by UD Yasha
Because of the rumbling in his mind, Rathod only noticed what was bang in the middle of the bathroom when Bhalerao pointed it out to him. A circle was drawn with blood on the floor. Something was placed in the middle of the circle.
‘Wait…,’ Rathod said. ‘That can’t be right.’ He stepped forward, going as close as he could without disrupting the splatter on the ground. ‘Is that a…a lock of hair?’ he said.
The lock of hair was thick. Some strands had been pulled out from the root. For something associated with beauty, Rathod had not felt more petrified and numb as he looked at it.
The shock of the sight slowed Rathod down for a beat. He pictured the woman outside. He peeped out and double checked.
Bhalerao read his partner’s mind. He said, ‘Dr. Sonia Joshi confirmed that hair doesn’t belong to our victim—Supriya Kelkar.’
The horrific implication of that hit Rathod. He said, ‘What the hell. That means it is someone else’s. Are there two bodies?’
‘Not yet. I can only confirm if that hair came from a dead person after testing it,’ a woman’s voice said.
Rathod turned around. It was Dr. Sonia Joshi.
‘When are you performing the autopsy?’ he asked.
Sonia referred to her watch. ‘It’s ten thirty right now. I’ve got more autopsies to do but I guess because of the gruesome nature of this murder, I will put this on top of my priority list. I’ll try to get done by tomorrow noon,’ she said. ‘I’m done taking samples in the bedroom. My team has swept everything. I’m almost finished with the bathroom as well. My team might take more time to get all the samples. I’ll give you their analysis by noon tomorrow,’ she said and put her bag down to get to work.
Rathod and Bhalerao went out again. They examined the woman’s body. Rathod could not help think about Siya Rajput’s mother—Naina. Is there a connection between her disappearance and this murder?
Chapter Four
Radha must have had the house keys because the ringing stopped when I reached the base of the stairs, I saw her get in.
‘We’ve got your favourite cake,’ she declared and ran towards me. She opened the box to show the cake to me. It was a pineapple cake. ‘Happy birthday best ever sister, Siya,' Radha read the message on it out loud.
I could not help but marvel at my little sister. At twenty-six, she had already turned into a magnificent young woman. Rahul followed her in, holding bags in both his hands. ‘And I’ve got some Chinese food,’ he said with a grin.
I felt ecstatic. I was grateful to have Radha and Rahul in my life. Things were finally getting better and falling into place. It had all started two weeks back. I had accidentally picked up Rahul's phone, thinking it was mine and had seen him looking at wedding rings. I had kept the phone away very quickly, feeling bad about invading his privacy while at the same time bursting inside with happiness. Later that day, he had asked me on his own, in confidence, if he could marry Radha. I had not been happier at any point in my life than I was then. In fact, that day marked a new phase in my recovery. I gave Radha's ring size to Rahul. I told Shama about the planned proposal after taking Rahul’s permission. Then, the three of us went out several times to look for a ring for Radha. We had finally loved one. Rahul was going to buy it once he got his month's salary.
Radha set up the table while Rahul took the plates. Just as I went to the small bar cabinet, Radha said, ‘Tell us what you want. You’re going to be treated like a queen today.’
I laughed and said, ‘But my birthday is yet to start.’
‘Sit back and enjoy,' Radha said, setting the burnt garlic noodles, chicken manchurian, hot and sour gravy and schezwan rice on the table.
She clicked her fingers and Shadow ran towards her. She set one bone on the ground. Shadow grabbed it with his teeth and sat at his usual spot – on a rug near the dining table.
By the time we were done, it was a minute to midnight. Radha and Rahul scampered to the kitchen. They came out a minute later, singing happy birthday with a cake in hand, complete with three candles on top. Radha placed it in front of me.
She hugged me tightly and whispered in my ear, ‘I love you the most.’
I closed my eyes to make a wish. I knew I was too old to make birthday wishes but it was a compulsory tradition in the Rajput house, enforced by our mother and encouraged by our father. We kept doing such seemingly childish things to honour their memory. We had remembered them every day for the past sixteen years. On occasions like these, we missed them even more. Our life had changed completely when both of them had disappeared within three months of each other.
Chapter Five
Kapil Rathod returned to the bedroom.
He stood next to the bed. Sonia had told them her team had finished photographing the bedroom. Samples from everywhere had been taken. He could move the body now. He could verify his hypothesis. He bent down and lifted the woman's body from the shoulder. Her skin was pale but bruised dark purple under her neck, a result of livor mortis – a process in which blood settles to the lowest point in the body due to gravity. It was useful to determine if a body had been moved post-death. He then lifted the woman's back. It had the same pigmentation across the surface of the back. He moved further lower and lifted her pelvis. The pigmentation was darker there, suggesting more blood had settled behind her pelvis and she was probably sitting when she had died.
Rathod suspected the killer moved the woman’s body after she died to make the bed. He did not know why. His small test proved that her body had been moved after she had died. The luminol test could probably reveal a bloody area somewhere in the room.
