The Spider’s Web

Rita sat looking at her husband’s face. Fateh Singh’s body lay bedecked with flowers on the floor in front of her. There was no sign of tears in her eyes. She seemed to be in a state of shock. Her mother who was sitting near her could not control her tears. Her parents had arrived from Delhi that morning.

Fateh Singh had died of 90% burn injuries as a result of a gas leak in the kitchen, the previous day. Radha Mahadevan walked up to her friend wearing a plain white sari, to comfort her. After a while, she came out of the flat, depressed beyond repair.

The Singhs had shifted to the Bandra flat, next door to the Mahadevans just 3 months ago, after getting married. The Singh family had consisted of a father, a mother and a younger brother, besides the couple. The last 3 months were disastrous for the Singh family. One by one all the Singhs had died, leaving Rita alone.

Radha’s brother Advocate Kartik told her, the next morning, astonishing the women in his household – Radha and his wife Valli, “All the Singhs died in freak accidents!”

To be continued…