Day 2: 9AM

"Drink this," Kelkar said putting a glass of water in front of Mahesh Rao.

The man had lost all colour of his face. With his head full of grey hair and the glazed expression in his eyes, he looked like walking dead. He roused only after hearing Kelkar,  drinking a few sips before pushing it away. 

"That was ..." Mahesh twisted his face, shaking his head vigorously. 

Kelkar and Vir watched him silently.

"Was that really ...? I don't know what to think," Mahesh slumping into his chair.

"Do you think that is not Vishnu Rao?" Kelkar asked cautiously.

"His face is practically missing," Mahesh spluttered, waving his hands around.

"Dinesh Hebbar thinks that body is his brother," Kelkar said, "But we could get Mrs Hebbar to confirm, if you have concerns."

"No!" Mahesh warned, "Not Sadhana. She will not see this. Is that clear."

"We might not have a choice–"

"She will not see ...that!" Mahesh snapped, jabbing his finger on the table in front of them, "You have Dinesh confirming. That is good enough for me."

Kelkar leaned back watching Mahesh indulge in a staring match. Vir watched them from the sidelines, standing at one corner of the room. 

"When can we have the body?" Mahesh asked

"We are still investigating. It will take some time."

"Why? What more do you want to know? Are you looking to make some money out of this?" Mahesh jumped out, knocking the chair bank, leaning forward resting his palms on the table.

Vir rushed forward, placing a firm hand on Mahesh's shoulder, "We understand this is a difficult time for you, but you need to calm down."

Mahesh glared at Vir and then shot a look to Kelkar who was watching the man calmly, staying rooted to his chair. 

"Please, sir. Sit down," Vir said in a firm voice, that had traces of order in it.

Mahesh looked at him again, before sliding into the chair. "I am going to call my lawyer. I will get the body released."

"We are in the middle of active investigation," Kelkar said leaning forward, "That body is the main evidence we have. We cannot release it just yet. Your lawyer will tell you the same thing."

"Evidence of what exactly? Do you think I don't know the ways of you ...you police? How you make up things to weasel out money," Mahesh spat, "How much money do you want?" 

"Sir, in case you have forgotten, bribing is a crime," Vir warned in a hard voice.

"Look here–" Mahesh started.

"You seem really desperate. Desperate to the extent of bribing us to get the body released. Why is that?" Kelkar asked fixing his stare on the man, "Aren't you interested in finding out what happened to your brother-in-law? How he died?"

"What do you mean by that?" Mahesh snapped rising out of his chair again.

"What I mean Mr Rao," Kelkar said in a firm voice, "Is that at best someone threw your brother-in-law into water after he was dead. At worst, someone killed him," Kelkar leaned back in his chair, "So I will ask you again, is there a reason you aren't interested in finding out what really happened to him?"

***

"I cannot believe he is gone," Dinesh said wiping his eyes with his handkerchief.

"Were you close to your brother?" Lobo asked.

"Which brother isn't?" Dinesh said shaking his head.

"There are many who see enemies in their siblings," Lobo said quickly adding, "But you aren't part of that, of course."

Dinesh shook his head, "Anna ...," he looked at Lobo, "that is how I called him. He took care of me after our parents were gone. Paid for my education. Made me a partner in the firm. I am what I am because of him."

"Things were good between the two of you then?" Maria asked.

Lobo caught her eye and shook his head quickly. Maria frowned him before turning to Dinesh Hebbar.

"Of course! Didn't I say that before. Don't you listen?" Dinesh questioned, shaking his head vigorously at her.

"Ignore her comment. She is new," Lobo said gently, "We know you were close."

Maria glared at Lobo, gritting her teeth but stayed silent.

"We understand how anxious you must be to find out what happened to him,"Lobo said.

"Of course," Dinesh agreed with a quick double nod, "But wasn't it an accident?" he asked creasing his brow

"We hope that it is," Lobo said in a mild tone, "but we aren't sure yet. We want to cover all bases. We know you wouldn't expect anything less from us."

Dinesh nodded.

"I am sure you will want to help us in any way you can," Lobo added.

"That goes without saying," Dinesh added.

Lobo gave him a grateful smile. 

Maria gapped at him. It was like seeing a split personality come alive. 

"Can you tell us who could have had issues with your brother?" Lobo asked.

"Ask me who wouldn't," Dinesh blurted, "I ...I mean. What ...what exactly are you asking? Did someone hurt him?"

"We think someone threw his body in water after he was dead. His death of course, might have been an accident," Lobo said.

"Who would do something like that?" 

"That is what we are trying to find. Mr Hebbar–"

"Call me Dinesh," he requested.

Lobo nodded, "Dinesh, we love our family with their flaws. You loved your brother too. The best thing you can do for him now is to tell us who could have wanted ill of him."

Dinesh sighed, "Anna ...was a wonderful brother ...but he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way."

