Day 3
There's a loud, screeching noise in the distance. I don't know where it is coming from. I press my pillow over my ears and try to sleep. But the noise is persistent. I feel like it's coming closer. Almost as if it's ringing in my ears. It is going to break my tympanic membrane.
I jerk wide awake. The door bell is ringing. I had just slept, hadn't I? I glance at the bed side clock. It's 8:30 am in the morning.
Did I fall asleep? Because I don't feel like I have slept.
The bell won't stop ringing. So I get up and without even rinsing my mouth, trying to open my resistant eyes against the morning light streaming in through the windows, I stumble across the room and into the hall.
I open the door to find Mukta and Tushar again, waiting. They look grumpy, as though they haven't slept at all.
I usher them inside and offer to make some coffee. Both nod, and I take the time to have a quick brush, mouth wash, followed by making three cups of steaming hot coffee.
"Any update?" I ask, as I serve them.
I take a sip of the hot liquid.
"Who is Lavanya?" Mukta asks and the hot liquid gets stuck in my throat, burning it.
"What?" I feign.
"Lavanya. Who is Lavanya?" She repeats, eyeing me squarely.
"She works in our bank," I say casually, though, from their looks, I know they already know.
But why do they need to ruffle feathers of something which is not relevant? What's it to them whether I have a mistress or not?
"What kind of relationship do you have with her?" Mukta asks.
"The way we have with our juniors, subordinates! We hardly cross paths in fact," I say, dismissing her with a wave of my hand, hoping she stops here.
Navya is out there somewhere, probably in danger. And here they are, trying to dissect my personal love life.
"Your paths hardly cross, except in the store room downstairs? The one you use to shag her?" Mukta asks.
I spurt out a mouthful of coffee back into my cup.
I am dumbfounded. How does she know? How does anyone know, for that matter? We thought our plan was fool proof. I was under the impression that no one has an inkling of what is going on between us.
I can feel colour rising in my cheeks.
"Your wife goes missing. Half the people in your bank know you are cheating on your wife with your cashier. The disappearance of your wife could easily be related to your illicit clandestine little affair, and yet you don't think it is important to mention it to the police officers who are working their asses off to find your wife?" Mukta says, her voice steadily rising in octave.
I quiver in my seat. I am ashamed and embarrassed in equal amounts. And I am completely at loss for words.
"I...I didn't think anyone knew. I thought it was irrelevant...," I say, even as I can hear how idiotic that sounds."So do you think Navya found out and...?"
My question hangs in the air. I have lost my footing now. Mukta and Tushar both look pissed off at me. They ignore me, but they are making some eye signs, probably deliberating whether or not to tell me something.
"Do you know Mr Mayank Gill?" Tushar asks me.
I am extremely thankful that the topic has been diverted from me and Lavanya. At least as of now.
"No idea," I say.
"Niyati's ex-husband?" Tushar clarifies.
"Oh yes. I mean, I have not met him, don't know him personally, but I do know about him. Heard about him and Niyati. From Navya."
"Do you know he was threatening Navya? And Navya was threatening him?"
Now this is again news to me.
"What? Why?" I ask.
I don't hope to get a full explanation. But the fact that they are explaining this means that it is going to lead to Navya's disappearance one way or the other. So I listen with rapt attention.
"Mayank and Niyati had a bitter separation. Their divorce case is still going on in court. Both are fighting for the custody of their child. Recently, Niyati started dating a guy. Navya, somehow found out that the guy she had started dating was someone planted by Mayank. He wanted to taint her image by showing that she had a loose character, and thus gain custody of their child. Navya threatened Mayank that she would tell all of this to Niyati, and if this truth came out, he would lose his credentials in court. She gave him an ultimatum of two days to confess to Niyati what he was doing. This happened on the day she disappeared," Tushar says as I listen in astonishment. I am totally unaware about any of this.
"So...has Mayank hurt her? Has he done something to Navya?" I ask. Involuntarily, I can feel my throat choking with emotions. I can't bear to lose Navya. Not like this!
"When you were with Lavanya, did she ever demand money from you?" Mukta asks.
I am flabbergasted. Why is she diverting? I need to know what happened between Mayank and Navya. What is she talking about? Here we have zeroed in on a suspect, and instead of pursuing that lead, she wants to know about me and Lavanya? Again? Why this obsession?
But then I realize what she is asking and I come to my senses. How does she know about the money?
"Did she ask you for Rs 50000 Mr Sumedh?" Mukta asks, the sternness in her voice making me tremble.
I know I can't stall the truth any longer. The worrisome question is, how much they know. And more worrisome is, how did they find out?
"Yes. She did. Someone was blackmailing us. But...how do you know all of this?" I ask, completely baffled.
"Who was blackmailing you?" She asks.
"I don't know. Someone had messaged her. Threatened to make our photos viral if we didn't comply. I was scared...".
"Did you pay?"
"What?"
I swallow, stalling some more.
"Did you pay?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Cash".
"From your own account?" Mukta asks. The piercing way she looks at me makes me certain that she already knows the answer.
"No," I say sheepishly.
"Then? Navya's account?"
"I stole the money from the bank," I say finally.
Mukta and Tushar are looking at me with contempt and I feel like running away from under their gazes.
"And framed the poor watchman?" She adds after letting the heavy silence bear me down for some time.
"I didn't mean to....," I begin.
"We don't care what you meant to do Mr Sumedh. Your actions are partly responsible for whatever is going on in your life. And you will pay for them," Tushar says.
I nod. That is the only thing I can do now.
Some more silence ensues. Every moment now is making me cringe. But I see no escape. They are not yet done.
"Coming back to Mr Mayank. We asked him what he was doing on the night Navya disappeared," Tushar says.
I, who have been watching my toenails since the past couple of minutes, finally look up at him expectantly.
"He confessed that he went to your house. He was planning to threaten Navya if she told any of it to Niyati. He saw her getting out of the house and walking alone on the road. He parked his car and followed her till the RS square. As she crossed the square, when he was about to confront her, he received a call from his girl friend. His girl friend seemed frantic and wanted him to come back immediately, because apparently his girl friend had received some pictures of them together, and the sender was asking for money,. So instead of following Navya further, he went back to his car and rushed back home," Tushar says, watching my reaction.
I can feel my heart beating faster. Adrenaline seems to be pumping all through my body. Am I connecting the dots correctly?
"Sound similar?" Mukta asks coldly.
I look from one to the other.
Mukta nods. "You are thinking right. His girlfriend, Lavanya, needed money to give to a blackmailer who was threatening them."