Cloverleaf

Dr. Kumar recently bought a house in one of the several gated communities that had recently sprung in the immediate outskirts of urban Bangalore. The independent house, also known as a villa, was an elegant four-bedroom, with one study and one multipurpose room on the terrace. He decorated every room based on a specific mood board. The ground floor had a veranda that doubled up as a waiting area for the patients. He planted beautiful Morning Glory and Bougainvillea creepers upon an artificial six-foot wall. He built an artificial waterfall that flowed into a holding pond filled with Lotus and creeping Jenny  Everyone coming for treatment was immediately put at ease by the wholesome experience of this private forest. 

The living room doubled up as an examination room where Dr. Kumar, a psychiatrist, had private sessions. This room has a simple outlook with white-colored walls except for the mosaic painting of Buddha on the wall behind where he sat. The living room was quite large but partitioned by a large bookshelf. The terraced roof held solar panels, providing nearly 10 KW of power for sustainability. Every room was suitably designed for cross-ventilation and kept naturally cooled even on the hottest of days. Dr. Kumar also invested in innovative rain-water harvesting and waste-water recycling plant.

In the middle of the living room sat an expensive-looking executive desk made out of cherry wood. The desk was L-shaped, dark mahogany shaded, with rich texture and beautiful carvings on the trim. The desk was nearly 70 years old and bought by his grandfather from Kerala. With regular varnish and polish, the desk looked brand new. Before meeting his patients, Dr. Kumar organized his desk every morning. He first arranged the central portion of the desk where he kept his notebook, pen and cardholder, tablet, and phone. The side portion of the desk held a large monitor and file rack. He then cleaned the entire desk with a Swiffer dust remover, applied disinfectant, and wiped it with another clean, dry cloth. Only then did he let his patients into the room for their sessions. Additionally, he applied polish every three months and removed the built-up waxes with a mixture of turpentine and linseed oil.
Dr. Kumar's obsession with keeping his desk clean and shiny grew. Not only did he clean it in the morning, but he also started cleaning it at lunch and right before he went to sleep. Instead of polishing every three months, he began to do so every month and then every week. As the result of frequent polishing, the wax built-up was much faster and required frequent shining. Even during the sessions, he will be sitting on his chair and listening to patients explain their problems, and suddenly get up and start cleaning the desk. This behavior was so sudden that some patients shrank back in fear and waited for him to complete his chore, while others watched him for a while and left his house quietly. For those who waited patiently, Dr. Kumar, after cleaning his desk, will quietly go back to his chair and ask the patient to continue their story as if nothing had happened. 

As word of Dr. Kumar's obsessive behavior spread in this community, patients avoided going to him, and his practice slowly ended.
Over the next few weeks, Dr. Kumar's disorder became worse. As he lived alone in this big house, no one knew that he was constantly cleaning and polishing the desk without sleeping or eating. At last, with no strength left, he lay down on the desk and passed away. Four days later, based on the complaint from the neighbors about the stench from the house, police came and broke down the door. On entering the living room, they saw a highly decomposed body of Dr. Kumar on the gleaming desk. On searching the desk's drawers, they found a note left by Dr. Kumar for his sons, who were presently living in the United States.

"Dear Amar, Arun, and my dear family, I leave this note so that you can understand the circumstance I have been in these last couple of years and especially the last few months. Two years back, Amar and Shilpa came from States and, based on your mother Savitri's instance, left Shalini with us for a few weeks while they had to make a trip to Australia. Shalini was just three years old and an energetic kid. She used to run around our house in Malleshwaram, a two-bedroom apartment with a large patio. He converted it into an office space. This office space held the same desk, chair, and sofa for my patients to sit. Savitri took good care of Shalini, playing with her all day, feeding her, and finally putting her to sleep with exciting stories. The house was filled with Shalini's laughter as they played their games while I conducted my patients behind closed doors. It was probably one of the best weeks we had after you both moved out of the house in a long time.

