Chapter 3:
"David, when are we going to get crime scene photos?" Maan asked as he entered living room. David and his forensic team were packing up to get back to the lab.
"I will get my team email them to you in couple of hours. It should reach you by noon." He answered hoping Maan wouldn't ask for anything more. He had been working with since Maan joined as a probationary ASP and had admired him for the skills he naturally seemed to possess. But Maan's thoroughness made them work longer on his crime scenes than any other police officer's.
"If there is no more evidence to collect, then can you do a luminol sweep?" Maan asked.
"What are you getting at sir ji?" Satya asked coming out of the room with Doctor Vic.
"You think she was stabbed elsewhere in the house and she was put to her bed?" Vic asked.
"It's a possibility. If there is at least one fatal or near fatal injury on her chest, then then amount of blood on the bed doesn't add up. If she was stabbed elsewhere, then maybe we can find traces of blood and the weapon. It's a long shot and maybe even unnecessary but even the alternate – not finding any trace of blood in the house would help us eliminate few things about the kill and the killer." Maan finished.
"Or the alternative can also mean that the stabbing was done postmortem." Vic added. Maan nodded.
"I'll start from the only bathtub. There is a huge one in master bath; perfect place for draining", David said understanding what Maan was getting at. David whistled at two forensic guys who were about to leave the house and called them back in.
"If the victim was stabbed postmortem, then that's a classic overkill. The killer is carrying an incredible amount of rage and people around him have noticed it." Satya contemplated. Maan looked at Vic.
"Vic, was there a sexual assault on her?" Maan asked the doctor.
"There were no visible lacerations around the genitalia during my preliminary examination. But if the sex was consensual, then I wouldn't know at this point. I need to check for fluids", he said.
Maan didn't say anything for moments. Satya was checking his notes as Vic left for lab.
"There is no trace of blood anywhere else in the house; apart from victim's bed", David came back from luminol sweep of the flat and reported.
"If there isn't anything else, can you please sign for evidence authorization?" David asked Maan giving him a clipboard with forms to sign. Maan signed on them distractedly and nodded when David and his forensic team left the crime scene leaving him and Satya alone in the entire flat.
Once David clicked the main door behind him, a sudden silence enveloped the room.
"What do you think can be motive Satya?" Maan asked.
"It's hard to decide sir ji. Assuming that the stabbing has happened postmortem, there is a rage in the killer which could be resultant because of what Anjali has done to the killer in the past or is jealous of her or is settling a score. But after committing crime, he seems to realize that it wasn't what he really wanted. So he goes and cleans up everything, puts Anjali to bed as if she is only sleeping. Either that or the killer watches too many Hollywood cop shows to avoid leaving any forensic evidence to get incriminated." Satya said sighing in the end.
"Hmm…possibly." Maan hummed and moved towards hallway.
"The killer had to come in from the front door. Either he had a set of spare keys to let himself in or Anjali let him in." Maan said. When he walked through crime scene building theory around the killing, he didn't leave any probabilities out of the equation.
"Tell me what would have happened if the killer let himself in." Maan asked Satya to walk through the crime.
"According to the building guard, Anjali came in at around seven in the evening meaning she was home when the killer came in. If he let himself in, then he would have surprised her. Anjali is a fit woman sir ji she wouldn't have gone down without a fight. Killer would first have to subdue her so that neighbors aren't alerted to his presence."
"He might have threatened her? Or maybe pull out some sort of leverage which would emotionally subdue her? He could have some blackmail material on her making her obey everything he asked her to do." Maan stopped Satya and asked.
"It is possible. But if he as much went near her to attack her, she would have physically reacted. Irrespective of the emotional leverage or a weapon in hand, we always try to save ourselves by reacting physically to an oncoming attack. It's a natural reflex in all of us. To subdue someone, what is the first thing a person would do?" Satya asked. When they worked on crime scene they became equals rather than a senior and a subordinate. Maan didn't mind and encouraged Satya to think and speak freely whenever they talked about cases. One of them became devil's advocate during crime scene analysis which always brought in wider perspective to the crime and the perpetuator.
"Catch the victim's wrists. Or hit hard with an object. But there were no markers on Anjali's body which would indicate someone catching her wrists or bruising after being hit from a blunt object." Maan answered. Satya nodded.
"The killer knew her. He knew her well enough to get her to invite inside the house and be comfortable in his presence; comfortable enough to let her guard down." Satya concluded.
"Maybe", Maan said and grinned. "Maybe", Satya echoed and smiled back.
They refused to draw conclusions from basic observations and waited till forensic evidence supported their theory.
"Let's get an early lunch before the crime scene photos come in." Maan said and started to walk out of the apartment.
Satya hummed in acknowledgement and sealed the crime scene with yellow tape.
-- About 8 PM, Police Station --
Crime scene photos hadn't revealed anything outside what he had originally seen in the morning. But the photos generally had a way of putting things in perspective, capturing things which eyes would generally miss or don't give much importance to.
"There is nothing here in these photos Satya. The crime scene is spick and span. Did you receive flat's itinerary from forensics?" Maan asked shoving photos back into the file.
