The twisted wedding plan

by A.F Dawood

He surveyed the interior of the house in which he had worked for years for his scheme. He thought the interior was convenient for his work - the garden was large and lonely because all the inmates in the houses in the vicinity went out in the morning. Also there were a few houses in the area.

The only shortcoming was the barbed wire fence which gave visibility of the entire garden. This was not good for his work. So he got down cadjan from the village and covered both the fences up to the height of a normal man. His master who was a staff officer in the private sector left home in the morning and returned by evening and he had no visitors to his house. This was an advantage to his plan. The worker carried out all the work in the house - cooking, washing, cleaning and sweeping, uninterrupted and unquestioned by the master. He was confident that he could do the work he had planned without getting caught. He thought that nobody could see what he would do and so there was nothing to dear.

Begged

His mind ran through the corridor of time to fifteen years back. Lazarus was a boy of fifteen years; he was an orphan and begged in the street. Grubby and clad in a tattered trouser, his upper torso bear, he met Madison by fortuitous circumstance. One day when Madison returned home in the evening, he was seated by his doorstep. No sooner he saw Madison than he folded his palms and begged for sympathy. "Sir, have pity on me. I'm an orphan," he cried. At once Madison's mind flashed back to his difficult days. He too was an orphan and had faced the ordeal of life. His mind brimmed with sympathy "From where're you?" "Sir, there's no one to look after me, no place to live, no food to eat."

"Your name?"

"Lazarus, I'm an orphan."

This is how Lazarus came to work in the household of Madison.

Madison lost his parents when he was five years and thereafter he was looked after and sent to school by his grandfather. He had a brother who married a foreigner and domiciled in her country. Madison married twice and both were unsuccessful-one died after two years; the other divorced and ever since that he remained unmarried. Lazarus was still swallowed in thought. He remembered what his master said one day. "Lazi, you've worked here for three years; if you do well I'll look after you."

"What will you give me, sir?"

Properties

"Well, I can write some of my properties. I've no one to give, and no one to look after me."

"Sir, you're alone like me?"

"Yes, we both are orphans. The difference is, I went to school but you didn't." He paused for some time and then he said, "Because of my education, I'm employed."

"Sir, what can I do for my living? I didn't go to school."

"You must do a business."

"What business, sir, and where is the money?"

"When you're nineteen or twenty, I'll open a small boutique for you to do business."

Lazarus' reverie was shattered by Madison's voice who had returned from office. "Lazi, prepare my tea." Madison called him Lazi.

Lazarus worked well in the house and won the confidence of Madison, who was promised earlier opened up a grocery shop for Lazarus, when he was twenty years. In addition he wrote his last will that Lazarus would inherit three fourth share of his properties and that one fourth would be donated to the temple.

In the meantime, Lazarus had befriended a girl living in the same locality and carried on a love affair with her for about three years. So at twenty three years he wanted to marry, but the income from the grocery shop was insufficient to arrange a wedding ceremony. Both Lazarus and his girlfriend wanted to expedite their wedding and this was a knotty problem to Lazarus.

Married

"When are we getting married?" The girl used to ask Lazarus.

"We need money for the wedding." Lazarus replied. "I've to get some money from ...."

He was in a mighty big hurry to get his inheritance by a shortcut. He was mad about it; he just could not wait till Madison's death to acquire his inheritence. So he plotted to kill his master. He was optimistic of succeeding in his conspiracy as he was confident that he would not keep any sign of evidence of his involvement in the crime he was to commit.

On a Sunday night he introduced an intoxicant to Madison's cup of tea and by one in the midnight he was in deep slumber, snoring heavily. Lazarus garbed himself in a long black coat, masked his face, gloved his hands and took a long, sharp knife to do the ghastly job. He stealthily walked to the room where Madison was sleeping; and plunged the knife thrice to his chest. Blood oozed out. In a matter of seconds the job was done. He took the maximum care to wash himself; he changed his clothes and disposed all the items used for the killing. Then he kept the bedroom door open, front door ajar and the cupboard wide open to give the impression that outsiders had come. He stealthily scooted out of the house before daybreak.

After two days he returned home. He telephoned the police. A posse of police inspectors and policemen visited the house; the chief inspector divided them in to two teams.One team inspected the house and the other the entire garden. The inspector questioned Lazarus. He displayed a façade of ignorance about the murder and pretended amazement.

"Were you here when the murder took place?"

"No sir, I wasn't here."

"Where were you?"

"On Sunday early morning I went to Kandy." He replied confidently and knew he could get over the problem.

"How long have you been working for him?"

"About nine years, sir."

"You went to Kandy after breakfast?"

"Yes," Lazarus lied, thinking what would be the next question.

"That means you prepared the breakfast and tea for your master."

"Yes, yes sir."

"That means you didn't go to Kandy so early," the Inspector remarked and looked at Lazarus.

"Yes sir, in the morning I went." Lazarus was excited and thought the lie he told would put him in a soup. "Alright, that's all for now: we'll come again to question you further." The police officers took all the fingerprints in the house, examined the garden and took into custody all the documents.

Faithful

Two days later the police visited again and questioned Lazarus.

"Are you saying the truth you were not here when the murder took place?"

"Definitely, I wasn't here on Sunday."

"Are you faithful to your master?"

"Why not, sir? He trusts me a lot. He has written his last will in my name, sir", Lazarus said with confidence.

"So you're getting a big amount of money from all the properties."

"That's because I was truthful to my master." He thought he had convinced the police by hoodwinking them. The Inspector's next question was like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

"Who is Chandrani?"

Lazarus got excited. "She's my girlfriend, I'm going to marry."

"You wanted to expedite your marriage but you've told her your income is not sufficient to cover the expenses."

Lazarus became jittery at this statement and began to mop his face.

"Yes, sir."

"And you told her you've to get some money. From where?" the Inspector queried with probing eyes.

Lazarus could not talk; he stuttered and perspired profusely.

"You told you weren't in the house when the murder took place, but your fingerprints are found in the door, wardrobe and the bed."

"Sir, you think I killed my master?"

"There's evidence to charge you."

"How did your fingerprints come to the gloves? We discovered the gloves, black coat, mask and an intoxicant bottle in the garden. They were buried in the garden.

"Why should I kill my master, sir?"

"You wanted to benefit from the last will quickly. And where did you stay in Kandy?" I, I stayed, yes I stayed ...... Lazarus could not answer; he only stammered.

"You don't know where you stayed for two days in Kandy?" the Inspector questioned.

Lazarus remained silent. He was taken into custody.