Revan's fingers glided through the map floating atop the blue screen, with bright images and signals all over it. He had now changed into a tight T-shirt and brown sweatpants. His entire being focused on Enzo's distress call, which was playing over and over on repeat.
Finnegan and Beast walked out the wooden door, in the same attires as before. It had been about a half hour since Wazir had groggily rushed to them, weeping uncontrollably about Enzo's disappearance.
'Updates?' Finnegan booted up his own tablet, bringing him to speed about all the data and evidence Revan had.
'Enzo's last seen location is near the wooden door. His glasses were found next to his moped.' Revan pulled out the frame of sunglasses Enzo had been wearing earlier.
'Enzo's tracker is still active. I'm triangulating his position every ten seconds. It seems like he's stationary, However…' Revan pointed to a screen with a small map of the city, with red dots along the screen, and a thin line of the same color tracing a bizarre pathway, passing through buildings and establishments, '…he's supposed to be right where we are.' The interesting data made Finnegan more inquisitive. Beast only let out a tiny "humph" on hearing that.
'I've checked the only CCTV camera in this vicinity and here's what I got.' Revan showed a blurry pixelated black and white scene with grains flying left and right. The scene was from a few meters away. Enzo's moped wasnt visible in the shot, however the door clearly was. On the timestamp 00:11:43 Wazir was seen stumbling in through the door. Only Enzo's head peeked through the bottom of the frame at 00:11:48 before vanishing back out.
'My best guess is that he's in the sewers, but what got him in there stays mysterious. As for the boy uh…'
'Wazir.'
'Right, All he says is that Enzo was shivering from fright, and was mentioning something about a "puddle of water".' Revan's eyes were glued to Finnegan's face, waiting for a reaction. Finn delivered, his eyes thinning, his mouth shifting into a tiny pout.
Beast scowled, 'There's gonna be chaos if Enzo's not present at that Glamour ball by day after.'
Finnegan glanced at Beast now, 'Why would it be a big deal if one celebrity missed out on one of these balls.'
'Enzo organized it. It is to display his new collection, that's why. Didn't you get an invite?' Beast picked out a small envelope from his blazer pocket. It had a small rose printed on the back.
'Enough with piling the problems.' Revan placed the glasses back into the pocket of his shirt. 'We need to find a way to get him back before this ball. Who's coming with me?'
'You're most definitely not going. You still have those bandages on! Plus there's no way to confirm if he is actually below us.' Finnegan pointed out.
Revan felt an unexpected tug on his T-shirt. He swivelled to find a surprising witness. A boy, his stature meek, his jaws poking out. A jute bag draped over his shoulders. A liliput puppy nested in his arms.
Revan squatted to meet eyes wtih the boy. The boy only let out one word that gave Revan confirmation that he had a lead - "Eshaan?"
Revan didnt know Hindi. He pulled out the translatorr on the tablet, telling the boy to speak. After a slight hitch of confusion, the boy spoke one a string of words.
The translation spoke, 'I know where brother Eshaan is.'
Revan's curiosity grew. Who the hell was this boy? Revan translated to hindi, 'What is your name boy?'
The boy glanced suspiciously at Finnegan and Beast, both intently staring at the bilingual exchange. Revan tapped the shoulder of the boy in assurance.
'Abhinav. You're looking for brother Eshaan, right?' The boy may have been a skeleton, but his voice had grit.
'We're his friends. Unfortunately he's lost. Can you help us find him?' Revan tried to be as amicable as he could.
The boy grabbed Revan's arm with one of his bony hands, the other gesturing towards the mouth with all the fingers in a tight pinch. He was hungry.
.
It had been more than two hours since Enzo had gone missing. Here's what Revan had managed to learn from the boy, after feeding his appetite.
Enzo had parked his scooter at approximately 7 pm right next to Abhi's tiny pen stall. Enzo had left for business, which Revan realized, coincided with his meeting with Wazir during their supper. After that, Enzo had arrived with a scrawny big boy, and they left on his moped somewhere around 8. A long time later, after all the shops had closed, and the city had dulled down, Abhi had gone to sleep under his stall. He was awoken wfrom his light nap when Enzo's pink moped arrived back right beside the stall. Abhi noted that Enzo behaved weirdly. Akward movements and whispering words Ahi couldnt comprehend. A few minutes of that, and then both the adults on the moped broke into a run. They turned a few blocks down, and then Abhi lost sight of them.
All the adults tried to make sense of it, but there wasn't anything worth a lead. The boy fed his leftovers to his, now awoken, pet dog. He then noticed something. Something important enough for him to point out.
'Brother Eshaan's sandals were wet, I thought there'd be footprints, but I didnt see any.'
It was as if something clicked. A puddle of water; Wet sandals leaving no footprints; Enzo being frightened. All three of them had realized it.
'I could've helped you more if I knew where he went.'
'You've helped us enough kid.'
.
The air was clear, the sun slowly setting down in horizon. Its mild orange, yellow, pink all blending together in godly proportions, creating a heavenly landscape. Grasslands covered the earth for as far as the eyes could see. Cattle grazed the blades of grass, like tiny specks in the meadow of green. In the middle of which was a farmland. A small agricultural plot with shiny cucumbers hanging off the plants. A small farmhouse, painted sienna brown stood over the vegetable, as if keeping watch.
By the side of that farmhouse, in a tiny corner, was the owner, a dwarf. Seated atop a hay bale. His legs barely reached the floor, his denim overalls, although custom made, still hanging loose. A straw hat rested on his head, covering his body in shade in all directions. His "shamrock" green shirt was dulled out by washing. His protruding nose and heavy eyelids made him look a lot older than he was. Freckles ran all over his cheeks, up his forehead, down his neck, onto his torso. He sucked on the butt of a dead cigar, contemplating.
A sudden, audible vibration in his pocket bought him back to reality. He reached into the side of his overalls, clawing at his phone in the deep pocket. Once he grabbed ahold of it, he tapped at the green button on screen.
'They've got Enzo.'
The farmer starred off into the row of cucumbers lined up in front of him. The butt of the cigar dropped out his mouth.
'You are free to do as you please. Deal with it.', his hoarse and croaky voice answered. Another tap later, the phone slid right back into the pocket.
He shifted off the bale, reaching to the ground. He wiped off the dust and hay, and adjust his hat.
It was time to get back in business.