‘Yes, I realize that. There is more, but I am on unsure ground here. After entering my room, I locked the door, changed into my shorts and t-shirt, and went to bed. It must have been around 12.45 a.m. or so.
‘I was just I beginning to drift off when I heard a door open and close. I am not in a position to say which door, but I did hear a door open and close on the first floor. Then, after ten minutes or so, I heard the sound of a door again. Opening and closing.
‘The two sounds could well have been Michelle and Phillip returning to their rooms. I think Michelle said that she had returned just short of 1 a.m. So the first sound could definitely be her.’
‘Possibly. Anything else?’
‘No, that’s it. I hope it’s useful, but it looks like I’ve only made things murkier.’
‘That’s how it always is. Things get murkier before they get clearer. It’s important to get the right facts. I’m glad you told me this. Ah! Here is Manu. Let’s see if he noticed anything. He entered the mansion around fifteen minutes after you.’
He hailed Manu who was hurrying down the walkway from the annex.
‘I’ve wanted to tell you something, but I didn’t get the chance,’ Manu said as he joined Athreya. ‘The dagger we recovered from the stream … it had seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I think I have it now, but I am not a hundred per cent sure. You see, I only saw it once, and that too fleetingly.’
‘That’s all right. Where did you see it?’
‘It looks like the dagger the intruder had brought with him.’
‘The intruder who broke into the mansion and tried to kill your father?’ Athreya asked.
‘Yes. He had dropped his dagger when Dad shot him. Murugan had picked it up and shown it to us. It had a narrow blade and a leather-bound hilt–very similar to the one we found in the stream today. So similar that I think it is the same dagger.’
‘What happened to the dagger after Murugan picked it up?’
‘That’s the annoying part … I don’t know. I think the attention was on the intruder and not the weapon. I don’t remember seeing it again.’
‘Someone would know, I guess?’
‘I’ll ask Murugan, if you wish.’
‘No. Don’t mention this to anyone yet. I’ll speak to your father alone and take it further. Meanwhile, I have a question for you about last night. Did you notice anyone or anything in the art gallery when you returned to the mansion through the front door after your stroll?’
‘No.’ Manu shook his head firmly. ‘As you know, I have to go through the gallery to reach my room. Also, I walked almost up to my father’s door to see if his room’s light was on. I saw nothing in the gallery.’
‘Would you have seen if someone was there?’
‘I think so … unless he or she heard me coming and hid behind the totem pole or the suit of armour.’
‘Ah, of course! Another question: Was the wheelchair in its place when you returned?’
‘I’m afraid I can’t say, Mr Athreya. The totem pole and the suit of armour are placed just in front of it. They stand between Dad’s door and the wheelchair’s charging point. I wouldn’t have noticed it, one way or the other.’
‘I see … All right, the final question: Was the back door shut?’
‘Yes,’ Manu said with certainty. ‘I remember glancing at it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to run. Sebastian called to say that the police are coming shortly. He is bringing an inspector and a police doctor. I need to take a vehicle to our side of the landslide and wait there. He is going to ferry the police around the landslide on his motorcycle.’
As Manu hurried away, Athreya spoke to Dora in an undertone.
‘I want you to help me in the investigation,’ he said. ‘There are things that you can do without attracting attention that I can’t. Will you help me?’
‘But I am a suspect, Mr Athreya.’
‘That may be so, but I know that you did not slit Phillip’s throat.’
‘At the risk of putting my neck in the noose as Uncle said, let me ask this: How can you be so sure? I thought we established that Michelle and I have the strength to do the job.’
‘You do have the strength … but you are left-handed.’
‘So?’ Dora stopped and swung around to face him.
‘Phillip’s throat was slit from behind. It was a very deep wound … too deep to have been inflicted from the front. Frontal slashes tend to be shallower as the victim reflexively rocks back when the blade bites. Especially where the slash ends, the wound are almost always shallow; they start deep and end shallow. But in this case, it is the opposite; the wound gets deeper as it progresses to the side of the neck.
‘In this case, we can make out the direction of the knife because the weapon was a crude dagger, which wasn’t as sharp as more professional weapons. Torn skin bordering the wound shows the direction the blade was pulled.
‘The wound starts very low on the left side of his neck and ends high on his right. As I said, it gets deeper as it progresses. That suggests that the killer pulled the dagger towards himself as he cut. The nature and the direction of the slash could mean only one thing–the killer cut Phillip's throat with his right hand.’
Athreya reached out to lift Dora’s right hand.
‘Not only are you left-handed, but your right hand is still raw from the injury. Cutting with a dagger exerts a lot of pressure on the palm. Had you used your right hand, your wound surely would have bled.’
‘Wow!’ Dora gasped. ‘You mean it? You don’t
