***

Word Count : 5600

Audio Theme : Ezra |Title Music|

***

46 | Lekha Tamang

15th May 2023

Morning

| 0715 Hours|

Drenched in perspiration, the sweat-soaked fabric of his grey gym t-shirt clung to his torso as he worked with the battle ropes while bending his knees into a quarter squat position, with his feet hip-width apart.

The battle ropes created a double-wave snake motion beating against the air in the atmosphere.

He let out a barely discernible grunt as a drop of sweat trickled down his wet black curls.

Two crisp knocks rapped against the wooden barrier separating the gym from the rest of the apartment. He slammed the battle ropes to the ground after swinging them up and above his head.

Letting go of the ends of the ropes from his tight grip, he swirled his tongue over his moisture-deprived lips. "Come in." A directive followed.

The door slowly opened to reveal Gurung. "Dr. Pradhan is here, Saab ji."

"Okay."

Fifteen minutes, a quick shower in the washroom attached to the gym and change of clothes later, he entered the bedroom.

Karim stood nearby while Gurung was offering a yellow smiley ball to the chubby petulant toddler cradled in Manoramaa's arms.

Two grown men and one grown woman in black ensembles and a tubby toddler in Doraemon-themed pajamas was a weird sight even for the Doctor, who was settled on an arm chair stationed next to the Diwan. The nursing assistants gulped the moment the towering and imposing masculine figure advanced towards them.

Ripples passed through Dr. Pradhan's old and wrinkle-ridden eyes as his gaze fell on the man approaching closer. He immediately shot up from the armchair.

"Sir"

"Sahib"

Six human frames, bowed, all at once.

"Good morning." Announcing so, Mahadevan settled on the diwan in the figure four lock position, with his right leg atop his left leg.

Manoramaa promptly placed Anirudh in her boss's lap.

The kid puffed up his ruddy cheeks while passing out a fart. The diaper secured around his buttocks by his mother early in the morning beneath his Doraemon-themed PJs rumbled as the adults around him chuckled, except his father.

He stared at his father, making grabby arms. "Poo-Poo!" He blabbered.

Mahadevan sighed in helplessness, gently cradling the tiny tot to his chest. "Doctor Uncle is here. He is going to make your loose poo-poo go." Bumping his nose with the toddler's, he brushed his hands against the child's soft black curls, quite alike to his own.

He then turned his attention towards the doctor. "You can start with the procedure."

The pediatric physician nodded.

Half an hour passed.

The toddler assessed the two nursing assistants with a smug smile.

One of them, the male, was rubbing his bum and hips while the female was on the verge of a complete breakdown, already questioning the very base of her profession as well as her existence. Her hair stood out, almost like the quills of a porcupine. She sneezed and wiped her nostrils, out of which emerged a few strands of her own hair that were drilled by the hellion of a kid sitting six meters away from her, on his father's lap.

He wiggled out his pink little tongue. The nurse narrowed her eyes, passing a scowl. The toddler, in turn, quickly got up on his father's lap, turned around, raised his diaper clad buttocks up, and emitted out an earth-shattering wave of gas.

Fortunately for the others, it wasn't smelly.

The female nursing assistant retracted back with a shock. She volt-faced and dashed out of the room with her male counterpart.

Mahadevan observed everything with an amused smile.

Gurung's chassis, meanwhile, shook with laughter. "Good job, boy!"

Manoramaa tried to control the smile emerging on her face, while Karim rolled his eyes, his eyes fixated on Gurung.

Dr. Pradhan let out an awkward chuckle. "I'll take my leave then, sir."

"You can." Mahadevan trailed. "But I have something to discuss with you before you leave." Announcing so, he met with Karim's eyes. Karim swiftly lifted Anirudh from his lap and walked out of the bedroom with Manoramaa and Gurung tagging behind him.

The door shut close as the physician got up with a gulp. "Yes, sir?"

"You have a family, Dr. Pradhan?" Mahadevan asked, his right leg over his left leg.

Mohnish Pradhan's breathing intensified. "Yes, sir." He straightened his back. "My wife and two kids."

"You love them a lot." It sounded more like a statement and less like a question.

Mohnish offered a nod. "Yes, sir."

