Chapter 12

abjeya

@abjeya

CHAPTER 11

Rathore was too stunned to question but Ayesha’s gears were turning around. She as the most experienced undercover officer, knew that often clues are left in cases to solve. In her undercover missions, it was often difficult for to cover her tracks. She asked “How none of the busts were traced back to you or to Riya?”. Arnav looks at her and said “I really don’t know about the investigative part of those cases. All I used to know, is when I used to get names of places or people, I used to pass them on to Riya. Riya used to make several plans to gather evidence some of them often involving her scouting the place to get a good idea on how the busts can take place. But tracing back to us never happened. Whenever the busts happened, we were far away and could not be found connected to any of the busts at all.” Rathore recovering over his shock said “What about auctions, markets where the girls were sold?”. Arnav immediately shook his head, and said “No, Riya decided that, that level of involvement will be too risky both for my business and for the investigation. If the busts happened and I am there, then the names would have come out in the media put there by my enemies. I used to find the middlemen, and establish contacts with them, just to get models from them.Slowly, Riya was introduced as the main person for contact. And as the contact deepened, Riya was able to discover, when the bigger auctions for human trafficking used to take place. Some contacts used to come from the models themselves, and others from photographers who were often called in the pretext for photo shoots. But none which did not seem above board or suspicious was done by either of us.”

Hearing a knock on the door, both of them turn to see Shree enter the room. He whispers something in Rathore’s ears and Rathore nods his head in response. Shree then closes the door and Rathore said to Arnav and Khushi “Your lawyer is here. It’s your sister’s husband.”Arnav’s hands immediately clutch into fists and Khushi held his hands to stop him from bursting out in anger. Rathore’s mind immediately forms a plan and he said “Here is what I want the both of you to do.”

Riya feels nothing but pain. A moan leaves her lips and she hears someone shushing her. The voice brings her a sense of comfort, and she knows she can trust that voice and do as that person said. Slowly, her eyes open and she sees his face staring at her, his face revealing nothing, yet his eyes revealing everything. Arjun immediately goes to the door and shouts for a nurse. The nurse immediately comes running and seeing that Riya is conscious goes to get the doctor. Riya closes her eyes and remembers the last time she was conscious. She stares as Arjun comes near her and holds her hand. Now she is confused. He is acting something strange. She wants to remove her hands from his, but she cannot find the strength to do so.

Arjun sees an expression on Riya’s face which in a normal circumstance would make Arjun smile. But now, he knows that she is completely confused. Stroking her head, he said “Don’t think too much Riya. We are handling everything, you have to just take rest. Arnav and Khushi told us everything.” Hearing, Arnav and Khushi’s name Riya’s eyes widen.She immediately tries to get out of bed. Arjun holds her down by her shoulders and shouted “RIYA.” Riya looks at him confused and shakes her head. Arjun tries to make her stay in bed but she still tries to get up. Doctor and nurses come in and seeing her agitated, immediately sedate her. Doctor said to Arjun “Please don’t tell her anything until she is fully coherent and able to respond. Right now she is still at the survival stage in her instincts. Once she is able to be aware of her surroundings, then you can tell her.” Arjun stood with his hands folded across him, and stares at Riya’s unconscious form after the doctor left.He thought “If Arnav and Khushi were not the victims, then why would Riya act so agitated when she heard their name.”

Shree enters Riya’s room and takes her mobile phone back to his room. Plugging in her phone, he starts scrolling through the phone records along with the location of the phone. Arjun Sir’s call said to check the location of the calls along with the number which she has talked to for the longest time. Scrolling down the call list, Shree saw that along with the victim’s family, Riya was talking to a real estate company.Calling that real estate company, Shree finds that Riya was enquiring about a property. This property was on an isolated stretch of land. As far as Shree knew, Riya did not need to own any property, and a property in an isolated area was very unlike her as Riya loved the city and would prefer to stay somewhere near the city. Rathore Sir and Ayesha have occupied, Shyam with the help of Arnav and Khushi for a couple of more hours. Calling up Chotu, Shree informs him about this property, and Chotu promises to pick him up outside the Raizada house.

Entering the car, Shree saw Liza sitting in the backseat. At one point he would have been irritated, that she is a part of the investigation but with this all hands on deck. Riya’s life has to be saved no matter the cost. Shree takes out his laptop and starts narrowing down the location, as he directs Chotu to that property. Liza asks “Shree, I understand that Riya is enquiring about a property but it can be an investment also. Why do you think it is related to the case?”. Shree takes a deep breath calming down his irritation because Liza makes a valid point . Shree said “I know it can be investment Liza, but according to the real estate company, Riya has made 4-5 trips to this property. In fact, the real estate company was so sure that Riya is going to buy this property that they had given her keys for this property even before the property agreement is signed. Riya also paid an advance of 50,000 Rs and one of the conditions of this advance was she should be able to go to this property alone and no one should be allowed to put a bid on this property till she continues to go to that property.” Chotu said “Did she pay it as Riya or Lavanya?”. Shree replies “Lavanya.” Liza said “50,000 is a big amount Shree even for her. Did you know that she had made such a withdrawal?”.Shree shook his head. Chotu said “Riya must have felt desperate to spend so much. But what happened to make her so desperate?”

They arrived at that property.Seeing another car come up as they step out of the car, they tensed but relaxed as they saw that it was Arjun Sir. Arjun puts the gun on his waistband and said“Rathore filled me in. Let’s go. Shree do you have the keys to the property or not?”. Shree shook his head. Arjun looks at Chotu, and Chotu with a nod of his head, goes and breaks the door. Taking out their guns, They enter silently.They see that there is nothing in that property. Apart from a table and a chair, nothing is there which indicates Riya’s touch. Arjun gives the sign to search the property. Liza did not have a gun, so she walks with Arjun. Entering the room, which looks like the bedroom, Liza immediately notices the duffle bag. Tapping Arjun’s shoulder’s silently, she points it out. Hearing the clear from the both of them, Arjun calls out their names. Shree and Chotu come into the room as Arjun puts the duffle bag on the bed. Opening it, he sees that it contains a bag, a map and what looks like a detector. Shree takes the detector and said “This is an underground detector. It is supposed to detect things buried underground like metal chests, bones etc.” He switches on the detector and checks the log. He said “Arjun Sir, the last time it was switched was the day of the Mehendi ceremony, in the morning.” Chotu said “So, Riya spent the morning here before leaving for the Raizada mansion but why.” Arjun said “She was eliminating places to look.” At that, Shree, Chotu and Liza look up to see Arjun had opened the map and the map shows the area on which the property was located. There was an entire series of crosses, showing areas marked out.

Lines drawn on the map, shows Riya was doing a grid search and she had eliminated most of the grids except for the grids which seemed to be located near the property. Everyone heard a strange tone enter Arjun’s voice as he said “Shree, what did you say that detector detects?”. Shree confused, “Anything that is underground Arjun Sir. It is often used by archaelogists to detect jewellery, bones etc.” And a dawning light of comprehension comes upon all 3 of them, as they finally understood what Riya was looking for? Bones equals Body. But Body of whom? Was Riya searching for the body of the missing victim? Had the missing person case become a homicide?

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