Deadly incidents- 10

Read part 9 - here

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As squalid as it looked on the outside the building was near thriving within what with warehouses, small shops littered with electronic goods and a good many offices of businesses Pavil didn’t think existed. 

There were clothing shops, knick-knack markets within, watch repairs, computer, phones, hardware even airline offices, ones that probably stopped functioning ages ago and existed in name only.

There were even some lodgings places, food storage units and each floor had a different ecosystem, some with an air of industrious affectedness and others completely relaxed in their zeal to do anything other than not bother.

It was on the fifth floor that the flora and fauna of this building changed and seemed charged with the activity of people who looked like they might be making an effort. The air conditioning on this floor was stronger and something about the stench of chlorine mixed with gym scent of soap and shower suggested the atmosphere to belong to a mid-level health club.

There wasn’t much exploring to do before the two men came across a large glass panel that said ‘gravity’ written in bold and that it was a gym was an easy guess, seeing the few people running on treadmills and some burdened with plates of weights. 

A large board at the very entrance displayed a smiling picture of Toni, looking vigorously robust, each sinewy muscle oiled while lifting what seemed like a few hundred kg’s worths of barbell over his shoulders and around that main photograph were a few more pictures of similar men and women, herculean and smiling, all wearing a t-shirt that had ‘Gravity’ printed on them in bold.

A large mirror reflected the two men who looked completely at odds with this place in their somewhat formal, prudent clothing. 

The receptionist who’d until now been staring at the computer screen stirred to life and greeted them pulling out pamphlets and brochures from the drawers.

‘Are you looking for a membership?’ she sweetly asked.

‘No. We are looking for Toni.’ Khar immediately said without ceremony.

It took the sweet receptionist a moment to register that the big man had already spoken and not with kind of civility she’d offered him and that he was looking for her boss, probably the owner of the gym.

‘Uh, oh, Toni. Yes.’ she spoke somewhat hesitant. ‘He’s not here.’

‘And when do you expect him back?’ Khar asked without much change in his inflection. 

‘Umm, not sure. He’s not been here for a few days now. He’s gone to visit a relative’ She replied not losing her geniality.

Pavil looked a bit confused. ‘Uh. ma’am’ he said politely. ‘We have a reason to believe that he, uh, lives here.’

‘Yes, he does. Actually, the back office currently serves as his residence, and he’d called this morning to inform me that he’ll be back soon. I could not say when. If it’s fitness instructors you’re looking for, we have a fair number of reputable names and once you’re a member we can design an entire workout according to your needs and expectations.’ she beamed. 

‘So Toni is the owner of this gym if I’m not mistaken.’ Khar asked.

‘He is’ the woman replied. ‘Along with Michael.’ She reflected thoughtfully for a second trying to analyze the two men and quickly spoke ‘he’s presently at the gym if you’d like to meet him. Michael, I mean.’ 

Pavil was still thinking but Khar had already nodded and the woman bade them follow her to a small room where a few fitness instructors whose faces had adorned the entrance wall sat with potential members, drawing a full exercise plan in promising tones.

Pavil was chewing his lips while looking around the place. He could see a gaggle of young women dancing energetically to match their footsteps to a female instructor who strenuously encouraged them to do so. 

A small pyramid of protein shakes was stacked near a freezer and a board displayed various available health meals and juices at one corner of this brightly lit gymnasium and a few sweaty aspirational members sat sipping on thick smoothies and munching on green salads.

Pavil realized he was flexing. ‘I’ve never been to a gym as such you know.’ he spoke as a means of confession and stared at Khar’s incidentally bulging biceps through his rather plain yet neat shirt. 

‘I mean I’ve gone inside a gym and everything and even worked out for a week but it really wasn’t something that I could stick to, maybe because it wasn’t a very good one. I mean look at this one here.’ He looked at the venue approvingly. ‘This place makes you feel like you’d want to exercise. It’s inspiring.’ 

He didn’t expect Khar to reply who sat staring at nothing as such, though Pavil knew he’d registered every word along with every nook and cranny of this place.

A colossal man suddenly entered the room with the same t-shirt that had ‘gravity’ written across and smiled at the men before pulling a chair to seat himself. He was redolent of gym shower and vanilla which was probably due to the large bottle of protein shake he kept drinking out of. 

‘Can I help you?’ He asked after a formal round of introduction.

The room felt too small to accommodate Michael and the chair felt like it might break under his weight, but that was a feeling quickly fleeting because the man in question was not only soft-spoken but reeked of uprightness, the kind that comes from years of rigorous single-minded training and sheltered upbringing. 

No, he hadn’t seen Toni for a few days now, almost five days. Since the day of the incident, when he’d brought a few of his belongings in the morning, his only belongings and dumped them in the small room that served as his current residence.

He’d gone to visit some sick relative but was easily reachable on the phone and seemed slightly worried, even distracted the past few days, but that Michael felt was on account of his sick relative.

‘When did you last see Toni that day? Pavil looked at the puzzled Michael who was unable to piece the reason behind these pointed questions.

‘He came to the gym sometime after ten that morning and looked disturbed, I still remember.’ Michael answered unhesitatingly. ‘Soon after he left.’

‘hmm’ Pavil mused.

‘Is there any problem?’ the mammoth man near murmured.

‘Is there any number we can reach Toni?’ Pavil blandly asked and quickly scribbled it in his notebook.

‘What do you make of it?’ he asked Khar as they exited the gym and made for the lift.

‘That Toni and Michael are actually their real names’ he replied gravely and Pavil found himself thinking the same. He’d turned back and seen the co-owner of the gym pensively type on his phone, probably a word of caution to his friend.

‘Hmm’ Pavil exhaled.