And Happy New Year to you all...
Chapter 9: Caught
Maan and Yash had a heart to heart talk with each other. Yash had been guilty for keeping Maan from knowing about him and Meera and Maan had been sad about that. However, even he admitted that he liked Geet a lot more than he let show. Now, both their girls had gone missing.
"Bro, I don't know why but I have the feeling that Geet left because of Meera."
"What makes you say that?"
"I remember when we went to the police station. Geet saw Meera's photo and since then she was behaving differently."
"You mean she knew something about her? But then she could have told the police, couldn't she?" Yash didn't know what to reply. He had told himself the same thing. Then, Maan thought about something else. He remembered Geet's face getting pale when he had return to the jeep. On their way to Chandighar, they had stopped and she had seen something. Something that had worried her.
Teja spit onto the ground. He was not pleased with the new boy but he had no choice either. They had a new consignment to deliver and he had not enough men. Surprisingly, though, Gitesh was much stronger than he looked. The trucks were filling in quickly. Teja told Gitesh to sit in car, he would be needed at the final station. Teja himself would come later. Geet sat down quietly. Apart from the driver, there were two more people in the car. They drove to an unknown place. Geet's heart skipped a beat. She had never been here before. She turned around. There was no car behind her. The truck was not there, either. Before she could ask, the car stopped and the other three men got out. So did Geet. They entered the house and Geet's mind was sending her loud alarm signals. She had to get away. Before she even made a step back, a voice spoke.
"Ah, Miss Geet Handa, we meet again."
Savitry Devi had to rush back to Delhi. Her entire next month's schedule had been fixed with charity events abroad, meetings with other charity workers and potential donors. But Annie, her ever so efficient secretary, had told her about the inspector that had paid her house a visit and how he had said that meeting her was of the utmost importance. Well, she couldn't deny a man of the law a meeting.
"Yes Mister Brij Singh, how can I help you?" Brij removed a folder and handed it to her.
"Ma'am, I would like you to look at these photos. Do you remember any of them?" Savitry Devi looked slowly, slowly. From her pained expression, Brij knew that she indeed recognised some of them.
"And?"
"I know Smrita. She was a sweet girl. I helped her myself at that time to find her aim in life and…" she stopped.
"What is making me think is the question that why so many of the girls or women who took refuge in your women's welfare organisation are now dead. There must be a reason." Savitry Devi was still silent.
"Ma'am…"
"I am sorry, inspector. These girls mean a lot to me, you see. I do not run a welfare organization to kill my time. I really, really want to help these unfortunate women." She called Annie.
"Annie, can you please look up these cases and try to find what connects them? There must be something in the database." Annie took the file and left the room, only to return shortly later.
"Ma'am, these are all girl who had been sexually abused prior to their arrival at our place." Brij looked unsatisfied.
"Are there any more women who had come with the same issue? I mean, considering that all these women are ending up dead it would be wise to pre-warn them, don't you think?" Savitry Devi nodded.
"Annie, can you please make sure that a message is send to all of them. And also tell Rashi. She must be in the house."
"Is this Rashi also…?"
"Yes, she came not very long ago. A year or so ago. She is really a difficult case. She doesn't talk, doesn't tell us what happened with her. All we know is that she, too, is a victim of sexual abuse." Brij nodded.
"And all these women come to you themselves?"
"Most of them do but Rashi was brought in from the hospital. She wouldn't talk for days, poor thing. It was as if she had gone through something terrible…" Savitry Devi frowned. She again looked through all the cases and something struck her.
"Inspector, strange as if may seem but I think Dr Naina could help you in this. We get all our girls checked up and I remember being told by Dr Naina that some girls had been drugged. I cannot say if that is the case with all these girls but…" Brij thanked Savitry Devi. This was a good clue he had now. The visit at Dr Naina's confirmed it. All girls had been sexually abused and also had traces of drug in their blood. They had most certainly not taken any themselves and the amount in their blood was also not that much. Brij asked for who else had the same diagnosis.
"The last patient that would come into this category is Rashi. She had also been referred to Savitry Devi."
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