Murder Games- Part 5

The earlier parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

The gardener walked in, slowly, and the detective rose to greet him. Offering him coffee, which the man politely denied, the Detective started on his questions. In the next 20 minutes, the gardener spewed off immense details of what his work was, what the major did daily, and what the other workers did as well.

“What is your feeling on the Major’s death?”

“The Major was a nice man, but he was loud at times, with all of us, and that day, he abused me as well. But, I know the man didn’t mean it. Still, I won’t miss him.”

“Thank you for being so open with me about this Sir. Please give your contact details to the gorgeous lady outside. And I would be obliged if you could send in the maid as well.”

With a nod, the man walked off, slowly and steadily, his left leg always a bit off the floor- as though it were hurt. Ashish ran forward to help the man, and asked, “Kaka, what happened to your leg? Anything serious?”

“No no! I just sprained my ankle in the grounds.”

“Do take care.”

“He has to be! He has free access to the grounds, and he’s limping as well! The fight could be the motive, and the weapon used will be determined by Forensics. This is an open-shut case,” thought the Detective.

Stationing himself back in his seat, he waited for the maid to walk in.

An old woman, the shriveled maid took a couple of minutes to just walk in from the door to the awaiting chair. At the age of 65, this woman had managed the house from her childhood, and her parents had done the same before that. Slowly speaking, the old lady enlightened the Detective of the family of the Major, and his nature as well.

Yawning soon, the Detective got up and abruptly rose and escorted the lady to the door.

“Ma’am, my stunning assistant will go on from here. Do give her your contact details before you leave. Shanaya, please take over from here. Also send in Mr. Postman darling.”

“Yes Sir. Forensics is here, what should I tell them?”

“Tell them that I want a check of the broken window and the shards, and the weapon as well. See if they can find some blood work or a fingerprint. Make them note the patch in the grass, and the mark in the flooring- that has to be a footprint. And for tomorrow, I want some life-like models and several glass panels as well. Get it all ready by noon. I’ll drop in after lunch.”

“On it Sir.”

“You rock sweety, get to work now. Don’t keep staring at me!”

With a lowered voice, Ashish went on, “This old woman can’t be the murderer, I have to cross her out. The possibility that she climbed in or went out the window is too absurd. She would still be getting down if that would be the case, or she would be with the Major. Well, that’s assuming that the murderer got in through the window and wished to leave the same way. Now, Forensics will help me there. Let’s get this questioning done, then I’ll check on them.”