip of tomato soup. "Murder."

Chapter II

Guru was in disbelief. There was not a drop of blood spilled anywhere in any of the drawings nor was there a murder weapon.

"The crime scenes are too neat. Too perfect. Highly unlikely that its a murder." Guru said.

"The killer is a perfectionist. He likes things neat." Vidyut replied.

"How do you... Why are you following these crimes ?" Guru stammered.

"This is one of the few things that fascinate me. Mysteries. The police have been investigating this particular case for over 8 years now, with no luck." 

"Is that why you come to this park ? Alone ? To obsess over an unsolved crime ?"

"Its not just an unsolved crime, Guru. Its the perfect crime. The police haven't found any evidence of foul play in any of the crime scenes. The victims never seemed to struggle either. Neighbors seldom spot any person entering or exiting the house at the time of murder. The autopsy of the dead bodies revealed no poisoning, no medical reasons for death. Its as though the victim was switched off. Just like that. One second he is happy and full of life and the next, dead. Its not a one time thing. It happens once every year. There have been seven of these murders now. Seven random people have been killed and no one has a damn clue how or why. Don't you find it a little difficult to overlook ?"

"So you are a moral policeman. That is what this is ?"

"My interest is not moral. It is intellectual. I don't care if more people die,  I just want to know how he kills them. "

An unsettling silence crept in. Vidyut continued sipping his soup. More people had now come to the park and the murmur of the crowd fed some life into the place. Guru was taken aback by who this loner in the park was. He didn't seem insane and at the same time he didn't seem sane either. Maybe one of those weirdos Guru thought and prepared to leave. Just as he got up, something struck him.

"Why is there a vulture in all of your drawings ?" Guru asked.

"That is what I call him. The Vulture.  Have you ever seen a vulture hunt ?" 

Guru just stared. "No." he managed.

"Precisely. No one has seen them hunt. But vultures are not just scavengers, they hunt. The weird thing is, not even a single death is attributed to a vulture. Lions, tigers and other carnivores claim hundreds of killings but vultures are never feared as much. That's their greatest strength. "

Guru just stared. 

"Trust me. I am not crazy." Vidyut smiled.

"Are you sure ?" Guru asked.

Vidyut managed a laugh.

"Would you like some tomato soup, Guru ?" Vidyut asked.

Chapter III

"Why don't the police care about this case ? Why isn't this case a public fiasco for them, if its as intriguing as you say ?" Guru asked.

"The cops don't like mysteries. Ironically. Something else comes along and the attention is lost. The investigation is up and running for a week after each murder is committed and then it reduces to a dusty file in their shelves." Vidyut said.

"Well.. Looking at you, they are right for forgetting it after a week."

"Do you know the most dangerous kind of criminal, Guru ?"

"A murderer ?"

"A murderer who hasn't been caught."

"Okay. Are you any closer than the police in finding him ?" 

Vidyut looked surprised. 

"Okay. I admit. I am hooked. Now tell me. What do you know ?" Guru conceded.

"Okay. The Vulture is a showman. He doesn't just enjoy killing, he enjoys showing it off proudly. All the seven murders have happened in residential locations. In peaceful residential buildings. The victims happen to be alone at the time of ..um-mm... murder. Its not a sex thing. Victims include both male and female. They are generally middle aged. Frustratingly, they are all random. There is no way to know how he selects them and hence no way to know who is going to be next. All we have is that their adrenalin levels were very high at the time of death." 

"Well.. That's not really much, is it ?" Guru asked.

"No. It just means they were in extreme shock when they were killed. Well who wouldn't be !" Vidyut replied.

Vidyut took a sip from his soup. Only a quarter of it was remaining. He needed to get a refill. 

"Since when are you following this case ?" Guru inquired.

"I don't know. Maybe an year or so." came a tired reply.

"My knowledge of an investigation comes only from Hollywood movies. It's not as detailed and sophisticated as yours. But maybe sometimes you might be missing something which has been right in front of you all the time." Guru said.

"An over-dramatic dialogue isn't going to crack this case, Guru." Vidyut mocked.

"Maybe. But a set of fresh eyes might. Walk me through it. What did the neighbors have to say to the police ?"