"We received it Sir ji. Geet has to validate it to see if anything is missing from there." Satya said. He looked little distracted which made Maan peer at him.
"Is there something bothering you Satya?" Maan asked.
"I was checking interview transcripts of all the people in that building our department interviewed. The security guard made an interesting comment. Here it is", Satya finally found the document he found in the file which he was shuffling through vigorously.
"The security guard mentioned that Geet arrives home every weekday somewhere around eight in the evening. However for the past couple of weeks she had been coming late once or twice a week. She always told Anjali that she would be late because Anjali would call up the security and give them a heads up." Satya finished.
"So the security guards knew Anjali would be alone?" Maan asked. Satya merely nodded.
"Do you suspect them? If you do then what will be their motive?" Maan asked again.
"I don't know. Well, she might have angered one of them or all three of them. They might have made a collective effort to execute this plan. May be there did take some cash and some jewelry leaving more than half behind. They could have taken turns to go up and kill and remove evidence. And it was after nine in evening meaning people coming into the compound are fairly less. They could have easily slipped out without anyone really missing them." Satya explained.
"You don't see any flaw in that theory?" Maan asked Satya.
"You see one?" Satya asked surprised.
"It's not exactly a flaw but an inconsistency. The statements from neighbors and the guards too mention that Anjali was a no-nonsense woman. She was liked by everyone and no one in the building, including the security guards, had any altercation with her. According to building secretary, she never had any complaints on the building's maintenance staff. If she had any issues with the guards, she would have lodged a complaint or at least made someone aware of it. Of course we still haven't started checking friends, relatives, colleagues, et al but the way I see it, those three guys don't really fit the profile of our guy. But then again, you never know. We should call those three men for an interview", Maan believed that everyone had something or the other to hide and while doing so they generally compromised on the duration of the outcome of the investigation.
"I am so glad I found you guys here", Doctor Vic barged into Maan's cabin slightly out of breath.
"You finished autopsy already?" Satya asked, surprised.
"I finished a part of it, yes. Toxicology is going to take a while for the full shebang, but I got some basic blood work and fluids done. Get this, I found out how she was subdued. But before that I need a glass of water", Vic said everything in one breath and picked up water bottle on Maan's table and emptied in one gulp.
"The murder took place between ten and eleven. Eighteen of the twenty nine wounds are definitely done postmortem. Her cause of death is asphyxiation. She was asphyxiated by covering her nostrils and mouth and she didn't fight back. And she didn't fight back because there was Flunitrazepam in her system. In large doses too." Vic said looking at Maan.
"Flunitrazepam?" Satya asked looking at Maan.
"Roofies", Maan said sighing.
"The date-rape drug?" Satya asked.
"Yes. That's the one. It was mixed with wine and Nitrazepam, which is marketed as a sedative, in large amounts. I found traces of them in her stomach and esophagus. I however I don't know if she consumed it voluntarily or someone slipped it in her drink. She would have lost consciousness minutes after consumption losing motor skills in the process. Now she is fully subdued so asphyxiation will not be met with any sort of resistance. That is why we never found any defensive wounds or bruises on her."
"And when was the postmortem mutilation performed?" Satya asked writing down the timelines on the whiteboard.
"Approximately after 40 minutes to 1 hr. I cannot be very sure about it at this point."
"If I consider one hour, then the mutilation would have taken place after 12 AM. After that he would have to clean up any remaining evidence. Let's say that all those activities have taken another hour, then he would have left the apartment at around 1 AM", Satya said and added the information to the board.
"That's about an hour before Geet came home", Maan added.
"Did killer actually know that Geet would come late or was it a wild, wild guess?" Vic asked Satya.
"May I enter?" A female voice asked from the other side of the door.
"Enter", Maan said still looking at the whiteboard.
"Sir, here are the details about victim's online activity for the past two weeks, from her home computer only." The woman handed him a file which he started thumbing through immediately.
"We haven't gotten a chance to serve warrant to telephone company to release the details on her cellphone activity but they are going to co-operate as soon as we go in with a warrant. The victim's bank accounts that are currently known to us are frozen and all her cards are being tracked for any transaction." She added.
"Thanks Emily for getting this done on time", Maan nodded at the woman who worked in cyber crime division but was currently loaned to his department. She smiled back and walked away.
"Wait." She stopped and turned around. "Is this right?" He asked handing her a sheet.
"Yes sir. It's a printout of Anjali's Facebook page taken around three in the afternoon. Why?"
"This can't be right", he said. She looked at him blankly not following what he was talking about.
"Anjali made a status update on Facebook saying 'Till human voices wake us, and we drown' at 1:20 AM from her computer?" Maan's voice was raised and came out mildly strong.
"Yes sir, that is correct. I crosschecked it twice." Emily said as Vic and Satya stared at one another.
"But Anjali died between ten and eleven in the night. Two hours before the Facebook status update." Vic said surprise evident in his tone.
"The killer updated status on Anjali's Facebook account!!??"
To be continued 
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