Piranhas
John Wright, the most popular lawyer of his town BAYPORT, was watching the morning news.
A WOMAN WAS FOUND DEAD NEAR THE MULTIPLEX ‘MATINEE’. THE BODY WAS DISCOVERED YESTERDAY NIGHT AT 23:20. IT WAS IN A BREATHTAKING CONDITION. SHE HAD BEEN STABBED SEVERAL TIMES. THE INVESTIGATORS HAVE BEEN CALLED TO LOOK INTO THIS MATTER. ACCORDING TO THE POLICE, IT MIGHT BE THE WORK OF AN UNDERWORLD MAFIA…
Shocked by the news, John called his friend Dennis, who was working for the CBI. Dennis received the call.
“Dennis, are you on the case?”
“The stabbed woman’s case?”asked Dennis.
“Yes”, said John,”are you on it?”
“Yes”.
“Great. Then let me know the details. I am coming to your office.”
“That’s fine with me”, said Dennis, “but meet me near the Matinee”.
“All right. I’ll be there right away”.
John left to meet Dennis. At eight past ten, he met Dennis at the Matinee. People from CBI and NYPD cops had gathered over there. The outline was marked, where the body was found. Blood was all over the place.
Waving at Dennis, John said, “So, how’s life?”
“Just the same. Running behind criminals is what I always do.”
“So how far have you guys found out in this case?”
“Not much so far, but we are sure we will nail the criminals soon.”
“Did you come to know who the victim was?”
“Mrs.Clair. She had come to watch a late night film. She was found in a dreadful condition. She had been stabbed atleast fifty times. Its definitely not the work of a single person and that’s for sure”, said Dennis with curiosity in his blue eyes.
They kept on talking on this issue for several hours. Before leaving, James asked Dennis to keep him informed.
Day 2:
James was listening to the early morning news:
STILL THERE ISN’T ANY CLUE OF WHO DID THIS. BUT THE INCIDENT SOMEWHAT SEEMS TO BE RELATED TO THE UNDERWORLD GANG ‘THE SHARKS’. SIMILAR INCIDENTS HAPPENED LAST YEAR AND NYPD CAUGHT THREE TERRORISTS WHO AGREED THAT THEY WERE INVOLVED IN IT. NYPD IS LOOKING INTO THIS MATTER AND THEY SAY THAT THEY’LL TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION.
James had the records of the so-called gang ‘THE SHARKS’. He opened the file and went through it. He saw the photographs and told himself, “something isn’t right.”
He grabbed hold of the receiver and called Dennis.
“Hello”, Dennis was at the other end.
“Dennis, come here without wasting any time and bring all the snaps of the murder at the Matinee theatre.”
“O.K. coming right away.”
Dennis was at john’s place. John showed Dennis the snaps of sharks’ kills and compared it with that of the murdered woman.
The woman had been much more brutally killed. There were more stabs in her body. Moreover the sharks used longer knives, but that wasn’t the case with the woman’s murder. This was clear from the snaps that it wasn’t the work of ‘the sharks’.
They went to the NYPD and showed them their discovery. Later in the evening it was flashed in the news that sharks are not involved in it.
Later in the evening, tension started to build up. Another incident in exactly the same fashion had taken place near the Bacon Street not far from the theatre. This time it was a couple. They had been stabbed all over the place.
At 20:30, Dennis and John were there. They were informed that the bodies were found at 19:30 in a car. There were signs that they had been dragged into the car after killing.
Something caught John’s eye that was overlooked by the cops. The girl had blood inside her nails. She had scratched the murderer during struggle. And he also noticed the footsteps, which looked fresh, near the crime scene. He got a camera from his car and took the snaps. He asked Dennis to collect the blood in her nails and get the forensic report.
Day 3:
Next day John developed the photographs.
Telephone bell rang. He went to receive the call. It was Dennis on the other side. He told John that the DNA report was ready. John told Dennis that he would be at the headquarters after two hours, as he had developed the snaps just a moment before.
TWO HOURS LATER: 15:30
John was there at the NYPD headquarters. Dennis was eagerly waiting for John.
“I have made a spellbinding discovery”, said John.
“What’s it?”
“It is not the work of Sharks”.
“You told that before, John”, frowned Dennis.
“That’s not it”, he continued, “it’s the work of some group of children”.
Everybody stared at him.
“What are you saying John?” asked Dennis.
“Yes. Iam right. Look here…” said John pointing towards the photographs, “These are the footprints of kids and they are fresh footprints”.
