"The truth serum?! " Sathya was in utter shock as he heard those two words.

"Yes indeed. Both of them were injected a dose of the truth serum just minutes after they were attacked. With the amount of trace found in the bodies at the time of autopsy, it is clear that the dosage administered to both were higher than normal. " finished Kumaresan.

"I don't know what to say. Can you report this to Suriya sir, ASAP? I'll get in contact with you guys once the autopsy is over. It seems there is a friend of Suriya sir at the Stanley hospital and so they agreed to our request to perform the  autopsy at this time. Most likely by 9:30 p.m. I'll reach the station after finishing the formalities. We'll talk then. " said Sathya as the he entered the ground floor of the hospital.

"Yeah I understand. Take care. " said Kumaresan and he cut the call.

As soon as he cut the call, Suriya called him.
"Sir, where are you? " asked Suriya.

"I'm nearby sir. Will reach in ten minutes. " said Kumaresan.

"Ok sir. Just be here quickly. " said Suriya and he cut the call.

Inside his cabin, stood Suriya staring at the notes he had made regarding the case on a white board. He ensured that he didn't mention any information regarding the notes or the call.

After sometime, Kumaresan entered the cabin.
"Sir? " asked Kumaresan as he entered the cabin.

"Huh?  Yes sir, come on have a seat. " said Suriya while gesturing Kumaresan to sit.

"Sir I have got the autopsy reports." said Kumaresan as he placed the reports on the table in front of him.

Suriya was still staring at the white board.
Kumaresan continued "Sathya told me about James, sir. I know how you are feeling right now but -"

Suriya interrupted him "Anything helpful in the reports, sir? "

"Yes. The time and cause of death are clear. And it seems they were drugged before they were killed. Sodium Thiopental was injected into them by the killers. Traces of it was found in their blood. " finished Kumaresan.

"Sodium Thiopental? The truth serum? " asked Suriya who seemed be back to life.

"Yes. A higher than normal dosage had been injected but we are not sure of the quantity. " said Kumaresan.

"Okay,  did both of them had same amount of traces ? I mean, were both drugged at the same time? " asked Suriya.

"Yes" came the reply from Kumaresan.

"So they both had been murdered simultaneously. They were drugged with the truth serum, huh? It has been used throughout the world to obtain confessions from criminals but why would someone use it on Jacob and Pandian? " said Suriya looking a bit confused.

"Well, isn't it obvious, sir? To obtain the truth. It is the truth serum after all! " suggested Kumaresan.

"What truth would they hide that could cost them their life? Even if they tried to hide something, who would want to know it so badly? This is getting worse! This doesn't help us to catch the culprit but it is a clue so I can't ignore it either! " said Suriya.

"And about the James murder? Sir? " asked Kumaresan.

"Yeah, sorry, I should've told you.  He was murdered upstairs. We don't have any clue as to who might have entered or how he got killed without us knowing. One thing is sure! We're dealing with someone very smart. And by the way, Did you mention anything about the notes to Sathya? " asked Suriya.

"No sir. I won't say anything unless you ask me to. " assured Kumaresan.

"Okay sir. I will intimate you on our next move soon. For now, I would like to be alone for sometime, so.. " Suriya said as he sat down.

"I understand sir. I will be in the station if you need me. " said Kumaresan.

After ensuring that Kumaresan had left, Suriya locked the room from the inside, took out his phone and opened the voice recorder. It was a habit of his to periodically record his thoughts on a case.

He started the recorder and talked to himself.
"Today's thoughts: The autopsy reports have arrived and it is evident that both Jacob and Pandian were killed simultaneously after they were drugged with Sodium Thiopental. It is possible that both were killed at the same location and then their bodies were thrown in their homes. And that is the only logical reasoning behind the times of the murders being same unless the killer is not a single person. The killers are more in number?.. Yes that's it! So definitely there are at least two involved! Could the one that killed James be the third one or one of the original two? I'm not clear on it yet but it is very much possible that two or more are behind this. At the moment only I know of the phone call and along with Kumaresan, only the two of us know about the notes collected from the crime scenes. I've asked Mr. Kumaresan not to share any info about the notes with Sathya. Not that I suspect him of being the murderer but just in case.. after all he was here with James when we both were at Pandian's. There's no evidence about who killed James, at the same time there is everything to suspect  Sathya. But the way in which the person spoke to me! Something is fishy in that call. He mentioned doctor! It can't be!...  In that case I might as well keep an eye on the other one. Either knowingly or unknowingly the culprit has given me this clue and I'll make him pay for that! That's a surety! Whoever you are Mr. Smart a**, I'll get you and finish this case for once and all!

-------

(9:17 p.m.  September 4th)

After searching the place for further clues, an exhausted Ameer told "Macha, I don't think we can find anything here apart from that medicine bottle you showed! "

"So? " asked Chezhiyan.

"What so? Let's leave the place before someone comes. " suggested Ameer.

"I guess there won't be anymore clues here. So we should leave now " said Chezhiyan.

