Seven Sisters and Seven Marks

Unnecessary Details

Damar took out a small notebook and noted it, "Then, when was the last time you met Ara?"

"A month ago."

"Was there something strange about her?"

"No."

"Did she has a lover?"

"No. She was too busy with her work."

"What did she say the last time you met her?"

"She just told me about her work. She was writing an article about criminals, but she didn't tell it clearly."

Tala gulped. Her body had started to shiver. Her heart felt empty and her mind was confused. "Have you interviewed my sisters?"

"Yes," Damar answered modestly. He shouldn’t tell a deeper story.

"Why did you conclude she hanged herself? What is the police currently finding at the crime scene?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you more, Miss. We try our best to uncover this case." Damar asked the question again, "Did all of your sisters come along the last time you met Miss Ara?"

Tala nodded, "Except Rona, as I said before. The first year after we left the orphanage, we were still in touch. But then, she just disappeared after saying that she wanted to find a job."

"Did she mention the work?"

"No."

"Are there any problems between you and her?"

"No. We're okay."

"But you don't even keep in touch with her."

"She chose to disappear. What can I do? I sent a letter that was never answered."

Damar just nodded his head.

"Where were you at two to three in the early morning?"

"Of course, I slept. Then, you want to ask who saw me sleep? Silly question. Of course no one. Only God knows."

Damar wanted to laugh, but he held back because that would be disrespectful. He glanced at the incision on Tala's left hand. "Do all of your sisters have incision like that?"

Tala nodded. “This is a symbol of number in Sanskrit. I got number seven. It has no meaning. It's just marked to show that we have lived in the same damned place. Ah, truly hell for children.”

Damar had heard the oblique news about the orphanage that had been closed. The children of the orphanage were psychologically, physically, and sexually tortured.

He stared deeply into her eyes. She once lived in that place.

"Are you still in touch with other's orphanage children?" Asked him.

"No. Only seven of us. The seven of us were the oldest girls in there," she answered.

"Absolutely never?"

Tala nodded surely. "Some people took them away to be adopted, except us."

"Why?"

"Don't ask me. I also do not know."

Damar nodded and wrote all the information Tala had given him in great details.

"Does Miss Ara like bread?" He asked suddenly after taking notes.

"What are you asking for?"

"Please answer it, Miss."

Tala sighed, "This morning."

"What is your favorite bread flavour that you often eat?"

"Seriously? Please give me some serious questions!"

"That's a serious question."

"Sounds like a joke."

"Just answer it, Miss." Damar just smiled. Tala couldn't define that smile.

"White bread. Are there any other joke questions?"

"That's it, I'll see you again. Thank you very much for your time," Damar was just about to stand up, but Tala held him back.

"Wait a minute. What did you find at Ara's house? Please tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone. At least for me, I believe that Ara didn’t kill herself."

"Just follow your instinct, Miss."

"Please, I’ll feel very guilty if Ara did kill herself." Tala held the back of Damar's shirt stronger and kept pressing him.

Damar tried to pull his shirt from Tala's hand. He accidentally touched Tala's hand. Tala looked shocked and reflexively pulled her hand.

He sighed, "Sorry, I can't tell you. We'll let you know later. And, sorry to touch you, Miss."

"At least, tell me about Ara's conditions." Even though Tala was shocked, she still urged Damar.

Damar sighed, "Hanged in Ms. Rona's room as I said before."

Tala caught other things hidden by Damar. "What else? I know you are hiding something."

"Hanged with her left hand cut off," Damar surrendered.

Tala was utterly shocked. Damar finally managed to release Tala's hand from his shirt. "See you again, Miss. Nice to meet you."

Damar ran in the rain, letting his body get soaked. He must hurry to do other things and meet Detective Radhika to provide a report. Meanwhile, Tala was still frozen in place, trying to digest Detective Damar's words just now. This is murder, Ara will not do anything as crazy as that alone, she thought. Any human will never do it unless they are insane. Tala did not know that Ara had been taking anti-depressants for almost a month and the intensity had increased over the past week before her death.

"Tala." Someone touched Tala's shoulder. Tala turned and found Mrs. Tiwi's face there. Her mouth mumbled silently and said, "There's a call for you from Ms. Fulmala Rosa Merona. She said you have to meet her at ten this morning at Cafe Gumira."

***

A few hours before Detective Damar met Tala.

