Oversight

I stopped at a Café. I was already late, but still I had to have my breakfast. I ordered a cup of coffee and club sandwich. I took the table closest to the counter. This is actually a self-service Café, but the waiter never lets me pick up my order. I usually don’t encourage such initiatives, but when I am in a hurry in the morning with a lot of things in my mind, I usually mess things up. Today was one such day. I had to pay my electricity bills, do my laundry, and of course, my French class. I always thought French was the sweetest language to hear. ‘Bonjour’, ‘Aujourd’ hui’, ‘merci’. Just tell it aloud and they sound so good. And apart from all these tasks, I have my main job, the one that pays for my sandwich. Late! How can I be late, when I am called suddenly and told to come over immediately? That doesn’t get categorized as late. Strange thought, but it made me feel less shameful and guilty. It worked for me.

‘Jennifer, here is your coffee and your sandwich. The sandwich is extra cheesy, just as you would like it’, the waiter said.

‘Thank you Henry’, I replied. I started eating the sandwich quickly.

‘Whoa! slow down a bit. My chef takes 5 mins to prepare a good meal for you and you gobble it down in seconds’, he replied.

‘I am late’, I said.

‘He he. You always are! Work?, he asked.

‘Nope. Got to meet someone today. Once again, thank you so much Henry’, I said

‘Anything for you Jennifer’, he replied.

As I was hogging down my food, my cellphone rang. It was Stephen. Chief had asked him to drive around and pick me up at the café. He was waiting outside. I hurried up, and went outside.

‘This way. You are late! Chief sent me to pick you up’, Stephen replied.

As I got into his car, I snarled back, ‘Late? How can I be late, when I am called all of a sudden and told to come over immediately? That doesn’t get categorized as late ’

‘In our job, when everyone is at the spot. The last person in, is late!’

I couldn’t speak any more. He made perfect sense. ‘So, what is it this time?’, I asked trying to change the subject.

‘Hmm. Why don’t you guess?’, Stephen said.

‘Male?’

‘No’

‘Twentys?’

‘No. Thirtys’

‘Home?’

‘Yes’

‘Married?’

‘Hmm.. Divorced.’

‘Cases against her? Any police records of any violation?’

‘Clean as a slate’

‘Alone in house?’

‘Yes. Alone for 10 yrs’

‘Suicide?’

‘Yes. Suicide it is. She took drug over dosage’

‘Oh god! What is it with people? Why do they do it? I just can’t understand it. Why cant people just see what life has offered for them?’

‘True. But, everyone doesn’t see life they way you do’

‘I mean. What is the worst that can happen? What could be the worst problem? Life is short enough. Why make it shorter?’

‘Well. If you see in her case, her marriage failed. Husband left her 10 yrs ago. She moved to this apartment and has been living a lonely life. Not much friends. She started a new business recently but it was a total loss. Her last attempt was to adopt a child, but the request was turned down as she didn’t have a stable income. She felt depressed with her unsolvable problems’

‘No problem is unsolvable. Most of the times, the answer lies right in front of our eyes! We just don’t see it’

‘Absolutely true. Couldn’t agree more’

‘She maintains a diary?’

‘No, her neighbor told all this information. He is the only person she talks to’

‘Ok. So why am I called there?’

‘I have no idea!’, Stephen replied grinning. ‘Chief was pretty impressed by your stint during your lecture on crime scenes last week’

‘Yes. That was a good one. It was in my mind, so I said it loud’

‘But seriously, how did you even guess or find out, that there was someone in the hall who smoked pot?’

‘I could smell it. It has a very distinguishing aroma. I can’t believe how no one could smell that till then’

‘Yes, we could all realize that once you told, but till you told that, we couldn’t get that smell. I mean, after you told it was so obvious. But till then, why didn’t anyone of us get that smell?’

‘It’s because we all assume! If a shop has an orange shirt and white pant as dress code for its workers, we assume anyone who is wearing an orange shirt and white pant in that shop to be a salesperson there. We don’t care to ask or double check on a badge or something’

‘He he. Absolutely true again. Looks like you don’t see it that way.’

‘Well. You see what you see. I see what I see’.

‘Ok. Here we are. Chief is waiting right outside the apartment’, Stephen said, bringing his car to a halt.

I got down from the car. Stephen took me to him. ‘Good morning, Chief’, I said.

‘Its almost noon. I have been waiting here for the past one hour. You need to get to the spot as quickly when I call you. You can’t keep us all waiting. You understand?’, he said in a rough tone.

