Murder in Hotel suite

A loud shriek from Room No. 402 on the fourth floor of Hotel ‘Sunrise’ situated in the heart of the city sent panic waves among the hotel guests. The staff and the occupants of the neighbouring rooms rushed towards that room immediately. They saw a woman coming out of the room shivering in fear. She was wrapped only in a bath towel and wet from head to toe.

“What happened madam?” enquired every one almost in a single voice.

She pointed her finger towards a ghastly scene inside the room, where a body was lying lifeless in a pool of blood on the sofa and his head hanging backwards.

Detective Abhay arrived at the scene. He thoroughly inspected the body in his own style. He carried out a clear survey and found a hole near the heart and a pillow on his lap. There were bloodstains on the pillow cover. Abhay saw a revolver on the bed. She confirmed that the revolver belongs to her dead husband.

On inquiry, she narrated that two persons entered their room and started talking with her husband while she was in the bathroom. As she came out of the bathroom, she witnessed the ghastly scene.

After hearing her out, detective Abhay started probing with his subtle sense of detection. He found some wet footprints going out from the bathroom.

On questioning, she narrated. "As soon as I came out of bathroom, I found my husband in a pool of blood. I found his revolver when I removed the pillow from his chest. I threw the revolver on the bed out of fear and started crying out for help loudly and came out of the room."

The mode operandi is that the revolver was fired from underneath the pillow to muffle the sound of the shot. Abhay noted down his observation and questioned about the identities of the people who were involved in a dialogue with the dead man. She said that they were some trade agents and she gave their names and telephone numbers. Soon the inspector got up and asked Abhay whether he should arrest those suspects. Abhay with a smile on his lips gently turned down the inspector. Instead, he said that the culprit is very much present here and pointed his finger towards the lady. All were surprised at Abhay’s suspicion.

On what basis did Abhay suspect her?

Answer to the Puzzle

In fact, the lady on the pretext of going for a bath, waited in the bathroom till the two people left the room. Then immediately after, she fired at him, rushed back into the bathroom, and drenched herself with water. Then with big shriek, she must have run directly from the bathroom to outside. As per her witness, if she had removed the pillow after coming out of the bathroom, there should have been wet footprints nearby the body. However, such signs were absent. She ran from the bathroom to outside directly.

This micro reason caught Detective Abhay's attention to confirm the guilt committed by the lady.

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