Detective Damar stood beside a short, stubby, bald man who was almost fifty years old. His skin was brown with sunburn. People called him Detective Radhika Singgih. He was a senior detective. He analyzed the corpse of Arawinda Biru which was still hanging. Some forensic personnel was busy photographing all corners of the room, bloodstains, evidence, and Arawinda Biru's body. The things that made Detective Radhika and Detective Damar suspicious was Ara's hand being cut off. Was it true that Ara could do such crazy things to cut her own hand and hang herself?

Damar notes whatever he saw, the overturned chair beneath Ara's body, blood flooded the floor and chairs, saw with blood, the box containing the left human hand. Detective Radhika then looked at Ara's feet. "What can you conclude, Damar?" He asked Damar.

"The noose knot, the distance of the feet from the floor and the height of the chair are close enough, and her tongue stretched out." Damar still analyzed, "But, the soles of her feet are clean and no footwear was found. Was she carried by someone? Did someone make her as if suicide? Or is there someone who asked her to kill herself? I think, maybe she was killed."

"So you don't think it's suicide? But, there is no sign of violence. Even on her wrist, there is no trace of the rope to tie her to the chair if she was indeed killed and her hand was cut by someone else," Radhika explained with a flat face.

Damar nodded, "Drugged?"

"Let's see the results of fingerprints and autopsies."

Damar nodded.

"Anything else?"

Damar paid attention to the floor. The former brownish liquid was seen flooding the upside down chair. "He cut Ara's hand when she was sitting in a chair because blood spilled a lot on the chair, while the pattern is just a droplet on the floor, although it's still a lot. So, her hand wasn't cut in a lying position." Damar slowly opened the shirt that covered Arawinda Biru's body and looked at the woman's abdomen, "There are no bond marks on her stomach either. It's weird," Damar frowned.

Detective Radhika smiles sideways, "You should conclude after seeing everything. Now you still think that she was killed?" Asked Detective Radhika. "Look at the skirt of her shirt. Blood spills widened. I think it's because her hand fell into her lap. Look! Her right hand was full of blood. You can see blood spots from here to the door. That means she put her hand in the box, then put the box outside the door. You can see the inner door handle with the form of bloody fingerprints. Then you can see the box, there are two bloody fingerprints. The thumb and forefinger on the front of the box. Let's see who owned the fingerprint. I'll bet this woman owned it."

"The hand should not fall into his lap. If it is true that she cut her own hand, her hand should fall to the floor, not to her lap. She was in extreme pain, so she must cut her hand with the position on the side of her body and let it fall to the floor, then pick it up and put it in the box," said Damar.

"And it is strange that she was still trying to be careful littering the box with her fingers because there are only two blood circles in the size of her thumb and forefinger there. There should be blood in the shape of her palm."

"You're right about that, Damar." Radhika smiled at a glance, "But we need to check her psychology record too. I got news from the forensic team that they found a bottle of anti-depressant that was almost empty in this woman's toilet." Detective Radhika took off his rubber gloves. "Now, what if you ask a few questions for the drunk women there before going to this woman's house?"

Damar obeyed and just nodded. There was still something that stuck in his heart. His instinct continued to say that this is not a suicide case. This case was indeed very strange.

***

The walls of the kitchen room at Ara's house were full of the words "Sisters Forever" colored with red like blood. But it wasn't blood. It was a red wall paint. Detective Damar approached and smelled a distinctive scent of paint. Underneath, a lantern stood with a blackened wick. After that, he wrote what he saw on the note, then moved next to Detective Radhika who stepped into the window, seeing the same writing in red. The faucet in the sink still wasn’t turned off. Nobody touched the crime scene at all until Detective Radhika came and checked it.

Detective Radhika's hand, which was layered in a glove, touched the paintbrush with the bristle hardened, half dry and red. The paintbrush just laid beside the paint can. After inspecting everything, he asked the forensic team to start taking evidence to check fingerprints, especially fingerprints on the faucet.

Detective Damar actually checked out two Ara's trash bins located not far from the sink. The trash bins were very full. The owner seemed reluctant to throw the garbage away from home. Damar put his hand in the first trash bin containing instant noodle wraps and spices wraps. Damar noticed the pieces on the wraps. In the second trash bin, which was smaller than the previous trash bin, specifically contained the eggshells. He counted the wrap of instant noodles, then he found a wrap of bread. He tasted the rest of breadcrumbs in the wrapper. He wrote it in his notebook. Everyone looked at him weirdly. Detective Radhika just realized it, then linked his eyebrows.

