Body of Evidence

Killing a human in India is as easy as swatting a mosquito, mused Dr.Thomas with a cynical smile. It was 2.30 AM and he was sitting in the balcony of his scenic beachside bungalow in Chennai, amidst the cloud of cigarette smoke, listening to the rhythm of waves .His eyes

were bloodshot, thanks to the brandy and waking up all night. He has saved millions of human lives for his living and was about to take away a life for his prestigious living. Being a doctor himself, he was well aware of the autopsy procedures in Government hospitals wherein the drunken orderlies perform literally butchery.

He was running a typical upper class doctor's peaceful life until, Michael stormed into his room with his only daughter Angel hand in hand and informed that they are going to get married soon. It was more of giving information than getting his permission.

If Dr. Thomas was taken aback he didn't show it. With an Oscar winning performance he congratulated them and gave away his consent, though it was not sought. Right from that moment, his neurons were working overtime in hatching a foul proof plan to finish

off Michael. Of course, Angel will be broken for some days. But time is the best healer known so far. So he can fulfill his dream of merging his hospital with the city's top most hospital by getting Angel married to the chairman’s only son, a famous neurosurgeon.

A murder should be properly planned and executed in such a way that no trail is left behind and mimicking natural death. He was confident over his modus operandi, which, he'd replayed several times in his mind taking into account all the odds. He had recently come across an article in a medical journal that highlighted the difficulties in detecting the reason for death in cases of Ethylene glycol poisoning.

Ethylene glycol, being a colourless, odourless and sweet liquid which can be mixed with water or any alcoholic beverages and if a fatal dose is administered, the symptoms show only after two days and lead to severe complications like cardiac failure, respiratory problems and kidney failure ultimately death. So Dr.Thomas considered Ethylene glycol as the elixir of his life.

So his plan was to invite Michael for a Christmas dinner and poison his drinks with ethylene glycol which will eventually take him to the Christ.

Accepting the invitation, Michael was sharp on time for dinner in a Tuxedo, looking strikingly handsome as ever.Only when Dr.Thomas and Angel received Michael and escorted him in, he realized that he was the only guest for the dinner.

Knowing very well the crooked and materialistic mind of Dr., something stroke a chord in him. The dinner was very grand and appetizing. During desserts session, the course of conversation turned towards Michael’s career interests. Dr.Thomas was stricken on the face when Michael continued describing about his research topic on toxicology and his recent innovative invention of a pen sized tool that sterilizes drinking water and other drinks and at the same time detects any possible hazardous substances in them. Before Thomas could react or say anything, Michael proudly pulled out a black shiny pen like object with a Laser light at the tip and inserted in the drink served for him.

Immediately a beeper went off and the display panel flashed “High concentration of Ethylene Glycol”. Michael didn’t require more than a millisecond to put all the pieces together. Having caught red handed, Dr.Thomas couldn’t come out with any convincing explanation. Michael’s glare was boring right through his eyes and his apple of eye Angel looking at him as if he is a wriggling worm, made him lose his reasoning and temper.

Suddenly he pounced on Michael and clasped his neck and started strangling him. With great difficulty, in a surge of fear for death and in an action of defense, Michael released himself and pushed Dr. aside. As Michael coughed out easing his airway and catching his

breath, Angel let out a high pitched scream. Dr.Thomas had fallen down with his head first on a lawn mover, causing an internal hemorrhage and his soul had taken a detour to meet St.Peters for his destination, hell.

Michael and Angel were suddenly soaked in their own sweat and both were standing speechless, staring at Doctor’s corpse. Though it was not intentional, Michael knew very well that he will be branded as a murderer who killed the wealthy doctor for his daughter and heirdom. Since Michael’s brother was a famous lawyer in town, he thought it will be a better idea to discuss this issue with him and do as instructed by him. So he took Angel with him to his house and was frustrated to see that his brother had left a post-it note on the door saying that he is going to Delhi on an emergency. Both of them spent the night

sleepless with frightening thoughts haunting them.

As dawn broke, both Michael and Angel thought of informing the police and surrendering. So they started to walk and on the way, the headlines of that day’s newspaper read “Tsunami waves hit coastal regions of Chennai taking a toll of

thousands of lives”. The second page featured the demolished beach bungalow and the recovered body of the famous Cardiac surgeon Dr. Thomas.

Related Posts:

1. Woman on top
2. Music is Life – Short story
3. Cold blooded Murder – Shortest story
4. Count down – Shortest story

Posted in: Brainchild