"Good." Mahadevan smiled, his brown pools turning a shade dark. "You should." He got up from the diwan. "And I hope you understand that I value and love my family too."

"Yes, sir." The doctor mumbled.

"The news of my marriage." Mahadevan began, "Has it ever turned into a topic of discussion between you and your colleagues or anyone else for that matter?"

The medical practitioner swallowed. His hands shivered uncontrollably. "No, sir. Never." He dragged his palm across his visage. "I did what you asked me to do. I haven't uttered a word anywhere."

Mahadevan took a few steps forward, placing his hand firmly on the doctor's shoulder. "Good." His eyes gleamed beneath his rimless rectangular specs. "You can take your leave now."

The physician offered a quick bow, picked up his bag, and rushed out of the bedroom as Karim entered inside alone.

"A proper scaredy cat." Karim crossed his arms behind his back. "Rest assured, he won't utter a word."

"As he should." Mahadevan stated.

Karim bobbed his head. Scratching his forehead, he trailed. "Also, I might need a leave for the upcoming three days."

"Why?"

The 41-year-old man looked hither and thither and then sighed. "Asiya's homeroom mentor called me this morning. I have to go."

Mahadevan emitted out a mirthless chuckle. "Really? Am I hearing wrong?"

Karim exhaled sharply. "No."

"How so gracious, Khan?" The boss probed.

"Come on," Karim raised his arms up in indignation. "You out of all people? What's the difference?"

A lugubrious ripple hit the earthy pair of pools as their owner let out an eeryorish chortle. "What's the difference? You are asking me?"

"You wanted a child, Karim, and indeed you got one. Yet here you are-abandoning that very same child behind."

Karim's face turned crimson.

The towering and sturdy male continued. "And me? I never wanted one. Heck, I didn't even like children. In fact, I still don't. But here I am, taking care of my boy. I didn't abandon him, did I?" Mahadevan moved closer to the man in black ensembles. "That's the difference."

He paused.

Karim ducked his head down; his chest caught up in a painful constriction.

"Meet her and talk to her before it's too late. If you wish to see another living and successful outcome of parental absence, you need not go any further and turn your daughter into a sample."

Their eyes clashed.

"You already have one before you." He gulped.

"We all are equally caught up in this game, but that doesn't mean we'll ignore our families because of this. You want to avenge Aisha; that's fine. But you need not ignore that poor little girl because of this." Letting out a sigh, he carried on with the conversation. "Have you ever observed the ocean, Karim?"

"Uh... yeah."

Mahadevan's lips curled up. "The calmer the winds, the calmer the ocean; the stormier the winds, the stormier the ocean. Children follow almost the same principle."

Karim's breathing quickened. "What if the winds have turned stormy but the ocean is still calm?'

Mahadevan breathed in deeply. "Then it's pretty simple. The ocean is dead."

Karim's eyes widened. "What do you mean, Sahib?" His body broke out into cold sweats.

"If the winds are stormy but the ocean is calm, it means the ocean is dead, Karim. It no longer has any water hence It's no longer an ocean; it's simply a vast piece of barren land." Mahadevan enounced. "And when stormy winds blow on barren lands, they only bring along dead and desiccated dust with them, Karim---not moisture."

***

|0900 Hours|

With his protruding belly bumping with the edge of the table, the heavyset man raised his head up to look at the ten people in his office, erect on their feet, next to the wall.

"Morning, Chadha Saab!" One of them greeted.

He adjusted his round-framed specs with the fingers of his left hand and continued chewing on the parathas his wife had packed for him in the morning.

"Jackass." One of the ten, who was settled in a wheelchair, muttered under his breath.

Dr. Kanwal Dheer Chadha paid zero attention to the auditory intervention around him and licked the tips of his mattar-paneer-stained fingers.

"Is the mattar paneer that tasty?" Gaurav looked on curiously.

Patwardhan turned around to assess himself in the mirror attached to the wall beside them. Coursing his fingers through his hair, he fixed them and tucked in his white formal shirt into his pants.

Meanwhile, Hinduja and Raghav glanced at each other. Shaking their heads, they sighed.

Around five minutes down the line, the forensic investigator got up from his chair, packed his tiffin box back into the tiffin bag and wended his way into the washroom to wash his hands.

