by ARKOPAUL DAS
‘Yes, we’re investigating a case and he is a possible suspect who’s in danger.’
‘So’ Alan finished her sentence ‘I hope you don’t mind if we go up’
The receptionist remained silent thinking about it in the meantime the detectives ran towards the lift just to catch it in time.
They entered and the lift went up, they soon reached the third floor as the door opened wide and they came out.
There was a straight way and there was another straight way to the left. There was a normal security office just at the front of it and there might be some more ways that were not visible to them right now.
‘Which side?’ asked Alicia looking at the front row.
Ryan quickly went over to a security guard and asked him where the room no. 234 was. He pointed at the left side and then asked ‘Is there a problem sir?’ looking at his troubled face.
‘There might be’ Ryan turned to them, said ‘This row’, and galloped inside it.
Now that they went inside everyone outside were all alert that some unknown people claiming to be detectives have entered the building, and it created a serious restlessness in the atmosphere. Someone also informed the 3rd floor security guards about this.
‘Here, this side’ said Alan as he pointed to the tall wooden door on the right hand side, with the number written 234.
They stopped their jogging and caught their breath, which took some seconds, then Alicia moved towards the door and said ‘Mr. Brown, NYPD, open up the door please’ and then they stood there quietly.
No sound.
‘Mr. Brown we need to talk. Please open the door’ now Ryan said and waited for a reply or the door opening , and his voice was loud enough for him to hear it, even the people from the other rooms could hear it.
They listened for a sound of movement inside and hoped that the door would be opened but no movement was made and it was all quiet as usual inside.
‘Is he sleeping?’ asked Ryan turning back to them.
‘I’m not buying that’ said Kevin.
Then Alan gave a look at Ryan and Kevin as Alicia soon had her gun in her hand aiming at the door while Ryan and Kevin geared up to kick the door down. The wood was soft, just like any other mobel furniture and soon Kevin, Ryan gave two solid kicks, and the door came down. They burst open, inside pointing their guns at the inner most sides of the room.
They found a pool of blood on the other side of the bed but didn’t see a body first as the body was on the other side of the bed on the floor and it was blocked out from the view. In the middle was a bed slightly smaller than a queen-sized bed with two nice pillows and a half a pool of blood on the edge of it.
Alan frowned and walked miserably to the opposite side near the window avoiding the blood, not willing to step on it.
They found him.
‘Is he dead?’ asked Kevin as they were all quiet trying to absorb the situation.
Alan bent down to get a good look. Alicia stood behind him covering him, but there were certainly no more threats at this moment.
Alan pressed his fingers on the throat area and felt it, then he stood up and declared eventually ‘He’s dead’.
TWENTY FOUR
Other members of the NYPD and the CSU, was informed as soon as the autopsy team led by Dr. Taylor came in. The CSU team was also ready, but they waited outside, letting them check the body first. More back up with a pack of busy cops were on the streets while some were inside guarding the specific floors. On this floor, they soon tied a label at the mouth of this row. ‘CRIME SCENE, DO NOT ENTER’.
The other people who were present in this row were all shocked to see this, and live with this, as they were all evacuated to another floor for the time being in order to gain control over the current situation.
Dr. Taylor after entering the room went straight to the body with a small medical kit with him.
‘Ah, so another stiff arrives huh?’ Dr. Taylor smiled at them. He was used to all this, so murder was not a big deal to him.
‘Yes’ said Alan.
‘Are you guys still on the same case?’
‘Yes, and it became more tough for us’
‘Yeah, so who’s the man?’
‘Paul Brown. NY Times journalist’
‘I see’ said Dr Taylor.
The body lay in an awkward manner, upside down on the floor with his head just beside the side table where the night lamp was kept. There was blood on the hair; it must have come from the blood that was on the floor. Dr. Taylor checked the backside just to be sure and found no wound on the skull.
