Vir was waiting for Kelkar outside the hotel when he landed.

"We found someone who matches our victim's description. He checked out of the hotel two days ago. He is a regular. Stays with them for a couple of days every 3-4 months," Vir explained as they walked inside.

"Any visitors?"

"Not this time," Vir said

"What do we have on him?"

Vir led him to the lift, "Vishnu Hebbar. From Bengaluru. Owns an export company called Heritage. The hotel manager said he deals in artisan pieces. Local craft pieces mostly and some antiques. He also has an office here in Mumbai."

"Anything unusual about his behavior this time?" Kelkar asked as they entered the lift.

"Nothing. He was his usual self. He was out most of the time. Manager guessed at his office or out shopping. Said he carried back a lot of shopping bags. But he says that was normal for him."

"Anyone that he met regularly here at the hotel?"

"He had a friend who came by enough for the manager to remember him. Prakash Gawda. His wife joins him sometimes for a day or so, but not this time," Vir said as they got out in one of the basement level floors.

He led Kelkar to one of the rooms at the end of the corridor. The door read 'Security'.

As Kelkar walked in, he saw Lobo sitting comfortably in front of a multiple screens. There were two other men, mostly hotel security personnel manning the screens. A man stood behind them, stiff, dressed in a black suit. He turned around when Kelkar entered. He was in his fifties. His hair turning grey on his head and his moustache.

"I am retired Major Bijoy Das. I head security at the hotel," he said extending his hand.

Kelkar nodded and shook his hand. It was a firm handshake. Very firm.

"Senior Inspector Lobo tells me Mr Hebbar is dead," Das told Kelkar, "Is this a homicide investigation?"

Kelkar jerked his head towards Lobo. Lobo just shrugged. He was supposed to get information out. Not pass it around. Kelkar clenched his jaw as he turned to Das, "Not as of yet. We are just investigating his death to understand what really happened."

"I take that it was not from natural causes then," Das stated, "Has his family been informed?"

"We need to be sure that our victim is indeed this person Hebbar first," Kelkar stated before turning to the screens in front of Lobo, "Now what do we have here?"

The footage wasn't much. Seeing Hebbar walking in and out of the hotel and along the hotel corridor hardly amounted to anything. That is: anything beyond identifying him as the victim.

His rings were clearly visible in the video. But more than that it was the patch of grey hair on his head that mattered. It matched the one on the victim perfectly.

"Is he your victim?" Das asked watching Kelkar closely.

"It looks close, but not enough to confirm." Kelkar watched the screen again before turning to Das, "Where was Hebbar heading after checking out from here?"

"We don't ask out guests that," Das said primly.

"May be the reception knows," Kelkar said nodding at Vir to follow-up on it.

Das frowned, "I think we should call his family."

"We cannot do that just yet," Kelkar said in a firm voice, "If you really want to be helpful, tell me more about this Hebbar."

Das stared at Kelkar for a long time. Eye narrow, lips pressed in a straight line.

"We could really use the information, Sir," Vir requested quietly

Das nodded meeting Vir's eyes, "Army always has each other's back." He turned to Kelkar, "Ask me what you want."

"Was there anything about him that seemed different this time?" Kelkar asked

Das shook his head, "He was the same old self. Loud. Opinionated. Confident. If anything, he was happier."

"Did he rub anyone the wrong way?"

"The wrong way?" Das asked, "No. He would never have done that."

"But you cannot be sure," Kelkar said, "Opinionated people so tend to rub someone or the other the wrong way."

Das laughed a full body laugh. "You wouldn't say that if you knew him," Das explained, "He exuded power. Going against him, even if he rubbed someone, would be asking for their own destruction."

"He was a vicious man then?"

"He did it in a convincing way though," Das said, "He had a way about him."

"Anyone he could have rubbed off here in the hotel?"

"You mean the staff?" Das asked

"or the guests or one of his visitors?" Kelkar asked.

