The Deceptive Homicide

She suddenly woke up.

Opening her eyes, she looked around, trying to remember something.

Where am I?

She then realised she was inside something that looked like a shopping mart. As she put her hands on the floor for support, she realised she was wearing pink kitchen latex gloves.

They were smeared with blood. On the right hand, the upper part of the glove on her index finger was missing, as if someone had cut it off.

Terrified, she moved her palms and saw there was blood on the gloves, but most importantly it was wet.

Whose blood is this?

Still shivering, she checked her body for any injury. As she moved her clothes with her hands, some party of the blood got smeared on the clothes. She also saw she was wearing a badge, with a name ‘Susan Sampras’ printed on it in bold letters.

Noticing no wound on her body, she realised it someone else’s blood.

But who?

Getting up slowly, she glanced at the roof and saw a dark sky through the skylight. It was night time, but what time it is?

She somehow stood up and slowly started walking around.

It was some sort of supermarket, with shelves arranged on the walls. Every shelf was stuffed with different belongings as per the area. Somehow, she felt she had been here. But exactly when was she couldn’t remember. She kept moving through the larger aisle, looking around. Why am I here? Who - 

Suddenly, her legs touched something and she fell down. It was dark in this area. The overhead ceiling lights were not working. Laying down on the ground, she strained her eyes to look at what made her fall down.

There was a dead body at her legs, laying down with face up and eyes half open.

Shocked, she almost screamed and moved away from the body. She placed her hand on her face and felt her mouth go dry and her body sweating rapidly.

What the hell is happening? 

Abruptly, she looked at the face of the deceased.

Does he look familiar? Have I seen him somewhere?

Suddenly she heard footsteps behind. She turned, but saw no one. She was sure she heard someone running behind her.

As she licked her lips, she realised there was blood on her face from the gloves. She desperately removed the glove from her hand and wiped away the blood with her sweaty palm. While wiping, she saw a tattoo ‘S.S.’ engraved on her wrist. That translated to Susan Sampras.

Well, at least that was her name. But why was she here?

Susan continuously felt someone was stalking her. Who can it be? How did she come here? Who was this - 

Suddenly she heard something falling down in the neighbouring aisle. Terrified, Susan got up and snatching a knife from the cutlery section, ran in the direction of the voice. ‘Someone’ had moved one of the centre shelves. Some of the food products had fallen down.

“Who’s there?” Susan screamed, realising her throat was totally dry.

Abruptly she heard footsteps in one corner of the mart. Determined to catch the person, Susan ran in that corner, passing several aisles stocked with different items. As she reached that end, there was no one.

Now this meant someone is inside with her, and that person either wants to kill her or is playing games with her.

But why?

Suddenly, Susan remembered Davis, her husband. Maybe he could be of some help….

From where she stood, the checkout counter was just a few steps away. She knew there has to be a phone somewhere nearby.

Pacing rapidly, Susan went at the counter and started searching for a phone. She soon saw one and with a bloodied glove in one hand, she quickly dialled her husband’ s number.

Abruptly she stopped. She didn’t remember her husband’s number, but she surely remembered that her husband worked as a flight attendant in one of the popular airlines. Mostly on night shifts, Davis usually answered his calls and replied to his messages later.

Oh Hell.

She then dialled the emergency helpline.

I’ll have to call the police immediately, she thought as the line went through, atleast they will help nab this person.

Suddenly she felt someone approaching. Panicked, Susan dropped the phone just as the line connected with operator asking for assistance. She ran at the door marked ‘EXIT’ and pulled open the latch.

It was locked from outside.

She heard footsteps behind her.

She left the door and crossing the counters, reached the main checkout counter again and opened the hand drawer below. Most of the malls kept a handgun for safety purposes operated only by a single person in case of a burglary.

Susan searched all the drawers, but never found one. She turned to look at the intruder. Not seeing him anywhere, she saw another door at other end of the reception. Without looking anywhere, she ran towards the door.

Opening it, Susan stormed inside. This was the stockroom, the storage area of the market. All the walls were full of shelves with clothes and other stuff. At one end was the Manager’s Cabin. She closed the door behind her and walked towards the cabin, hoping that she may find a telephone there.