Rathod’s mind went back to the hair in the bathroom. The way it was arranged, it was almost as if the purpose of murdering the woman outside was to reveal the hair. He went back to the bathroom where Sonia was collecting samples from the blood inside. He waited for her to finish. Till then, he tried to look up the name of Siya Rajput’s mother. Her name came to him. Naina Rajput. He found the old case file in the central registry of all cases in the state of Maharashtra. Sonia walked out eventually.
Rathod said, ‘Can you run tests on the hair and see who it belonged to? I can’t help but feel that’s crucial to this case. Also run everything you find, against all the evidence in Naina Rajput’s case from sixteen years ago. I’ve sent you the case number.’
‘Do you think there’s a connection?’
‘The bathroom looked exactly the same when she has disappeared,’ Rathod said, showing Sonia a picture for the case file.
‘I’ll do that on priority,’ Sonia said. ‘I’ll partially test the DNA on both so you can have the test results in the next hour.’ She turned around and went back in.
‘One more thing,’ Rathod said. ‘When are you going to conduct the luminol test?’
‘We’re almost done with the bathroom. So, let’s say ten more minutes.’
Rathod returned to the room. He looked around to get a feel of the dead woman’s life. The bedroom, like the house, was decorated with a lavish taste. It was big with distinct two sections. The first had a bed while the other had a dressing table, a study table, a book rack and two armchairs. A glass chandelier hung over the second section. There were abstract paintings on the walls. Every corner had a lamp. Large French windows lay in both sections.
Except for the dead woman and the blood in the bathroom, the house was clean. Rathod got even more curious to know which areas would light up blue in the luminol test.
‘What sort of security is in place here?’ Rathod said to Bhalerao.
‘Nothing too sophisticated; what you’d find in most houses in this neighbourhood. There’s a simple push and self-locking mechanism on the main door. The husband confirmed that they also put a padlock on the door from inside.’
‘What about the windows?’
‘All were closed barring the ones in this room.’
‘Ask the husband if it was normal for his wife to keep the windows open at night. It has got pretty cold over the
last week.’
‘I will do that. I know the husband will be in shock, but I’ve told him we’ll come to his house to interrogate him tomorrow morning.’
Spare a thought for the guy. But he knew murder investigations were brutal. They could not afford to waste time, for if the husband was guilty, he was a threat to the society. Every murder tested the courage of police officers who were investigating it. Their first duty was towards the safety and well-being of the public. Everything else was secondary. So, he held back his tongue regarding the matter. ‘He was with his parents. He would’ve had an alibi, right?’ he said instead.
‘He does. Both his parents and kids vouch for his presence the entire day yesterday.'
Rathod walked out of the room. ‘Who found her?’ he said.
‘A friend from work. They were heading out for dinner. She’s downstairs right now. Her name is Sanjana Suman.’
Bhalerao guided him to a smaller living room apart from the main one. Inside, a woman, visibly shaken with smudged mascara and puffy eyes, was sitting on a large armchair. She was dressed well in an expensive looking floral dress.
Rathod went to the kitchen and got a glass of water. ‘Senior Inspector Kapil Rathod,’ he said, offering her the glass.
He sat on the armchair next to her. She nodded her head once and sipped the water. Rathod could make out her face relaxed a tad.
‘I know this is hard, Sanjana. But it’s important we talk to you as soon as possible,’ Rathod said. ‘Can you tell us about what happened earlier in the evening?’
Sanjana kept the glass on the side table. Her voice shivered when she spoke. ‘I was supposed to meet Supriya for dinner today. I came to her house to pick her up at eight thirty. I rang the bell and called her phone several times. She did not answer both. We were really looking forward to the night out. We had booked a table at our favourite restaurant. When she didn’t respond initially, I thought she might have stepped out to get something. But then I got worried. I knew her husband because everyone at work is like family. I called him. He was surprised. He tried her number as well but could not reach her. He was not afraid initially but after twenty minutes or so of trying, he panicked. He told me to get keys from their neighbours and go inside the house. I went in, called out to Supriya. But she still did not answer. Eventually, I went to her bedroom and found her on the bed. I thought she was sleeping but then I saw all the…’ her voice trailed off and she pressed her mouth with her hand to avoid breaking down.
Rathod let her take a moment.
‘Did you notice anything abnormal about the lock on the front door?’
Sanjana’s eyes wandered as she tried to remember. She shook her head.
‘How long have you known Supriya?’
‘It would have been five years in a week’s time. She was already working at Smart Tech when I joined.’
The name did not strike anything in Rathod’s mind. ‘What does Smart Tech do exactly?’
‘We're into the Internet of Things. We make smart devices and wearables. We're heavily into research and development. Our products and services are used by big multinationals across the world. They either build their products on our platforms or use our technology in some way. You wouldn't have heard of us as we don't directly sell to customers, in most cases at least.'
‘Where’s this company located?’
‘We have offices in Pune and Hyderabad. Pune is our research centre and Hyderabad is the corporate office. We also have a branch in San Francisco in Silicon Valley.’
‘What was Supriya’s role at Smart Tech?’