“Why didn’t you show us then?” asked a senior official.
“That was a mistake from my part. Iam sorry”.
“How can you convince us that the footsteps are that of kids in this photograph?” asked Dennis.
“See, I have placed a nail just beside it deliberately. Compare it and you’d also agree.”
Every one took a closer look at the photograph and they immediately got ready to go to the crime scene once again.
At 15 past five in the evening they were at the place. Footprints were still there as it was a sparsely populated area.
The footprints were not of the same person.
John then spoke, “Listen Dennis. The Matinee theatre is also nearby. If it were kids, then they would be within this region. They would definitely not go to any far off place to kill.”
“That makes sense”, said Dennis.
“And as this place is sparsely populated with only three or four houses, I will pin point the orphanage of this street.”
Every one looked at John spell-bounded.
“It can’t be those innocent orphans”, said Dennis.
“You are declaring a little too earlier as innocents. Any way we’ll just collect their blood samples without letting them know that we are cops.”
“And how are we going to do this?”
“We’ll disguise ourselves as the people of the blood camp. We’ll give them free blood testing”, said John with a smile on his face.
Day 4:
The very next day, NYPD sent four disguised cops along with John to the orphanage. There they met the warden Mrs.Paula James. She was in her late fifties.
“Good morning, ma’am”, greeted John.
“Good morning. How can I help you, gentlemen?”Asked she.
“Ma’am, we are from the Bayport Medicare. We’re here to test your children’s blood for free”.
“That is so thoughtful”.
“Thankyou Ma’am”.
She asked them to wait in the hall. In an hour and half, she came back with the children. One by one, they collected the blood samples. They came back by 4 in the evening.
They labeled all the bottles and sent it to the forensic lab for DNA study.
Day 5:
They couldn’t have thought of a worser thing to happen.
One of the kids’ DNA matched that found in the nails of the girl. All the officials who were present when the news was broken gasped in disbelief.
“So, I guess we will have to arrest the boy,”said the chief of the headquarters.
“But sir, as I told you before one boy alone might not be involved but a group”, said John.
“You are right, John. But we can’t let him loose till we get evidence against all of them”, remarked the chief.
John couldn’t help it. He was feeling sad for the kids.
Day 6:
Next morning they got a warrant against the kid. His name was Tom Gayle, 14 years old.
He had a scratch on his cheek. Mrs.Paula James was crying, “You tricked us. My children are angels…”. John was full of tears. He couldn’t stand it.
After the arrest of Tom, he went to console Mrs.Paula James.
He said, “Ma’am, don’t worry I’ll fight for Tom. But you got to help me”.
“I’ll do any thing to free my boy”, she replied.
“Did you know about this?” asked John.
“No”, said the warden hesitantly.
“Ma’am, I am asking your cooperation. Do not lie to me if you want your boy back”.
Mrs.James thought for a while and spoke, “Yes, I knew it all from the beginning”.
“Why did they do this?”
“They?”
“Yes, I know that it is not his’ work alone.”
Mrs.James broke into tears.
“They were made to do this”, she said.
“Who?”
“It is because of you people. People treat them like slaves. My kids are angels and not slaves. They couldn’t stand it one day and decided to teach them a lesson.”
John was listening to her without even blinking.
“Mrs.Clair beat one of my boys for stealing her necklace but later it was found that it was her driver who stole it.”
“How do you know Mrs.Clair?” asked John.
“She is the owner of this place”, she replied.
“And how would you explain the couple’s murder?”
“Just a day before they were murdered, they came to adopt a child from our orphanage. But after they met all the boys, the girl said that they are not of the type she is looking for. How dare she say that? I then asked my angels to teach them a lesson too,” she said with tears in her eyes.
The next day it was decided to keep the hearing after a week. John agreed to fight for justice.
A month later:
A month later, the hearing began. It lasted for two months. John put everything into the case but in vain. People of Bayport with immense concern for the kids. John lost the case for the first time in his 25 years’ career. But the judge also kept his words in mind and agreed not to give them a jail kind of environment. They were allowed to stay at their orphanage but were debarred from going out anywhere. Cops guarded the orphanage all 24 hours.
The hearing moved the people of Bayport. It touched their heart. They were ready to help the orphans in whatever way or form they could. A special school was opened near the orphanage and the residents of Bayport also agreed to teach the orphans at the school.
John became the icon of Bayport. He died after ten years in a car accident. His idol was placed in front of the orphanage. Now the school is not just meant for the orphans but also for others. He had won even after losing the case.