Opening the door, Susan saw someone sitting on the chair behind the desk. The cabin was dimly lit. Switching the light on, she turned and screamed in horror.

Her husband Davis, was sitting on the chair. But his face was white, his lips colourless and his eyes half closed.

He was dead.

“Davis….!” Susan shouted and ran towards him. As she touched him, his body was cold. It was certain that he was dead.

Now totally horrified, Susan ran out of the cabin back into the mall. Panting heavily, she went to the apparel section where she had discovered the body. Hoping that she may know who he is, she checked at him.

Now she remembered this guy.

Not remembering his name, she remembered that he used to stalk her everyday. Many times, she had seen him eavesdropping on her. She even remembered him stealing her underwear, when she had gone for her swimming classes, where she practised kick-boxing.

How shameful that was.

But now, who murdered him?

Did I kill him?

No. Never.

Suddenly Susan saw something near the body. As she went near, she got a rotten smell.

The body was decomposing. 

She saw that it was the upper part of a broken knife. Its lower part was missing. Clearly, she had no clue of anything happening around. Her husband had died, someone had killed this ‘stalking’ guy, and a third person was somewhere inside, trying to play games with her.

Suddenly, she heard the phone ring. She almost jumped on hearing the sound. The sound of the ring was echoing inside the supermarket.

Susan kept staring at the phone. Who must’ve called?

She remembered the emergency call she had dialled in a short while ago. The police must be calling back, realizing that no one had spoken that time.

“Hello…What’s your emergency?” the lady on the other side questioned.

“Yes…I’m Susan and I am stuck in some unknown supermarket with two dead bodies. One of them is my husband. I don’t know who killed them…but there is someone in this market who I assume must have killed both of them and now he is playing games with me…!” Susan answered in one go.

The lady was silent for a moment.

“OK. Please tell me your address. I’ll immediately send a team to assist -” the line went dead.

“Hello…hello…. hello?” Susan tried questioning back, but all she got was a dead tone.

As Susan tried to redial, suddenly one of the lights in the aisle lit up.

What was that?

She slowly went in that area and saw a set of medical documents on the floor. As she scanned through them, she realised they were her medical reports.

Alarmed, with shaking hands, she went through them and realised she is suffering from Amnesia, a mental disorder in which a person suffers from memory losses. They can remember only certain events or sometimes certain details, sometimes being temporary but may get worse.

As she further read her own reports, she realized something.

Did I kill both of them? Did I lose my memory? Where was I before this? How did I come here?

She strained hard to remember, but nothing came in her mind.

Suddenly she heard someone running in the neighbouring passage.

“Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?” she screamed expecting an answer, but no one replied back.

Susan was now fed up with all these mind games. She wanted to escape out, but all the entry and exit doors were locked. She then realised the supermarket had fire alarm system. They never worked on electricity and will alert the nearest fire station. She decided to create fire and smoke. Looking around, she realised there was nothing around which is combustible. She then remembered the gloves in her hand. Rapidly she removed one of the gloves. The other she found at the dead person’s side.

She found matchsticks and oil from the kitchen section. Placing the gloves together, she spilled oil and set them on fire. They at once caught fire, but since they were made of rubber and some other synthetic material, they didn’t burn completely, instead only the part at the fingers burned.

She took 2-3 notebooks from the stationery section, spilled oil and set them on fire.

The result produced fire with huge smoke.

But the alarms never went off. She waited for some more time, expecting the alarms to start, but nothing came out.

Finally, fearing the spread of fire which may cost her life, Susan put it off, using a nearby extinguisher.

As she sat down exhausted, suddenly she realised she is hungry. With shivering legs, she went into the snacks section and grabbed a packet of chicken wafers. Tearing it desperately, she started eating it with a dried mouth. Rapidly swallowing with every bite, she snatched a bottle of water and gulped it down hurriedly. As she ate another packet of chicken wafers, she realised how hungry she was.

When did I ate the last time?

Susan couldn’t remember any of it.

As she ate whatever she got, suddenly she saw something on the shelf, behind one of the packets. Leaving the food aside, she got up and saw that it was a lower part of some broken knife.

Suddenly curious, she got up and went near the rotting corpse in the aisle. There as she picked up the other broken knife, she realised both were one and the same.

