Fiction: Two bodies wash ashore. Soon, a murder case considered solved years ago is open again

That evening, a dead body surged up near the island, got caught in the current and drifted towards the sea. It got stuck on the branches of the mangroves, creating shared moments of exhilaration for the islanders.

Before all the excitement likely to accompany a dead body found floating, Thankachan had an onerous task at hand that morning – to accompany his mother, carrying the fish basket on his head, a ritual that started shortly after his exam results had come out. Having lost hope in her younger son to get a decent government job, she had decided to make him useful by appointing him her assistant.

She woke him up with an unkind nudge. He got up, annoyed, not just because she had denied him the opportunity to grab some sleep after the fishing trip but for callously interrupting a fascinating dream in which he, as a newly appointed officer in a big firm, was about to sign a contract sitting opposite a charming woman. It took him some seconds to get back to reality. The powerful stench from the fish basket hit him and he felt depressed. He got up and walked outside, washed his face with a mug of...

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