21st December 2019
Paul's POV:
The forensics swarmed inside Renita's room examining every object for fingerprints or anything foreign stuck to it. Two hours have passed already and the kidnapper seemed to have done a perfect job again.
Renita looked even more terrible than the last time I saw her. A wave of sympathy washed over me for the poor girl. I walked over to her who was sitting in the room of one of her friends called Neha, wrapped up by a thick blanket. She was fidgeting with her fingers with her eyes glued to them. She hasn't spoken a word since I arrived and I didn't want to force words out of her. Its Neha who briefed us with what had happened in Renita's room.
I dragged a stool that stood in front of the study table and sat beside her. There was no one around in the room except us both.
"Are you sure that you locked the door before leaving?", I asked as Renita's bloodshot eyes looked up at me.
"Positive", she muttered which I made out from her lip movement since it was barely audible.
"Did you leave the window at the backside of the room open?", she remained silent for some time thinking over what I asked her before she answered deliberately, "I guess, yes. But that's at too much height to climb"
"If he had the capability of taking a girl away swiftly from the middle of the public, why can't he do this? He seems to be capable of so many things", I said as she nodded in agreement biting on her lower lip.
"Do you doubt anyone Renita?", I asked her. I had asked her this many times before but what if she comes up with someone as a series of puzzling incidents continues to happen. But her response even now was the same. "Why do you keep asking me this inspector?", she croaked as she stared at me through a pair of beady eyes before saying, "I don't. Everyone likes her"
"That's the point kid. Someone had liked her too much than others so that they didn't hesitate to take her away. See you were just away from her for two minutes or so and you mentioned that it was a crowded place. No one can force her and drag her into their vehicle or drug her in the middle of the public. Someone would have noticed it. She had gone missing without seeking even a soul's attention which means that it was someone you already knew that had abducted her"
She kept staring at me with confusion and helplessness before saying "I will think about it, sir"
I patted her gently on her shoulder, "Relax and think about all the people you know who is capable of doing this", She nodded. After making sure that she would call me if anything troubled her I made my way out of the room and stumbled upon Neha.
"Don't leave her alone, stay with her. It's best to stay away from that room since the kidnapper had had access to it", I said to the girl who had a plate piled with food in her hands for Renita.
"Sure sir, I will take care", she plastered a warm smile on her face before leaving as Officer Mathews approached me next.
"Sir, we inquired all the girls in the hostel, the warden, and the cleaners too. No one has noticed anyone breaking into the room or any noise from inside. Because sir look how the rooms are located", he pointed out at the rooms as my gaze followed his fingers, "They are placed quite far from each other. So it's understandable"
I nodded gesturing him to proceed, "We checked the building thoroughly, they are no CCTV cameras anywhere around since its a new building. It seems like the students were moved in just a week ago. The cameras are yet to be fitted. So no luck with any footage"
My head started spinning already at the number of useless information that he had fed me so far.
"There is a window as you would have noticed at the backside of the room which is the only source of entry into it. But since its seventh floor, the climb seems to be hardly possible, though it is the only way left. There is no trace of any ropes been tied to the window for climbing. I exactly don't understand how he climbed all the way up"
He flipped through the notepad he had and continued, "There is a service road behind the hostel that isn't of much use due to poor maintenance. It joins the highway to Pollachi in few meters. I don't think checking the tollgate would be of any use since a lot of small roads converge just like this road into the highway. So technically vehicles from so many places would end up in that tollgate"
"Were there any shops behind the hostel near the service road?", I asked expecting a yes and shoot! It was yes.
"Our men had inquired the shopkeepers but they had claimed that since it was a heavy rain they had shut down the shops and left home already. The rain is the villain here sir, the tire marks of the vehicles that passed through the service road this morning had been washed away", he finished snapping the notepad close.
Damn! Unluck can happen, but not this much in this case. "Again a dead end?", I asked staring right into his eyes as he shrugged.
"Seems like it sir, even the forensics didn't seem to have found anything useful", he said glancing behind him as I did the same. A faint headache started emanating in my head from lack of sleep and rest, and the bad luck adding to it. Since its been four days and the hostel seemed harmless our officers' vigilance had dropped a little and the kidnapper was too sharp that he noticed it and made use of the opportunity.
Mathews left after that to see if he could do anything else. I walked defeated to the room where the forensic once had been buzzing with their busy activities. Now they stood discussing something to each other before they noticed me and stopped.
The head of the team and a dear friend of mine for a long time, Shekar walked up to me and removed his gloves. "Sorry, Paul! It is very clean. Not even a single minute trace is left behind. It looks like its preplanned and done very carefully. Every single belonging of the missing girl has been stolen. Her clothes, bathroom supplies, paintings, and whatever she and her friend had purchased before she went missing.
Just three of her belongings are left behind. One is one of her photos with her friend and the other is her mobile phone, and the last one is a small teddy bear, nothing else. Was the girl made to leave the room purposely so that he can break in?", he asked as his team started to wind up behind him.
"No, it was a casual visit to her friend's home. I don't think it's planned", I said as a glint of terror appeared in his eyes.
"If it wasn't planned then he had been hanging around all this while to check when the hostel becomes guardless and safe to break in. Stay alarmed Paul. All the very best with the case", he said before giving me a small hug and leaving with his team.
*
Renita's POV:
Pure horror filled me when I realized that the moron who had taken Cathy away had just entered and left our room when I was not there. He had been in our room. The very thought of going back to that room made my head feel light and dizzy. I decided not to go to that room again. The next time I step into that room will be after finding Cathy only. Until then I had decided to stay with Neha, she didn't have a roommate.
Mithra had called to enquire about what had happened and offered us to stay in her home. But I was fine with the hostel anyway. The policemen had handed me the only belongings of Cathy left, it was our picture together and the small teddy bear that she had asked me not to buy but I did. Why did he leave the picture behind? It was her favorite. Maybe he would have forgotten.
Neha brought me food to eat which I had initially refused to take but then she had forced me to eat complaining that I was becoming so much weaker and thinner as days passed by. She even gave me a sleeping pill and asked me to take rest, promising me that she along with Preethi will shift my things from our room here.
Why did he return risking his life to take away her belongings was the big question that had recently hatched in my mind. What was he trying to do with her? And as usual, my questions vanished into the dark, unanswered as I dozed off on Neha's bed.
HAPPY READING!