"Ah! So, you were using your cell phone while driving. Another fine," Burphy rubbed his palms together and said to Kiran, whose day seemed to be going from the manageable to the nastier shades of worseness very quickly.

"No, sir. I am only checking if my girlfriend has responded to my message. She started typing something and then stopped abruptly. I was on my way when you caught me," Kiran said.

"Oh! And what is your girlfriend's name, young man?"

"Sara."

"What?"

"Saraswati, sir. We call her Sara."

Burphy thumped the seat on Kiran's motorcycle as he didn't have his table or jeep handy and a pall of dust soon engulfed him.

"Son," he said to Kiran after he was done coughing. "Please wipe the seat every day. And if the seat is clean, take a bath daily."

"And for now," he thundered, "I want you to come with me. Leave your bike here. It is getting bigger. Not the bike, the plot," Burphy's eyes gleamed while Kiran's widened in fear. "But sir, I..." Kiran started saying and Burphy cut him off.

"Have you caused her any harm? Have you done something to her?"

"No, sir." Kiran choked back tears of fear.

"Then you have nothing to fear. Have you heard of the great law enforcement officer LEO Burphy?"

"No, sir."

"Have you seen him?"

"No, sir."

"Then you have something to fear," Burphy said, clenching his fists.

"I am sorry, sir. I will do what it takes to learn about the great officer LEO Burphy. Please pardon my ignorance," Kiran said, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes sullen.

"Consider yourself lucky. You see him now and you'll know about him as we work together today. I am LEO Burphy," Burphy said and stood with his chest puffed up. "And I was only joking. You are in no trouble whatsoever. Look, I am looking for a Sara who hasn't been responding to her father's calls for a while. I am having this strange feeling, a hunch that you and I might be looking for the same Sara."

Kiran listened on, partly relieved and partly still horrified. Here he was, held up by a policeman first for flouting the rules and then to assist him in an investigation. Unmindful of Kiran's turmoil, Burphy continued.

"This hunch, I call it Hurphy's Hunch."

"But sir, I thought your name was Burphy," Kiran said, having mustered just enough courage to say that. Burphy laughed.

"Well. I change my name at will. It is a camouflage, you see. At times, even our names need to be in plainclothes. And, Hurphy rhymes better with hunch than Burphy which doesn't. Work must be fun, you see."

Kiran nodded vigorously, immensely satisfied with the law enforcement officer's explanation. And the two waited for Chowkilal to return with Cleopatra.

"Sir, if I may," Kiran said, "Sara has taken some space on rent in Excellent Services Complex. She runs a tuition centre there. She must have finished the last session for the day an hour ago. She could be there for all we know. Should we call the mall office and ask them to check?"

"Impudent kid," Burphy chided Kiran. "Are you trying to teach me what investigation is all about? Are you smarter than Cleopatra? Leave this to me. Leave this to us."

And, Kiran left it at that.