Interviewer was kind, asked some tough questions, but I think he had a specific candidate in mind. The issue was more that he specifically said, "We don't like to leave candidates hanging, so you'll hear from us soon."
That's fine - but HR never followed up, and despite my reaching out, twice, to the personal email of the HR professional managing this, she never responded. Just very unprofessional - people commit time and energy to interviews. If it's a no, you should communicate that.