The SIT members looked on as the doctor got out of the washroom while wiping his wet hands with a handkerchief.

He quietly walked to his table, threw the handkerchief on it, wore a pair of clinical gloves from the drawers, and slowly strolled towards the team at his own pace.

They followed him as he moved forward towards a long stainless steel table. On top of it were ten trays kept in a specific order. All ten of them were marked with two different dates; 13th May 2023 was marked on the first five, while 14th May 2023 was marked on the next five trays.

All had lily blossoms in them, some already wilting, some still fresh.

Hinduja observed the first five placards kept in front of the first five trays, in order.

Rituparna Kukreja (13/05/2023) - 1

Misha Debbarma (13/05/2023) - 2

Janani Godagiri (13/05/2023) - 3

Karuna Tomar (13/05/2023) - 4

Seema Gadwal (13/05/2023) - 5

Her gaze then gravitated to the next five.

Shahista Khanum (14/05/2023) - 1

Nirbhaya Taneja (14/05/2023) - 2

Jyoti Dhillon (14/05/2023) - 3

Suman Singh (14/05/2023) - 4

Nivedita Sharma (14/05/2023) - 5

"I have sorted out the lilies according to the victims and their chronological order of abduction." The doctor began. "Not even a single fingerprint on any of them. Absolutely no traces at all, not even traces of soil. You can pretty much say that they were cleaned really well after getting plucked."

Pointing his forefinger at the lilies, he said, "These are white trumpet lilies, known for their large, trumpet-shaped and fragrant flowers and also tall stems. They generally require well-drained and fertile loamy soil with a pH of 6 to 7 along with 6-8 hours of sunlight daily for optimal growth. They typically bloom in late spring, early summer, or even late summer."

He then finally turned around, facing the team. "Who is Hinduja here?"

Raghav glanced at the lady in a plain black linen saree standing beside him.

"I am," she answered.

"Good job, kid." The forensic investigator provided a verdict. "As per what you had deduced earlier, we indeed found the exact same number of lilies as the order of abduction of each of those ten girls on thirteenth and fourteenth May, respectively."

Hinduja nodded.

Daleep Bedi gaped at the others in shock, his eyes protruding out of their sockets. It was almost unbelievable for him that the stiff-necked doctor actually complimented someone. The rest of them were in a state of shock no different than him.

"I got to know that you deduced the date of abductions before hand as well." Dr. Chadha asked.

"Yes," Hinduja replied.

"What are the next set of dates then?" He probed further.

"Uh.. 14th is over." She started. "So as of now, including today, we have a total of five different dates on which the abductions are going to take place. Today, that is, 15th May, then 18th May, 21st May, 28th May, and finally 31st May." She explained.

"Okay." Saying so, he paced towards the other end of the room, where another stainless steel table was stationed. "The lilies that were sent to the SIT office and that cardboard box they were in, both are here. No fingerprints on them as well." He said, directing his finger at the cardboard box kept on the table. "Now, we finally come to the bullets and the cartridge casings or the bullet shells.

He turned to face Raghav. "Bedi didn't fire that night at all, but you did Katoch, so how many times did you fire that night?"

"Thrice." The DCP answered, passing a glance at Hinduja. "I open fired to provide her a cover."

Dr. Chadha then turned his attention to the lady in the saree. "I got to know that even you possessed a firearm that night. I hope its legal?"

"It is legal." She answered. "Not a pistol, but a revolver."

"Okay. How many times did you fire then?"

"Twice." She voiced out. "And both times, the bullets hit the perpetrator's limbs."

"Alright. Other than these, how many times did the other party fire? Any idea?"

Raghav went into a deep tunnel of recollection of thoughts. "They were using sound suppressors just like us, but yeah, they fired two bullets on the front two tires of my SUV, two on Daleep Ji's left limb, and that makes it four. Other than this, I can't say."

"Okay, so, three plus two plus four; total nine." Dr. Chadha counted. "That night, as per your knowledge, a total of nine bullets were fired from both sides." Picking up a tray from the stainless steel table beside him, he explained to the team. "After Katoch submitted the two bullets that the attending physician extracted from Bedi's leg, we have a total of seven bullets and ten cartridge castings here. Two bullets, as I said before, were extracted from Bedi's wounds, two from Katoch's SUV's tires, two from the perpetrator's limbs that were fired by Hinduja, and one from the site of the incident, leaving aside two bullets. This basically implies that out of the three bullets that Katoch fired, two have definitely hit someone or something in that vehicle that night."