"I can buy you bread if you want," Detective Radhika said. Other personnel who were there, held back their laughter. Damar didn't really care about it. He just stood up after putting the pack of instant noodles back and counting them. He opened a food storage cabinet. There were still a few packets of instant noodles and a few eggs. He opened the fridge, the contents were only a bottle of water. Above the fridge, laid the clean scissors. He wrote all the simple things in his notes.

Damar followed Detective Radhika who walked towards Ara's room. They walked through every corner of the room. This room felt stuffy with the windows tightly closed and curtains that block the incoming sunlight. The musty smell wafted up to the nose. Bed cover looked messy. The work desk looked dirty with scattered papers. They read the papers. "She wrote an article about Rumi, the biggest fugitive drug smuggler in the city," Detective Radhika said, “Look, this is the symbol of their group.” Radhika showed a circle symbol and inside was a cobra of which the face appeared from the front and its mouth opened wide, then came out a crown of black orchid from the cobra's mouth. Damar nodded his head while writing it down in the note.

They stepped towards the nightstand. Damar noticed the matchbox that was opened and left lying just like that. There were several matches scattered. Damar didn't stop taking notes for whatever details he was seeing. Radhika opened the nightstand. There was a small notebook. He opened it at a glance. It contained the telephone numbers until he opened the last page of the notebook and found another note.

Someone keeps watching me. Even when at home, I always feel someone is bothering me. I want to die.

Radhika sighed, then he went to the toilet, while Damar was still in the room. His eyes explored all corners of the room while thinking.

"Damar, come here and see this." Detective Radhika gave a bottle of anti-depressant and sleeping pills that were about to run out. "Can you see this? We will interview her psychiatrist," Detective Radhika said. "Have you got any information about her close friends and office friends too?"

"Yes, sir."

"What about now? Do you still think that she was killed? Especially after seeing this medicine?"

"Um, yes, sir," answered Damar doubtfully. "But, this case is very strange."

"We don't need to think too much about it, especially if the autopsy results and fingerprints have come out. Then, why are you still thinking that she was killed? Because of that note? She could be hallucinating due to taking too much anti-depressant and sleeping pills." Radhika tried to test Damar's analysis.

Damar shook his head, "Wrap bread, wrap instant noodles, clean scissors, scattered matches. There are ten packs of instant noodles, which means it's possible for a week, even though she eat irregularly, she always consumed instant noodles. But, strangely enough, there is a chocolate bread wrapper there and when I tasted it, the bread was still fresh. I even checked the contents of the fridge and the food storage cabinet, there was no other stock of bread. It feels strange if she really confined herself in the house and preparing a packet of bread, she should have more stock. This means the possibility, she really didn't intend to consume bread during this week. In addition, I found clean scissors like almost never used above the refrigerator. What is it for?

“Meanwhile, the whole instant noodles wraps and spices wraps were manually torn. Then, some matches that were strewn to death and the lanterns proved that this house had experienced a power outage. Ara was so frightened that she constantly failed to light a match. I still don't know if it is possible that there has been a power outage several times in this complex for a week. If it is true, this match makes sense, but if it's not, then there was something that happened.”

Detective Radhika raised his left eyebrow, "So, what's the conclusion?"

"First, there was someone else in this house before Ara's death. He ate bread, maybe while waiting for time. Second, the scissors are a tool for Ara's personal protection from someone. Third, Ara was very frightened when she lit a match, maybe she knew that there were other people in this house, but I don't think it was just an illusion because of the bread wrap."

Detective Radhika laughed, "So you want to bring a bread wrap as evidence? Do you want to be said like a crazy man? That's too weak for being evidence. I believe more in the results of the autopsy and fingerprints." Radhika patted Damar's shoulder, "It's okay, you still need a lot of learning. In the police, evidence like this will not mean anything."

Detective Radhika's pager suddenly rang, he moved away for a while. Soon after he returned, he said, "Damar, can you take part in interviewing people close to this woman to strengthen the evidence? I trust you. I have to go for a while. We meet again at ten a.m."

Damar glanced at his watch as he sighed softly, it was still at six o'clock in the morning, "Ok, Sir," he said a little excited.

Damar might had strange thoughts, but he cared about the details that were captured unnecessarily.

***