I had to attend to a mentally disturbed patient in a hospital nearby one day. She had lost her family in an accident, was distraught, and had suicidal tendencies. The hospital, post-giving her sedatives, called me for counseling. I left the house around 11 in the morning, letting Savitri know that I should be back by 6 pm. She was busy with Shalini and acknowledged with a nod and went back to taking care of our little bundle of joy. When the patient woke up, I completed a session with her. It had turned 7 pm by them. It took me another hour in peak hour traffic to reach home. I rang the bell and waited; however, Savitri did not come to open the day. I rang the bell couple of more times and put my ear on the door but did not hear any footsteps. With fear, I took out the spare key that we kept hidden in the footwear shelf outside the door and opened the door. 

The house was dark. There were no lights in any of the rooms. I switched on the living room lights and immediately saw Shalini on the floor and covered with blood. I rushed to her and checked her pulse. It was steady. I checked her body to see if she was hurt and ensured she was ok. Whose blood was it then? After picking her up and placing her on the sofa, I checked the other bedroom and kitchen, but they were empty. With mounting fear, I opened up my office and saw Savitri on the desk with blood oozing from the impact on her head. Her eyes were open, and she was dead. After checking her pulse, I closed her eyes and watched her for a long time until I heard Shalini crying. I immediately went to her, consoled her, and gave her some food along with a mild sedative so she could get some sleep.

I then called the police, who came quickly and checked out all the rooms and Savitri's body and, after the questioning, sent the body for post-mortem. By the time they finished, it was 3 am. After ensuring that Shalini was sleeping, I finally went to our bedroom and started crying. What will I do now without Savitri? How will I live my life now? I realized then that I had not informed both of you about this shocking incident and then called you. The post-mortem analysis came out the next day, and the police told me that Savitri had tripped on a toy train that Shalini was playing in my office and hit her head on the desk. She died instantly due to the force of impact. The rest, you both know.

After a few months, I decided to move out to the new house, as I could no longer live in the old house. After setting up the new home, I restarted my practice, and everything was fine for the following year. One day, I thought I saw bloodstains on the deck. On checking closer, there was indeed blood on the desk. After ensuring that I was not hurt and bleeding, I cleaned and polished the desk. The next few months went by without any incident. Two months back, I saw the stains again. I was scared and asked my doctor friend to come over and look at the desk. He came over and carefully checked the desk and reported no stains. The desk was spotless, and after admiring the desk, he left. I could still see the bloodstains.

After cleaning and polishing the desk, I wondered if I had imagined it. I can assure you that the bloodstains were present as they stained my hand when I touched the spot. What is happening to me? I slept fitfully that night and got up in the morning to see that a new bloodstain was forming on the desk. I panicked and called my friend again, and once more, he could not find anything amiss. He asked me to get psychiatric help immediately, and I did so. After the session, I returned home and found that the stain had spread to nearly every desk part. I lost no time cleaning the desk. After spending a few hours, I went to the kitchen to get some water. The stain appeared again, and while I was watching, it spread on the desk and around the edges. Fearing that the blood would fall to the floor, I started to clean it. It has been three days now that I have constantly been cleaning the desk and fear that I will die soon from exhaustion. I have taken a brief respite to write this letter so that you know what transpired and caused my death if it happens.

My sons, I am sure your mother is trying to say something through the bloodstains on the desk, and I have tried and failed to understand the meaning. The shape of the stain could mean something. Before you plan and sell the house along with the desk, please look into this matter? I have tried to understand the mystery and hope you both can solve it.
Your loving father."

Amar and Arun came from States to collect their father's body for the last rites. Once they completed all the formalities, they read his last letter to them at their father's house. Wondering what their father was going through, they decided to look at the desk. They could not find anything outwardly wrong and decided to get some much-needed rest. As they got up in the morning and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, they noticed that the desk had moved two inches to the right from where they were standing. Wondering how a 190kg desk could move, they looked around the house and found all doors locked. No one could have come in during the night for sure. They looked closely at the desk and could see the blemish forming in a cloverleaf shape. Dumfounded, they touched the stain and found that it was real blood. Terrified, they ran out of the house and stayed outside for a few hours, thinking about what they should do next. Realizing that their father did not mention any other occurrence, they investigated further and fulfilled his last wish.

