The Body Always Tells the Truth
They agreed, wordlessly and professionally, to keep the reunion out of the investigation. The case came first. It had always come first, that was what the Dream Pact had been about.
Shyla presented the forensic findings at the first full team briefing. She stood at the whiteboard without notes, she never used notes for presentations and walked the team through the post-mortem with the precision and clarity that had made her reputation.
“The cause of death is hypertensive cardiac arrhythmia,” she began. “On the surface, consistent with the victim’s known cardiac history. However, the toxicological screen found elevated digitalis glycoside levels at a concentration 2.4 times above the therapeutic range of his prescribed medication, Digoxin, 0.25 milligrams daily. At 2.4 times the therapeutic level, in a patient with pre-existing conduction abnormalities, fatal arrhythmia is not just possible, it is predictable.”
The room was quiet.
“The question is method,” she continued. “The victim’s whisky glass contained trace residue. We are awaiting full chemical analysis, but preliminary results suggest the presence of a plant-derived compound chemically consistent with a concentrated Digitalis purpurea extract, from the common foxglove plant, that is not present in any commercially produced cardiac medication. This was not a medical dose gone wrong. This was administered. Intentionally. Deliberately.”
“Someone poisoned him,” said Inspector Vinod Kumar from across the table, flatly.
“Someone poisoned him,” Shyla confirmed. “Someone with considerable pharmacological knowledge. The concentration and compound choice suggests someone who understood exactly how much would be lethal without being immediately obvious at surface examination. This required planning, knowledge, and access.”
She sat down. Radha took the floor.
“Access is our starting point,” Radha said, pulling up a chart on the projector, a network map of everyone known to have been at the farmhouse in the seventy-two hours preceding Rajiv Mehta’s death. “The farmhouse has one entrance leading to the road. Security cameras at the gate. We have identified eleven individuals with confirmed access in that window. Of those, three have direct financial motive. Of those three, one has a pharmaceutical background.”
She paused. Clicked to the next slide.
“Priya Mehta. The victim’s daughter-in-law. MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. Previously employed at a pharmaceutical distribution company for four years. And currently, according to the victim’s business partner who was eased out of MICL last year, in possession of documentation that could expose certain financial irregularities in the company that Rajiv Mehta was actively trying to suppress.”
The silence in the room shifted quality. This was the silence of a team that had just felt the investigation snap into focus.
“Motive, means, and opportunity,” Radha said quietly. “We verify all three.”