Chapter 4

18th December 2019

Paul's POV:

So far no luck in finding any lead in Catherine Velt's missing case. Whoever kidnapped her has done a perfect and clean job by not leaving even the slightest clue for us to trace him or her.

The mall did not have any cameras externally and there were no CCTV cameras around the busy road too. The watchmen of the mall claimed that they charge the cars parked outside by noting the timings of their entry and exit. But they weren't noting the registration number of the car, instead, they went by the tokens they assigned to them.

We inquired about her to every people in the shops and places nearby and the call taxi and auto drivers who stood at the foot of the mall. No one seemed to have noticed any girl being lured into any vehicle or any other suspicious incident that had taken place the previous day.

"Its most probably someone the girl already knew sir, that's why she has disappeared without catching anyone's attention", Officer Mathews had told me which was exactly the same thing that was running in my mind.

Perplexed by the complexity that the case seemed to hold, I sensed it very soon that it was one of that cases that comes into our hands once in a blue moon, bringing many sleepless nights and restless days along with it. Alarming the officers who worked under me on this case, I converged my maximum sincerity into it in no more than a day.

We started inquiring about her to her close friends and people she knew. We tried to find what was people's impression of her so that we could find whether it was a consequence of hatred and vengeance. But from what we learned from most of the people we spoke to, she was a soft girl who didn't dare to hurt even an insect and she was a very bubbly enthusiastic person who always maintained positive vibes around her.

The too many positive comments about her made us doubt whether she was taken out of jealousy. Now if I had to make a suspect list under that heading almost every girl in her college would be listed below it. It seemed like a dead-end after not earning even one useful statement from any of the individuals we had inquired about Catherine.

We met her parents today who had fled here from their native place which was almost a ten hours journey. I told them the exact situation of the case as much politely and understandably as I can in order to not scare them too much but that didn't seem to help either. The lady, Catherine's mother broke down into a hysterical sob and literally went on her knees before me pleading to find her only daughter.

Her husband had apologized for his wife's break down and left with her building an unbreakable trust on me that I would give them back their daughter in one whole piece. This is nothing new to me, people related to the victims crying their eyes out but what was new is the kidnapper who is yet to be caught.

Its only been a day and a lot of things had happened already. Though just one day of inquiry had happened I was experienced enough to feel it in the pit of my stomach that this is going to be very tough.

I sighed staring at the number of awards that lined my shelf. It was me after all, one of the most remarkable officers in our department 'Mr. Paulson Walter, IPS'. Though the hard ones I always welcomed challenging cases. I smirked as I made myself a silent promise that I won't give up until I find the girl and her captor at any cost.

*

19th December 2019

Cathy's POV:

"Catherine? Baby... wake up!", a soft male voice in a sing-song became louder and louder pulling me slowly out of the thick darkness that embraced me but its still dark. My eyes were still blindfolded. I pulled on the rope that held my wrists tightly as a sharp pain shot down my arms. My legs still felt numb.

"Who is that? Who is it? Take off the blindfold! What do you want?", I screamed through my hoarse throat as it burned like it was set on fire.

I heard him mumble something to himself before the sounds of him pacing around me echoed in the room. The place was damn silent except for the noises of him dropping something to the floor followed by a loud thud in front of me.

Then a foreign feel of his touch against my skin made my muscles stiffen. His hot breath on my skin made me realize that his face was dangerously close to mine. His hand traced down from my neck to my chest then to my stomach and descended to the inside of my thigh. Goosebumps erupted all over me and panic took over. I felt the rush of the boiling blood in my veins raising my body's temperature with rage.

I flinched away from him but not too far. The ropes holding my wrists restricted me from moving any further. "Take your filthy hands off me you bastard!", I screamed with pure revulsion.

An unexpected tight slap landed on my right cheek as a sharp pain shot up my head. My jaws felt weak and my head felt dizzy before another slap landed on my cheek making it worse. I could feel the blindfold getting wet against the immediate tears that erupted from my slightly open eyes.

His grip on my thigh tightened as his other hand grazed against the back of my neck and suddenly became a death grip. I gritted my teeth to control the pulsating exasperation within me. He pulled my face against something hard making me wince. I realized that it's his face after his lips started moving on mine. Bile erupted in my throat as his tongue slid against my teeth and all over my mouth. This was not the way how I expected my first kiss to be.