"He wasn't one to do that in a public place," Das said, "As for the staff, he brought decent business with his regular stays for anyone to mess with him."

"What about this visitor of his. This ...what was his name?" Kelkar asked Vir.

"Gawda"

"Prakash Gawda," Das chuckled, "He would never hurt anyone."

"In my line of work, there is no such thing as never," Kelkar said

***

"He is our victim, isn't he?" Vir asked when they reached the Jeep.

"Of course he is," Lobo scrunched his face, "You couldn't even realize that with all the dodging ACP was doing?"

Kelkar gritted his teeth hearing another pot shot from Lobo. If he didn't stop soon ... Kelkar shook his head and turned to Vir, "Get the footage. I want you to find out how he moved about in the city. Did he use the hotel car? Especially after checkout."

Vir nodded.

"Hebbar looked happy in the footage," Lobo pointed out.

"I bet he wasn't laughing when he died."

***

"Anything?" Kelkar asked as he and Lobo walked back into the office at around 8pm.

Vinay shook his head, "No missing person's report in Karnataka under his name. Nothing here either."

"Mumbai office is closed. Same with Bengalury," Mohit added, "We can only check tomorrow."

"What about the family?" Kelkar asked.

"You told us not to inform them about him yet," Maria reminded.

"I did. And I don't want you to," Kelkar explained, "What I want is for you to call them and try to get some time with Vishnu Hebbar."

Vinay stared at Kelkar eyes popping wide, "But he is–"

"Dead," Lobo rolled his eyes, "You are not really trying to get a meeting with him. You are checking if anyone seems to know it already."

***

Vir walked in an hour later with the surveillance video CDs. "Reception wasn't sure where he went," he said, disappointment evident in his tone, "The car was arranged by his company. Concierge passed me the number plate of the car that picked him up two days ago. I will run it through the RTO database now."

Kelkar nodded.

"Bengaluru police are going to try and get some information for us on Hebbar," Lobo called out from his desk, "They will give us one more hour before they go and inform the family. I had already asked them to pass us the family's reaction," Lobo added.

***

It was surprising how much information is available on just the public internet portals these days. People's entire lives are on it. And it took much less effort to pull the information that the unwieldly police database and his local khabari (informants) network. They were still irreplaceable, but this helped.

Kelkar took a sip of piping hot tea as he stared at the information in front of him.

Middle class origins. Both parents passed away while the kids were still studying. One younger brother: Dinesh Hebbar. The two brothers ran Heritage Company jointly.

Vishnu had married into wealth. Fortune seem to have favoured him after marrying Sadhana, daughter of Industrialist Krishna Rao. He had moved into the wealth Indira Nagar residential area. They had two kids. A son, Shridhar, 17 and daughter, Manisha, 15.

Sadhana's elder brother Mahesh now ran the business. Pharmaceutical, Marine Sciences, Engineering ...the list ran long.

"Woah! His wife looks good," Mohit whistled, disturbing Kelkar, "for her age, I mean."

Everyone turned to look at him.

"I am just stating facts," Mohit said looking at their not-so-nice expressions.

"His company has cases filed against it. Fraud. Misrepresentation. Each one got withdrawn before or right after the first hearing," Lobo moved closer to the screen

"Our victim was supposed to be loud, opinionated and vicious. My money would not be on mutual resolution," Kelkar said.

"Must have paid his way out," Vinay put in.

"Maybe we should switch over to handicrafts too," Lobo mused.

"Is there really so much money in handicrafts?" Maria asked

"If there is, not all of it is legal," Vir said.

"He was trying to get into politics, I don't think he was worried about legalities," Maria said.

"Hebbar was a busy man ..." Mohit said

"Busy trying to get bullseye painted on his head," Lobo muttered.

"So you think it is murder then?" Vinay asked sitting straighter.

"What?" Lobo snapped, jerking to look at Vinay, "When did I say that?"