But what further surprised her was that the knife was fitting perfectly in her hand. Moreover, she saw a small piece of pink rubber on the edge of the knife she just found.

Shit.

I killed this man.

“No…. Please …I did not kill him….!” She screamed, hoping that the intruder, wherever he was hiding, could hear her. She threw away the knife, and instantly remembered her husband in the cabin inside the stockroom.

Horrified, Susan ran into the cabin. She pushed open the door, and saw her husband was still there, but something on the table caught her eye.

She saw it was a confession statement with her photo on it.

On the bottom right, there was her name and signature.

As she read the statement, she came to know she had confessed killing her husband.

Terrified, she dropped the statement and looked at her dead husband.

I did not kill him.

Suddenly, Susan heard something outside.

Leaving the cabin open, she ran in the shopping area. In the corner of her eye, she saw someone entering the washrooms. Before she could go there, she saw something scattered on the floor in the last aisle.

She went there and saw they were Davis’s photos. He was nicely smiling in every photo and seemed to be happier in couple photos with….

Her?

No.

She looked more closely and realized there was another lady with Davis. She herself was not in any of the photos, even though she couldn’t remember her face, she assumed her face resembled to the one she saw in confession statement.

Is that the reason I killed Davis? Because he was betraying me? Then who killed the other guy?

By now she was sure that the person who was inside with her clearly knew she was the murderer, even though she didn’t remember doing it.

“Hello….is anyone inside?” suddenly she heard someone calling at the door.

Finally, someone’s here.

 

“Yes …I…I am Susan. I’m stuck inside this mall. Can you please help me out?” Susan called out through the door, “I think the Entry door is locked from outside.”

She heard the bolt being moved. As the door opened, two uniformed officers entered inside. Susan looked through the door and saw a broad 3 lane highway outside the mall. It was night, but she never knew the time.

“We got a call on the wireless informing about someone stuck in this supermarket on the highway.” One of the officers spoke without introducing himself. Susan read his badge.

His name was Walter.

Meanwhile the other officer went inside the supermarket.

“Yes…yes…there’s someone inside here. He is stalking me…” Susan replied.

Walter eyed her suspiciously.

“How did you come here? What were you doing here?” he questioned Susan. She then narrated to him all the incidents that had happened till now.

“There are two dead bodies inside.” The other officer, whose badge read ‘Victor’ came informed the other one.

They both looked at each other.

“Don’t you know officer?” Walter replied gritting his teeth, “we should first question her?”

“Does that mean we should not check the evidence, my friend?” Victor replied, agitated by his partner’s behaviour.

Walter just ignored and questioned Susan, “My friend tells there are two dead bodies inside. Who murdered them?”

“There is someone else inside…! He…he must’ve murdered them…!” Susan replied, clearly hiding the evidence fact that she was shown.

“I’ve checked everything inside. There is no exit other than this one to the supermarket. There is one at the behind, but it is bolted from inside.” Victor replied back.

Walter stared at Susan, thinking something.

“Tell us the truth ma’am,” Victor said, “we have found a confession statement in the cabin back there. There is a knife next to the body in the shopping area, which has your fingerprint marks. Moreover, one of the knives has a small part of your pink latex glove, clearly indicating that you were wearing them.”

Susan was now in a fix. Every evidence inside was against her.

“No…. I did not kill any of them…!” Susan shouted at the top of her voice.

“Mate, do we understand that is there any direct evidence of her doing the crime?” Walter disagreed with his partner.

“Then who could have done it? Do you see anyone else here? You have a good enough experience in such cases, right?” Victor replied. Ignoring his partner’s views, he focussed on Susan.

“Again I am telling you madam, all the evidence here is pointing at you. Tell me how did you kill the man in the cabin?”

“I never killed him. He was my husband for heaven’s sake…!” Susan replied back in despair.

“Was? Then why did you confess?”

“I did not…there was someone else…”

“Your signature is there on the confession statement god damnit…!” Victor screamed, showing her the confession.

“I did not sign it….”

“Then who did? This is your signature, right?” Susan looked at the signature. She didn’t remember, but it looked like hers.

