Predator (19 page)

He knew he had Inspector Khan’s full attention. ‘Sir, over and above the animated cartoon sex, CDs of bondage, sadomasochism and bestiality, the larger analysis is very disturbing. These are not just porn videos bought from the market; they are all homemade. If you zoom through, the background in every video is a buttery, stacked with wine casks stacked neatly on top of each other in the far end of the corner on one wall.’

Inspector Khan clenched his fists and hissed, ‘Bloody, sick bastards! Tell me more, Dr Raman.’

Raman continued with considerably more confidence, ‘Sir, alarmingly, every video has the same camera angle. Either the accused are unaware of its existence or they’re all professional porn stars. The same applies to over 50 per cent of the images. Sadly, we have been able to identify every single victim. Monica was there, the Swedish tourist was there, and about twenty-five different women who disappeared are all there. But it’s the gruesome end that made me vomit five times … ’

‘That’s OK, you cannot be pregnant, Dr Raman … but have you been able to identify the rapists as well in the video clippings?’ mocked Inspector Khan.

‘Since the faces of all the accused are painted or their backs are towards the camera, I can only guess, sir. However, from the forensic database, they are most likely to be Jonathan Jones, Christopher Jones and Ram Singh. The fourth one remains inconclusive.’

‘Whatever! I know it is that scum DJ Prince,’ snarled Khan. ‘Last one: do you have any clues on Grace?’

He did not have Raman’s simple approach to life. He had held the decayed corpse of his beloved little girl and had grown biased to put it mildly. Fuck law and screw reason, he was alive for revenge. His sole purpose of existence, albeit as a living corpse, was to hunt down Celina’s killers. Grace could very well be Celina. Therefore Grace had to live. This was his one and only chance. If the culprits were to escape the law this time, there would be no stopping them and the social disease would turn into a perpetuating contagion.

‘Is Grace alive?’ asked Doc.

‘Unfortunately, yes. There is a video of her. Again the painted faces, and, as tomorrow is going to be the fifth day following her disappearance, I’m afraid to even to guess what is on their agenda … ’ said Dr Raman, suddenly going green.

Inspector Khan tried to speak. Doc patted his hand reassuringly and said, ‘Tell us, Raman, we need to know. We need to save Grace!’

‘They … they are going to gang rape her again, pump her up with semen till she loses consciousness, Doctor … those beasts will spare no orifice … and then Joe or Chris will slit her throat with a surgical blade. Ram Singh will dump her in the bath tub in the corner and cover her with grapes and watch her bleed to death … ’ said Dr Raman. Then he clamped his hands over his mouth and rushed retching to the loo.

‘Celina’s long gone, Khan. Focus. Can you save a life?’ asked Doc Pinto, when Raman returned looking pale and sheepish.

Inspector Khan slammed out of the office. It was pitch dark and deathly quiet outside the cyber cell. He cursed himself for failing to nail Celina’s killers for so long.

‘Bastards!’ muttered Inspector Khan.

Inspector Khan looked at the night sky and saw a lone star sparkle bright. The storm that had begun to brew earlier that night had changed its mind and had moved on. He thought of Celina again, and it strengthened his resolve to rescue Grace before it was too late.

‘Glad he’s out, Doc’, whispered Raman hurriedly. ‘I’ve got to tell you something. Don’t tell that mad man right now. Grace is alive. She is in the vineyard somewhere. Also, I’ve seen pictures of Celina. I’ve seen what they did to her … don’t tell Inspector Khan. It made me puke my guts out. Sick bastards!! One more thing, Joe strangled his wife and then slit her throat. There is a picture of him with a look in his eyes. Joe is the devil incarnate. Do something, anything, just stop him!’

To Doc’s horror, young Raman covered his face and burst into tears.

‘Quit dawdling, and hop to it, Pinto? We have a life to save!’ barked Inspector Khan from the door. Doc Pinto meekly followed him out and climbed into the jeep. Inspector Khan drove like a maniac. ‘We’ve got less than an hour left before you can do your vampire act with those bastards’.

Doc Pinto hung on for dear life and said nothing. He could empathise with Khan’s feelings at the moment. Raman’s disclosures had him thirsting for revenge as well.

The wind had gentled and fallen silent as a faint glimmering of daybreak appeared in the horizon. The jeep roared in a race against time.

