An Eye For An Eye

2-2

NATHAN AND BURKE WERE standing to one side, keeping out of the way of the white-suited forensics specialists, who were working the crime scene with their usual silent efficiency, when Vikram Bhaskar arrived. The bell over the door jangled noisily, announcing his arrival and giving the two detectives enough warning to intercept him before he could interfere with the work the forensics team was doing.

“Mr Bhaskar?” Nathan queried, moving to place himself between the older man, whose Indian heritage was obvious in both his features and his clothing, and the specialists who were photographing, dusting, and otherwise sampling the area around the two murdered women, whose extremities had been covered with plastic bags to protect any forensic evidence there might be on them.

There was no reply from the man being blocked, his attention was all on the activity at the rear of the shop. Though he had stopped when his way was barred, it wasn’t until the question was asked a second time that he showed any sign of being aware the two detectives were there.

“Yes, I’m Vikram Bhaskar,” he said, nodding slowly without taking his eyes from the two bodies that were partially visible between the forensics officers.

“I realise this isn’t a good time, Mr Bhaskar,” Nathan said in a compassionate voice, “but can we talk?”

“W-what h-happened?” Vikram Bhaskar asked, his face pale and grief-stricken.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Nathan told him. “At present it looks as though your wife and mother - we’ll need to formally identify them later, once they’ve been taken to the mortuary - were killed during a robbery. Do you have any idea who might be responsible?” He knew the odds of Bhaskar being able to name a suspect were slim, but he had to ask.

Vikram Bhaskar shook his head. “No. Neither my wife nor my mother has ever done anything to anyone, and I’ve always told them not to be brave if anyone robs the shop, especially if they have a weapon. We’re insured against that kind of thing, so there’s no reason to be brave.”

“Have you had a problem with robberies?” Burke asked. He wondered if Vikram Bhaskar’s instructions to his wife and mother stemmed from trouble the family had been experiencing. “Or any other kind of problem?” He hesitated to raise the subject of racism, he didn’t want to put the thought into the older man’s head, but it was a possibility they had to consider.

Again, Vikram Bhaskar shook his head. “N-not for a long time. We’ve been here for thirty-five years, and we get on well with everyone in the local area. We-we had some trouble in the beginning, people weren’t happy that we bought the shop from the previous owner when he retired, but there’s been none of that for years. I know some of my fellow shopkeepers have had trouble over the last few years, mostly from people who think all Asians are Muslims, and all Muslims are terrorists.” His grief slipped for a moment, replaced by disbelief that anyone could be so ignorant, an opinion that was shared by both detectives.

“So you have no enemies, no-one who would want to hurt you or your family?” Nathan queried, wanting that confirmed. “Either in the local community or elsewhere?”

“No, no enemies at all.”

It would have been easier, Nathan thought, if there were enemies, at least that would give him a starting place for his investigation. In the absence of known enemies, they had to work on the notion that the motive for the murders was robbery. That didn’t sit well with him, though; there was something about the situation that suggested a motive other than robbery to him - he knew of plenty of incidents where people had been hurt, and even killed, for much less than what the man who had robbed the Bhaskar’s must have gotten away with, but none of those had involved a shotgun.

“I notice you have CCTV cameras around the shop,” Nathan said, his eyes moving from one camera to the next; he counted five, one in each corner, and one angled to cover the till. “Would you mind showing us the footage?”

Vikram Bhaskar opened his mouth to respond to the question but no words came out.

Disturbed by the look of horror on the shopkeeper’s face, and the way his eyes went wide, like those of a cartoon character, Nathan glanced over his shoulder to see what had caused the change in expression. The forensics officers had moved apart so they could continue their work, with the result that Vikram Bhaskar was, unfortunately, afforded an unimpeded view of what had happened to his wife and mother. Nathan quickly shifted sideways to block the distressing sight.

“Mr Bhaskar. Mr Bhaskar,” he repeated. “Can you show us the footage from your CCTV cameras?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Vikram Bhaskar agreed, once he realised what had been said. He led the two detectives through the shop, skirting the forensics team, and into the back; it was as he was leading them from the store room to the room that had been converted into an office that it occurred to him he didn’t know the names of the two men with him. “Who are you?” he asked.

Nathan’s eyes widened as he was reminded of his omission, it wasn’t like him to forget the courtesies. “I’m very sorry, Mr Bhaskar,” he apologised, “we should have introduced ourselves straight away. I’m Detective Inspector Stone, I’m in charge of this investigation, and this is my partner, Detective Sergeant Burke.” He held out his hand, which was shaken briefly and perfunctorily.

The setup that allowed Mr Bhaskar to record and watch the footage from the cameras in the shop was old, Nathan saw that the moment he entered the office - if it was old to someone as technologically inexperienced as him, he could only wonder how bad it must look to his partner, who was up on the latest in computer technology. A quick glance at Burke revealed the horror the elderly, if not to say antique, equipment inspired in his partner; his expression was bland, but it was there in his eyes.

Nathan and Burke both waited patiently while Vikram Bhaskar stopped his recording, so he could search the footage for the first appearance of the person who had robbed him of his family; it wasn’t easy for the monitor was small, and the image split into six - five of the little squares showed the shop as seen by each of the cameras while the sixth was dark.

When the darkly dressed and balaclava wearing figure appeared, Nathan leant forward so he could watch events more closely. The robbery didn’t last long, only two or three minutes, and then the three of them watched as the two Mrs Bhaskars were shot for a second time; Nathan said nothing, he didn’t want to add to the distress Vikram Bhaskar was already suffering, but as he watched the murders he couldn’t help thinking there was something wrong with the scene.

It wasn’t until he had watched it for a third time that he realised what was wrong; there was no need for the two women to be killed, no need at all. Though there was no audio to go along with the video, and the image was small, Nathan could see that both Vikram Bhaskar’s wife and mother were cooperating with the armed robber and offering no resistance - he didn’t need to kill them.

Why the robber had killed Mr Bhaskar’s wife and mother, Nathan couldn’t fathom. Robbery, even armed robbery, carried a much lighter sentence than murder, and a double murder, such as the one he had just watched, was likely to receive a life sentence, with a minimum of twenty years.

“Can you give us any idea of how much money he might have gotten away with?” Nathan asked; he doubted it was enough to justify one murder, let alone two.

Vikram Bhaskar was silent for a few moments as he thought about the question; he finally answered the inspector in a voice which reflected his own uncertainty in what he was saying, “It depends on whether he just got the money in the till, or what was in the safe as well. We had a good day yesterday, and there was a little over three hundred pounds in the safe, waiting to be deposited tomorrow, and there should have been somewhere in the region of a hundred pounds in the till this morning.” It struck him then just how cheaply the robber had valued the lives of his wife and mother. “I-I won’t be able to give you an exact f-figure until I-I cash up the till.”

“That’s alright, Mr Bhaskar,” Nathan said reassuringly. “Will it be alright if we take the disk and have the footage analysed by our experts? They might be able to spot something that will enable us to identify the killer.”

“Of-of course.” Vikram Bhaskar nodded as he ejected the DVD and then looked around for a case to put it in, so it wouldn’t be damaged.