Journey Of Thousand Lifetimes #8
Parked the car in our garage. My mind was still wandering and thinking about Avi coming out of the closet. The other 3 were sitting in the hall with mobile phones in their hands. I really wish these 3 just stop with scrolling facebook while sitting around.
Cranked open the door slowly and Maaran looked at me to smile broadly. His smile was very enthusiastic but I was in a state of total explosion.
Kiran stood up and said, “Brother! What happened?”
I replied, ‘Guys!’
Pooja and Maaran rushed near me while Kiran slow-stepped. Pooja peeped over my shoulders. “What is Avi still doing outside?” and she stepped out.
Coming back in she asked taking my hand, “Where’s Avi?”
I cleared my throat, ‘Avanthika is missing!’
Maaran shrudded, “WHAT?”
Pooja’s grip on my hand tightened while her voice sounded threatening, “What are you saying, Ray?”
The guilt struck my throat and the words never completed in my sentence. ‘I could not find her anywhere?’
Kiran walked near, “How did it happen? Come let’s go” and everyone stepped nearby.
I intervened with my left-hand between them and the door. ‘I searched everywhere. Her mobile is out of reach or probably switched-off. Last location was the Cafe we were sitting in.’
Maaran asked out of grief, “Well, where were you?” and his voice was pretty loud as he was either feared of his missing sister or I was probably careless about it.
‘She asked for her handbag and stood-up. Then I said that I’ll pick it up for her. The time between me going to the car in the parking-lot which is basically 150metres away and back to Cafe took me like 2–3 minutes. She was gone. I waited for a while and rang her. Her mobile was switched-off. Instantly asked those 3 baristas to look-up the CCTV and conviniently all the cameras went black exactly the minute she picked up the call.’
Pooja asked, “What should we do? Should we call the police?”
Kiran intervened, “No! It’s gonna create a big trouble” and Maaran replied, “We need our friend back or not?”
Pooja continued with a wet eyes, ‘Can you ask your brother to help us?’
Few days before at the house
Avi looked at me and spoke, “Hey partner! That dog shelter client?”
Me — ‘Yeah! About his infrastructure?’
Avanthika — “Exactly. I had already sent them but looks like he was involved with another issue. There was a break-in and the neighbor who tried to stop it was killed in his house.”
Silence prevailed for a minute
I regained a thought and replied, ‘Okay, first of all. Nope! I am not calling my brother.’
Avanthika — “Hey! He’s our client.”
Me — ‘Precisely. Our client. I don’t wanna make his. This is everything about us. I don’t want his business here.’
Groaned and took Pooja’s phone from her hands. ‘Fine! But Avi you have to promise me. This will be the only time I’m gonna call my brother regarding his work. I really hate talking to him when he’s a detective. He annoys me just because he’s older than me.’
Avi chuckled and shrugged, “Okay partner! I won’t budge you a second time unless it’s for me. Fine?”
Dialled and put it on speaker.
Me— ‘Hey Sangeet! It’s me Rahamat’
Sangeet — “I know. But why are you calling from your girlfriend’s phone?”
Avanthika mouthed, “Eww! Gross!”
Sangeet — “Okay, okay! Chill! I was kidding. What’s going on?”
Me — ‘A case that needs you. What case are you in, bro?’
Sangeet — “I am…in a hostel, actually. A haunted mystery. An intelligent case but it’s distracting. Can you make it quick? I have to run to my department now.”
Me — ‘Great! So, it’s a murder in my client’s house. Actually he was on a holiday and there was a break-in. Neighbor had tried to catch the thief but that poor guy was killed. Not sure about the full details. If you want, I can hook you up with my client.’
Sangeet — breathed in and out. “See Rahamat. The case that I’m looking into right now, is 10 times bigger than what you’re asking me. I hope you really understand.”
Avanthika — “Sangeet Bro! We understand. But it’s our client. He knows about you. Don’t wanna break his heart.”
Sangeet — Laughs and the speaker in her phone vibrated slightly. “Well, don’t blame me if I break your heart, my dear. Ray will take my place in solving the mystery.”
Me — ‘Really?’
Sangeet — “Yeah! How did you know he was on a holiday?”
Me — ‘The automated response mails were saying that…. Never mind I got it’
Sangeet acknowledged with a laugh again and replied, “See! You too got those instincts. I’m telling you, budd..”
I disconnected the call immediately and imitated him, ‘Blah blah blah blah blah blah.’
Maaran chuckled and asked, “What happened?” and couldn’t stop himself laughing by seeing me imitate my brother.
I looked at Avi while passin on the phone to Pooja. ‘I’m sorry, Avi. We need to let go of our client. He’s not gonna pay us anytime soon.’
Avi questioned with a confused expression, “Why? Cause he was robbed?”
I smiled — ‘No! Cause he’s gonna be in a jail.’
Kiran moved a step back and said, “WHOAAAA! Wow!”
