August Nightmares #3
Faiyaaz had been preparing the report in his Mac in the laboratory office while I had entered into his office and went straight to the shelf where his favorite Mango Bites candies are stored along with a few other snack items.
“Good Evening Sir! I am just finishing up with the report. There are a few matches here and there. This is seemingly sketchy.” He said while looking at the computer without lifting his head.
‘Faiyaaz!. Why haven’t you assigned these to your team and gone home already?’
Faiyaaz exhaled and finally looked up — “Now you’ve got my attention. You are my guardian and you always get my attention when you talk about my family. I mean, you were my host for Eid last month.”
Sniffled as I threw the candy wrapper into the bin.
‘Faiyaaz! Did you get the whiskey glass in this list?’ and he nodded his head saying no.
“Yes. Oh, man! Do they even have any other smell of alcohol? Mr. Sangeet, they have never had any other than Single malt. JW or, Glenfiddich or uh…um….Glenlev..” and he resting his face and looked into the infinity.
‘Stop it! You’re drifting again. Concentrate, Faiyaaz!’
“You’re the one who brought it up man!’ he said in a loud voice while he walked up to the printer.
Gathering all the papers and filing them in a simple plastic document — “Here it is Mr. Sangeet.”
Spending the next 5 minutes reading and going through the DNA reports, I asked him to email the report with his digital signature to the Inspector’s official email address.
Faiyaaz — “Yeah, right away. I’ll sign this first. I saw DNA traces of the victim in the glass, the knife handle, and some on the debit card of the family member as well”
Me — ‘Yes FH. That’s what I’m worried about. I do not get it. As per my conversation with Deephika, she had complained that the Bank had rejected her debit card due to a transaction made online. Because it was part of our shopping list of evidence.’
Faiyaaz — “Okay, I may have to change the report now. The other trace on the debit card along with the victim’s body and the blood test of this person did match but I thought since she was her wife — I could ignore it. I thought that they were together in the home but in different rooms when the murder happened.”
Me — ‘Wait! What? It’s my fault — I didn’t brief you on the case fully. But what? Please tell me that’s just your intuition.’
Faiyaaz — “Come on sir! I gathered fingerprints and some DNA in that card. The fingerprint pressure indicated that it was held too tight. Deephika’s blood test and these details match. I thought maybe she was a snorter. You know, either a cocaine addict or something or a shopper who’s refusing to pay her bills.’
Me — “Shit! Now either this case is taking a wild turn or back to square one. I hope it’s not black zero.”
Jeff Wilson entered the lab holding a file. He spoke in a loud voice as he entered and went straight to the candy shelf.
Faiyaaz groaned, “Come on! I searched hard for so long for those candies. I rarely find those.”
Jeff — “Hasan saab! The inspector had taken Deephika from the hospital to the station for the Lie detector test. She passed!”
Me — “What the heck! First of all, why would they do that? And secondly, this is confusing. If she passed, why do Faiyaaz’s reports say Deephika was in her home when her wife Kabini was murdered.”
Jeff — “No shit, Sherlock! I asked Ramasamy to conduct that beca…”
Faiyaaz — “I’m sorry. One question Mr. Sangeet. I detected Deephika’s prints on the knife too. Along with the murderer’s and Kabini’s herself.
Jeff — “Oh that! She got emotional when she realized her wife was stabbed. Deephika took the knife out.”
Faiyaaz — “No, Mr. Jeff. The finger pressure test showed that the prints are pretty old.”
Me — ‘Oh right! That’s because Deephika is a chef. That was a gift from Kabin…. Jeff! Call Mr. Ramasamy and request him to casually inquire about her when was the last time she went back to the hotel for work.’
Jeff asked me while he searched for the contact — “Any specific reason Sangeet?”
I said while I swallowed the Mango bite candy — “She works as Head Chef at FCT Hotel Group.”
Jeff exclaimed — “Wait, they were closed for CEO’s Tax evasion for so long. They’re yet to open actually. This never struck me and that’s why I had asked Ramasamy for the lie detector test.”
~to be continued