“We know how you killed the first man in the shopping area. You called him here, you had an argument with him because he was stalking you, but when he resisted, you stabbed him with a knife. Smartly enough, you were wearing pink coloured latex gloves,” Victor said as he showed her the half burned latex gloves, “but a part of it was torn and it stuck on the knife. We have found it. Also, we know you were wearing it, as is displayed by the blood stains on your dress.”

But she did not do it.

Or atleast, didn’t remember doing it, even though she had clear cut reasons for murdering them.

“Let’s take it easy boss,” Walter interrupted, clearly not liking his partner’s aggressiveness. “We need to confront her silently else we’ll be in trouble. You know she is a mental patient, right?” he was holding the broken knife in his right hand, as a part of the evidence.

“Oh bullshit, you fool…! She is pretending…! I know that...! She has murdered both of them. All the evidence clearly says it…! She had clear intentions for doing it…! Even though you keep forgetting things, what you say…is equally right…!”

Turning to Susan, Victor said, “In the court, every evidence could be proved against you. Right now, we are arresting you for charges of murder. Once the case opens in the court, you can have a lawyer for yourself.” Saying this, Victor got a set of handcuffs.

Using his left hand, he signed something on some paper.

As he was about to cuff her, he got a call.

Susan was lost in thoughts.

Did I kill my own husband? From the photos, it was evident that he was cheating on me. But I loved him…! Why would I kill him? Why would I even kill the stalker? But I can’t remember anything. But, what if, I really killed them? 

The last thought sent shivers in Susan’s body.

As Victor continued to speak on his phone placing it on his left ear with his left hand, Susan started feeling dizzy.

Anna, who was operating the wireless systems at the HQ, was worried because it was more than two hours and she had got no reply from the two Police officers who had gone to inspect the supermarket at the highway junction.

Finally, she decided to send help.

“All units…Repeat…All units...in and around the outskirts of Highway 73, request you all to please assist Officers Walter and Victor who have gone to inspect a case in the Supermarket on the junction of 73 A and 74. Please report in ASAP.”

Seconds later, someone from the dispatch replied on the wireless, “This is unit 2. Confirm the location please.”

“It’s a supermarket on the junction of Highway 73A and 74.” Anna instantly replied back.

The dispatch officer was silent for a moment.

“That highway is closed for road construction. It is a road with no check posts. No vehicle is allowed to enter it. How did the officers go there?” the dispatch officer questioned.

“Negative on that. We have no clear info on it. There radios are not responding. Request you to assist them ASAP.” Anna ordered them.

Almost 45 minutes later, the dispatch unit reached the supermarket parking.

“Are you sure? But how’s that possible? I came to know now they had gone to meet some lady there.” Anna answered back as soon as the unit officers gave her the details.

“The lady is traumatised here. The two officers, Walter and Victor are dead. They appear to have been shot down by someone. There are two more dead bodies inside the supermarket. Requesting assist from other units ASAP.”

Almost 2 kilometres away, Susan was seated at the entrance, thinking of her next move.

She owned that supermarket and had deliberately selected this location so that it can be of convenience for all the long-distance travellers. Her husband, Davis, was a flight attendant, but he attended here whenever he got time. They both met each other at the kick-boxing classes. He worked on a fixed time, and would always come at the market at the desired time. All was going well when suddenly, his time shifts started increasing. At first, he said the workload was too much. But Susan was suspecting something else. She called up the airlines one day and came to know that Davis had already left.

Then why was he not here?

Her doubt was confirmed when she visited his office and saw him going out with another lady. Eventually, they started having fights and one day, Davis pushed her hard, banging her head on the wall. That injury gave her Amnesia, and Davis clearly took advantage of this by increasing his affair with his girlfriend. His another friend, Milo started stalking her. Later she came to know that Milo was the husband of Davis’s girlfriend.

Was it Tit for Tat? Bullshit.

Even though she was amnestic, she decided to confront him. One night at the supermarket, while mopping the floor wearing pink latex gloves, she questioned him, but that turned into a heated argument. Davis accused her of having an affair with Milo, who was caught stealing her undergarments.

She never remembered how she killed Davis, but she had stabbed Milo. While stabbing him, she had accidentally hit the wall, which caused the knife to break. A part of her glove also tore out.

Later, officer Victor was incharge of this case. He knew Susan was a murderer, but she never remembered anything. Moreover, he had no evidence of anything.