He then directed his fingers at the bullet shells kept in the tray. "Ten cartridge castings. Katoch used his service pistol, while Hinduja used a revolver, not a pistol. And we all know that pistols eject cartridge castings; revolvers don't. So the presence of ten cartridge castings in the site of incidence means that the other party fired a total of seven times, not four times. I deduce that they tried to injure Katoch, but due to the poor visibility because of lack of light, they were unsuccessful."

"The ballistic reports shall arrive in around five hours more. I'll intimate you all about it soon." He trailed. "Me and my team, we checked all the crime sites thoroughly, but we found no finger prints at all. We tried to search for shoe and tire marks as well, but surprisingly, even they weren't present."

"How is that even possible?" Praapti scratched her chin, appearing perplexed.

"Exactly, the point of wonder here." The doctor rejoined. "Lastly... " He lifted up the tray, revealing a short knife-like instrument made up of gold, with its handle constituting of carbon fibers. The serrated edge of the knife blade was covered with dried blood. "We found this on a spot next to the chalk outline of the body. The fingerprints on this match that man's fingerprints. Surprisingly, the blood smudged on it matches with neither that man's blood nor with Bedi's blood sample."

Hinduja's frame stilled as her blood turned cold. She crossed her arms behind her back while maintaining a calm façade.

The gap between the DCP's eyebrows narrowed. "If the blood sample on the knife doesn't match the perpetrator's blood, then whom does it belong to? Because, that night, only Daleep Ji got injured. Neither I suffered any injuries nor did Rao, right?" He turned to look at the lady beside him.

She nodded. "Exactly."

"Perhaps the blood traces on this knife belong to someone from within them-I mean whoever was there inside that vehicle that night." Ramandeep suggested.

"Possible," Maninder Yadav added.

"But why will that idiot injure anyone from that vehicle itself? They all belonged to syndicate." Raghav interjected.

"Point." Dr. Chadha agreed.

Heaving a sigh, Raghav spoke, "Anyway, one thing is definitely clear now, and that is, as per what Rao had deduced before, all the victims so far were indeed aware of who the abductors were. They were well acquainted with them, and that is why, despite being present in the abductor's vehicle that night, Seema Gadwal didn't cry out for help. She kept quiet."

"Brainwashed," Hinduja whispered.

"Ms. Fathima showed me the body yesterday evening," the doctor began.

"It's Dr. Fathima," Hinduja smiled. "Sir." she added.

The fifty-seven-year-old forensic examiner appeared visibly amused. "Alright kid."

He turned to the others. "Dr. Fathima showed me the tattoo on his chest-the letters JB. What are your opinions on it?"

"Could it be the syndicate's insignia?" Rukmini questioned.

The forensic examiner shrugged. "It could mean anything." He added.

"Actually, I had a few things to discuss." Hinduja declared.

"Lets go to the conference hall then?" Jishu suggested.

"No"

"No"

The profiler-deputy commissioner duo objected together in a tie, within a heartbeat.

Raghav looked briefly at Hinduja, a strategic understanding coursing through both of their eyes.

"What do you want to discuss?"

"Despite the number of patrolling jeeps that were on alert on the night of 13th May, how is it possible that we couldn't trace that vehicle that belonged to the abductors?" She put forward her point.

"That's something that even I was thinking." Patwardhan added thoughtfully.

Offering a short nod, she carried on, "Okay. Just answer this question of mine. What kind of vehicles do we generally don't suspect of something illegal or unethical if we see them on the road? Think of this from a civilian's psychological perspective."

"Ambulances?" Praapti answered.

"Correct." Hinduja smiled. "Because, its pretty obvious, no sane individual, whether a civilian, defence or police personnel, will ever stop an ambulance to check its contents or the people inside it. Ambulances for us are a sign of an emergency. We readily give way for an ambulance to move on roads."

Raghav stayed calm, showing no sign of surprise, as if he were already aware of what she was going to say while the forensic investigator looked on at the scene unfolding in front of him.