"Dude, that's what I said! " said Ameer.

"Uh?... Okay. Did you take photographs of the entire place? Everything in it? " asked Chezhiyan.

"Yep. Every area covered! Including the bottle. " beamed Ameer.

"Okay then let's leave! " said Chezhiyan and both came back to Chezhiyan's granny's house.

As soon as he came, Chezhiyan switched on the laptop and opened Google. He entered Sodium Pentothal in the search column and clicked search.
Within a second, many results popped up. Chezhiyan opened the Wikipedia link and began scanning through the entire article.
Ameer was in awe of Chezhiyan's speed and to his utter disbelief,  Chezhiyan finished his work and updated the findings in the notepad. Only after finishing it he turned towards Ameer.

"Found what it is! " exclaimed Chezhiyan.

"What? " asked Ameer.

"The bottle we found in the hut held the medicine or rather the drug called Sodium Thiopental. The name written on the bottle, Sodium Pentothal is nothing but the commercial name of it or the name under which it is sold. " finished Chezhiyan.

"Why will it end up beneath Jacob's cot? As far as I know, James was the one involved with the drugs and stuff." asked Ameer.

"No it is not a drug like cocaine. It comes under the class of barbiturate drugs.  You know what? , it really has some amazing functions. Damn I'm intrigued by it even now! It just pulls you into the subconscious in less than a minute! Being an analogue of thiobarbital it is widely used to induce medical coma. Plus it is the world famous truth serum! And what's -" an enthusiastic Chezhiyan was cut short by Ameer.

"Hey just calm down mate! I know you have immense knowledge in chemistry and you worship it like anything! But make it simple for me so that I can understand! "

"Sorry! I.. I got carried away by it! Sodium Thiopental is the actual drug and Sodium Pentothal is the name under which it is sold commercially. It comes under the class of Barbiturates which are basically the drugs used to bring unconsciousness, so you know it will have some unwanted functions in wrong doses. But this drug, Sodium Thiopental, is mostly used as the truth serum. That is, when this drug is given to a person it drags that person into a trance by restricting brain's cortical functions, so it is very difficult to process or make up something other than the actual fact you know, which makes it difficult or rather impossible to think of a lie after its administration. So that's how it works. " explained Chezhiyan.

"Whoa! But why would it end up in Jacob's house? " asked Ameer.

"Well he was murdered after all, so it seems natural that he was hiding something which the killer sought. So he took it from his own mouth using the drug and then murdered him. " said Chezhiyan.

"Pandian too was murdered, so will there be another one there as well? " asked Ameer.

"Maybe but we still don't know and it won't be feasible to go there now! " opined Chezhiyan.

"Still we don't know if James was the killer, right? The involvement of drugs might increase the chances of him being the culprit but this is not the sort of drugs he is associated with, so we've risked this much for nothing! Superb! " said Ameer shaking his head.

"Yeah I know that! At least... HEY! WAIT!  Sodium Thiopental is not only used as truth serum but also as a lethal injection! " said Chezhiyan rushing towards the laptop.

"What?! " asked Ameer.

"Look, a lethal injection is a combination of chemical compounds which is used to execute criminals. Previously Sodium Thiopental was used along with two other compounds  called Pancuronium Bromide and Potassium Chloride to make a three-drug cocktail for this purpose, later on only Sodium Thiopental was used as a lethal injection in higher dosages. I guess about 5 grams of it could kill a person. " remembered Chezhiyan.

"What the?! 5 grams? Uff! " Ameer couldn't believe what he just heard.

"Normal dosage for it to act as a truth serum is about 3 to 7 milligrams per Kg of body weight. " said Chezhiyan looking from the Wikipedia page.

"So that means... " started Ameer.

"The dosage is seven times heavier than the normal one. To cause one's death this is sufficient " finished Chezhiyan.

"So you're trying to say that the cause for Jacob's death is this drug? " asked Ameer with a sense of fear.

"Yes! That has to be it. " confirmed Chezhiyan.

"Then what are we going to do? " asked Ameer.

"We'll have to tell the cops. " said Chezhiyan.

"Are you mad? We could be framed! How are you going to say this to them? You are planning to tell them that we broke into Jacob's hut, the crime scene? " Ameer was fuming.

"We don't have anymore choice! The cops won't do the autopsy anticipating this! They'll be misguided! " said Chezhiyan.

"So what? This doesn't change anything,  does it? It doesn't matter how the killer committed the crime, he is going to pay for it anyway! " suggested Ameer.

"No there is more to it! What if Pandian too is murdered by the same method? What if James isn't the killer and someone else is! " shouted Chezhiyan.

"Wha... what do you mean? " asked Ameer.

"Sodium Thiopental is not easily available. And you or me can't get it from anywhere! It is a restricted drug mate! Only limited people can get their hands on it! " said Chezhiyan.

"S.. So? " Ameer asked shaking.
To which Chezhiyan replied seeing Ameer
"I think the cops are behind this! "

To be continued!