"People like who?" Lobo asked, nodding at Maria to take notes.

"Mukesh Chelaramani."

"Who is that?" 

"We delt with him on some export orders. He tried to sell us sub-standard product and then tried to sue us for the entire consignment cost when Anna rejected the order. Anna set him right, but he wasn't happy. Has been spreading rumours about the business in the market."

"Anyone else?" Lobo asked.

Dinesh shook his head.

"But didn't your brother make enemies with a lot of people?" Lobo asked.

"We settled with most of them. They wouldn't hurt Anna ...physically," Dinesh said

"What about someone in the family?" 

"Family?" Dinesh's eyes popped open, "Why would they hurt Anna?"

"It is known to happen sometimes."

Dinesh opened his mouth to speak a couple of times before shaking his head and going silent.

"If you know something that can help us find the one who did this to your brother, please tell us."

Dinesh looked at Lobo and then sighed, "He had a tense relationship with Mahesh this past year."

"Tense how? Do you know why?" 

Dinesh shook his head, "Mahesh just barged into the office a few times. They had words. I don't know what, except that it was loud and angry. Anna wouldn't talk about it."

Lobo nodded, "What about his relationship with his wife? How was that?"

"She is a caring wife. Loved him a lot," Dinesh said.

"And Prakash Gawda?"

"He always looked up to Anna, I think. Listened to everything he said. Never disagreed with him," Dinesh mused, "I think he liked Sadhana athige* at one time," he shook his head, "I am not sure."

"What makes you think that he liked her?" 

"I don't know. I thought I heard it mentioned once," Dinesh frowned shaking his head.

"Did you meet your brother when he was in Mumbai this time?" Lobo asked.

"We ...what?" Dinesh asked looking wide-eyed shifting his glanced between Lobo and Maria who had lifted her eyes from the notepad to look at him. "I wasn't in Mumbai," he croaked.

"Didn't you fly over three days ago? Airjet flight. Landed in Mumbai at 9:30AM," Lobo read out from the document that had been lying facedown till now.

***

"I have nothing to hide," Mahesh bit out.

"Then who did?" Kelkar asked

"How should I know?" Mahesh blurted.

"You were family. He had married your sister. Did you not care to find out if there were enemies?" 

"He crossed a lot people. The list would run in pages," Mahesh commented rolling his eyes and waving his hands in the air.

"Who would top it? Who hated him the most?" Vir asked.

Mahesh blinked a couple of times, puffing out air before speaking, "Try Arvind Menon, the owner of Antiquities. Vishnu undercut him and stole of lot of his business over. Menon wasn't happy. Or try Mukesh Chelaramani, his supplier who he tried to cheat. Or his own brother who he was trying to throw out of the company. As I said, the list is endless."

"Did he rub you the wrong way?" Kelkar cut in, "You don't seem to like him all that much."

Mahesh trained his eyes on Kelkar, "We may not have always seem eye to eye on things, inspector–"

"ACP," Kelkar corrected.

"Fine! ACP. But he was my sister's husband. We were family. I would never harm him. Never."

"Never is a tricky word, isn't it?" Kelkar commented.

***

Dinesh gaped at Lobo, "That ...That is ..."

"We have records showing that you boarded that flight, Dinesh," Lobo said.

"Mr Hebbar," Dinesh corrected narrowing his eyes at Lobo, "It is Mr Hebbar."

Lobo shrugged his shoulders, "So did you meet your brother when in town?" 

Dinesh fumed at Lobo.

"Mr Hebbar, did you??" Lobo asked in a firm voice, leaning forward resting his palms in the table.

"I did not meet him when I was in town. You get that. I did not meet him," Dinesh grunted 

"So what were you doing in town at this time? And why were you trying to hide it from us?" 

"I have nothing to hide," Dinesh bit.

"Great! Then this should be simple to answer," Lobo tiled his head in challenge.

"I was here to meet my lawyer," Dinesh said.

"Regarding what?"

Dinesh watched Lobo silently.

"What was the meeting about, Mr Hebbar?" Lobo asked in a hard tone.

"It was over our company. Heritage. I was for ownership split," Dinesh said in a low tone.

"The same lawsuit you had filed earlier and then withdrawn?" Lobo asked staring at Dinesh.

Dinesh's eyes snapped up to meet Lobo, "How did you ..." he shook his head, "Yes."

"Pereira, you can ask him your question now," Lobo said with a glint in his eyes.

Maria looked up startled before straightening herself.

"How was your relationship with your brother? Really?"

Thanks so much for reading. Let me know if the story is going at the right pace for you. Do you want me to make it faster or slow it down further? Would love to here your thoughts on this.

If you like the chapter, do hit that star and do comment. It lets me know if I am shaping the story well enough to make it interesting for you.

* - Athige is sister-in-law in Karnataka