I tried to push him away as his hands made its way to my back and pulled me closer against him. He held me strong to him as his kiss went deeper and deeper and almost rough and hard. My lips started paining as he bit and pulled, and I felt his heavy breathes against my face. After which it felt like hours of my struggles and muffled cryings, and he holding me even tighter and kissing me hard almost to death, he pulled away.

I could hear him pant as I did the same. My jaws pained after the difficult treatment and I felt disgusted to the core. Though being twenty one now I had never dated a guy or kissed anyone. I always wanted to be a pure girl to be handed safely to a perfect man, all new and fresh after marriage for him to cherish.

Tears continued to erupt from my eyes as slowly a metallic taste filled my mouth, at least that made my dry tongue wet. I felt like a waste piece of paper now.

"Who the hell are you?", I cried "Why are you doing this to me?"

I heard him breathe steadily and he stayed silent for a couple of minutes. Then I heard him shuffle beside me before the sounds of the plastic packet being handled broke the silence.

"I always wanted this, I always wanted you", he said. "You won't have any idea how long or how much I was waiting for this", a small glint of contentment in his voice annoyed me.

"Who are you?", I asked again as my voice echoed instantly.

He continued to work on the plastic as he said, "It's not time for you to know that yet. You first have to realize my love and then find yours for me. But don't worry I am not going to rape you and burn you alive or dump your body in some garbage"

I don't know why a part of me relaxed after hearing that. I swallowed and asked him again, "Why are you keeping me here? Why did you kidnap me?"

Suddenly he stopped whatever he was doing and spoke after a brief silence, "Because I wanted you. With me, all my life"

I stomach twisted into a knot hearing that. All your life? "Why me?", I asked feeling unlucky for the very first time in my whole life.

"I have no family Cathy. I studied hard and built my own perfect life which was still void of love. I had never really had feelings for any girls before I met you. It didn't take me more than even a minute to decide that you are mine", he said as I heard him break something, a glass.

"If you are educated and having a perfect life, I have no problem with marrying you. You could have talked to my parents, why this?  I didn't have any commitments", I said letting my words slip carefully. Will he fall for this? I wondered silently though it was obviously unfeasible.

It was silent for a minute before he broke out laughing. "Very easily said? I know about your family Cathy, don't try to play the fool on me. Your damn family is orthodox, they will have at least a thousand conditions for the guy you will get married to if they had ten conditions even for the fricking slipper your wear"

My heart stopped beating. My mind raced a week back to when I was doing online shopping. I had selected a pair of black cut-shoes with laces and I had shared it to my mom's WhatsApp to ask if she liked it. I always ask my parents before I shop for anything.

She instantly called me up saying that I should buy all this stuff in person and how much not good online shopping is. She stated a few conditions of how sandals should be and how much footwears can affect our health that most of the people are not aware of.

"Money doesn't matter honey, I want the best for you", it was her signature dialogue.

I gasped, "Have you been stalking me?"

"Since the day my eyes fell on you", he responded right away.

"And since when is that?"

He cackled. "It feels likes an eternity already. Sometimes it feels like yesterday, depends on the mood", I again heard him breaking glass. What is he doing?

"Do I know you already?", I asked.

"Do I sound familiar?", he asked back confidently.

I thought of all the male voices I knew superficially. "I am not sure. But please untie me and take this blindfold off. Give me some water. I am dying", I pleaded.

Instantly I felt a needle pierce my skin on the arm. I always thought that injections were very painful but now it felt like an ant bite, that's called stress-induced analgesia. I am a medicine student by the way.

"I know and I am sorry. That's why I am here. I am sure that your arms would hurt like fuck after untying it since it's been hanging like that for two days now"

My jaws dropped at the instant he said that "Two days?"

"Yes. So I have given you a dose of painkiller so that you won't feel pain and very soon you will fall asleep. It's going to be okay", he said patting on my head.

I already started feeling dizzy and my ears started ringing. Two days and no one has found me yet? The hope I was hardly holding on to seemed to slowly slip away from my grip. This is something more than I imagined or expected it to be.

"I will take you to your room soon and I promise that you will love it. Don't worry, I won't touch you again without your consent", he said before his footsteps walked away from me letting me fall into my own dark world.

P.S: Enquiry - Informal investigation

        Inquiry - Formal investigation

HAPPY READING!