Back to their meeting in the Cafe
Cleared her throat and replied, “She proposed me!”
I was taken back in awe. It was totally out of blue and Avanthika began weeping. I spoke softly, ‘What did you tell her?’ and she went silent.
Replying to Maaran’s text, I was waiting for Avanthika’s reply.
“I need some time Ray. That’s exactly why I wanted to talk with you. Can you please help me out?” she joined her hands and pleaded.
Caught her hands and pushed it down, ‘It’s not necessary Avi. Like always, we are always here buddy. See! I know you don’t really prefer more than a Long Black Coffee when you really need a Coffee. I have suggested some options, you looked at it and went to your own choice instead. Have we ever spoke wrong about it? Or said No to it? We are always open to your choice.’
Her eyes sweat a little. “Thank you!” sniffed and continued, “So, what you’re saying is — it doesn’t matter whatever I do but everything that I do, should be my choice but also keep my concerned souls in mind. Right?”
‘Precisely! And kinda. Mixed feelings. Ha!’
A few moments passed silently.
She smiled subtly and I noticed, ‘Mixed feelings?’
“No! I was thinking about our days in college. Remember that time during your break-up and you came home. Maaran was talking with you all the way home but I spoke one simple sentence and you were in ease.”
Laughed and replied, ‘Yeah, maybe I owed you a favor back.’
Suddenly she looked down and looked right and left. ‘Avi? Forget something?’
“My bag. I think I left it in the car” and she stood up.
‘Hey! I’ll get it for you. Sit!’ and moved out. Walked towards my car and saw her bag lying on the platform under the dash. Opening the door gushed a warm air to my face.
‘Woo! Boi’
As I took the bag, I heard a bell sound far away. It was the door of the cafe.
Walking back to the cafe, the table was empty. Probably she went for a bio-break. Keeping the bag on her chair, I sat down to finish my coffee. Many minutes passed by and I felt it was a bit strange. Took my phone to call her.
It was ringing for a long time and called again. It rang twice and disconnected. The mobile was switched-off when I called for third time.
Stood up and looked back at the counter. A barista noticed and rushed to check on me.
“Yes Sir? Do you need anything else?”
‘Did you see the girl whom I came with? Did she go out?’
She started to knead dough with her hands, “Sir! I didn’t notice but I think she walked out for maybe to the restroom,” and other barista walked towards us slowly. He joined the conversation and looked at her.
“What happened, Vani?”
“The lady is not here. She has not returned for a long time.”
He immediately responded, “Go check if she’s okay” and she walked towards the restroom area behind the cafe.
I asked, ‘Did you see her going out?’
“No sir! I was inside the kitchen. Let’s do one thing. We can check the tapes.”
We walked towards the counter and I questioned him, ‘Don’t you wanna check with your manager or anyone? Also I cannot come inside’
“Sir! Don’t worry. I have a laptop. We can sit at the table. I’ll take care of my manager. Let’s deal with this situation first”
‘Thanks brother! Your name’ I waited at the table.
He replied from the store-room inside the kitchen, “Nirmal, Sir!”
Another Barista entered the cafe from outside. He looked thin, terrified and sweaty as it was still hot outside.
Nirmal came out looking at his laptop couple of minutes later and as soon as he saw the thin guy, “Where were you? Okay, behind the counter now!”
I looked as the guy walked to the computer. ‘When did you leave, sir? Did you see a girl walk out of this door a while ago?’
He looked back and said, “Me? uh.. I don’t know sir. I was at the restroom. Any problem sir?”
Nirmal spurted, “No Questions! Get back to work. Customers are almost here.”
He scrolled through the timer in the application and the cameras blacked out from the moment she picked up the call. The cameras were back up when I entered the Cafe.
‘What happened Nirmal? Who did this?’ and Vani walked from the counter to our table.
Nirmal looked at her and said, “The footage is gone! The cameras didn’t work.” and turned towards me.
“I’m sorry sir!”
‘How the hell? What should we do now? I’m calling the police’ and I swooped away grabbing her bag from the seat.
“Can you not tell she went missing here, sir? We might be dismissed if the issue reaches our manager.”
Now I spurted towards Nirmal, ‘I’ll do what I wanted to do. My friend is missing. I’m gonna do something about it.’
My legs were extremely shaky and so were my hands. A chill ran down my spine as a warm breeze hit me as I opened the door.
“Avi! Where did you go?” I said to myself and looked all around the cafe wondering if she was standing anywhere.
Back at the house
Sangeet was hearing to everything I said over phone and I immediately put it on speaker. There was a silence from him.
Pooja requested, “Sangeet bro? Please help us!” she cried.
He replied, “I will! Ray! Clearly, it sounds like an inside job. I should take a look. I’m currently a bit busy packing my things. Will start in few minutes to your place. I’m taking a friend with me. His name is Wilson.”
I acknowledged with a sound.
“Guys! Don’t worry. Avanthika will be safe.”
~to be continued~
