40

Next morning we were on our way to Arjun’s house. Mrs Saxena opened the door; Mr Saxena and Arjun were not at home. I showed Mrs Saxena the search warrant and she immediately called her husband. After a bit of hesitation, he allowed us to search the house, although he didn’t really have a choice. We promised Mrs Saxena that we would not ransack the house and would keep it in order. She appreciated our consideration and guided us to Arjun’s room.

“Susan, why don’t you search his computer and I will go check his cupboard and personal belongings?”

“Ok boss,” Susan agreed.

And for the next couple of hours, we systematically went through all the stuff in Arjun’s room. While his cupboard and drawers didn’t reveal anything more than clothes, games and some routine stuff, Susan was still drilling the computer to get something out. As I was about to search the last drawer, a bit dejected, I heard a loud cry of “Eureka!!” from Susan.

“Rahul, see what I found,” she exclaimed.

I rushed towards the computer and what was there on the screen shocked me to say the least. On the screen was the same suicide note that was found near Karishma’s body. It was the same – word to word.

“This letter was last saved 6 months ago, it’s about the same time the forensics have dated Karishma’s suicide letter. Tell me Rahul, what is this letter doing on Arjun’s computer?”

“I have no clue Susan, but this sure raises a lot of questions about Arjun’s involvement in Karishma’s murder.”

“Absolutely! Why has Arjun never told us about the letter? He surely would have recognized the wording of the letter from his file. The fact that he hid this major fact from us strengthens the case against him.”

“Wait a minute,” I replied, “Arjun has never seen the suicide note. It was taken by the police before he reached Karishma’s home and we never showed him the suicide note. How would he know that the wording is the same?”

“Rahul, you are just defending Arjun,” Susan seemed agitated, “Even if he didn’t see the suicide note, he planted it. He would have known.”

“No, he never visited Karishma’s house, how could he plant it?”

“May be he got it planted. And if he is the murderer, which seems a very good case, why would he tell us about the file he has in his computer. Obviously, he will hide the fact.” Susan was adamant.

“You have a point. But remember, this is a computer note, the suicide note that we found was in Karishma’s handwriting.” I argued.

“Point,” said Susan.

“And what would Arjun’s motive be?”

“These points only Arjun can answer, but before we do that, we need to search Karishma’s house once again. My sixth sense says our next clue awaits us there,” concluded Susan.

“I will get the search warrant,” I said before Susan could request and she smiled back at me.

I went back to the last drawer which I was about to search when Susan called me.

“Leave the last drawer now, we have sufficient proof,” said Susan.

“Let me finish it, I don’t leave anything unfinished, either at work or on a holiday,” I winked at Susan.

“Okay make it fast, work and holiday both,” said a winking Susan, as she made a copy of the letter in her floppy disk.

I continued my search of the drawer and not finding anything much than a bunch of papers, I was about to close it when my eyes fell on a small grocery bill which had got stuck in the side of the drawer. What attracted my attention towards it was only one word – ‘Pepsi’. Out of curiosity, I pulled out the bill and what I read there blew away my senses.

“Susan, come here, see what I found.” I showed the bill to Susan.

“Wow! This more or less nails Arjun,” said Susan. I couldn’t disagree.

The bill was from a grocery shop for delivery of six months’ worth of Pepsi to Karishma’s residence. Arjun had paid for the delivery of Pepsi cans to Karishma’s house. The poison was in Pepsi can which had resulted in Karishma’s death. This was huge circumstantial evidence. We collected the evidence and filed it carefully.

“Someone could have planted it to frame Arjun,” I said.

“Maybe, we shouldn’t count out that possibility. Rahul, I think we would have received the report of the Pepsi can in our office. We now need to check that. Let’s meet this grocer and see what he has to say about this bill.”

We thanked Mrs Saxena for her cooperation and left for office. Kishore was waiting for us when we reached the office.

“Rahul, we have some very interesting analysis from the forensics on the can,” Kishore spoke directly to me, ignoring Susan. He had learned his lesson.

“Tell me more,” I said.

“The report says that a very fine needle like substance was used to inject the chemical into the can. It was so fine, that it was impossible to see through a naked eye.”

“Interesting, what else does it say?” Susan butted in.

“It says it could have been a syringe which was pierced from the top centre where the can opener is located.” Kishore added.

“Maybe that’s why no one seemed to notice it, since it was right under the opener and since the can must have been kept upright, the Pepsi inside didn’t seem to spill as well,” I mentioned.

“Good point, Rahul. But we didn’t find the syringe, neither at Karishma’s house nor at Arjun’s house. Obviously it had been disposed off before anyone could lay their hands on it.”

“Possible, or may be its still lying somewhere in Karishma’s house. Sometimes you find things when you are looking for it,” Susan looked at me and smiled. Kishore wondered why that smile was given.

“Remind me, Kishore, whose fingerprints were found on the can?”

“Only Karishma’s,” replied Kishore.

“Isn’t it strange, Rahul? How can there be only one set of finger prints on the can?”

“It is.”

“I guess you know what I want,” said Susan.

“A search warrant to search Karishma’s house.”

“Bingo, you are learning to read me well.”

“Thanks, and I must say what I have read till now has been fascinating.” A smile was exchanged again to the further developing curiosity of Kishore.

“Kishore…” I said turning to him. “I can read you well sir, I will arrange the search warrant,” and all three of us broke out laughing.”