The Man Who Follows

                                                                                            CHAPTER 1

                                                                                              The Puke

I heaved a sigh of relief. I wanted something to drink. Someplace to rest. My legs were weary. I went to the local police station. There were some good people over there. They knew me as I had assisted them in a lot of cases. But this time, I was there for a totally different reason. I wanted to confess.

My name is Rahul Chettiyar, a teenage detective who helped the local police in a lot of cases. As I said earlier, this time I was there to confess. The Inspector offered me some orange juice. My favourite. He knew that I hated coffee, tea or any other milky stuff other than ice-cream.

He asked me, 'Why are you here this time?'

'To confess to a crime that I might have committed.'

'What crime?'

'A man has been following me for the past week. I think. He was chasing me last night. Whatever I did was for defence... I think I did it.'

'Did what?'

'I might have killed him.'

There was a brief pause.

'How?'

'He was chasing me by the bridge when....'

Just then the phone rang. The Inspector picked up the phone. As always I pressed the speaker button. In spite of what I thought I might have done, I was stubborn as always. I didn't care. The Inspector looked at me for a second. The other end of the phone said- 'Sir, a dead body has been found! A 23 year old girl has been found dead this morning. She was covered in vomit and had strange marks on her neck as if she had been strangled. We found a man, a suspect Mr. Fujiyama a Japanese aged 26 who claims to be her boyfriend. He is the prime suspect. That's all we could collect sir.'

I asked, 'What's the colour of the vomit?'

'Colourless.', came the reply.

'Okay, we'll be there.'

The Inspector hung up the phone. He asked, 'What do you mean by we'll be there? Finish your story. It's pretty clear that Mr. Fujiyama has committed the crime.' I replied, 'The colour of the puke does not make it right.' The Inspector looked straight into my eyes and he saw that I was determined. He agreed to go to the crime scene.

On reaching the crime scene, as always I checked the door. No signs of breaking in. The forensic experts looked at me and said that Mr. Fujiyama was the only suspect and that they had already checked the door for fingerprints. I looked at Mr. Fujiyama. He was shaking. Trembling with fear obviously. Red eyes, shaking hands, weird teeth.

Oh crap! Another junkie. I went to check the victim's teeth. Same. I asked the suspect his girlfriend's name. He replied, 'Anjali Shah.' So... He is the boyfriend. Digging hot chicks huh... Great example!

'What happened here?', I asked.

'I woke up, went to the toilet as usual. On coming back, I tried wake her up, but she would not move. I checked her pulse, and gave a CPR. Nothing.'

So... A medical student. Obviously an uneducated junkie should not know this. Suddenly something crossed my mind. I asked him, 'Do you remember anything from last night?' He shook his head to and fro. Great. Just as I imagined. Suddenly, one of the forensics confirmed that the girl was on heroin. Just then Mr. Fujiyama moaned. He screamed, 'My back hurts!!!' On checking his back, there was a long wound as if he had been hit with a belt or a whip. I checked under the bed. I found a belt. One of the forensic experts snatched it from me for testing. They conducted some tests to find that there were traces of Fujiyama's blood and skin in it along with the victim's fingerprints and mine obviously.

It just clicked! I climbed onto the bed and put my head under the victim's skirt. One of the officers pulled me away. Worth it! Hehe. I took a UV light from the forensics' bag and ran straight to the toilet. One of the doctors followed me as he was furious for the fact that I took an item without permission. I flashed it in the toilet pot... or whatever it is called... bruh. I saw some strange spots. The forensic expert noticed it too. On testing, it was confirmed as semen. My theory was right. I had solved the case.

I went to the crime scene. But, I just had to confirm one more thing. It was pretty simple. I checked the drawer, found what I wanted to prove my point. Finally, I was ready to provide a conclusion. I started laughing. The Inspector smacked on my head and shouted, 'Stop acting smart and do what you have to!!!'

I rubbed my head. It hurt so bad after all. I started. 'The puke gave it away. Earlier when I was told that the vomit was colourless, I kind of figured that the victim was a drug addict. A drug or an alcohol addict is unable to eat anything solid. It's always liquid or a drug or alcohol or whatever. Their diet comprises of that. So, when he or she pukes, there is nothing, no colour, but only water. Next you said that she was on heroin. Even just by the looks of it, one could easily say that the suspect is stoned. Therefore he is unable to remember anything from last night. Actually they both might have had one of the best nights ever!'

'Your point being?', the Inspector asked.

'SEX!!!'

And there you go! Another smack on the head for knowing too much about life. I continued, 'This guy is or was a medical student.'

'How could you say that?'

'Pulse, CPR, etcetera. A normal junkie would not know this. I checked his drawer and what I found confirmed it.'

'What did you find?'

'Condoms. This guy knows everything. Here's exactly what happened. These two had sex... oh sorry... made love last night. And that too in a pretty naughty way.'

'How could you say that?'

'The belt. Probably some role playing stuff they tried out last night. Even the male tried some stuff too. He grabbed her neck due to excitement which explains the marks. I put my head under her skirt to confirm the fact that they did it the previous night. It was good. Strawberry flavoured condoms.'

'And then...', the Inspector prompted.

'I checked the toilet using a UV light to confirm semen stains. Obviously his. He said that he could not remember anything from the previous night and that he went to the toilet first unknowingly to dispose off the used condom. Hence the stains. Amazingly there are condoms similar to the flavour used in the crime scene in his drawer.'

'So... How did she die? Who killed her and why?', the Inspector asked in enthusiasm.

I replied, 'This was not a murder. There is no murder weapon first of all other than the marks on her neck which has been proved already. There is no killer.'

'So is it a suicide?'

'No signs of suicide either. No suicide note, no weapon, no poison found in the autopsy report. Sadly, she died on her own and could not call for help. Mr. Fujiyama did not kill Anjali Shah. Her posture clearly suggests that.'

'But how? Why could she not call for help?!'

'During sleeping after consuming heroin, the person normally sleeps on his or her side so that they don't choke on their own vomit. Unfortunately, she turned in her sleep. Must have seen a dream I guess.'

'How can you say that she turned?'

'The posture. If a person wants to strangle someone in bed, then the victim has to be lying flat on his or her back. In this case, her back is lying flat all right, but, her thighs are sideways. It also requires two hands, but it does not look like it. Also the rate of stiffening of the body would confirm the impact points if any. So, unless you have some other theory, case closed.'

Everything was perfect. The suspect, Mr. Fujiyama was not sent to jail obviously. He was sent to a rehabilitation center. I was looking at the victim the whole while when suddenly I felt a hand over my shoulder. It was the inspector.

He said, 'You still have some explanation to do son.'

-Rahul Chettiyar