Eyes wide open, the rest of the team turned a little bewildered. "You mean, the syndicate is using ambulances to execute the abductions?"

"Possibly," Hinduja shrugged. "But I don't think they used an ambulance on the night of 13th May, though."

"Why, Madam ji?" Daleep rotated the wheels of his wheelchair to come forward.

Hinduja took a deep breath. "Let's think of it in this way. How many ambulances arrived from Dhanvantri Hospital that night? As per the instructions issued by the department?"

"Two," Raghav replied.

"The patrolling teams and the QRT must be aware of this piece of information that night then?"

"Definitely." The DCP nodded.

The profiler brought her arms to the front and clapped once. "And that's the point. If only two ambulances were assigned to us that night, won't the patrolling team monitoring the exit gates of Bhagwantpura must have got suspicious if a third ambulance crossed the exit gates under their watch?"

"Precisely." Dr. Chadha smiled.

"Then, what do you think? What mode of transportation would have come to their use if not ambulances?"

The profiler morphed her lips to form a lopsided smile. "Think of it yourself: what type of vehicles were in abundance in the Bhagwantpura locality on the night of 13th May?"

Ramandeep appeared visibly astonished while Praapti gasped.

"Patrolling jeeps?" Rukmini whispered with her eyes agape.

"Exactly." The profiler nodded with a faint smile. "The syndicate uses multiple modes of transportation as per the situation at hand. Sometimes, it could be an ambulance, sometimes a car or an SUV that has been thoroughly painted to look like a police car or a patrol Jeep, or, for that matter, it could be any kind of vehicle. Almost like a chameleon, they choose their mode of transportation according to the pertaining conditions-a camouflage-so that no one will suspect anything."

"My Goodness." Gaurav mumbled. "This makes it even more difficult for us to trace their vehicle as well."

"Which is exactly why they use this tactic. Very complicated but thoroughly planned." Raghav remarked. "Also, one more thing, any information about that man on our pre-existing criminal records?"

Dr. Chadha about-faced and wended his way to his table. "You won't believe me, Katoch, but that man has no record at all. Forget any kind of criminal records; there is no proof of him being an Indian citizen itself."

The DCP stepped forward, clearly confused. "What do you mean?"

"I scanned his face to determine if he has any presence in the past criminal records, but I found nothing." Taking off the gloves from his hands, he disposed them into the dustbin behind. "I even got permission from the department to call the Aadhar verification officer here. Surprise! Surprise! Fingerprint scan, facial scan, iris scan-that poor official-even though he was shaking like a leaf because of fear, he sat beside the body and got all the biometrics of the man scanned thoroughly. Guess what? No record at all; as if that man doesn't exist at all."

Raghav clenched his jaw, reaching a dead end once again.

***

As she got out of the main entrance of the SIT headquarters and started walking towards the parking area, her phone rang inside her satchel.

Taking the phone out, she read the caller's name, and immediately her sable eyes gleamed.

Without wasting a second, she answered the call in one swipe. "Hello? Father Alberto?"

A male voice greeting her from the other end. "Good morning, officer Rao."

"Good morning, Father."

"I really apologize for what happened on the day you came here with your colleague. His Excellency was really busy in planning the upcoming Pentecost feast that day, but there is a piece of good news for you, actually. His Excellency will be available tomorrow at the Episcopacy. If you want, you can definitely come for a meeting." The Clergyman informed from the other end.

"Oh, that's great." Hinduja wet her chapped lips. "I will be coming tomorrow at noon, then."

"Alright, officer. I will inform His Excellency."

"Okay, thank you." She said.

"My pleasure, officer."

And the call was dropped.

Coincidentally, a female figure dressed in civvies rushed towards her in a hurry. "Ma'am!"

Hinduja looked behind. It was Rukmini.

"What happened?" Hinduja probed.

Wiping her right hand across her face, the lady official stood straight. "We couldn't meet the bishop that day. Did that clergyperson, whatever his name was, contact you?"

Hinduja chuckled. "Perfect timing."

Rukmini looked on bewildered, oblivious of the call. "I didn't get you."

Hinduja placed her right hand on Rukmini's shoulder. "What I meant is---you came just at the right time. Father Emmanuel Alberto just called me. The bishop will be available at the episcopacy tomorrow. So, yeah, we have to go to the episcopacy tomorrow at noon."

