The adventures of David Roy

Case #2: Revenge - A poison

It's almost 6 o'clock in the evening, and Naveen is late for home. He is doing overtime at his office. His sister, Preeti will be worried sick till he gets home, he thought. After some time, he leaves his office, goes to the parking lot using the office elevator. He gets into his car and drives away. If there's no traffic, he should be able to get home in an hour & a half. There's heavy traffic on the road, so Naveen reached the house when it is 8.30 on his wristwatch. Getting out of the car, he walked toward the front door, to find it wide open. He knows that Preeti will never leave the front door wide open, let alone in the evening. He went inside and saw Preeti lying on the floor, looking at him with bloodshot eyes. After the initial shock, he called the local police station.

Far from the crime scene, David was enjoying supper at his house with his mother & friend Dinesh. His mother Mrs. Roy said " Dinesh, can I ask you something?" Dinesh " Yes, of course, Mrs. Roy.

She " Do you know if David is dating someone?"

Dinesh, " Dating, no!? But the senior women police officers in the department do have a crush on David"

David " Thanks Dinesh for nothing. Mom, I am not dating anyone!"

Mrs. Roy " Why not? Are you gay? I have no problem with you being gay." David " No Mom, I am not gay, been very busy with work."

She " Really no one?! "

David " Really no one."

Mrs. Roy " What about Smriti?"

David " She has a boyfriend. Why don't you ask Dinesh who is he dating?"

Mrs. Roy " Who?"

Dinesh " No one. Everyone runs in the opposite direction when they hear about my profession."

Mrs. Roy laughed and decided to leave the topic. They are talking about other trivial matters when suddenly their phones rang. They answered their phone after they're finished David said " Sorry, Mom we have to go. Homicide. Bye." Mrs. Roy " We're not finished."

David " I know."

Dinesh " Thanks Mrs. Roy, for a wonderful meal."

Mrs. Roy " You're welcome." They drove together to the crime scene.

When they reached the crime scene, Smriti, Billy & Ahmed is already there. Mallick is taking the pictures. The crime scene is being processed. Dinesh immediately started checking the body and taking mental notes. David asked Dinesh " What can you tell me about the victim?"

Dinesh " The victim's name is Preeti Bhatia and she's in her early 30s. Looks like she died from poisoning but I can't be sure until the autopsy is done. There's a glass on the table, maybe the poison came from it. I'll check the glass for prints & poison. If I have to guess I would say the time of death maybe two to three hours ago. "

David " Ok let's go with your guess for now. Now it's 9.00 p.m so maybe around 6 to 8 p.m.

Dinesh " That's right."

David " No one saw anyone going in or coming out of the house? The houses are really adjacent to each other."

Ahmed " No, & there is no CCTV around here." David asked Smriti " Who' saw the victim first?"

Smriti " Her brother. There he is", she said pointing to the guy sitting on the sofa and shaking trembly.

David " Have you talked to him?"

Smriti " Yes I have. His name is Naveen Bhatia the victim's brother, they lived together. According to him, he's at the office, doing overtime when the homicide happened. Their parents are dead. Apart from them, there's their maid Veena who left for home at 5 o'clock. Her house is quite far away, so she always left for home at 5 p.m. The brother reached home at 8.30 p.m. He finds the door open, rushes inside, finds his sister like this and then calls us."