Day 1
"When did you say your wife left home?" The deputy PI asks me.
Deputy PI Mukta Rai, her name plate reads.
She is a woman with sharp features and intelligent eyes that peer at me intently from above soda bottle glasses. I have told her everything I can, and she has been listening patiently. At the same time, I know she has been silently analyzing me.
I know the drill. When a woman disappears, the suspect number one is her husband. And I don't blame her. It's good that she has open eyes and ears.
"At night. Around nine," I say. I don't remember the exact time. But it has to be around dinner time.
She scribbles down something on her notepad, and looks up again, atop her nerdy glasses.
"What did you say you were fighting about?" She asks, in the same patient tone.
"I can't even recollect. It was something minor. She was pissed off about something, I am not sure what it was," I say.
Mukta nods as if she understands. I don't know whether she understands that women get pissed off by such minor things that the husband's have no clue what it is, or that husbands are so dumb that they don't even realize what women are pissed out about.
She then looks over at Aashay.
"And you are...?"
Aashay has been a mute spectator since we came in.
"He is Aashay Dubey, my colleague," I say.
"He's my boss," Aashay says, smiling.
"Okay. Actually I need to ask some personal questions, Mr Sumedh," Mukta says, looking at me. Then she turns her gaze towards Aashay. He immediately gets it.
"I will wait outside," Aashay says, nodding at her, patting me as he gets up and leaves the cabin.
Mukta waits till Aashay's footsteps disappear and he is completely out of earshot.
"How long have you been married? How is your relationship with your wife?" She asks me.
I am a bit bowled over by the suddenness of this direct questioning.
"We have been married four years now," I say.
The answer to the second question is a bit tricky. I don't know how to answer that.
Mukta is waiting, gazing at me with her piercing eyes.
"The re-relationship is good," I falter a bit, pressurized by the directness in her eyes, "just like any couple".
She nods and scribbles something more.
"How often do you fight?" She asks.
I ponder about the question.
"Not sure. Sometimes frequently, sometimes rarely," I can understand how vague that sounds. But that's just how it is. We can't have fights three times a day every alternate day of the week or something like that! What does she expect me to say, I don't know!
"Have you had many fights in say, the past week?" Mukta asks, unperturbed.
I can realize where she is going with this questioning.
"She didn't run away because of me, if that is what you are leading to," I tell her, impatience teeming in my tone.
Mukta just continues to observe me some more. I expect her to get defensive, but she's doesn't even flinch.
"I never said that. This is the normal way we question the spouse after disappearance. When all of our doubts are satisfactorily ruled out, we can focus on other possibilities," she states matter-of-factly.
I sigh and droop my shoulders.
"She never walks away like that. You have to find her," I plead.
"We will," Mukta says, but she doesn't dwell on what she had been asking. She changes the course of her questions.
"Was she under any stress? Recently?"
I think over this. The fact is, I have been so preoccupied with myself, I have not noticed whether or not Navya was in any kind of stress recently or not.
"I am not sure...," I say. This is true. I am not sure!
"Did she have trouble sleeping? Or did she seem depressed?"
"I don't think so".
"Do you have any reason to believe that she was involved with someone other than you?"
"What? Absolutely not!" I reply, shocked at her blatant questioning.
"Don't be so shocked Mr Sumedh. The fact is that your wife has left you and gone somewhere of her own will, and you have to consider the possibility that there are things in her life that you don't know about," Mukta says.
This sentence hits me as well as a 'shut up' would. And it rings true. I have already told her about her message to Niyati the previous evening. So yes. There are things about my wife that I have no idea about. If she had planned going somewhere without even giving me a hint, wasn't it possible that there was someone else in her life?
I stay silent for a moment, before expressing my real concern.
"Are you sure that she's just walked away? Isn't it possible that she met with an accident or that someone tried to harm her?" I ask.
"It is very possible, and we will look into all possibilities," Mukta assures me.
"Is there anything else that you feel is important that we should know about?" She asks, and again I have the eerie feeling that she can read my mind.
Yes, there are things that I am keeping from her, but I don't think they have anything to do with Navya's disappearance.
"No," I say, my voice frail with the effort.