"That's great!" Rukmini smiled.

"One more thing." Hinduja began. "I wanted to talk to you about this for so long."

The ASP sported a teasing smile. "That the presiding Chairperson and President of the Dogra Empire, Mr. Mahadevan Dogra, is your husband?"

"Rukmini." Hinduja admonished.

"Come on, ma'am! This is our secret-just ours! I won't let anyone know about it; I swear on my uniform." She assured, enacting as if she were zipping her lips, while her eyes shone with honesty. "Unless you will ask me to shout it out in front of headquarters using a mic."

"Thank you." Hinduja breathed a sigh of relief.

The ASP then folded her arms over her sternum. "Also, now that I think of it, all the dots actually connect perfectly."

"What do you mean?" Hinduja questioned amusingly while slowly strolling towards her Scorpio.

"I mean, only a man like him can match steps with a woman like you."

"Sorry?" The profiler raised up her left eyebrow.

"Hehehehe" Rukmini displayed all thirty-two of her teeth.

Just then, a deep male voice reverberated from behind. "Rao!"

Rukmini and Hinduja turned around as the DCP strode towards them with steady steps.

The moment his gaze fell on Rukmini, something changed in his eyes. "What are you doing here, Rukmini?"

"Just some casual conversation, sir. Nothing else." The ASP answered with a faint curve of her lips. "I will take my leave then."

Saying so, she threw a smile at Hinduja and him and started walking back towards the gigantic entrance of the government edifice.

The DCP supported his arm against Hinduja's Scorpio. "She is smart."

"She is," Hinduja chuckled.

"Anyway.." The DCP started with the matter of concern he was here for. "You also said no when Jishu asked us to shift to the conference, when you wanted to discuss something. May I know the reason?"

The profiler rubbed her hands together. "Perhaps we are both thinking in the same direction."

Raghav sighed. "If its true, its going to be a big problem."

"Yes." Hinduja nodded. "13th May was the first time we ever went for a crime scene deduction and investigation, and that was also the exact day the syndicate chose to challenge us? And if we go by my deduction, if they really choose the vehicles they use for each abduction as per the pertaining situation, how did they come to know that multiple patrol Jeeps will patrol the Bhagwantpura locality on the night of 13th May?"

Raghav Katoch rubbed his chin. "Exactly, my point. I checked the CCTV footage of all the cameras installed here in the headquarters from that evening. There is actually a loophole. As per what Rukmini said, the security guards found that cardboard box with lilies, right beside the pillar of the main gate, and surprisingly, the footage of the main gate area from six-thirty p.m. to six-thirty-seven p.m. from that evening has some glitch. At six thirty-eight sharp, out of nowhere, the box appeared there. The technical team is unable to retrieve the footage, and the security guards don't know where the box came from or who kept it there."

"There we go." Hinduja exhaled in exasperation. "All of this is not at all possible unless..."

"There is a mole within the team." Raghav completed her statement.

Hinduja shook her head. "And that's something that I am still not able to digest. Rukmini, Praapti, Ramandeep, Jishu, Gaurav, Patwardhan, Maninder Ji, Daleep Ji... I just can't seem to believe that these people will ever pose as traitors. I just can't wrap my head around it."

"I also feel the same." Raghav added. "That's exactly why I feel that it's someone else, and I have a hunch. That person has most probably bugged the conference hall with audio bugs because the conference hall is the place where we discussed most of our plans."

Hinduja nodded. "The reason you objected when Jishu asked us to shift to the conference hall today."

"As if you didn't object as well." The DCP joked.

Both of them chuckled.

"So what do we do now?" Hinduja finally tossed the most-awaited question on the table.

"We can't exactly check the conference hall for the bugs now because that will most probably alert whoever that mole is." He reasoned. "I will try to do something at night, and I am sure that if at all the conference hall is bugged, this must have been done after switching off the CCTVs by someone at night."

Adjusting her specs, she crossed her hands behind her back. "Reasonable. Can it be someone from the control room or the technical team? They have the closest access to the CCTVs."

"Possible." The DCP replied. "Anyway, we can't have any discussions in the conference hall for the time being. Not until I get it properly checked at least."

