Over the next couple of days, I took more rest and stayed most of the time indoors. I did some exercise to flex my body and called Mary to join me whenever I went outside. It was a relaxing break for me from the otherwise high stress I had been under recently.

A few days later, I got a call from the Inspector. He asked me to meet at his office.

I went over as soon as I could, and as usual, he was waiting for me there.

"Hi, Jacob. So a lot has happened since we last spoke. Let me get you up to speed. First of all, I want to tell you that we looked into your classmate Gaurav. He was out of the country at the time of the incident. So we have ruled him out as a suspect from this case.”

I was not sure to be happy or sad about it. But I could the Inspector had more to say.

“Now on to your finding in Trivandrum. That was really helpful. Thanks to you, we realised somebody was tampering with our investigation. The report we had gotten from the constable in Trivandrum was false. He is currently suspended. We believe the Director paid him money to alter his findings. I'm sure you can imagine why.

The Director and his son definitely wanted to hide this. But I still wonder why. I continued to listen to the Inspector, hoping he might have more insights.

“After that initial mishap, the Inspector over there went himself to the hospital where Priya worked, and we were able to confirm what you told us. The Director's son Rahul was indeed chasing Priya, and she had ended up shouting at him. But that was almost 10 months ago, and no one knows if they had any interaction between them since then. We still want to talk to Rahul, but currently, we are unable to locate him.”

"Thanks, Inspector. I was aware of most of this. Except maybe the Director's interference in the investigation, though I mostly suspected that.”

"Yeah, I know. But we found more interesting stuff. Apparently, Rahul had booked a ticket from Trivandrum to Mysore. We have confirmation that he had arrived in Mysore the night of the incident. Though what happened after he came here or where he went after that is still speculation at this point.

I was completely surprised by this latest information.

"That's certainly is new information. So what are you planning to do next?”

"The Director has a sister called Ramya who stays here in Mysore. I think Rahul might be hiding out there. I was about to go meet her. Do you want to join me?”

"Yes, I would like to join if that is fine”.

"Ok. Give me 10mins. And then we'll leave from here.”

I joined the Inspector in his vehicle and drove towards Ramya’s house.

It was a big house which was not well maintained. We rung the Bell and had to wait sometime till the door was opened.

The door was opened by a slightly middle-aged lady who bore a slight resemblance to the Director. I decided to stay quiet and see how the Inspector handles the situation.

"Hi. We are here to see Mrs Ramya.”

"That's me. Who are you? And what do you want?

"I'm the regional Inspector, and we are here to see Rahul.”

"Rahul, who?”

"Rahul, your nephew. We know he came to see you a couple of days back.”

"I don't know where you get your information from. I haven't seen my nephew in the past 2 years. I think you have the wrong information.”

"Ok. In that case, do you mind if we quickly check your house? Also, who stays with you here?”

"I stay here alone since my husband passed away a few years ago. And I do mind random people entering my house. Do you have a search warrant?”

She was definitely getting on my nerves.

"We don't. But we always come back with one.“

The Inspector seemed like he was about to leave. But as an afterthought, he added few words.

"Just so you know. Obstructing a murder investigation is a serious crime. Suppose we do find out that whatever you have spoken so far is false. In that case, you will have to face serious consequences, including jail time. So maybe you want to think it over one last time.”

"Wait. What? Murder? Jail time?”

Her calm face was gone. And she was clearly panicking now.

"Anyways, we have spoken what we have come to tell. We will take our leave now.”

"Wait. Come back. I didn't know this had anything to do with a murder investigation. Come in. I’ll tell you everything I know about Rahul.”

We went inside and sat in the living room. We waited till Ramya was also seated.

"So, do you want to change your statements? Where is Rahul?”

"Wait. Before I say anything further. I want you to know what I said so far was due to my brother’s request. He had called me a few days ago and asked me if anyone comes searching for Rahul, to tell them that I haven't seen him for a long time. I had no idea this was related to a murder investigation. I love my nephew but not to the extent of going to jail for him.”

"Ok, Ma’am. We'll forget whatever you have said so far. So where is your nephew?”

"He came to see me some days ago. He had arrived around 8 pm. It was an unplanned trip, and he had not informed me beforehand that he was coming. It was completely out of the blue.”

"Did he say why he was here?”

"He said it was for something important and to meet someone.”

"Did he say anything more?”

"Not much. Rahul was in a big hurry. He even left his bag here when he left. He told me he might be late to come back.”

"And then?”

"That's it. He never came back. I didn't hear anything from him after that. I tried calling his phone the next day, but it was not reachable. Soon after, I called my brother and told him about what happened. Apparently, even he was not aware that Rahul was here. Initially, my brother was fine with the news. But two days later, he called me again and asked me not to tell anyone that Rahul was here. He seemed a bit worried.”

"And you never heard from Rahul after that?”

"No. Even his bag is still here.”

"Do you mind if we quickly check the bag?”

"Sure. Let me get that for you.”

Ramya went inside and quickly came back with a backpack. On checking inside, we found a couple of pair of clothes and a phone charger.

"You are also welcome to look around the house as well if you want. But I can guarantee you I'm the only one here.”

The Inspector did a quick look around the house. Once he was satisfied, we quickly left the place after thanking Ramya for her cooperation. We also told her to get in touch with us if she hears from or gets any news about Rahul.

Both of us rode back in silence. After some time, I couldn't remain silent at all.

"Doesn't all this seem highly suspicious? Are you going to get an arrest warrant issued for Rahul?”

"It's still too early for that. All we have so far are circumstantial evidence. Nothing concrete. But I agree. Everything looks really suspicious.”

"So, what can we do next?”

"You take rest first. I think it's important we find Rahul and talk to him. I believe that will solve all our doubts.”

"But how can we find him?”

"I believe his phone ran out of battery as he had forgotten his charger at Ramya’s place. But he must have gotten a new one at some point in time. Even though he keeps his phone off most of the time, he must have used it at least once in the last couple of days. So I'm going to take the help of the cyber wing of the police and see if we can find out where his phone was last used. We should be able to narrow our search using that.”

"I feel you are delaying things. He must be already on his way, trying to get away from here. We don't even know if he is still in the state or even in the country. We already know his father is helping him.”

"We have to wait, Jacob. We can never rush with the law. Unless we have more concrete evidence, there is nothing we can do at this moment.”

I was getting irritated. But I knew the Inspector was only telling the truth, and he was doing his level best.

We had to find Rahul soon. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on him as by now I had no doubt that he was the culprit.