Cop Hunch and Hate

In front of the police station, Inspector Khan turned off the engine and said, ‘Another hour, and we have all our ducks in a row, Dr Pinto. I know that Grace is alive and in the vineyard, we simply cannot afford to mess up with her rescue.’

Doc wondered why Inspector Khan was delaying sending a search party to the vineyard right away to search the area. Every minute counted now. However, he opted to keep his own counsel, and followed Khan into the building.

‘Good morning, Inspector Khan. Nice to see you, Dr Pinto, it’s been a while,’ said Officer Pandey and ushered them into the conference room. ‘Can I get you some coffee?’

‘Skip it. What can you tell me?’ said Inspector Khan, slamming the door shut behind him. Experience had taught him not to trust everyone in uniform. Joe was a rich man after all. He had moles everywhere; probably that was the reason why he was still at large.

Pandey had joined the force along with Inspector Khan twenty-five years ago. The grey around his temples gave him an air of distinction. Lean and athletic, he seemed all set for a morning run after the meeting and was dressed in a tracksuit. His sharp eyes and well-defined jawline made him look younger than most men of his age. Like Inspector Khan, his energy levels were much higher than most men half his age.

‘Khan, you’ve got to know this. We’ve not managed to complete our research on the evidence. We’ve been busy with the Monica and the Swedish tourist cases. Both the murders are connected. So is Grace’s disappearance. I must warn you that you have just a few hours left to rescue Grace,’ said Officer Pandey softly, aware that the walls had ears.

‘Tell me something I don’t know, Pandey’, said Inspector Khan, impatiently. ‘What about the clues from Grace’s house?’

Officer Pandey leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with excitement, ‘Oh yes! Invariably everybody leaves impressions behind of every movement one makes, whether on foot or in a vehicle. We have been able to get the shoe impressions, footprints and foot impressions from Grace’s house the day she was abducted. This impression caused by physical contact is considered valid in the court.’

‘Whose is it, Pandey?’ asked Inspector Khan.

‘That’s the problem, Khan – it belongs to none of the suspects you name. Of course, the footprints in the house belong to Grace, but the shoe impressions from the floor tell me that the abductor was not one of your four suspects. From what we can tell by the crime reconstruction, it seems like she was in the shower when the doorbell rang. She knew the person, so she let him in. We have conclusive evidence from the cell phone providers that Joe, Chris, Ram Singh and Prince weren’t anywhere in the vicinity of Grace’s neighbourhood … ’ said Officer Pandey, and Inspector Khan’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

Doc Pinto, who had been listening intently, spoke, ‘Pandey, I can understand if a shoe impression does not bear any unique mark or pattern that you could compare against the culprits, as it will only be considered as a class evidence – in other words, not conclusive enough to make an arrest. But does the forensic footwear evidence show any sign of shoe defects or a particular gait anomaly of the abductor?’

Officer Pandey thought for a minute before he replied, ‘Dr Pinto, I know you’re an expert, but, trust me, we’ve used artificial light to recover the latent impressions from the crime scene – Grace’s living room. We recovered them with gelatine and adhesive lifters to get a two-dimensional form.’

‘And your conclusion is?’ prompted Doc leaning back in his chair.

‘These prints do not match up with any of those on the list of likely suspects. We have generated their foot impressions from Monica’s case a few days ago. We’ve done extensive insole imprints and footwear trace after having studied the body hair, fibres, skin, bodily fluids and soil traces. You, Doctor, are helping Inspector Khan analyse the DNA samples while the Cellphone Service Providers have helped us pinpoint the geo-location. We have drawn a blank here.’

‘As Grace was taken from her house, we have had to contend with a hard floor. Initially, we figured that footprints would be all over the house. But the abductor attempted to wipe the floor clean. So we sprinkled fingerprint dusting powder and used electrostatic charges to create a visual image of the impression. Trust me, we have all the latest equipment here in this small town in India,’ said Officer Pandey.

‘True, this spate of gruesome crimes has been under the scanner for many years now, and, thanks to Inspector Khan we have been provided budgets from the Centre to afford them’, said Doc, smiling at Khan.

‘Then help me stop the madness! Do you have any conclusions from where they found Chris’s wallet? Or where they found the drug pill? Please don’t tell me the suspects are innocent!’ said Inspector Khan, scowling.

Officer Pandey was telling him everything he didn’t want to hear. He felt as if he were leading him into a wild goose chase.

