25

THE OFFICE IS DESERTED, and there is no sign of Syed or Jeff in the detective’s room or the general office. Johan gives them a call.

“They’re at ma’am’s house and will be back shortly,” he says as he picks up an envelope and gives it to his boss. “There’s a note in there with the time the vic’s car was at the petrol station.”

Mislan boots up his computer, slots the DVD into the drive, and drags the timer to the time indicated on the note. A woman is seen entering the station’s convenience store. The image is too small to make out her face, but the color and style of her blouse looks similar to that worn by the female victim.

“There’s the vic going into the station,” Johan says.

A few minutes pass, and the woman reappears and walks to a black Mercedes at one of the pumps. She gets into the car and the Mercedes leaves.

“That’s the car,” Johan exclaims.

“Can you make out the number?” Mislan asks.

“Too small.”

“We need to enlarge these images. It could be anybody and any Mercedes. Is this the best they’ve got?”

“I guess so, let me check with them.” Johan calls them. He tells the inspector the two detectives are already downstairs parking their bikes.

“I’m sure the woman was Zaleha.”

“It could be them, but better to be 100 percent sure. Let’s get Forensics to look at it, see if they can enlarge it and see more of her and the car.”

He calls the Forensics supervisor.

“Hello Chew, Mislan. Sorry to call you during the holidays.”

“Selamat Hari Raya. No problem, what’s up?”

“Is Nathan working? I need him to look at some CCTV recordings.”

“No, he’s not. He’ll be working on Monday. Inspector, did my fingerprint tech call you?”

“No, why?”

“You remember the prints I lifted from the car? The one on the window auto-button has a match. I told my tech to inform you.” Chew sighs, “She must have forgotten. Let me call the office, see if the tech on duty can find it. I’ll get him to call you.”

“Damn it, when did you make the match?”

“She told me late yesterday evening. Let me call the office, and Inspector, sorry for my tech’s oversight.”

“Forget it, let me know ASAP.”

He hangs up and throws his cell phone onto the desk.

“Damn, they got a match but the tech didn’t tell us.”

“What match?”

“The prints Chew lifted from the car window button-lever.”

He lights up a cigarette to calm himself down. How could the technician have ignored such an important matter?

Syed and Jeff enter the office, each carrying a plastic bag.

“What’s that?” Johan asks gesturing to the plastic bag.

“Rendang and lemang. Ma’am packed your dinner,” Detective Syed says, handing it to the detective sergeant.

“Did you guys find out how many cameras the station has?” Mislan asks.

“Four. One camera covers the station’s entrance and, one the cashier and two the pumps. We spoke to the cashiers, but no one could remember anything.”

“How about the other petrol stations?”

“We went to three others, nothing.”

His cell phone rings.

“Mislan,” he answers excitedly.

“Inspector, I’m Pathma, the Finger Print Technician. Mr. Chew asked me to call you.”

“Yes, Pathma. Do you have the print record?”

“Yes, I found it on Yasmin’s desk in an envelope addressed to you. Do you want me to send it or do you want to send someone to pick it up?”

“Can you read out the match-number? I’ll get his particulars from Records.”

Ending the call, he gives Syed a piece of paper, “Go down to Records and get me a hardcopy of this.”

“Have we hit the jackpot?” Johan is excited.

“Could be, Jo, could be,” he replies, sharing his assistant’s excitement and anticipation.

After two cigarettes and several curses from the inspector on why it is taking too long to get a copy of the record of the matched individual, Detective Syed appears at the doorway. Mislan grabs the printout and eagerly reviews it.

“Mahyudin Maidin a.k.a. Mamak Din from Janda Baik, Pahang. One previous record for assault under section 324 of the Penal Code, Serdang Report, fined RM2,500.00 with a year bond for good behavior. Last known address: 12-4, Sutramas, Persiaran Puchong Jaya Selatan, Puchong, and permanent address, 4 Desa Janda Baik. Here,” Mislan says handing the record to Johan.

“Is he the third person?” Johan asks.