‘Sorry Chief. It won’t happen again’, I replied back.

‘Chief, it’s her first time. Give her some air, wont you?’, Stephen said

‘Come on’ said a voice from behind in a loud manner. ‘You got to be kidding me. Chief, tell me this is a joke. What is there to bring her to this case?’

Chief turned to me and said, ‘Jennifer, this is Hawkinson. We call him Hawk. That is because, that is what he is. He never misses anything. One of the best in the police department, I would say. And Hawk, this is Jennifer. She has been writing stories, and recently took up crime scene study. She did a lecture last week at our police headquarters’, Chief said.

‘I know who she is, Chief. I know exactly who she is. Which is why I am asking you, why did you bring her here? This is like insulting me’, Hawk said.

‘What is there to insult? This is a crime scene. I just brought her here to see if she can get a different perspective. Her observations at the lecture were indeed remarkable’, Chief said.

‘That’s exactly what I am asking you? What more of a perspective can you get from this case?’, Hawk asked.

‘Ok. Its not a perspective, alright! I just wanted to get a sense of a crime scene. She has been going through theory, so I thought this will be a good experience for her’, Chief said. ‘Be a sport will you?’

‘Fine! It’s just a waste of time. But, that’s ok! I thought I will finish off this case, and go spend my time on the theft case’, said Hawk.

‘We can do that. No hurry. Let her just get a feel of the crime scene. Then we will close this case, and move on, ok? Now just show her around, will you?’, replied Chief.

‘Ok. This way Ms Jennifer’, said Hawk.

Hawk led me to the building. ‘The building has two floors, with two apartments facing each other on each floor. The apartment which we cross now is that of the neighbor who called 911 after sensing something wrong. As we walked inside the apartment, Hawk said, ‘Watch your step’

I just smiled.

‘So, here you are. See all what you want’, Hawk said.

‘Come on. Don’t be a pain now. Just explain to her’, Chief said.

‘Fine. Hello Ms Jennifer. This is the crime scene. Or rather in this case, the suicide scene. The deceased person, is Anne Maria, and she is 35 yrs old. She got married 10 yrs back. Got divorced. She has been running into problems lately. And in heights of depression, she had taken a strong dosage of anti depressant drugs. She is not prescribed on this. She must have got it from the black market. She mixed it with coffee and had it. She was found dead on the sofa to the right of you. The cable network person, kept ringing the bell and called the neighbor who lives in the opposite apartment. The neighbor, said he hadn’t seen her from yesterday, so asked the cable guy, if she was out. The cable guy noted that her car was parked outside. So, they peeked through the windows and saw her on the sofa. He kept calling out to her, but she didn’t reply. So they called 911. This is the story so far. Now let me know if there is anything you need’

I knew this is where they expected me to ask something. But I did not. I had not studied the crime scene yet. So, I kept silence and focused myself a bit. I just walked around the room a little, trying to gather as much information as I could. As I kept silence, the other police officers in the room, stopped what they are doing and they started forming a circle around me.

‘Well?? Any question?’, Hawk asked.

‘I think this is murder’, I said.

‘What?’, Hawk exclaimed

‘Murder? Sounds interesting. Go on’, said the chief.

‘Go on? Chief. This is a clear suicide case. There cannot be anything more apparent than this.’, Hawk interrupted.

‘I am just guessing. I cannot say for sure’, I replied.

‘That’s ok. Just tell what is in your mind’, Chief replied.

‘Yeah. Tell me. What is it that you see that I don’t see? What is it that you see that the ten police officers in this room do not see. I am really curious. Tell me’, Hawk shouted back.

‘Ok.’, I said. ‘For starters, the coffee. It’s giving a strong decoction aroma. It’s kind of fresh. There should be more. Then, there is smell of garlic, onion near the kitchen. More than that, there is a good strong gravy smell in the kitchen.’

‘Uh. Ok. There is coffee still in the coffee brewing machine. What does that imply?’, said Hawk

‘How much?’

‘A little above half the container’, Hawk replied

‘There are some vegetables, garlic and onion in the dustbin here in the kitchen’, one of the policemen said.

‘Anything in the fridge?’, I asked.

‘There is some chicken dipped in a gravy sauce. It is just mixed and kept. Its about to be fried I guess’, said Hawk.

‘Isn’t it giving you a doubt at least? That this might not be a normal suicide scenario? Here you have a person, who wants to commit suicide, but has kept coffee for a full container, when she wants to drink just one last cup of coffee and end her life? And if she is planning to commit suicide, why is she taking so much pain to cook an above average lunch? If there is chicken and gravy mixed together, and is meant to be fried, then the garlic and the onions and other vegetables are meant to be used for that. But, if they are going to be present in the dustbin, it could be because, someone else pushed it inside the dustbin, as they didn’t want the police to get any clue’, I said

‘Then why not pour the coffee decoction down the drain?’, Hawk questioned.

‘In most cases, any murderer will try to wash his hands in the wash basin, so that will be one of the places police might look, for any hair or blood samples of the murderer. So, in case, they try and if they find a whole lot of decoction down the drain, it might lead to more doubt. Hence, the murderer must have left it as it is’

‘Anything else?’, Chief asked.

‘I am also getting a distinctive smell of clothes detergent powder’, I said

‘Yup. She’s right. There are a set of clothes put into the washing machine, and it has been washed’, a policeman said.

‘Hmm.. same concept, right? Why would anyone go through the trouble of cleaning clothes if she wanted to end her life?’, said Stephen

Everyone started murmuring in the room. I must have set a whole new thought process for the team here.

‘Flowers. Definitely new flowers got in today’, I said. ‘some cleaning chemical smell, near the kitchen’

‘She’s got that right. The flowers are fresh. And she has been cleaning the utensils’, Chief said.

Everyone started sniffing something or the other in the room, trying to find clues.

‘Why did the murderer not get rid of the chicken?’, Hawk blurted out.

‘Its because, the murderer would have never known it existed as it was in the fridge’, snapped Stephen.

‘So.. It looks like Anne Marie had been living a perfectly normal everyday life, with absolutely no intention of suicide on this very morning. I am impressed.’ Hawk said. I could hear him tell that with a smile. ‘You are able to see a whole new angle to this case. I truly am impressed. I am convinced now that it is a murder.’

‘Yes Jennifer. It’s a pretty good analysis’, said the Chief.

‘You have been able to find out so much. Can you find out something about the murderer?’, Hawk asked. This wasn’t another mockery question from Hawk. This was asked genuinely and with complete curiosity.

‘D Channel ladies perfume, room spray and burnt wood, I said.

‘D Channel ladies perfume I get it, but there is no burnt wood smell here’, Hawk replied in a jiffy.

‘Yes, he is right. There is no burnt wood smell here. The fireplace here is not used. And this is the hot summer, why would anyone use the fireplace?’, Stephen questioned.

‘I agree with Stephen, Jennifer. Where did you get that smell’, Chief asked.

‘D Channel perfume here in this room. D Channel perfume, room spray and burnt wood, from the neighbor’s apartment, when we crossed it to reach here’, I said.

Everyone kept silent.

‘From the beginning we have been hearing that Anne was depressed only through the neighbor. Maybe she wasn’t depressed at all. He had told the cable guy that he didn’t see her from yesterday, but, if her perfume was in his apartment, then she must have visited him today. Maybe he wanted to destroy some evidence, so he burnt it in his fireplace.’ Stephen said.

‘Possible. And that he used the room spray to either cover up the burnt wood smell or the perfume’, Hawk said.

‘Get the neighbor to the police station for questioning’, Chief told.

A few policemen, went out and knocked at his door.

‘You better go home now. I will get back to you later. You have done a great job. Now, I don’t want any problem for you when we pick up this guy for questioning’, Chief said. ‘Stephen, can you drop her at her home?’

‘Thank you Chief. But I prefer not to. I can find my way back. I know this place quite well. If someone could just help me get to the bus stand, that would be great.’

‘Chief. Can I direct her till the bus stand and come back?’, Hawk asked.

‘Why not. Thank you Hawk’, Chief said, happy with Hawk’s sudden change in attitude.

 We walked out of the apartment. I could hear the voices of policemen telling the neighbor, that they wanted him at the station for questioning.

We walked a few steps from the building, and Hawk spoke ‘That was really impressive. I was actually frustrated at first when they got you to the crime scene, as I thought it was an insult to me and my analysis. But, looks like we are no match for your skills. Especially this being your first visit to a crime scene’

‘Nothing like that. I guess I was just lucky’

‘But. How can you observe so much? How can you see so much? How can you see what we don’t? .. I mean .. you are .. ’

‘Blind? That’s exactly why I am able to see so much. Because when you see, you assume so much and form a picture. You fail to see what is behind that picture. But, for me, everything that you don’t see is what I see, so that forms my picture. Most of the times, the answer lies right in front of our eyes. We just don’t see it’