Biraj led Vaibhav out of the office to the western corner of the building where a set of stairs led down to the basement.

"So, I am guessing he was not okay with me coming here!" Vaibhav tried to start a conversation, praying that Biraj was open to criticising the inspector behind his back.

"A lot of people aren't!" Biraj was sounding a lot open that Vaibhav thought, "but most of us have no idea what you exactly do."

"I will...," Vaibhav started fidgeting.

"No need for an explanation!" Biraj assured him, "Sattu already gave me one! It was very long!"

At this point both of them reached a large wooden door. Biraj took out a key from his pocket and opened the door. The door did not lead to a very interesting room, except the lustre from a recent sweeping. However the neatly stacked files covering the wall directly opposite caught Vaibhav's eye. Not a single file had a paper sticking out of them.

"Those are from old cases," Biraj pointed to the files, "very pristine, because we don't open them! This is what we could arrange about where you will work.", Biraj said blankly pointing to the large table on the centre of the room, "you can set up your equipment here. they are supposed to arrive from Siliguri by today."

Vaibhav put his bag down on the table, "what's there?" he asked walking towards the large freezer covering the right wall.

Biraj followed Vaibhav to the freezer. They stood on either side of the door. Biraj took a moment before opening the door and pulled out the drawer containing a body wrapped in a white bedsheet.

"This one was dead before we found him," Biraj pulled back the cover to reveal the face of the victim.

"Let me guess," Vaibhav chuckled to himself, "the inspector wants a forensic analysis before closing his case?"

It was like any other form of lifelessness. Bimal Hansda didn't tell Vaibhav about the dead body before. The inspector didn't strike him as a spiteful man, he probably just wanted Vaibhav to amuse him. Vaibhav dawned his rubber gloves. He did not notice the details until then. The face was badly deformed. He probably died on rough ground and the injury did not need to heal after death. Vaibhav held his face and turned the head, black patches covered the left side.

"We arrested his partner the day before yesterday. He was lying dead in the truck." Biraj spoke in a distant voice.

"Arrest of Naxals on a rainy day!?", Vaibhav leaned on the freezer, "you said there is no excitement! You sure it was not crossfire?" Vaibhav looked up to see Biraj standing three feet away covering his mouth.

"No sir, no encounter.", Biraj spoke from afar, "The other one is still locked up in jail upstairs."

"What happens to the ones you encou...who die in the crossfire?" Vaibhav stepped back, apparently done with the body.

"The bodies are taken to the Siliguri Mortuary to be burned in a mass pyre," Biraj walked up slowly, "they will be here in three days from now and take away the body.", Biraj pulled up the sheets and uncovered his mouth, "you're free to run all your tests until then!"

"You said something about them driving a truck?" Vaibhav pulled out his gloves and threw them into the dustbin.

"Yes sir we arrested them while they were about to enter the jungles with their truck." Biraj pushed the drawer inside and stood up, "it is still overturned inside the forest, we were told not to 'contaminate evidence'!" Biraj air quoted the last words. Then he prepared to close the freezer doors.

"Wait, wait." Vaibhav ran to the body's side. Lifting the cloth of the right leg he traced his hands through a red line on the calf.

"What is it, sir?" Biraj wanted to hear something interesting.

"Sub-dermal lesions."

"What?"

"Well he was hit right here," Vaibhav pointed at the calf, "wasn't enough to break the skin but the trauma did tear blood vessels just beneath. Must have been postmortem because the bleeding stained the tissue," Vaibhav lifted the sheet further.

Biraj was watching closely, he had already decided that being a constable was the wrong career choice for him. Perhaps that was the reason his face suddenly dried up. As if he suddenly realised the horror beneath Vaibhav"s scientifically overweighted words. Biraj followed Vaibhav"s gaze until he dropped the sheet.

"Any anomalies sir?" asked Biraj abruptly closing the freezer door.

"The guy up in the jail, did he show any sensory overload?", Vaibhav said walking to his bag on the table, "like spasms, fatigue or hands shaking nonstop."

"No Sir", Biraj said raising his eyebrows and crossed his hands behind his back.

"Any other evidence you have here?"

"Yes," Biraj reached topside to the freezer and brought down a ziplock bag with some papers rolled up inside it, "this was in his pockets!"

"Well let's see what it says?" Vaibhav straightened the papers, looking at the smudged writing on it.

"You want to go to the crash site?"

"Later maybe," Vaibhav studied the paper, "lets first meet the suspect who is alive."

"What was it, the cause of death?" Biraj asked again, as if waiting to confirm something he feared.

"Well as far as the science points," Vaibhav took a pause, "this man suffered ground current injury, he was killed by a lightning strike..."