Eternal Return: Ch 9-16 summary; 26/July/2015; pg 101 - Page 33

Chapter 12:

"The killer hasn't left anything for us to pursue." Emily sighed after a long stretch of silence. The rest of them were quiet.

"And that is what will give us the starting point for narrowing suspect pool," Geet said.

"How does one go about it?" Emily asked opening a notepad ready to take notes if necessary.

"What we now need to find out is why the evidences were not present and how they were removed or totally avoided," Geet said.

"Let's consider the latest crime scene, okay? Were there any traces of blood found in the house?" She asked. "It can be anything – a smudge on the floor or rim of door."

"There were none found," Satya answered.

"So the killer walks out of room with blood splashed all over him after committing murder and he doesn't get even footprints on the floor? The main doorknob that was opened from inside giving an impression that he simply walked out of the main door. And even there, there are no traces of blood," Geet said.

"The killer might have a fresh set of clothes with him," Emily said.

"And what does that make him?" Geet asked.

"Organized," Maan said slowly. "If he really carried another set of clothes then he would have known that there would be blood on him."

"Or he could have simply removed his shoes and gloves and walked out of the house to a car parked outside." Emily said. "But yeah, it would be difficult to walk around with blood on you but it's not impossible," she shrugged.

"That still doesn't explain absolute nonexistence of blood on floor," Satya said. "You two went in right? You had to dispose the gloves and shoe coverings so that you don't contaminate the other part of the crime scene which is outside the master bedroom," he said.

"I'll have David's team recheck the floor outside the bedroom if he hasn't already done." Emily said noting down the task.

"Also have them check bathrooms." Geet added. "There still might be traces of blood in plumbing since Mr. Guha isn't living in the house at the moment."

"You think the killer actually washed up?" Maan asked, raising an eyebrow. Geet shrugged.

"So if he knew what was going to happen in the house that night, he would also know who would be there in the house." Satya said looking at Geet. "They weren't just any random picks. He knew exactly who those people were."

"The killer gets inside the house, kills two, washes up, cleans evidence and walks out of the front door," Emily said quizzically.

Maan, Satya and Geet stared at her. It seemed bizarre but in the given scenario it was probable. Satya frowned once her words sunk in.

"If the killer was walking on the street, someone would have noticed," Geet said.

"The properties may not be massive but they are quite large ones Geet. I don't think any inhabitant would have seen a man walking in middle of night," Emily said.

"Hang on Emily. Inhabitants of the houses on the street might not have seen the man but a security guard could have seen. I observed few properties had their own night watchmen posted outside their gates. They would have been suspicious of a man walking in middle night and probably would have remembered him. But none of that sort came up in our enquiry today," he said.

"Unless he was in a car," Emily cottoned on quickly. Satya nodded. "Security guards would have dismissed any passing vehicle as a late night visitor in the neighborhood which isn't all that uncommon in that area."

"We will have to talk to them again and probably cover couple of lanes on the either side of Guhas residence," Satya said. Emily made a note of that.

"There is something else I was wondering," Maan said picking up couple of photos after shuffling for a bit. "I called David and asked him about it too," he said and laid out the photos he had picked out on the table.

"See these knife wounds?" He said pointing to two pictures of the Guha residence murders. "What do make of it?" He asked. Geet picked up the photos.

"This one is made in one steady slash. There is no hesitation when the action was performed. The man knew what he was doing." She said and dropped the photo on table. "Now this one is interesting. The cut is small, shallow and uneven." She said. "What about them?"

"You don't find it odd?" Maan asked. "I checked every stab wound on the mother and his son. There are about two dozen wounds like this on both the victims while the rest of them were like the first picture you just saw," Maan said. Geet looked at him slack jawed.

"What does that mean?" Emily asked looking from Maan to Geet.

"But Maan, these wounds could be caused when the killer first confronted his victims. The familiarity with them would have made him hesitant which has reflected in his actions." Geet said ignoring Emily.

Satya simply looked on knowing fully well that Geet had understood whatever Maan had implied and she would surmise it quite soon.

"But the knife wounds are all over the timeline. Some were done postmortem. Most of this type of wound appear on the son and very few on the mother. And looking at the kind of wounds the stabbing action created, one could only guess. It would also explain few things," Maan said biting his lip.

"What's going on?" Emily asked.

"Your boss just opened the possibility that there was an accomplice to the killer who probably isn't as strong as the killer himself," Geet replied.

Emily collapsed on the chair when the inference of Geet's statement and Maan's hypothesis fully hit her. The possibility was very vague and may be completely off the track but given the circumstances, a very small chance did exist.