Chapter 3

"David, when are we going to get crime scene photos?" Zachary asked as he entered living room.
David and his forensic team were packing up to get back to the lab.
"I will get my team email them to you in couple of hours. It should reach you by noon." He answered
hoping Zachary wouldn't ask for anything more. He had been working with since Zachary joined as a
probationary ASP and had admired him for the skills he naturally seemed to possess. But Zachary's
thoroughness made them work longer on his crime scenes than any other police officer's.
"If there is no more evidence to collect, then can you do a luminal sweep?" Zachary asked.
"What are you getting at sir?" Daniel asked coming out of the room with Doctor Vic.
"You think she was stabbed elsewhere in the house and she was put to her bed?" Vic asked.
"It's a possibility. If there is at least one fatal or near fatal injury on her chest, then the amount of blood
on the bed doesn't add up. If she was stabbed elsewhere, then maybe we can find traces of blood and
the weapon. It's a long shot and maybe even unnecessary but even the alternate not finding any
trace of blood in the house would help us eliminate few things about the kill and the killer." Zachary
finished.
"Or the alternative can also mean that the stabbing was done post-mortem." Vic added. Zachary
nodded.
"I'll start from the only bathtub. There is a huge one in master bath; perfect place for draining", David
said understanding what Zachary was getting at. David whistled at two forensic guys who were about
to leave the house and called them back in.
"If the victim was stabbed post-mortem, then that's a classic overkill. The killer is carrying an
incredible amount of rage and people around him have noticed it." Daniel contemplated. Zachary
looked at Vic.
"Vic, was there a sexual assault on her?" Zachary asked the doctor.
"There were no visible lacerations around the genitalia during my preliminary examination. But if the
sex was consensual, then I wouldn't know at this point. I need to check for fluids", he said.
Zachary didn't say anything for moments. Daniel was checking his notes as Vic left for lab.
"There is no trace of blood anywhere else in the house; apart from victim's bed", David came back
from luminal sweep of the flat and reported.
"If there isn't anything else, can you please sign for evidence authorization?" David asked Zachary
giving him a clipboard with forms to sign. Zachary signed on them distractedly and nodded when
David and his forensic team left the crime scene leaving him and Daniel alone in the entire flat.

Once David clicked the main door behind him, a sudden silence enveloped the room.
"What do you think can be motive Daniel?" Zachary asked.
"It's hard to decide sir. Assuming that the stabbing has happened post-mortem, there is a rage in the
killer which could be resultant because of what Natasha has done to the killer in the past or is jealous
of her or is settling a score. But after committing crime, he seems to realize that it wasn't what he
really wanted. So he goes and cleans up everything, puts Natasha to bed as if she is only sleeping.
Either that or the killer watches too many Hollywood cop shows to avoid leaving any forensic evidence
to get incriminated." Daniel said sighing in the end.
"Hmm...possible." Zachary hummed and moved towards hallway.
"The killer had to come in from the front door. Either he had a set of spare keys to let himself in or
Natasha let him in." Zachary said. When he walked through crime scene building theory around the
killing, he didn't leave any probabilities out of the equation.
"Tell me what would have happened if the killer let himself in." Zachary asked Daniel to walk through
the crime.
"According to the building guard, Natasha came in at around seven in the evening meaning she was
home when the killer came in. If he let himself in, then he would have surprised her. Natasha is a fit
woman sir she wouldn't have gone down without a fight. Killer would first have to subdue her so that
neighbours aren't alerted to his presence."
"He might have threatened her? Or maybe pull out some sort of leverage which would emotionally
subdue her? He could have some blackmail material on her making her obey everything he asked her
to do." Zachary stopped Daniel and asked.
"It is possible. But if he as much went near her to attack her, she would have physically reacted.
Irrespective of the emotional leverage or a weapon in hand, we always try to save ourselves by
reacting physically to an oncoming attack. It's a natural reflex in all of us. To subdue someone, what is
the first thing a person would do?" Daniel asked. When they worked on crime scene they became
equals rather than a senior and a subordinate. Zachary didn't mind and encouraged Daniel to think
and speak freely whenever they talked about cases. One of them became devil's advocate during
crime scene analysis which always brought in wider perspective to the crime and the perpetuator.
"Catch the victim's wrists. Or hit hard with an object. But there were no markers on Natasha's body
which would indicate someone catching her wrists or bruising after being hit from a blunt object."
Zachary answered. Daniel nodded.
"The killer knew her. He knew her well enough to get her to invite inside the house and be comfortable
in his presence; comfortable enough to let her guard down." Daniel concluded.
"Maybe", Zachary said and grinned. "Maybe", Daniel echoed and smiled back.
They refused to draw conclusions from basic observations and waited till forensic evidence supported
their theory.