Finally, the law court expelled her of all the charges, but Victor was not ready to listen. He set up a trap for her and called her to supermarket that evening. She did come, but her amnesia dropped in. As the officers came in, she slowly remembered all the events. She was told to wear pink gloves by officer Victor, as he wanted to check the Supermarket for any evidence.

She heard Victor speaking to his wife that Susan has accepted and confessed everything.

So, this is a Trap.

As Victor spoke, she kicked Walter in the groin. Walter groaned hard and bend down. Without wasting any time, she kicked Walter again, this time straight on his left ear. The impact punctured his left eardrum and he collapsed. She deliberately stood in line between Walter and Victor. The moment Victor heard something behind him, as she had predicted he removed his handgun and fired a short at her legs. But Susan was equally quick. She moved aside just as she fired, and the bullet went through Walter’s left ear.

“You Bitch…!” Victor screamed and ran inside, but he missed a step at the entry due to darkness and collapsed straight on his partner’s body.

Well, the knife Walter was holding pierced deep in his stomach.

So, I did it.

Suddenly, she started feeling dizzy.

Again, she collapsed on the ground.

“I just got an info from the traffic patrol on Highway 73A. They’ve found a lady in a car, who is not remembering anything.” Anna reported to Inspector Elvis, “So finally we’ve got her. We need to put up a case against her, charging her with 4 murders.”

“On what evidence?” Inspector Elvis questioned. “Do we have any evidence to support her killings?”

“But she killed the two officers…!” Anna replied.

“You and me clearly know Walter and Victor were not in good terms with each other. The unit officer clearly mentioned a stab wound on Victor’s stomach. He bleed to death. The bullet inside Walter’s head was fired from Victor’s gun. Front observation clearly shows they must have fought with each other. The lady doesn’t remember anything at all. The unit officers asked her multiple times, but she only says that they had come here and the next thing she remembers, they are dead.” Inspector Elvis replied.

“But why did this all happen?” Anna questioned.

“Officer Victor thought that creating similar situation could bring her memory back and she may confess the killings herself. She did sign on the confession letter, but the court was not ready to accept it.” Elvis replied.

“But what about the security cameras? The supermarket was very well equipped with them.”

“The initial footage showed her entering the supermarket wearing pink gloves. The next one shows her entering the electric room.”

“That means she disconnected the supply…!”

“But we can’t prove it. There is no camera inside the electric room which could give us clear footage of this. Moreover, that lady burned down the gloves to create fire. So, we can’t match the materials on the wire with the gloves. No fingerprints again anywhere.”

“But the unit officers have found a missing part of her glove on the broken knife…! That could generate fingerprints…!”

“But what will that prove? Instead, our so-called hero Mr. Victor will be convicted. He has set up all of this. He was also present inside the supermarket, giving her clues every time so that she will confess what she did. Right now, there is no clue against her.”

“She murdered 4 people…! Two of them are well known inspectors of our department…! How can she roam free?”

“The Law system works on evidences. No one can convict her without proof. The court can even say she is a mental patient, can put her in rehabilitation. But here’s the catch, dear. Even though her memory comes back, she can even pretend that she did nothing. And what medical science can prove that she is pretending? Considering her medical condition, she can’t be put on Narco test. The chemicals may further damage her brain. She is not a National Criminal, so we can’t have a Lie Detector test. She can easily pretend remembering nothing. Her earlier reports clearly said her condition can be permanent, or even get worse.”

What Elvis said was right, Anna thought.

“One question sir,” Anna asked, “She has acted quiet smartly till now. Do you ever think she is suffering from Amnesia?”

Back at the supermarket, she was seated under the canopy. Multiple units and medical people were present there. Four bodies were recovered. The forensic team found traces of Victor’s shoes and fingerprints inside the mall, clearly confirming that he had troubled a mental patient.

One of the medical officers approached her and asked, “What’s your name? Don’t you remember anything?”

“I…I…don’t re...remember my name…it must be Susan,” she replied, “I… I was inside, but I don’t remember anything….!”

She was then asked to sit inside a car which will take her to the rehabilitation centre. As she sat in the rear seat, Susan saw her face in the rear-view mirror of the car above the driver.

She smiled.

Well Played.