Vinay made to open in mouth a couple of times as Lobo glared at him.

"What he did is made the job harder for us," Lobo ground through his teeth, "Couldn't even die peacefully," he muttered, "Left us with too many people to check up on just to ensure that it isn't anything but an accident."

"But that is just 5 people in his family we are talking about and we don't know if they were even in Mumbai," Maria reasoned.

"That is what you need to find out now," Kelkar said, "Get their whereabouts for the past few days."

"And don't forget his Mumbai employees," Lobo added.

"What about those people who filed the cases against him?" Vir asked.

"Yup, throw those in," Lobo said throwing a nasty grin at Maria, "And the ex-employees."

"Add Prakash Gawda to it as well," Kelkar said.

"Okay. Fine," Maria gritted out, "There are a lot of people to look through."

"Does he have any properties in Mumbai?" Kelkar asked

Mohit started punching into his keyboard, "I am check–"

"Kelkar," a loud voice called out from behind.

Kelkar closed his eyes. Great! DCP Roy.

"In your cabin now," Roy said not waiting for him.

Kelkar walked into his cabin and closed the door. Roy was back, occupying Kelkar's chair. "What brings you here?" he asked.

"Where is your end of the day report?" Roy asked curtly.

"The day hasn't ended yet."

Roy leaned back into the chair, swinging it slightly as he pressed his fingers of his hands against each other, "Was there any part of your brain that really thought it was going to be your end of the day?"

Kelkar watched him silently.

"Are you just looking for ways to find yourself in front of the panel again? This time for insubordination?" Roy asked titling his head.

Kelkar clenched his jaw for a second before replying firmly, "Our victim, Vishnu Hebbar is from Bengaluru. Handicrafts deal–"

"You are telling me things I already know," Roy said calmly.

Kelkar's head jerked. He looked at Roy through narrowed eyes, "Why are you asking me for an update then?"

"I want to know what are you doing with the information? Have you contacted the family, yet?" Roy asked.

"No."

"Are you trying to draw media attention on us? Or get the case thrown out for improper procedure?" Roy asked, "Maybe you just want to get thrown out for violating the first big rule."

Kelkar ignored his threats, "Hebbar has been missing for more than 48 hours now."

"Your point?" Roy said.

"There is no missing person's report anywhere on him," Kelkar said watching Roy closely, "Interesting don't you think."

"I find a lot of things interesting, Kelkar," Roy said, "That doesn't mean they solve the case."

Kelkar bit out, "Bengaluru police are going to inform the family in shortly."

"I must say you love to take risk," Roy smirked, "With your job."

Kelkar watched him silently.

"What is the deadline for this case?" Roy leanded forward resting his elbows on the table.

"A week. Seven days based on your sheet," Kelkar said

"Are you sure?" Roy titled his head, "Do you have conclusive evidence that this is murder?"

"The missing person–"

"Does not prove anything," Roy said calmly, "You are aware of the number of the insurance fraud cases where families tamper with the evidence to try and pass even suicide off as accident or murder?"

"This isn't suicide," Kelkar ground.

"Yes. But you have no evidence to prove that it is murder either," Roy stated.

Kelkar stood rigid.

Roy opened his drawer and pulled out the deadline paper. His eye caught the gun in the drawer before looking up at Kelkar, "Read this carefully. Memorize it."

Kelkar remained rooted where he stood. A sinking feeling building in his stomach at Roy having seen the gun.

Roy slid the paper in front of him on the desk and got up. "Let me help you think this time, he said, "The deadline is five days."

Kelkar made to speak, but Roy raised his hand, "Use your time in better pursuits than arguing your points with me, Kelkar," he said walking to the door, "You are already down one day." 

Thanks for reading the chapter. Kelkar doesn't seem to be having a good day. Hopefully next one will be better. If you liked the chapter, despite his problems, do comment and vote. Thanks