Dr. Taylor began checking the body, bending and blocking it from the view, sometimes. Alan looked straight at the body and waited for others to be cleared out after which they would check the whole room.
Dr. Taylor pulled the hands of the victim still trying to avoid all these nasty blood and turned the body over as slowly as possible in the original position so that they could all get a good view of the face. The front portion of the victim’s shirt was all soaked up and bloody.
Dr. Taylor changed the glove and put his finger in the new latex glove to examine the main wound. There was a hollow straight in the middle of the forehead.
He turned to Alan and said ‘So it’s a single wound on the head. Which led to death’
‘Was he shot?’ asked Ryan.
‘Yes, he was shot straight in the head’ he wiped the bloody part of the forehead so that the blood was cleaned out and they could get a good look in it.
‘I also see some bruising here’ said Dr. Taylor and Alan again stooped a little.
‘Oh, that was made after he was shot’ said Alan. ‘When his body fell it got bumped and scratched in the side of his head on this table which made...the table lamp fall’
‘Good. Yes you’re right, there’s a little blood on the edges’ agreed Dr. Taylor.
Alicia was standing at the back observing the proceedings. ‘So where’s the bullet?’
‘It’s still inside the skull, I believe’ said Dr. Taylor. ‘I might need a scalpel or some forceps to pull it out, which I will certainly do when I take the stiff back to the morgue. I don’t want to waste much time here. I’m already pretty packed up’
Then he leaned over the body and punctured the wound a little. ‘Uh, the bullet seems to be right inside the brain right through the middle of the medulla portion. It’s good that the grey matters are still intact, as by now it should have got scattered all around just like the blood. I don’t know how that was possible, but ...anyway...’
‘So a clear headshot right?’ asked Ryan.
‘Yeah’
‘Then someone must have targeted the gun straight at his head. Then shot him. That means...’ Alicia thought hard.
‘Are we looking for a sniper?’
‘Yes the wound is deep so is the bullet. I don’t think that this kind of wound can be made through any normal gun, this is certainly the work of an average sized sniper rifle’
‘Then from which angle was he shot?’ wondered Alicia.
‘We will check that out after all this’ Alan meant the blood. ‘Are cleared out’
‘So Dr. Taylor’ Kevin called out who was standing at the door so that no one comes in. ‘What’s the time of murder?’
‘Well...um’ he looked hard at the body and tested some other parts too ‘As usual I can’t be exact , I will have to take the body to the morgue first but surely as always, I can provide you guys with an estimated time . Well according to the body, temperature , wound condition and the amount of blood clot which is not much , I will place the time at more than 24 hours before.’
‘Oh...he was killed yesterday then?’ said Kevin.
‘Yes...about this time yesterday’
‘Oh man,’ Kevin exclaimed ‘We never stood a chance’
‘It might be even some hours more, maybe twenty six to be precise’
Dr. Taylor adjusted the specs and turned back to the body again.
‘Those who were threatening him must hav
e killed him’ said Ryan.
‘Yeah surely’
‘And they made their job clean’ Said Alan. ‘A nice headshot means you saved a lot of energy and time that is needed to kill a man’
‘Right’
‘We need to find that out’
‘What?’
‘From which side was he shot’
‘Of course’ said Alan.
Alan then slowly moved to the other side of the wardrobe as Dr. Taylor used a scissor like instrument which was quite small compared to a normal scissor and cut a piece of skin from the dead man’s thumb and placed it in the plastic evidence bag. He also took some blood samples and put it on a transparent glass material, which he later put in a medical kit, not in the evidence bag.
Then he pinched the body with a syringe and took some blood then kept it inside two separate containers, maybe it would be used for some other tests. He shook the container heavily and then put it back inside a box.
‘Okay so I am more or less done here’ said Dr. Taylor as he stood up. 'I’ll now give you the opportunity to check the room. The CSU guys have an amazing amount of patience I see’
‘Mind if I check the body a little?’ said Alan.