‘She was the Lead Engineer. She joined Smart Tech when it was still small. I am a neural network scientist. I worked under her. We were supposed to head out and relax. We had a big product launch yesterday and we deserved some time off because the work that had gone into it was crazy.’
‘Does the founder stay in Pune?’
‘Yes,’ Sanjana said. She rummaged in her purse and plucked out a card. ‘That’s him. Vivaan Deshpande.’
Rathod accepted the card. He made a mental note to meet Vivaan. He gauged Sanjana. She looked better as if speaking about the incident that had rattled her, had eased the burden of it. He held out his card and said, ‘Sanjana, thanks for your time right now. We'll be in touch. Please call me if there's anything you think that'll be useful to our investigation.'
Rathod and Bhalerao returned upstairs.
‘You’re back on time,’ Sonia said. ‘We’re prepping for the luminol test. We should start in two minutes.’
As promised, in the next two minutes, two crime scene analysts were drawing the curtains and closing the door to make the room as dark as possible. They hung darkening curtains on the two windows as well the room and bathroom doors.
The room went pitch black. Sonia turned on a dim battery-operated light to guide her analysts as one began spraying luminol and the other was ready to photograph it using a long exposure camera. The concept of luminol was simple. Luminol reacts with the iron in haemoglobin, the oxygen and iron-carrying protein in red blood cells. The moment it comes in contact with anything containing iron, copper, cyanides or specific proteins, it glows blue-green. It could detect one in a million part of trace blood.
The spraying began, starting from the wall next to the bed. They moved leftwards, inch by inch covering the area from floor to ceiling. The floor began to light up blue. The walls were clean. The floor lit blue uniformly. Not in patches and spurts, like the way it does usually with blood. Rathod was confused. They moved sideways, spraying the luminol. The entire floor was turned blue.
There was only one explanation. The floor had been cleaned with bleach. The oxidizing agent in bleach was reacting with the luminol. Bleach was used to wipe away all DNA evidence.
Then it happened.
In the second section of the room, the tiles stopped lighting up blue. A circular area had no luminol. The analysts went inside the circle and sprayed luminol in it. A pattern appeared. It was not a splatter. Instead, they were letters. They lit up one by one, left to right. Sonia indicated to her technician to focus on that area. More luminol was sprayed. All the letters were visible now. Silence resounded in the bedroom. Everyone was shocked to see what they were reading. The killer had left behind a message.
It read:
Hello again. There will be more.
P.S. - Tell Siya Rajput I said hi.
Chapter Six
I was about to blow the candles when my phone started ringing. It was on the table next to the cake. Its screen lit up. Was someone calling to wish me for my birthday?
I did not recognize the number. But instincts are not forgotten easily. Provide the right cue to the brain and even after years, neurons on a previously learnt pattern are fired, triggering the same thoughts and the same feelings. When my phone rang, I knew something was not right. I forgot about my birthday cake and answered the call.
The person across started speaking right away. I went cold. Even though I had not been able to recognize the number, I knew the voice far too well. One thing was certain. The person across the line was not calling me to say happy birthday.
And right then, I knew my wish for the new year was not going to come true.
‘Siya, are you there?’ the voice across the line said.
The voice belonged to Senior Inspector Kapil Rathod. I knew him from my time of practising law. He used to assist me in whatever way possible, often putting himself into jeopardy with the CID for helping out a criminal lawyer cum private detective. But we had a similar understanding of justice. Rathod was also my brother, Karan's, childhood friend. That's how I had reached out to him in the first place. I had not spoken to him in the past three years. I could not muster the courage to tell him that I had made a mistake.
‘Siya, hello?’ Rathod said again.
‘Yes, Rathod. I’m here.’ I felt a trepidation build inside me.
‘Where are you?
‘I’m at home.’
‘In Pune
?’
I realized he would not have known anything about me since I left practice. ‘Yes, in Pune,’ I said.
‘I need to meet you.’ His voice was urgent.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘It’s about your mother. There’s a new development in her case.’
I felt my heart beat in my head. Maa had gone missing sixteen years back. She was presumed dead by everyone. There was only a slim chance, a miracle almost, that she was still alive.
I said, ‘What? Is she…?’
Rathod cut in. ‘She’s alive.’
I shivered. My expression and demeanour must have changed drastically because Radha asked me with hand gestures about what was happening. I shook my head. I was too overwhelmed to say anything to her then.
‘At least she was twelve hours ago,’ Rathod said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I can’t tell you about it over the phone.’
‘Meet me at the usual place in thirty minutes,’ I said, referring to the restaurant we used to meet to discuss the cases we worked on together.
‘The usual place? You’ve been gone for three years,’ Rathod said.
Silence.
‘Thirty minutes. Be there,’ I said and clicked off.
‘Who was it?’ Radha said.
‘Kapil Rathod. He’s a CID officer I used to discuss cases with,’ I said and paused. ‘He said this is about maa. He said she’s alive. Or at least was twelve hours ago.’
Radha’s face went white. Very few situations fazed her. Our mother was one of them. The second was our father. She regained her composure the next beat.
‘What does he mean by that?’ Radha said.
‘I don’t know. He wants to meet me.’
