NAAZHIGAI Part 5

6 A.M Today:

“Stop crying now and tell me, where did he go? Prathi asked.

“Nowhere to be found”, I repeated again.

Prathi: Did you call Maya? Ask her if she knows, or call his parents they will know where he is off to.

Me: I called her and all of our friends; nobody vouched to see him, Nithi’s parents are so worried. That idiot drives fast too; at least he wore his helmet Prathi, his mobile seems to be dead since midnight. Vicks says his panic button alerted him at 11:14P.M which means he is alive but in danger

Prathi: Stop your Holmes deductions now, and tell me what our next step is gonna be. Should we file a complaint? Did you ask Vicks dad on what could be done to accelerate the search?

Me: Vicks and his dad are out searching in the routes for signs and traces

My phone rang before I could complete my statement. I picked up in the first ring.

Vicks:  Nithi!!

Me: What happened Vicks, where are you?

Me and Prathi rushed to the spot. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I ran towards his bike which was burning besides a bush

Uncle(Vicks dad): He's not here. Any where.

Prathi: Even with a fire that hot, there'd still be traces around uncle. He's got to be nearby.

Me: You really think he......He's here. He has to be.

The Police arrived to the spot. They had the scene sealed. There was the photographer and they had the forensics to sweep the scene. A guy quite well built approached us.  Prathi and I had our media IDs.

Uncle: I'm Deputy General of Police, The man that was with the bike is one of our own. We need to scrub every inch of this area. I'll get my men on it. You have search-and-rescue dogs? I'll call them in.

The guy saluted him and proceeded with the investigation with the people around the locality.

Me: We need to help them, Vicks.

Vicks: I'm gonna search up near the road. Maybe Nithi managed to bail out before his bike crashed.

Me: All right, we'll start on the bike; see if we can tell what happened or where he went.”

Forensic guy:  The engine seems to be hot. With the leakages in the tank we could tell someone's in that seat, so your man was definitely at the wheel.

[Cellphone rings, beeps]

Vicks: Hello. Hey, Subhu. Walk to the back of Nithi’s bike

Me: What for?

Vicks: Just do it, okay? Check the passenger rear side. Tell me what you see.

Me: Looks like it took a hit on the right side, busted a taillight.

Vicks: That's 'cause Nithi got bumped by some vehicle and run off the road. I got debris up here. All right, ask dad to call local traffic police. Maybe those pieces can help us I.D that vehicle.

Forensic guy: DGP Sir, I think I got something. Tracks. Going from the bike up to the road. but it looks like three people. See the two troughs in the dirt? Made by heels from a pair of shoes. So he was run off the road. Then dragged from the bike.

Me: Nithi got grabbed!!

Uncle: I had the team set up roadblocks, to stop and search every vehicle. We figured that the car that

ran Nithi into the ditch may be the same car he's in now. Local P.D. is canvassing to see if anyone saw any vehicles leaving the area.

Prathi: What about Nithi's cellphone?

Uncle: His provider says it's shut off. Contacted the IT team to see if it could be turned on remotely. 

It's a long shot, but you never know.

Prathi: Everything that can be done is being done.

Me: Prathi, don't tell me that. They took him. We need to do something.

Prathi: Then tell us about yesterday night. Was he nervous? Did he indicate in any way he was being followed?

Me: No, he was just......normal. He was normal.

I thought of his innocent stare and how he smiled as he gave me the gift.

Uncle: Hey, the team says they may have a witness. Guy runs a fruit stand up the road.

We went to meet the guy at the vicinity.

2P.M Today:

Fruit stand guy: Yeah, I definitely saw a Pulsar AS200, go by around the time you're talking...dead black. It was different in the way it was designed.

Yes Nithi is a huge fan of bikes. So he had his wheels assembled from a different set. It looks huge than normal.  

Me: That's Nithi's bike.

Uncle: What about any cars after that?

Fruit stand guy : Uh, let me think. There was a Scoda, an Ikon, an SUV.

Uncle: No one's gonna run him off the road with Scoda or an Ikon. Talk to me about that SUV.

Fruit stand guy: It was an SUV 500...black with tinted windows and chrome wheels.

Uncle: How is it you happen to remember it so clearly?

Fruit stand guy : Because I saw it twice. He passed heading north. Then he blew by again. maybe 10 minutes later.

Me: They were headed south off of ECR with Nithi.

Uncle: I'll put out an all point check on the SUV 500. I'm gonna call state police, have them set up checkpoints at every road leading off of ECR. The IT team just called. They were able to remotely activate Nithi's phone for a few seconds.

Me: Did they get a location?

Uncle: Yeah, he's still on the ECR. According to his GPS, as of 10 minutes ago,

Me: Not far the way I'm gonna drive.

Prathi and Vicks joined [Tires screech]

Vicks: It says Nithi's GPS puts him at a hundred feet into this junkyard. State police are 10 minutes out. They want you to wait for backup.

