Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Murder or Accident - A Detective Victor Fernandes Short Story

 


The floor was covered in a pool of blood, a sight, which would have shocked even the most fearless of humans. Clicks of photographers and the hustle of the forensics made the crime scene a busy place to be. It had been some three hours since the bullet was fired. A straight shot! Nothing less than it. Straight at the chest. The sound of the shot had alerted the neighbors and of course the other residents in the society. The dead body was down on the floor of the balcony. The dead body was that of Mr. Hiren Patel. As lifeless as one could imagine. The eye balls gave the impression of some shock or perhaps of being privy to something shocking. What intrigued the investigators was the place at which the dead body was found. A balcony, and that too of a flat that was exactly opposite to that of his own flat in the opposite building which was separated by a mere fifty feet. The flat in which the dead body was found belonged to his friend, Alex Dsouza. Of course, Alex would have been the prime suspect had it not been the manner in which the dead body was found. A bullet shot right at the chest, but the shot seemed to have come from a distance due to the impact which it made on the chest.

 It seemed Hiren was at the balcony and had been looking outside towards his own residence building when the bullet hit him. This assumption had saved Alex from getting tangled in the suspicion of the investigators. The society in which the incident took place was shocked and numbed with the incident. Such a peaceful society it was until that bullet shot was heard by many.

 Hiren Patel lived with his father, Mr. Rohan Patel and step mother, Mrs. Raksha Patel. Both were in a shock after the incident, unable to speak or react. Hiren was their only son. He had just applied for a Master of Business Administration course with one of the top-notch Management Institutes. The lead detective, the young and dynamic Victor Fernandes was in charge of the case. Though his method of investigation differed from the department’s manuals, but procedures had to be conducted and statements had to be taken. As always, his methods were straight forward and fast. Victor never liked wasting time.

 It all began with the forensics and ballistics reports. The ballistics report confirmed the characteristics of the firearm and the bullet which was found inside the body. The gun seemed to be a double barrel one based upon the bullet found and that too an ejector version. What made life difficult for Victor was of course, the fact that the type of guns mentioned in the report was hard to find in the present days. So, he made the assumption that it was evident that the gun was a collector’s edition and it would be possessed by someone in the habit of elite collections.

 The next few days were passed in examining the witnesses which were next to nil as no one had actually seen the event but had only heard the gun shot. As per majority of witnesses to the sound of the gun shot, the bullet was fired sometime around night 11.30. The question which formed in Victor's mind next was, what was Hiren doing at the Balcony at that point of time? There was no evidence of any smoking at the place where he got shot, so he wasn't smoking, he had concluded. Was he standing at the balcony and looking at his own house? Were his parents awake at that time and were lights visible from his house of residence or was Hiren expecting something to happen at that time?

 With more rounds of questioning done with the residents of other flats, it was noted that Hiren's parents were awake at that point of time and lights were visible from their house. What also baffled Victor were some statements from some of the residents of the society about the fact that things were not good between Hiren and his parents. That was the reason he was temporarily residing with his friend, Alex. There were evidences of huge fights erupting from the Patel household. This was confirmed by Hiren's parents to the investigators too.

 Some questioning with the watchman of all the buildings in the society revealed that on the same evening, Hiren had gone to his own house. Two watchmen, who had gone to meet the occupants of the flat next to Hiren's confirmed this. A geographical recce was done of the society and especially the two flats, that of Alex, the crime scene and that of Hiren’s house.

 Standing at the Balcony of the Hiren's flat which was opposite to that of Alex’s house, Victor thought that it was very simple for someone from Hiren's Balcony to shoot at Hiren. Some days later, a teenage girl who resided a floor above that of Alex told the investigators that Mr. Rohan and his wife Raksha often had big fights and often in rage, Mr. Patel would open his study cup board and take out a long gun point it towards Raksha. But he would never shoot. This was one of the reasons Hiren had left their house.

 A search was carried out at the Patel house, and after a hectic and detailed search of three hours the double barrel gun was found. It matched with that which was mentioned in the Ballistics reports. Mr. Patel and Raksha had nothing to say indeed.

 It was at this point that a revelation by Mr. Patel changed the entire scenario of the case. Mr. Patel informed that it was true that he often used the gun to frighten his wife but that would be a gun without any cartridge. He clarified that he never kept the gun loaded, and also added that no one kept such guns loaded at home

 Mr. Patel and Raksha confessed that it was that night when they had had a huge fight and like all times, Mr Patel took out the gun and threatened her, but their ill- fated destiny had other plans. In a rage, Mr Patel touched the trigger and the shot was fired, but Raksha jumped down and through the open door of the balcony, the bullet travelled out and hit Hiren. At that moment, Raksha who was down and Mr Patel who was in shock of the bullet fire, did not know that their son was hit by the same bullet who was standing on the other side balcony.

 Mr Patel and Raksha were taken into custody for Murder. But the question which baffled Victor, was that if Mr Patel was telling the truth about the unloaded gun, then who would have put the cartridge in the gun?

 The cartridge cover inside which the bullet resides, and that had fallen from the gun was recovered from the study table drawer and sent for finger print scanning.

 With a cigar in his hand and looking up into eternity, Victor thought and thought very hard.

 He opened the report and gave a smile. He had guessed it right. The Cartridge cover had Hiren’s fingerprints. Victor associated the events of that night. That evening as the two watchmen had seen Hiren going to his house, he would have taken the two cartridges from his father's bedroom cupboard and would have loaded it into the double barrel gun. His plan was simple, the gun though old, was well maintained and a delicate and a simple touch on trigger would put out the shot.

 Victor guessed that was the reason Hiren was at the balcony at Alex's flat so that he could be a witness to the murder of his step mother. And it did happen like he planned, but the only thing that he did not foresee was that the bullet would miss his stepmother and hit him instead.

 

 


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