Upon entering the house, they found that the stain had spread and was slowing dripping to the floor and creating a large pool. They started cleaning the desk after ensuring that they had taken a photo of the desk using their phone. Once they cleaned the desk and the room, they went to the kitchen, fixed up their breakfast, and went to the terrace to discuss the matter. They looked at the photo on the phone and could see the clover shape at the desk's center and the pool of blood on the floor. They pondered on what the clover shape meant? They decided to search the house to see if there was anything with a similar profile. Not finding anything that matched this description, they decided to call their father's friend and talk to him.

Dr. Kumar's friend, Dr. Ravi, came to their house around 3 pm. They offered him tea and biscuits and started asking about their father's condition and the case of stains on the desk. Dr. Ravi said that he tried helping their father and did a close check of the desk; however, he could find any such incident. While he was talking, Arun had a feeling that Dr. Ravi was not very forthcoming when they asked about their mother's death. Amar also noticed that he had a tattoo of cloverleaf on the inside of his right hand. Dr. Ravi left after an hour, and the brother's discussed their findings and concluded that Dr. Ravi was hiding something. 
They decided to check with the police on the post-mortem analysis of their mother's death and could not find anything that could confirm their suspicion about Dr. Ravi. Dejected, they went back to the house. Once again, the desk had started leaking blood; however, the cloverleaf was visible this time. The blood was forming in a large pool on the floor. It looks like the message was transparent and desperate. Find the cloverleaf!

The brothers decided to call Dr. Ravi again and ask him to retake a look at the desk. After many refusals, Dr. Ravi agreed to come over to the house at 10 pm. Amar opened the door and let him in when he rang the bell. Anil immediately held his hands while Amar pushed him into the living room. As soon as Dr. Ravi entered the room, the blood on the desk started falling to the floor in large droplets. As soon as Dr. Ravi saw this frighting spectacle, he fainted. 

Amar got some water and poured it on Dr. Ravi's face. He got up, spluttering and mumbling about a nightmare. Amar waited for him to settle down and showed him the desk again. Dr. Ravi was extremely frightened and tried to run out of the house; however, the brothers held him tight and made him look at the desk, at the cloverleaf shape, and then finally raised his hand to see the tattoo. Dr. Ravi realized that his game was up and decided to tell the truth. 

Dr. Ravi said that once Dr. Kumar started his practice from home, all of his patients began moving to Dr. Kumar as they found him to be a better doctor. Dr. Ravi had to shut down his clinic, which caused him and his family great hardship. He decided to take revenge on Dr. Kumar and began to monitor his movements. On the day Dr. Kumar went to the hospital, Ravi decided to sneak into their house and steal the two kilograms of gold that Dr. Kumar had mentioned. He quickly reached their home and opened the door with a duplicate key that he had made from the one hidden in the footwear shelf outside the apartment. Dr. Ravi saw Shalini playing inside the guest bedroom while Savitri was in the kitchen. He quickly went to the other bedroom and got the gold from the secret place. While Dr. Ravi was stepping out of the front door, Savitri came out of the kitchen, saw him, and started to scream. Not knowing what to do, he rushed and grabbed Savitri, dragged her into the office, and banged her head hard on the desk. After ensuring that Savitri was dead, Dr. Ravi placed the toy train to appear that Savitri had slipped on the toy and accidentally fell. He then went out of the apartment after ensuring that Shalini was still playing quietly. He was sure that he would get away with the crime with no CCTV installed. 

After ensuring that they had recorded Dr. Ravi's confession on their phone, the brothers called the police. The police came, arrested Dr. Ravi, and took the necessary evidence. The brothers then cleaned the room and the desk and finally retired. When they got up in the morning, they found no blood or stains on the desk. Many days passed, and everything seemed all right. Since they had to return home, they decided to sell the house. Many potential buyers came and checked the house. However, they told the brothers they liked the place and were ready to buy but not take the desk. The brothers then decided to sell the desk separately; however, the same result. Somehow no one wanted to buy the desk. The brothers realized that the desk contained their mother's spirit and wanted to be with them. They finally decided that the best course was to take the desk back to their homes. 
Each brother keeps the desk for a year and allows the other to hold it for the next one. Like their father, they clean it every day, polish it every three months, and remove the built-up wax right before shipping it out to their sibling.