Note: Unedited chapter. PMs later.
Chapter 9:
"I called you almost an hour ago and you said you will be here soon," Maan said looking at his watch when he saw Geet walking towards his cabin. He had just walked out from his cabin with bunch of files in his hand.
"I do have a day job you know. I had to review some work before I could tear myself off from university for the rest of the day," Geet said. Maan simply grinned at her. "What's the emergency?" Geet asked falling in step with him as he guided her outside the station.
"David wants to meet us immediately. I was caught up in bureaucratic meetings for most part of my morning and I called you as soon as I had a chance to take a breather. Emily and Satya are interviewing the neighbors," Maan sliding into his jeep.
"Meetings weren't good?" Geet asked him politely noting his knotted forehead. Maan shot her a look. "I guess they weren't," she answered the question herself.
"It has been four days since the murder, what did David find now?" Geet asked. "I thought all the forensic tests were done?" Geet asked.
"I thought so too. He didn't give much information on phone," Maan replied.
Geet nodded in response and they both fell silent.
"Are you going to talk about it?" Geet asked. Maan immediately knew what she was talking about.
"I really don't know what is going on Geet. These crime scenes…" He trailed. She could see that he was gripping the steering wheel tightly whitening his knuckles in the process. The case was affecting him – that much she was sure of now.
"We will talk about it when you can spend an evening away from your work, okay?" She said. He nodded and she saw that his palms relaxed. She frowned turning away from him and looking out the window closing her eyes as the passing warm breeze tousled her hair.
"We are here," he said killing the engine.
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"What is it David?" Maan asked entering the older man's office.
"There was something we missed in our initial exams. We had taken lots of samples and getting through all of them took a while." David said and motioned the two to follow him to the lab.
"This sample," he said pointing to a small vial, "comes from the boy's hands. There were no cuts on his right palm but there was blood which is probably not something out of the normal given his condition. Yet we had to take sample and test it out. This is what we found out," David handed them a sheet of paper.
"The blood is from the mother?" Geet asked reading the paper. "But that's hardly surprising, isn't it? The boy would have gotten some blood on him since his mother was only several feet away." She added.
"Yes, that's what I thought. But you know me Geet," David said shrugging. Maan and Geet exchanged a glance. "I went ahead and rechecked the body. I did find a small cut on the boy's right palm which I categorized under defensive wound," he said. He brought the large monitor in the lab to life which had a photo displayed.
"What are we looking at?" Maan asked.
"This is enlarged image of the boy's hand. I had taken this picture during autopsy. This is the wound I had believed to be the one that boy got while his arms were flaying when the killer was attacking," he said circling the area with his hands. Maan and Geet looked on.
"That's strange," Geet said. Maan looked at her raising an eyebrow. "Defensive wounds are generally much deeper because they take the initial onslaught. And if it's a wound caused during fight between the two it is in wrong direction," Geet said. David nodded at her observation.
"What are you implying?" Maan asked.
"It's a wound caused at the base of fingers and just at the top of the palm. The wound is shallow and it wouldn't have drawn any blood. At least not as much that it would bleed and soak the entire palm. I am guessing the wound was caused by the knife." Geet answered, her face reflecting the surprise she felt.
Maan looked from Geet to David.
"The wound is caused by stabbing motion of the knife. When palm loses grip due to sweat or blood, then the knife slips a little and gives that wound to the person who is wielding the knife." David said.
"Do you realize what you just said?" Maan asked his tone hard.
David and Geet exchanged glances.
"It's a possibility that the boy stabbed his mom," David replied flatly.
"It may have been an involuntary action. The killer might have made the boy to do it." Geet added.
"Well you are wrong. Both of you," Maan said, slapped the file he was reading back on the lab counter and stormed out of the lab.
To be continued.
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