"Let's get an early lunch before the crime scene photos come in." Zachary said and started to walk out
of the apartment.
Daniel hummed in acknowledgement and sealed the crime scene with yellow tape.
-- About 8 PM, Police Station -Crime scene photos hadn't revealed anything outside what he had originally seen in the morning. But
the photos generally had a way of putting things in perspective, capturing things which eyes would
generally miss or don't give much importance to.
"There is nothing here in these photos Daniel. The crime scene is spick and span. Did you receive
flat's itinerary from forensics?" Zachary asked shoving photos back into the file.
"We received it Sir. Victoria has to validate it to see if anything is missing from there." Daniel said. He
looked little distracted which made Zachary peer at him.
"Is there something bothering you Daniel?" Zachary asked.
"I was checking interview transcripts of all the people in that building our department interviewed. The
security guard made an interesting comment. Here it is", Daniel finally found the document he found in
the file which he was shuffling through vigorously.
"The security guard mentioned that Victoria arrives home every weekday somewhere around eight in
the evening. However for the past couple of weeks she had been coming late once or twice a week.
She always told Natasha that she would be late because Natasha would call up the security and give
them a heads up." Daniel finished.
"So the security guards knew Natasha would be alone?" Zachary asked. Daniel merely nodded.
"Do you suspect them? If you do then what will be their motive?" Zachary asked again.
"I don't know. Well, she might have angered one of them or all three of them. They might have made a
collective effort to execute this plan. May be there did take some cash and some jewelry leaving more
than half behind. They could have taken turns to go up and kill and remove evidence. And it was after
nine in evening meaning people coming into the compound are fairly less. They could have easily
slipped out without anyone really missing them." Daniel explained.
"You don't see any flaw in that theory?" Zachary asked Daniel.
"You see one?" Daniel asked surprised.
"It's not exactly a flaw but an inconsistency. The statements from neighbours and the guards too
mention that Natasha was a no-nonsense woman. She was liked by everyone and no one in the
building, including the security guards, had any altercation with her. According to building secretary,
she never had any complaints on the building's maintenance staff. If she had any issues with the
guards, she would have lodged a complaint or at least made someone aware of it. Of course we still
haven't started checking friends, relatives, colleagues, et al but the way I see it, those three guys don't
really fit the profile of our guy. But then again, you never know. We should call those three men for an

interview", Zachary believed that everyone had something or the other to hide and while doing so they
generally compromised on the duration of the outcome of the investigation.
"I am so glad I found you guys here", Doctor Vic barged into Zachary's cabin slightly out of breath.
"You finished autopsy already?" Daniel asked, surprised.
"I finished a part of it, yes. Toxicology is going to take a while for the full shebang, but I got some basic
blood work and fluids done. Get this, I found out how she was subdued. But before that I need a glass
of water", Vic said everything in one breath and picked up water bottle on Zachary's table and emptied
in one gulp.
"The murder took place between ten and eleven. Eighteen of the twenty nine wounds are definitely
done post-mortem. Her cause of death is asphyxiation. She was asphyxiated by covering her nostrils
and mouth and she didn't fight back. And she didn't fight back because there was flunitrazepam in her
system. In large doses too." Vic said looking at Zachary.
"Flunitrazepam?" Daniel asked looking at Zachary.
"Roofies", Zachary said sighing.
"The date-rape drug?" Daniel asked.
"Yes. That's the one. It was mixed with wine and Flunitrazepam, which is marketed as a sedative, in
large amounts. I found traces of them in her stomach and esophagus. I however I don't know if she
consumed it voluntarily or someone slipped it in her drink. She would have lost consciousness
minutes after consumption losing motor skills in the process. Now she is fully subdued so asphyxiation
will not be met with any sort of resistance. That is why we never found any defensive wounds or
bruises on her."
"And when was the post-mortem mutilation performed?" Daniel asked writing down the timelines on
the whiteboard.
"Approximately after 40 minutes to 1 hr. I cannot be very sure about it at this point."
"If I consider one hour, then the mutilation would have taken place after 12 AM. After that he would
have to clean up any remaining evidence. Let's say that all those activities have taken another hour,
then he would have left the apartment at around 1 AM", Daniel said and added the information to the
board.
"That's about an hour before Victoria came home", Zachary added.
"Did killer actually know that Victoria would come late or was it a wild, wild guess?" Vic asked Daniel.
"May I enter?" A female voice asked from the other side of the door.
"Enter", Zachary said still looking at the whiteboard.

"Sir, here are the details about victim's online activity for the past two weeks, from her home computer
only." The woman handed him a file which he started thumbing through immediately.
"We haven't gotten a chance to serve warrant to telephone company to release the details on her cell
phone activity but they are going to co-operate as soon as we go in with a warrant. The victim's bank
accounts that are currently known to us are frozen and all her cards are being tracked for any
transaction." She added.
"Thanks Emily for getting this done on time", Zachary nodded at the woman who worked in cyber
crime division but was currently loaned to his department. She smiled back and walked away.
"Wait." She stopped and turned around. "Is this right?" He asked handing her a sheet.
"Yes sir. It's a printout of Natasha's Facebook page taken around three in the afternoon. Why?"
"This can't be right", he said. She looked at him blankly not following what he was talking about.
"Natasha made a status update on Facebook saying 'Till human voices wake us, and we drown' at
1:20 AM from her computer?" Zachary's voice was raised and came out mildly strong.
"Yes sir, that is correct. I crosschecked it twice." Emily said as Vic and Daniel stared at one another.
"But Natasha died between ten and eleven in the night. Two hours before the Facebook status
update." Vic said surprise evident in his tone.
"The killer updated status on Natasha's Facebook account!!??"