I then give her all the information about Navya's place of work, her friends and colleagues at school, her friends in our colony, her daily schedule, etc. I WhatsApp her Navya's latest photo and share her mobile number.
"I hope you are not hiding anything from us," she says finally, again fixing me with her pointed gaze.
I feel like she already knows what I am hiding. But I can't tell her.
"No. I have told you everything that is relevant," I say.
"You can go home. Just as you are hoping, we also think that your wife will probably return by tonight or by tomorrow morning. This is what happens in most cases. But that doesn't mean we won't start looking for her. We will do everything we can to find her," Mukta says, as she removes her glasses and carefully places them on the table.
"Okay," I say, taking a hint that this is the end of the conversation.
I and Aashay head home. It's my car but he drives.
"Do you want me to stay with you?" He asks.
Aashay has been a good friend. He and me go back a long way. He has been with me since we were in college. And I had gotten introduced to Navya through him. I appreciate his help and concern, but at the moment, I want to be alone.
"No, I think I will just go to sleep. Nothing much to do. Thanks though," I say.
Aashay nods in understanding.
Later that night, I can't concentrate on anything. All I keep thinking is, where is Navya!
The door bell rings. I look at the wall clock. It's ten past ten. Who can it be? Navya?
Expectantly, I rush to open the door.
But it's not Navya.
It's Deputy PI Mukta and a younger, diffident looking cop.
"Sorry to disturb you Sumedh. This is subinspector Tushar," she introduces the pimply guy, who is fidgeting on his feet. Is he even old enough to be a cop, I wonder.
I usher them inside. I am hopeful. A visit at this time means some news.
"The first thing we did was, we put her cell phone location on tracking," Mukta says, after getting seated on the love seat with Tushar next to her. They make a really odd pair.
"Okay," I say, waiting for what's more to come.
"Navya's cellphone location shows this place," she says, looking at me.
I am baffled. I am pretty sure Navya left with her cell phone. And I have been calling her hundreds of times. It's always been switched off.
So did she come back at night? And what, put the cell phone back and go again?
It just doesn't make any sense!
"So...you mean, it's in the house?" I ask, completely flabbergasted.
"Yes. Either this flat, or any flat in this building. The location shows the apartment. Not the exact place," she says.
I don't know what to say. I haven't looked around the house till now so I can't even say that I am sure it's not in the house
"I will have to search...", I say vaguely.
"Are you sure she took her cell phone with her when she left?" Mukta asks.
"Yes, I am sure. I saw her putting it inside her purse," I say. I definitely remember that.
"And she never came back? Maybe in the night?"
"I am not sure. But when I woke up, she wasn't here," I say.
Mukta and Tushar seem to be pondering over my words.
"This really doesn't make sense. Why will she come back, put her phone here and go again?" I ask, completely befuddled.
"For one simple reason," Mukta says.
"And which is...?" I ask, a bit irritated. I feel like Mukta is testing me, teasing me.
"She doesn't want her location to be traced," she says.
So they think she left me, of her own will, for a reason I have no idea about!
"So you won't be looking for her then?" I ask, my voice raising an octave.
"Of course not. Whether or not by will, she's still missing. We will need to search for her cell phone though. First this flat. And if that search isn't fruitful, then we will need a warrant to search all other flats in the apartment. How many are there?" She asks.
"Eight. It's an old apartment. Four floors. Two flats per floor," I say.
"Are there CCTV cameras installed?" Mukta asks.
"No...they are planning to, but not yet," I say.
We don't live in a metro city where all apartments are towers fully installed with CCTV cameras that monitor everything. We stay in a small town, where CCTV cameras are for politicians, security and celebrities, not commoners like us.
"CCTV would have helped us confirm whether or not she returned," Mukta says. "Anyway, let's get the search on".
I sit on the sofa idly as a search party of four cops scans every nook and corner of the house.
They don't want me to help them because they don't want me contaminating a probable scene of crime. They didn't say that directly to me, but I eavesdropped their whispers. I am still their main suspect, and God knows where and in what condition Navya is.
My cell phone rings. I see the name of the caller and quickly cut the phone. I switch it off. I don't want Mukta to see who is calling me. I don't want any more complications than there already are.