Chapter 81

This meant that the killer already knew the family. Or perhaps the killer understood this after he entered the house and saw Ankur. Either way, Sumit was making progress.

Sumit went to the main bedroom and found a few drawers open. Inside was a stack of files. One was unlabelled, but otherwise appeared like all the other files. He opened it nonetheless. All it contained were a few unimportant papers pertaining to Sneha's school. The other drawers were filled with common household items like rings and bangles. Nothing valuable. Nothing important. Nothing worth murdering for.

He went back to see Mala's body. He admired her taste in jewellery. She wore a white gold ring covered in diamonds and matching bangles. So the killer's intention was not to rob them. It was something else…

"Get the sniffer dogs over here right away," Sumit commanded one of the lower ranking officers.

While he waited for them, he continued to search for more evidence to help him find a lead. He went back to the bedroom, but still found nothing.

When the sniffer dogs arrived, they immediately picked up a smell, and ran outside the complex, only to trace circles around it. A team searched for the weapon around the house and the complex, but they returned empty handed.

The murder was a mystery. Who would murder Mala? She was a polite. She had no enemies. Everybody liked her. She was always kind and sweet and had the sort of face that would put anyone at ease. Who could look into her sweet brown eyes and pull the trigger?

As his preliminary investigation came to an end, Sumit went to the parking garage. There were few cars parked there. He noticed a fine layer of dust on a black car parked in the far corner. He went back to Raj's parking spot. There were fresh black tyre marks, as if a car had skidded on its way out. As if someone left in a hurry.

But Raj had only parked his car an hour back.

The weather was not friendly that evening. Wild winds had already started, meaning there would soon be heavy rains. Sumit ran back to his car and said, "Take me back to the station," to his driver.

The clouds couldn't handle the burden of the water in their cradle any longer and began to cry. Sumit could see nothing through the downpour. "Pull over and wait for the rain to pass," he told his driver. The driver pulled back into the parking lot and they felt the rain rock the car. After a few minutes, they took refuge in the manager's office below.

Sumit took this opportunity to talk to the manager.

"Did you see anyone come in the building today? Do you maintain any register?"

The manager shook his head, "Sorry sir, I didn't see anyone. I went to get the handyman to repair some leaky pipes in flat 42. We don't really keep a register. With so many families staying here, how can we manage everyone's details?

"It was really unfortunate what happened to Malaji. She was a very nice woman. She never had any arguments with any of the other tenants. She spent all her time with her son and never even got frustrated. I can't imagine what kind of person could have done it," he added.