With a bag in one hand, and a tray in another, a man walks to one table in the corner of the café. He puts the bag next to his chair, the tray on the table, and settles down. He’s quite relaxed.
What we now hear is all him thinking, hence, as voiceover.
Chalo good. First assignment within 3 months of getting the private detective licence. Not bad. Now I just need to figure out a way to charge more. Then, within a year, I should be able to pay back that bastard all his money.
Anyway, all that later. Let’s focus on this case.
He picks up a briefing document with some highlights here and there. So, a murder has happened in a fine dining restaurant of the 5-Star hotel, The Zodiac. Nice. I will have to go there and check it out. Fine dining restaurants kaise hote hai pata bhi nahi. But anyway, it was in a restaurant.
Next page. And the victim is Mr. Naresh Shetty, famous businessman-turned-politician.
Next page. And we also know that this hotel is the front end of a mafia don. Very high chances that it is his work, but it could very well be that don’s competitor. Or it could be somebody else altogether.
List of the victim’s business operations, and his other activities. These guys could have a lot of internal issues that could have led to a revenge of some kind.
No, this is not going anywhere. My suspect list is going to be long. I need a new starting point.
He takes a sip of the coffee. Eeeek! Too bitter.
“Excuse me, could I have some sugar please?”
A waiter hurries to him with a tray. He keeps a dish on his table, then fumbles, and drops the sugar sachets outside the dish, on the table itself.
“Sorry sir.”
Why did he fumble? I am not even in a hurry. Hey! What if the staff of the restaurant was involved in the murder? What if it is a detailed, planned setup? A murder so perfectly carried out would need a lot of planning. Hmm, let’s see.
A bite from the muffin.
He looks around. Let’s assume this is where the murder happened. What could have happened before it? How would people have communicated to each other without the victim being suspicious? Can the bitter coffee or sugar sachets be any code?
We see the man at the counter. He is just observing people around. He notices this person and nods to him. What if the hotel manager is involved? Maybe his nod means something. Does he behave in the exact same way with all customers?
He observes other staff around. What if the shooter was given a hidden message by someone who interrupted him?
We see a guy cleaning the floor. What about a waiter? Or someone else. Could he have said or done something?
Maybe someone from the kitchen. We see the girl operating the coffee machine. A little bit of different taste could mean something.
We see the cup of coffee. Or even a strand of hair in the food. It can be used to attract the person.
We span the café with other people enjoying their coffee. What if it is not the hotel-owner-cum-gangster who killed this guy? There can be other people using the place, right?
We skip from a couple at one table, to a family of 3 at another table, to 2 businessmen at the third one, and an old man sitting alone at the fourth. What if some people came in as customers? They would look very casual. We don’t notice much about other people in a restaurant. They could make a lot of gestures and actions.
God! So many motives, so many possibilities.
He realizes that the coffee and muffin is over. This is going to be a tough case to crack.
He notices a menu on the table next to his. He picks it up, and scans through the top page. Anybody can be a suspect in a murder case.
We see different items and their prices. Rich people have so much money! With poorer people all around them, they would have so many enemies. And still everyone wants to become rich!
He smiles at the irony and opens the menu to the first fold. It has a note that shows lots of circles, and one marked X.
“Excuse me, sir.”
By the time he looks up to see the waiter, the waiter has snatched away the menu, and the note inside it.
“Sorry sir, that’s a faulty menu. We have made some changes, and this one is not updated. I will get you another one.”
Now that’s weird! Why would you have a note to point out the faul…
His memory flashes back to the note. That layout of the circles seems similar to the tables here.
He notices the ‘reserved’ sign on the next table. And the one marked X is that table over th…
He looks around; sees some staff and people at a couple of tables observing him from the corner of their eyes. He thinks of something, and starts packing his stuff up.
He bends down to open his briefcase. As he does it, he holds the metal latch of the briefcase and tilts to see the table next to him – the one marked X – and sees a gun taped to its bottom.
Holy shit! There is a murder about to happen right here.
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This was the 4th story I wrote for an office contest.
The other three are here:
