Chapter 14

Sumedh

I am pacing up and down the hall.

I don't know what to do. Mukta and Tushar ran away as if there was some new development. But I haven't heard from them since.

Aashay disconnected the call. I tried to call him again but now his phone is switched off.

I jump when my mobile rings again.

"Sumedh, can you come to the police station?" Mukta asks.

"Yes, on my way," I say.

I quickly change out of my boxers into a track pant, grab my car keys and mobile and rush outside.

I drive as if my tail is on fire.

I enter the police station with trepidation, my heart beating violently.

They have found something.

Mukta and Tushar are waiting for me. They usher me into a room full of laptops and wires and other gizmos. There are many anxious looking people eyeing me intently. They do nothing to reduce my own anxiety.

"What is it?" I ask, taking a chair.

"We have found a CCTV footage. We want you to see it and identify the person, ok?" Tushar asks.

I nod. My throat is dry and my palms are moist.

They push a laptop in front of me and a video begins to play.

I watch, with bated breath, as Navya walks down the road. It is her footage of that night, definitely, as I recognise the dress she wore.

She is stopped by a car. A man ambushes her and both seem to be arguing.

"This is Rahul Verma," Mukta tells me.

"Oh!" I exclaim.

I am just wondering what they are fighting about when, suddenly, I gasp.

Rahul pushes Navya hard, and she falls back down. She just collapses.

I know this is past. This has happened 2 nights back. But still I feel the urge to go and save her. Do something!

I clench my fists tight, urging my heart to slow down its pace. My breaths seem to be coming in rapid short bursts as I watch further.

I can see that Rahul panics when he realises what he has done, and dashes away in his car.

Didn't he have the courtesy to take her to a hospital?

"That stinking pig," I say.

"Now watch carefully," Mukta says.

I bring my face closer to the screen and watch with full attention, my eyes scrunched.

In some time, a car stops next to her.

And to my greatest surprise, Aashay get down, opens his passenger car door, lifts Navya, puts her inside the car and drives away!

"Who is it?" Mukta asks.

"It's Aashay! But how? What...? Why would he...?"

I am speechless. I can't even form one logical, legible sentence. How is it possible? Aashay is my friend! OUR friend! He accompanied me to the police station that first day! He has been with me through out! And all this while, he was the one who had Navya?

"Your colleague from bank? The one who accompanied you here?" Tushar questions.

"Yes," I gulp! "Yes".

Suddenly the whole of the room gets activated, as if an electric current has passed through everyone.

Mukta is firing instructions and people are rushing over here and there, as I sit there, paralysed, not hearing anything other than noise, my eyes going blank.

Aashay? I just spoke to him hardly an hour back....

Suddenly I remember my last conversation with Aashay.

"Mukta...", I call out as she and Tushar are hurrying out of the door.

"He must have run away," I say.

She stops in her tracks.

"I spoke to him. I told him you were checking cctv footages. He immediately disconnected the phone. And it's switched off since then," I say.

I have already been feeling like an idiot since the time I found out about the reality of Lavanya. But now my idiocy seems to have cross all limits!

"We will get him," Mukta says and they vanish.

*****

Mukta knew Aashay must have escaped from the bank as soon as he had spoken to Sumedh. Sumedh had unwittingly lent him information about the CCTV footages. But he wouldn't have got far. They could still catch up with him if they were fast enough.

She had given instructions to one team to track cctv footages from that night, to see where Aashay's car went. This team was supposed to check CCTV footages available from whichever source from all routes leading out of town, from the spot that Navya was taken.

Another team was sent to Aashay's house, to conduct a thorough search and see if they could find anything.

His cell phone number was put on tracking, and request sent for call records on his mobile number.

All traffic police were given Aashay's car number and asked to stop the car immediately if sighted. The same was done with all tolls leading to neighbouring cities and towns.

The bank manager told them that Aashay rushed off just about an hour back, saying he had some urgent family emergency and needed to take an urgent day off.

Mukta and Tushar watched the CCTV footage from the bank entrance. Sure enough, Aashay was seen hurrying out, just about an hour before.

"What do we do now? Where can he be?" Tushar asked, looking at her helplessly.

"Get our guys to check CCTVs from all squares leading out from this bank. Let's see if we can get his car", Mukta said.

As soon as she had said that, her phone rang. It was an RTO.

"Madam, the car number you sent. We have found it," he said breathlessly.

"Where?" Mukta asked, getting up, Tushar followed her, equally anxious.

"It's abandoned outside the toll pass near Lakhani road," he replied.

Fifteen minutes later, Mukta and Tushar stood looking at the empty car parked on a side street.

"Can this area be seen from CCTV on the toll gate?" She asked the officer.

"I have no idea. We have to check," he said.

There were three gates. They checked the CCTV footage on all three.

Finally, in the gate closest to the road, they saw it.

Aashay stopped the car and got down. He parked it along the edge of the road. Another car came rushing in and the passenger door opened as it screeched to a halt next to him. He swiftly got inside and the car zoomed out of town through the toll gate. They couldn't see who was driving the car.

"Whose car is this? Who gave him a lift?" Tushar asked.

They froze the image of the car from the video and zoomed in to try to see the registration number of the car. But it was too blur. They couldn't make out a single letter or number.

"Is there any way we can get a clearer picture?" She asked the officer.

"No. The resolution of the CCTV camera is this. It won't get any better," he said.

Mukta sighed in frustration. Every new lead gave them hope and then hit them by leading to another dead end.

"He has left town. He could have gone anywhere," Tushar exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air, feeling as frustrated as her.

Mukta looked around.

She too felt useless. And hopeless.

It was now two full days and three nights that Navya was missing. Where was she? What had Aashay done with her?

Her cell phone rang.

It was Sumedh.

"Any news?" He asked.

Mukta got irked. Couldn't he sit still and wait for the news? Were they going to be able to make any progress if he kept interfering with their work like this?

She was about to give him a sound firing, when she saw a call waiting.

Romee.

"Sumedh, I am getting an important call. Will call you later," she said, disconnecting his call as she quickly received Romee's.

"Madam, we got the call records from Aashay's phone. We have a number which he has contacted multiple times in the night on the day Navya disappeared, a few times in last two days, and then many times again today."

"Who does it belong to?" Mukta asked, running to her car, Tushar hot on her heels.

"One Mr Nachiket".

"Ohh! Great job Romee. Now number one, put Nachiket's cell phone on tracking. And two, circulate his car number to all our teams, RTO's and tolls," she said.

"Okay," Romee replied.

Mukta was already in the driver's seat of their vehicle. Tushar sat next to her.

"So Nachiket and Aashay are together in this," she exclaimed.

"Who is Nachiket? That sports teacher?" Tushar asked.

"Yes. He must be the guy who just picked up Tushar. Let's wait here till Romee calls back with some solid lead," she said, tapping impatiently on the driving wheel.

Ten minutes later, even as both were getting impatient by the moment, Mukta's cell phone rang harshly in the background silence, which was, till now interrupted only by Mukta's fingers tapping on the wheel and Tushar snapping his own fingers against the dashboard.

Romee.

"Yes Romee," Mukta replied, sitting upright, in attention.

"Madam, we have Nachiket's cell phone location. I am sending it to you on whatsapp. You can track him live too from that link", he said.

"Great Romee," Mukta replied, feeling a surge of positive energy flowing through her body, as she roared the engine to life.