‘No problem as long as you make it fast’ said Dr. Taylor.
Alan nodded and bent down again looking at the body thoroughly. ‘The wound has an angle the bullet went in, so for sure it’s a master job of a sniper. And the body...dressed in normal shirt and pants...cotton shirt, not a expensive brand...the hair...dry...too dry..doesn’t take a bath every other day...a few pollen grains and a meagre amount of grass in it...went to a park this week.’ Then Alan stopped amazing them with his deductions and kept the rest of the clues if he had found any, to himself. Then he stood up. ‘I’m done too. Get the body out now’
Dr. Taylor gestured the staffs as two of them came, rigid, with a narrow stretcher and pulled the body on it. The next two minutes saw the body going outside.
‘So I’ll keep you updated’ said Dr. Taylor ‘If I find anything. Anything that’s new and notable’
‘Sure Dr. Taylor’ said Alan as the doctor departed.
Everyone went out and now there was no one else in the room other than Ryan, Alan and Alicia. Kevin was standing at the door so he would not be counted. The official security guards of the building were asked to remain in the floor and to keep the public at bay in case anyone enters this row, even by mistake.
As everyone left, now Alan shifted his attention inside and focused on scanning the whole room. Beside the bed was a side table, the night lamp was hanging there awkwardly and there seemed to be a glass of water too, there were some pieces of glass on the floor, maybe that’s because the glass fell and broke when the victim’s head hit the table.
He turned his gaze to the opposite side. He saw a four-door wardrobe and a dressing table just by the side of it. There was nothing else there except some stylish wall decors and an artistic clock with an awful design, fixed on the wall.
There were also some photos and paintings fixed on the wall above the bed, it was also a part of the wall decors.
He looked up and found a golden colour plated ceiling fan and a large LED light with a few night bulbs on the side of it.
‘Glasses?’ Ryan said as he bent down and found some pieces there, there was also some blood mixed with mineral water. He held one piece of glass in his hand and said ‘Thin glasses. Must be from the water glass that was on the table.’
‘Yes right’ said Kevin as Alan was busy surveying the room, while Alicia was observing the window.
‘But...no .There are other glasses here too’ said Ryan a minute later.
‘What other glasses?’ asked Kevin.
Ryan pointed to the floor. There were some small, thin pieces of glass mixed with some large hard chunks of glass. It was hard to distinguish between them if you don’t watch them thoroughly.
‘You’re right’ said Alan, took a piece in his hand, and felt it.
‘This is hard and more solid’ he said turning it over in his hand carefully avoiding the sharp protruding edges.
‘This one is from the glass surely, and these pieces came from somewhere else’ said Alan.
‘Then it must be from the windows’ said Alicia. ‘The glass of window panes is more solid, it must be those glasses that got mixed with the thin pieces’
‘The window is broken?’ asked Ryan.
‘Why didn’t you even notice all this time?’ said Alicia. ‘It’s here all this time. Look’
Alicia pointed at the half broken frames of the window with remaining glasses that had the edges sharp enough to kill a human if you stab anyone with it.
‘The window was closed when the sniper shot at it’
‘And the bullet had more force to hit the glass and still hit our Vic’s head?’
‘What kind of bullet was it?’ asked Kevin. ‘I don’t hear often that a bullet is hitting the glass still landing inside the medulla of the victim?’
‘Whoever took the shot was quite professional, I think’ said Alan. ‘He knows what kind of bullet he should use in order to break a window and still hit the target’
‘Well the bullet is still inside the body’ said Ryan. ‘Dr. Taylor will surely give us the bullet and we will be able to see what kind of bullet it was’
‘Yes but we can do another thing in the meantime’ said Alan.
Alicia didn’t ask what, she just said ‘Yes, you can check that from which building did the sniper choose to shoot from’
‘Correct’ said Alan. He trudged near the window avoiding the glass pieces that lay haywire on the floor. Now that the blood was clotting up, more and more sharp pieces were becoming visible. He came and looked outside. The street was full of cars, pollution and unwanted high-pitched noises from large cars and trucks. He shook his head and looked at the front building . It was quite dark so he could not make out if it was a residential complex, shopping mall or an office building.