"The regular stuff. They hadn't heard any violence. Nothing was unusual. They had spoken to the victims earlier in the day and all had seemed normal. In some of the killings, the neighbor had seen the victim's house a few minutes before the murder and everything was normal. "

"Wait. When do the murders happen ?"

"Around eight or nine in the night. Why ? "

"In residential locations, people don't generally come out of their homes at those times for no reason. They would have had something to do. Like, take out the garbage or pick up their kids or something. Why did the neighbors, who testified, come out ?"

"It seems like a really long shot. But wait. " Vidyut bent into the bag and picked out some newspaper clippings and searched through them and selected one.

"This is Mr. Shanmuganathan's testimony from 2011. This murder happened in Velachery. The victim is um-mm... Mrs. Seetha Devi. Married. Son lives in the USA.

'It was around eight thirty in the night. The bell rang, it was a courier. I went to collect it and that's when I saw the street. It was silent as usual. While coming back I saw Seetha's house and everything was as it always is.' 

Then it goes on to say how well he knew her... How sad he is that she is dead."

"Interesting" Guru murmured. 

"Any other crime scenes, the neighbor came out of his house ?" Guru asked.

"Let me see..." Vidyut started searching through the newspaper clippings again. 

"In almost all cases, neighbors have been out of their houses just before the murder." Vidyut said. A chill ran through his spine. Only one word was hitting Vidyut again and again. 

Ingenious.

Chapter IV

It was so simple. Right in front of his eyes all the time. Vidyut couldn't believe he missed it. He was euphoric. He hadn't experienced such a high in a long time. 

Guru was watching him, expressionless. 

Vidyut turned towards Guru and said, "Don't you see it ? He poses in the form of a courier and visits the neighbor's house before he commits the murder. That way, even though the neighbors have actually seen the killer, they don't care to connect him. He is the harmless courier. "

What Vidyut said actually made sense to Guru. The Vulture was not even trying to hide in plain sight, he was there for everyone to see and yet, no one had.

"You should let the police know." Guru said. "It could be a possible lead." 

"Not before I refill my soup." Vidyut said. 

"I really can't believe that the police missed this."Guru said.

"Well they didn't even try. Don't blame them." Vidyut said.

It was almost 6:30 pm now. The sky began darkening. The people in the park slowly began to leave. The chat vendor also began closing his stall. Seeing the chat vendor wind up, Vidyut got up, drank the little soup remaining and started walking to get a refill. Before he could walk,

"Err...Let me get this straight."  Guru interrupted.

Vidyut turned impatiently.

"The killer poses as a courier. Visits the neighbor's house fifteen minutes before the murder. Gives them a fake courier as a delivery and leaves their house. Then makes sure no one is watching and goes into the victim's house and somehow commits the murder and goes back silently." Guru summarized. 

"You are right, My Lord." Vidyut snapped and started walking to the chat vendor.

Just as the stall was about to close Vidyut jogged his way there and the vendor on seeing Vidyut waited. Vidyut then gave the vendor his old cup and as the vendor started filling it with tomato soup, Vidyut picked up the same amount of money from his pocket. He then gave the money and picked up the refilled cup. The vendor continued closing his stall. Vidyut then took a sip of the soup. It felt so warm. It burnt his tongue a little. He liked that. Just as he was about to take a step into the park, he realized that something didn't add up. How did Guru know the courier visit was precisely fifteen minutes before the murder ! 

Vidyut's head started spinning. It might be a simple extrapolation. A guess. 

Sometimes you miss something that has been right in front of you the whole time.

Was what he thinking true ? Did Guru just guess or did he know ? Vidyut opened the gate of the park and impatiently looked around to find his bench. He found it. Guru was gone.

He slowly walked over to his bench, realizing the gravity of the events that had just happened in this bench. He still had a mild sense of doubt. That vanished the moment he looked in his notebook. There was a new drawing. 

A Vulture. 

Written below were the lines,

My search has ended unlike yours..                                                                                  I had found the man worthy of stopping me..                                                                 The weak shall be killed in disgrace by pulling out his tongue..                                  For it is a war that the gods await..

And Vidyut knew how The Vulture killed. He pulled out the tongue of his victims. There could possibly be no traces to this act. It was so elegant, so neat, so perfect. He read the poem again and again, one line kept disturbing him every time he read it. 

For it is a war that the gods await..