Hinduja acceded.

Around twenty minutes later, as she maneuvered her Scorpio towards the highway in order to go to Dhanvantri Hospital to supposedly get the dressing around her wound changed, she noticed a tall and leanly muscular masculine figure , dressed in a pair of jeans, a hoodie and pair of converse shoes, standing on the footpath with a large carton in his hands and the flap of his laptop bag hanging around his right shoulder.

She pulled on the brakes. The Scorpio ceased it's movements, and the man got inside the car, settling himself in the passenger seat.

"Good afternoon." He greeted.

Taking her foot off the brake, she steered the Scorpio onto the highway.

"This is?" She glanced at the carton on his lap.

Bakhtawar raised his hips up, turned around, and placed the carton on the backseat. "This carton contains the trackers."

"Good." She said. "Did you open the carton?"

"No," he replied.

"Did Shera personally hand it over to you?"

"Yes." Settling back on the seat, he zipped open his bag to take out something flat and metallic in appearance. "And here you go."

A ripple of recognition traversed through the sable pools. "The Laptop?"

"Yes." Bakhtawar smiled. "The one that we got from the storeroom behind the Purohit Villa, I got it repaired from a techie friend of mine. He tried his level best to retrieve all the old files, but I don't know how much of it is actually there."

She looked on as he slowly lifted up the lid to reveal the screen.

He then pressed on the 'power on' button. The electrical device came into life in a trice.

The classic Windows tune played in the background. The first screen that appeared when Windows got loaded was the desktop. And on the desktop was a wallpaper that she would have never forgotten, even in the years that would have come ahead.

The wallpaper was a photograph of an extremely poorly drawn black and white sketch of four little girls under a gigantic tree with large smiles on their faces. The pencil strokes were noticeably messy and untidy.

Hinduja's grip around the steering wheel tightened as she subdued the burning sensation in her chest. Bakhtawar, meanwhile, continued to stare at the wallpaper.

"Shut it down." She instructed.

And he followed her instruction without any fuss.

He then placed the laptop on the backseat as well.

"Anyway." Clearing his throat, he began. "A very interesting piece of news."

She glanced at him. "What?"

"As per your plan, I planted a few of my people in the Mandeville enclave guised as servants. Guess what? There is actually an old couple that lives in the last bungalow of the Mandeville enclave. Both of them are senior citizens, Freddy Irani and his wife Noorain Irani. Their servant mistakenly disclosed a very important clue in front of one of my men. The cook who was present in the Purohit Villa that night, we finally have some information on him." He clasped his hands together.

"Name." She whispered.

"Prosanta Tamang."

The moment Bakthawar uttered the name of the servant, Hinduja slammed on the brakes out of nowhere. The Scorpio came to a sudden standstill right on top of the highway, causing both of them to violently propel forward because of the force of inertia.

"FUCK!" Bakhtawar hollered anxiously. "What happened?!!"

Her hands trembled as sweat dribbled down her forehead. She painfully swallowed.

"Nothing." She mumbled. "Continue with what you were saying."

With his eyes bulging out of their sockets due to the sudden shock, Bakhtawar tried to calm down.

Both of them remained silent for a moment.

"Continue." She ordered again.

He gulped while nodding his head. "Okay." Swirling his tongue over his lips, he voiced out. "Along with Prosanta, his daughter lived in the Purohit Villa as well." He trailed. "Chitra Tamang-that was her name. Chitra and Kadambini were best friends."

Bakhtawar's eyes coruscated as he carried on. "You will be gobsmacked after hearing what I am going to say next."

"What?" She breathed out.

"Lekha Tamang, that is, Prosanta Tamang's wife used to work as a maid as well. Quite astonishingly, she was already pregnant with Chitra before Prosanta and Lekha got married. And do you know where she used to work when she got pregnant with Chitra?"

Hinduja stayed still.

Without getting any response, Bakhtawar resumed. "She used to work as a cook in the Bohra Mansion."

Hinduja finally turned her head around to meet her assistant's gaze.

"She was employed by Tamanna Bohra, Dogra Sahib's ex-mother-in-law, in the Bohra Mansion. In fact, Lekha Tamang even worked as Shivalika Bohra's nanny before starting off as a cook in the Bohra Mansion."

***