Chapter 2 - Some Interviews

“Sir, if you don’t mind, can we call them here now, all the ones who had come over or were here since the morning?” asked Srikanth.
“Yes, sure. Let me call Kailasam and Babu and see if they can come over.”

Within no time, Babu and Kailasam were there along with the others.
Anil began. “So Babu, we hear that you were here this morning. Tell me did you see anything suspicious ?”
“Sir, I was here around 7.30, I delivered milk and left. I didn’t see anything and I know nothing. I finished all my delivery work and went home. I haven’t come to this street since then.”
“Ök no problem, just hang around here until we are done.” said Anil. “Definitely sir”
“Sir, we heard you were here this morning. Can you tell us what you know?” Anil asked Kailasam next.
“Sure. I was here around 9.30am. Subbramaniam sir was almost done with his Puja. I told him I was there for my grandson’s water bottle. I picked it up from the garden area. Also, since I was looking for help with some cooking, Subbu sir was kind enough to arrange his gardener to cook for me starting today.”
“Did he come?” asked Anil. “He did come, but could not cook anything” said Kailasam
“Why not?” asked Anil. “Sir, we ran out of gas.” said Kailasam.
“Gas?” asked Anil. “Yes sir, we ran out of gas. But that’s puzzling to me as well, as I thought I had a little more gas left. Anyway, nothing was cooked” said Kailasam
“Ök, thank you sir. Kindly wait for some more time here until we are done with this... Subramaniam sir, can I see where you keep the keys and the locker?”.
“Öf course, please come over.” Subbramaniam sir obliged.
The locker was examined thoroughly. “Where is the key to this locker?” asked Vikram.
“Please come over. You see the mirror in my room. Right behind it, I place it on a nail on the wall. Well, what’s this now?” Subbramaniam picked up a piece of cloth stuck to the nail. Vikram picked it
carefully and asked “Do you recognize this sir? Is this yours?”
“No.. I don’t recognize this.” He said examining the blue cloth which had red and white lined crosses running across it. “Öh that’s from my coat. But how did it come here?” said Kailasam looking very
puzzled. He was in fact wearing the coat that matched it and looked around it to see where it belonged. His wrist had a little tear where the torn piece fitted perfectly. “I don’t know when this
tore. Oh, I see a button is also missing” He said, very disappointed.
“Hmm… Interesting.”, said Parasu. “Sir, can we have a look around your house please?” “Sure, please come” said Kailsam, feeling upset and insulted.
They stepped out to move over to the adjacent compound, when Anil noticed a little girl playing with someone who looked to be her mother. They were at the end of the garden. “Who are they”, he
asked. “Them? They are Pachai’s daughter and grand-daughter.” said Subbu. “Do they live here?” he asked. “Yes”. Anil noticed that the kid was not normal.

Just as they were about to leave the garden area, something shiny caught Parasu’s eye.