‘No, not innocent, Khan, but they will beat you in the court when it comes to forensic evidence, if you get what I mean. Anyway, we did find Chris’s footprints near the place where they found the pill. But that doesn’t make him the actual kidnapper. He could have dropped the pill a week ago and it may not be relevant to this case.’

‘Damn it! I need the drug examined. Everybody’s been telling me it’s ecstasy – the party pill. What if it is something else? Do what I say, Pandey!’ snarled Inspector Khan, slamming his fist on the table.

Officer Pandey shrugged and threw up his hands in exasperation, ‘Fine, I’ll do it for you, Khan, but, I’ll need time.’

‘Good. If not for rape and abduction, I’ll toss him in the slammer for his rave parties. What about the place where they say his wallet was found? Any tyre marks or footprints?’ Inspector Khan was now getting irritated.

‘Yes, just like footprints, tyre marks are indelible. We found skid marks near the road but no footprints. We did a close examination of Chris’s SUV and Joe’s car, and worked backwards. We know the make and the year by the amount of wear and tear caused on the tyres, and a unique set of characteristics. Yes, the marks belong to an SUV; but the tyres are more than three years old. The tread is damaged due to overuse on gravel, nails and dirt patches. Neither Joe nor Chris drive the same vehicle for more than a year. Also, I can tell you that the SUV has wheel alignment problems,’ said Officer Pandey, expecting yet another unpleasant outburst from Inspector Khan.

‘Look, buddy, I know this much. No used tyres can be alike thanks to the wear and tear. They’re like fingerprints and they are unique. Just find me the owner of the damn SUV when you are done with your research,’ said Inspector Khan. Pandey seemed to have absolved the suspects on his list at every turn, and Khan’s suspicious mind was beginning to have serious doubts about him.

As they rose to leave the conference room, as though reading Inspector Khan’s mind, Officer Pandey spoke, ‘Just in case you’re wondering if I’m on Joe’s payroll, Khan, here’s a piece of good news. We found a lot of bite marks on Monica’s corpse. The dentist has confirmed it is a human bite. Having the swab test done for DNA, Doc Pinto will have the final results today. They belong to Prince and Ram Singh. Nail the bastards. Happy?’ said Officer Pandey as he warmly shook Inspector Khan’s hand.

Gotcha! It confirmed Inspector Khan’s suspicions. He now knew he was dealing with a double-edged sword. Pandey played on both sides. His loyalties lay where the money was.

Pandey continued, ‘Also, there was a clean cut on Monica’s neck and she was bled to death after five days of repeated violent gang rape. We have evidence that the cut was done with a surgical blade. Chris is a cocaine sniffer. He uses those blades and he’s no surgeon. Confiscate a few blades from Chris and I’ll help you nab him. I’m sorry, but we don’t have anything on Joe yet that would stand up in court.’

Inspector Khan needed help from people unrelated to the case. He moved away from Doc’s earshot, fished out his phone and made a call.

He needed people whom he could trust. Inspector Khan decided to bend the rules a bit to fit into the new age paradigm. There were times when gut instincts and intuitions proved invaluable. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in the system; but the jaded people within had corroded it. Young blood was more idealistic.

A still sleepy voice answered, and Inspector Khan said, ‘Chief, I need you to line up your three friends and do me a favour. Keep this highly confidential. I’ll be there in a couple of hours. We’re going to rescue Grace. I’ll need you guys!’

Khan cut the call and his phone rang. It was from Salmonella, ‘Inspector, I have a blip on my radar. I’m getting a very weak signal from Grace’s missing Smartphone, the one the Predator took from her. It’s from my Dad’s vineyard. Can you quickly get your team over there now? I’m sure Grace is alive!’

Inspector Khan glanced back to see Doc on the phone, talking to someone. ‘Quick! We’ve got your four turkeys, Pinto, let’s go,’ he secretly hoped that Doc had nothing to do with this. He was probably his only friend.

Doc just about managed to clamber into the jeep, and Khan stepped on the gas and moved into his bat-out-of-hell mode. ‘I just got a call from Officer Amar Singh. He has been trying to reach you for some time. He called me up because he couldn’t contact you. He’s been trying to round up Joe, Chris, Ram Singh and Prince for the swab test. He says that all four are untraceable!’

‘Really? Well, screw that! Call your paramedics; we’ve got a tag on Grace! Call the Control Room, tell them I need everyone in Joe’s vineyard in the next fifteen minutes,’ said Inspector Khan, shifting gears and moving into a maniacal mode.