44
THEY EXIT AT LEVEL four, walk casually to the lobby, and hop into an open elevator, avoiding eye contact with anyone. When the elevator door opens on the ground floor, they walk hurriedly to his car. Standing by his car, Mislan smiles.
“What’s so funny?” Johan asks.
“Us, sneaking out like fugitives. Now I know what it’s like to be a wanted person.”
They laugh.
“Where to?”
“Forensics, I need to see Chew.”
In the car, Mislan calls Audi.
“Hey, you want something juicy?”
“How juicy?”
“Very juicy. But you must put it on air ASAP.”
“No promises, but if it’s juicy enough, I can try. Shoot.”
They walk up to Chew’s office, where they are told he is in the garage. Mislan asks for the video technician Nathan, and is directed to the laboratory. Nathan is reviewing a clip of a robbery in action.
“Hi, Inspector, I worked on your video from the Petronas station, but as you said, nothing much can be done about the car’s image. But all is not lost. I managed to enlarge and enhance the woman’s image enough to be identifiable,” Nathan says.
“Great. Nathan, I need you to view this video, kind of urgent. Do you mind?”
“Not at all. I’m just going over this video for a court case next week, to refresh my memory. Let’s see what you have.” He slots the compact disc into the player. “What exactly do you want me to do?”
“The cash deposit machine at 13:12, can you blow up the image of the person making the deposit?
“Let’s see.” Nathan moves the timer to 13:10, and lets the video run. “The video is quite blurry. I don’t know if I can do any better.”
“There,” Mislan says.
Nathan pauses the video, highlights the image of the machine, and punches some keys. The image zooms in on the machine and a person standing in front of it. He repeats the same with the person’s head and says, “Not a good angle.”
“Can you zoom in on the machine’s display screen?”
Nathan does so, but the reflective screen makes the wording illegible.
“OK, let’s try this,” Mislan suggests. “You rewind the video slowly and trace the person’s movement coming into the kiosk. Then play it back and see if you can get his face.”
“OK.”
Nathan runs it several times until he establishes the best image he can get and freezes the frame. “That’s the best.” He zooms in and enlarges the face. “If I enhance this, I think you can make a positive identification of him.”
“That looks good, Nathan. I need the part from when he walks in, until the moment he finishes making the deposit. Can you enlarge the face and make an insert at the top?”
“I can do better than that. I’ll circle his head walking in all through the video and pause for a moment at this part, and insert his face’s image on the top right corner here.”
“Wonderful. When can I get it?”
“Before the end of office hours, today.”
“Great. You’re the best,” Mislan says, patting Nathan’s shoulder.
They go down to the garage to find Chew and his men busy working on Hashim’s car. Mislan stops midstep and says, “Jo, can you ask Jamie if she has ever seen the suspect with a gun?”
“Why?”
“We have almost all the evidence needed to prove murder, and only two things can throw our case out the window. One is the gun: how did the killer get hold of the vic’s gun?”
“And the other?”
“The motive.”
Johan calls Jamie. His assistant rings off and shakes his head.
“Damnit,” he swears.
“Inspector, you don’t look happy,” Chew says.
He smiles. “Running low on ideas and fuel.”
“You! Never. OK, today, I’ll be your genie in a lab-coat. Make your wish and I shall grant it,” Chew jokes.
“OK, I wish to be a millionaire so I can quit this miserable job and live by the beach in the Bahamas with the woman of my dreams.”
“Not that kind of wish. I’m a forensic genie. Now, you make a wish that the car will yield conclusive evidence. Go ahead, make the wish.”
“Ok, I wish the car would yield conclusive evidence,” he says, humoring Chew.
“Your wish is my command, Master Inspector,” Chew replies. He goes through the abracadabra motions, complete with old-fashioned Arabian bowing. “Behold, Master Inspector, we found tiny traces of blood on the passenger’s door handle, armrest, and seat. By the smear patterns we’re confident that they’re transfers. They tested positive for human blood, and I sent swabs for DNA matching. How’s that, Master Inspector?”
Mislan and Johan beam.
“That’s the best news I’ve had in a long time,” he says, bear-hugging Chew. “If it weren’t against my religion, I’d kiss you,” he says. “When can I have the DNA results?”
“Earliest will be tomorrow morning. If it helps, the blood type is the same as the victims’, but that’s not something you can use as conclusive evidence, because there are millions of others with the same blood type.”
“That’s good enough for me. I bet my job the DNA will match the vics. Can I see it?”
They walk to the car. Mislan and Johan examine the door handle and the interior where tiny markings have been drawn.
“I don’t see anything,” Johan says.
“You can’t, not with your naked eye. The car has been cleaned inside out. Here, put these on,” Chew says, handing them what look like sports glasses. They put them on and Chew shines blue light at the markings. Tiny chemiluminescent blue specks appear. “We sprayed the parts of the car where we believed blood would likely to be found with a chemical called luminol. Then we shine this baby on the spots. If there’s blood, it’ll give out a blue glow just like you’re seeing now.”
“Just like CSI on TV,” Johan says.
“Some of what they show on TV is real, but some is only movie science. Maybe in a decade or two they may become real, too. In the meantime, it’s only a crime-forensic dream.”
Mislan’s phone rings. It’s Audi.
“Yes.”
“I met with him and nothing,” she says, disappointed.
“Yusuf?”
“Yes, Yusuf the tight-ass lips.”
Mislan chuckles, “Your friend’s in there, does he know Yusuf?”
“I don’t know but I don’t think it matters, his lips are tighter than a bank vault.”
“OK try and work on this. The car chase suspect is known to be connected with someone involved with the victim’s business. That’s all I can feed you. Audi, I need this aired ASAP, like tonight. I need it to be breaking news, not another story to fill in airtime.”
“Why? What’s going to happen?”
“I’ll tell you the next time we meet. And can you somehow squeeze something in about the MACC’s investigations on the vics’ business?”
“That’s old news, but I’ll try.”
“Thanks, I’ll catch you later.”