Chapter 5:
Maan took out his jeep keys, which slipped a little due to lack of friction because of his gloved hands and broke the yellow seal on the door. He smiled a little when he saw Geet stifle a yawn. He had decided at the last minute to go to crime scene of Mrs. Guha and her son along with case files from the earlier murder. Late evenings worked best for everyone given how their cellphones didn't buzz every other minute. Emily and Satya had tagged along at the prospect of looking at the case from bottoms up.
"Is it me or this place looks damn too creepy at night?" Emily whispered.
"It is a little creepy." Satya nodded his head and whispered back.
"Why are we whispering?" Geet asked, amused. She was very well accustomed to work in dark and like she preferred to look at crime scene at the same time of the day when perpetuator committed crime.
Emily cleared her throat and smiled sheepishly.
Maan opened the door and allowed everyone to enter.
"Mrs. Guha and her son died between 10 PM and midnight. We are yet to receive the specifics but this is the current estimate. According to neighbors and other witnesses, the house-help leaves the family at nine in the night along with the driver," Emily said.
"No signs of forced entry through the door," Satya said observing the locks.
"What about windows, back doors and garage?" Maan said still standing on the threshold.
"There was nothing out of the ordinary. The windows were closed and the back door was locked from inside. No signs of foul entry found as of now." Satya replied.
"Who reported the crime?" Geet asked.
"Mrs. Guha was meeting her friend for brunch. When she didn't turn up her friend tried reaching her and made several calls to Mrs. Guha's personal phone and residence phone. She finally came here to check and she found the crime scene." Satya read out from a report. Geet nodded at that.
"Mrs. Guha might have let the perpetuator in or given the person another set of keys which would make them take the front door and not take any alternate route," Emily replied. Maan hummed at that.
"What about the alternate theory?" Geet asked. Emily looked at her in confusion. "Well, we have to consider all possibilities when we are deriving theories, correct? So while doing so fork out every theory by considering alternate to everything that you can come up with. Our starting point at the moment is ā did Mrs. Guha knew the perpetuator or not. You just gave a very probable theory which is highly possible if the victim knew the person. Now hypothesize the alternative. If Mrs. Guha didn't know the person, then how did she let them in?" Geet asked. Emily nodded and then she realized why Maan never entered the house.
Geet closed the door on Maan and waited. The room became completely empty and a second later, the knock came. Geet looked at Emily and Satya nodding them to start creating the scenario ā the way the victim would have done.
"If I am Mrs. Guha then I would be walking down from master bedroom," Emily said and took several steps back and then walked a feet away from door. "I need lights. I wouldā¦" Emily hurried back and switched on lights of hallway. Geet nodded in encouragement. "Then I would switch on the porch light," she said and switched on the light. "And now I would look through eyehole." She said nodding at Geet.
"This is weird," Emily said taking a step back from the door. "Porch lights are not on," she said and opened the door.
"The person took the light out first," Satya said. "Must have done it just before knocking on the door otherwise Mrs. Guha would have gotten it fixed by driver." He said as he twisted the light bulb which lit up once properly hooked. "See? It's a simple trick and you don't have to be really tall to do this," Satya said.
"Yeah, but would you just let anyone in? I mean the door has a chain and Mrs. Guha would have just opened the door a notch and would have tried talking to the person on other side of the door," Emily questioned. She walked back inside the house and closed the door. She performed the operation which she believed Mrs. Guha would have done. She could see Maan's profile from the crack but couldn't make out his face.
"I still can't see your face Maan. Why would I let you in?" Emily asked.
Geet who was standing next to Maan had her arms out.
"Assume I have a bundle in my arms, okay?" She said. Emily nodded.
"I have an injured animal in my arms. It came out of nowhere and since I found it in front of your house I thought it's yours," Geet said.
"But I don't have a pet," Emily said.
"There are photos found on the boy's laptop which was clearly taken by Mr. Guha very recently because the photos are all dated. Some digital cameras give you that feature and I think Mr. Guha wanted to retain it as he wanted to remember every day he spent with his son. In few photos there is a dog with the boy and the photos are taken in the small garden here," Geet said.
"But there is no mention of pet in any of the testimonies," Satya said.
"No, it wasn't the family's pet; had it been the case there would have been more photos of the dog along with the boy and not just a handful. I think it belongs to someone else and the boy plays with the dog whenever the dog is left in his care," Geet replied.
"I'll interview the neighbors and the house-help again," Emily said making a note of it.
Geet again spread her arms in front of her as Emily went back behind the door.
"I found this dog injured right in front of the gate ma'am, is it yours?" Geet asked.
"We don't have any dogs," Emily replied, playing the part but didn't open the door.
"Oh my God! I think the dog is dying!" Geet exclaimed in desperate tone. Emily shifted wondering what her reaction should be. She decided not to respond at all and waited what Geet or the perpetuator would do next.
"Ma'am, can you please give it some water? The breathing has gotten a little shallow." Geet said.
"Alright, I will get you some," Emily said and walked all the way towards kitchen and came back a moment later. "Here you go," she said handing a bottle she found in refrigerator through the crack.
"Do you think you can take the dog in ma'am?" Geet asked.
"Why don't you leave it by the porch and I will make a few calls," Emily replied. Geet stepped back and looked at Maan. Emily opened the door after switching on the lights.
"Would Mrs. Guha open the door in empathy when something like this happened?" Satya asked.
"I doubt it," Geet said. "But it's quite possible," Geet added shrugging.
"So she might have never opened the door, right?" Emily asked. Geet nodded.
"But what if the boy was the one who was at door?" Maan asked who had maintained silence. The three of them looked at him.
"If the perpetuator used the same ruse as what Geet did just now, he would react more emotionally than his mother would. He would probably open the door to confirm if it's the dog he plays with," Maan said.
"It sounds more plausible especially when his room is much closer to the door than the master bedroom." Geet replied.
"Let's go in," Maan said and he finally entered the house that had started to give him nightmares for two consecutive days. He wondered what was in store for him when he finished up here and went to sleep that night.
To be continued.
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