Me: Not a chance in hell. It's right over there. 85 feet and closing…………..There. Black SUV. So he's in there.

[Metal whirring] I ran as I saw the Car being demolished by a huge crusher

Me: “No. Stop! Do not move! On the ground! Freeze! Don't move! On the ground now! What have you done?!”

“Subhu,  We got him! We got him!” Prathi and Vicks shouted

Vicks: Why did you do this? Your only option is to give me answers.  You were in the junkyard when that SUV came in. Who was in it? You're not a criminal mastermind, so start talking. Who had you crush it? Was NIthi in the car? Was he alive?

Vicks squeezed his finger hard

Junkyard guy: Aah! You're gonna break my finger!

Vicks: And then after that, there's nine more, so tell me what I want to know. Start talking.

Junkyard guy: I got nothing to say.

Me: VIcks, he knows who took Nithi. Well, he's never gonna give them up. Whoever they are, he's 

way more afraid of them than he is of you.

Vicks: Fine. We'll try another angle...For now.

We surrendered him to uncle.

Prathi: So, we are dead-ended on the SUV.

Vicks: Ran the vin number. Turns out that it was stolen from a cab driver. They booked the car on rent, gave a sedative to the driver during the journey, abandon him in an isolated place and fled with the vehicle.  Dad has called for help from CBI. Their team wants to meet us.

8P.M Today:

We reached Vicks home.

CBI officer: I just have a few questions.

Uncle: VIcks, They can help. Let me talk to Nithi’s parents and let them know.

CBI officer: I understand running around  this case puts you in a terribly difficult position. But I need to talk to you about Mr. Nithi.  Outside of his family, you're the one who knew him best.

Vicks: Yeah, well, he didn't have any problems with... gambling, money, drugs, affairs, so we can skip all of that.

CBI officer: I understand he was headed to the ECR when he was abducted. Who knew he was making that drive?

Vicks: Subhu, her family and me..

CBI officer: I'll need their names.

Vicks: I've got a list. But they're all friends and family, do you think that this could be a ransom kidnapping?

CBI officer: If it is, we'll be ready. It's standard protocol to set up a trap-and-trace in the event kidnappers call. We'll also monitor family cellphones.

Vicks: You sound like you don't expect those phones to ring. Do you know something that I don't? I just keep coming back to how much easier it would've been to grab Nithi in the city. Instead, they took him on ECR after he dropped me. Do you think that this has something to do with me?

CBI officer: You and Mr. Nithi worked a lot of projects together. Could someone you worked with taken revenge?

Vicks: Yeah. A lot of people. There was competition but nothing was personal.

CBI officer:  I'll start by taking a run at the junkyard guy. You go through your project files, come up with a list of potential suspects. Keep me apprised of what you find.

He left Vicks confused and upset. We had dead ends and unanswered clues. The day was turing into night but still had no idea where Nithi was.

Me: We're gonna figure this out, okay? don't get lost in worst-case scenarios.

Uncle: The officer ran junkyard guy’s cell records. Right before he crushed that SUV, he got a call from a number.

That must be the guy who ordered him to squash that car, and why he's so scared to talk.

Vicks: Who is this guy?

Uncle: One named Vincent.

Vicks: I-I met him. Nithi knows him. He Is our client…………………… I’ll call him.

Vicks talked to the client. After all the explanation we got the crux of the conversation

Vicks: Vinnie, you said that you wanted to help him. This is your chance. Tell me why you’d get the SUV crushed

Vinnie: Nithi asked me to. We struck a deal.. But I never met him.

Vicks: Then how did you get paid?

Vinnie: We used a drop. He left a bag full of cash in a dumpster in the lower east side right after the 

SUV got turned into trash.

Vicks hanged up.

Vicks: Nithi is in on this. He planned the whole thing.

Me: Maybe it isn't really him. Just think about it.

Vicks: Were you aware he withdrew a large sum just before we went to Philippines

Me: Yes. It was for your trip.

Vicks: It's the same money that NIthi used. I clarified the numbers

Me: That's not possible. That's because you're locked into your own version of events, He went 

through this charade just to stage his own disappearance? Why?

Vicks: People are complex .We may not understand their blank behaviors all the time.  Maybe he had a breakdown or a personal crisis. And maybe there's a secret side to the man that nobody knows. Including you.

I dint believe what Vicks was speaking. I prayed to God that the day should be a dream. It was a long day. I wrote a page in my diary.

Day and night collide with one another.

I see my books next to yours
Milson Boons next to Meditations
Low-priced paperbacks next to leather bound classics
Mismatched like us
Comfortable, close to each other yet in our own lives
Now you will live separately, New stories to be told
There will be gaps where you once were like missing colors in the rainbow

I know afterwards there comes a time when what used to be said becomes unuttered
There comes a time when the seen becomes invisible & the touchable becomes unbearable to be around
threatening the life it belongs to
Here comes that time when all what is needed is love…yet love is not found!

Where are you Nithi, Come back soon, My tear placed a full stop to this statement.

To be continued…….