The building was large and wide. He turned back at them and said ‘The sniper must have shot from this building’
‘We need to know the particular place from where the shot was taken. We need to get the epicentre of the shot’ said Alicia.
‘Yeah, the position of the bullets from where it hit the window’ Ryan added.
‘Let’s see the pieces’ said Alan and took some more perpendicular pieces of glass in his hand and started scrutinising them in minute detail. Then at last, he found one of them and showed it to others. ‘See, it contains a whitish scratch on the edges.’
‘Yes, there is’ Ryan agreed.
‘So the bullet must have, here’ he pointed at a particular angle. ‘From this position. Yes yes...this side of the window.’
Kevin came forward and took the pieces from Alan’s hand. ‘Where will this piece fit?’ he made a face and looked at the square window.
‘It’s a large piece’ said Alan ‘It’ll be easy to find the position of the piece.’
‘Yes, and see it have some faint designs on it’ said Ryan.
Kevin stared back at the piece. ‘Is there? Man they’re hardly visible’
‘Yeah, well I think it’s here, yes yes...just move it slightly towards the left side. Does it fit?’
‘It’ll not fit in the middle, the bullet hit the middle portion, so it will be as Ryan said, slightly above the left side.’
‘Okay then’ Kevin held the chunk at that position. ‘So here’s where the bullet hit. And the sharp edges and the whitish hue on them shows that the bullet hit the frame at an angle. So from which angle?’
‘Hang on’ they turned back and saw Luke, who just entered the room. ‘I have something that might help you calculate that’ He brought the CSU here with him.
‘What?’ asked Ryan.
‘Here’ he took out a narrow and short torch kind of thing and said ‘Take it’
‘What’s this?’
Luke clicked a switch, that was on its back and a ray of light, a narrow redd
ish colour came out. The light was like a narrow pipe or something narrower than that.
‘A laser beam?’
‘Yes’
‘But are you sure it will reach the other building?’
‘It will reach anything which is within a thousand metres from it. It’s a high quality laser beam , this narrow piece of light will reach anywhere’ he said and came to the window and held it in the middle , at the point where the bullet hit letting the point of source reach a particular place on the opposite side.
Then he moved it totally, so that now the point of the light source came inside. He hit straight at the bed.
‘Okay, so the victim was sitting right here when he was shot’ said Luke pointing at the edge of the bed. Kevin went and sat down in the middle of the bed and the laser beam, the point of the laser beam ended up straight on his forehead.
‘Gotcha’ exclaimed Ryan. ‘We got the position of our victim’
‘Yes, now if we know the angle it’ll be more easier to get the position of the shooter’ said Luke as he now held the laser beam near Kevin’s forehead turning it over so that the laser beam now fell on the other sides, on the street, then on the other building. The beam went up straight at a 60 degree angle and soon it hit one of the dark rooms of the other building.
‘There it is’ said Luke joyfully. ‘That’s from where the shot was taken.’ He stood up not letting the point go away. ‘This might still be not the exact point but the sniper was certainly on that floor in one of those two rooms’
‘We need to check that before we can be certain about it’
‘Oh, sure’ said Luke.
‘So what’re we gonna do now?’ asked Ryan to no one in particular.
‘Now that we got the shooters position, let’s check the room more closely before letting the CSU comb the room’ said Alan and went directly to the wardrobe, and pulled open a door. He found nothing, just some formal cotton striped suits with two shirts and t-shirts, a pair of trousers on the lower rack. The trousers seemed to be made of some synthetic materials not the usual cotton ones. They all hang side by side. Alan moved one of the blazers to see the backside, just in case something was hidden there, but he was disappointed. There wasn’t anything. It was all blank at the back.
