Chapter 2

By the time Purvi reached the bureau, she was feeling fresh yet anxious about the new case that Abhijeet had not shared much detail about. She met up with her colleague and mentor, Sachin in the parking lot who also had just parked his car. Greeting each other a good morning, both of them started walking towards the bureau office making small talks.

Opening the doors, both of them saw most of their colleagues already present, while fresh coffee, tea and breakfast piled up at a corner table. This was what Purvi loved about working here, the team truly was family. Knowing that most of them would not have enough time to prepare breakfast before rushing in early this morning, their boss had ordered their bureau canteen to prepare a healthy yet scrumptious meal for all of them. Before grabbing her plate, Purvi approached the centre table, where most of their case details discussion took place. Greeting everyone, she asked Shreya, her best friend, what was all the rush about.

"Remember that dance teacher who went missing from Bandra, three months ago?" Shreya questioned, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, I remember. What about it?"

"She reappeared at the port. Some port workers found her early in the morning."

Purvi's eyes went wide. Nobody ever thought she would be found alive. They all wanted to but not very hopeful, given the fact that most kidnappers either ask for a ransom or kill the captives. The best chance to find a kidnapped victim alive was the next 72 hours, give or take, after the incident took place. Not three months later.

Before they could continue the conversation, their boss Abhijeet arrived at the bureau, with files stacked under his arms, greeting everyone.

"So, we have a new case." the big computer screens in the conference room lit up with information and details of the new case.

"Komal Baheti, is a dancer and a dance teacher. She was abducted three months ago in August, when she was going home from one of her regular dance classes. Her roommate, Veena, reported her missing after 4 hours when Komal missed dinner. While the local police believed that she might have eloped with her lover, but Veena insisted there was no one in Komal's life. And since we all know how local police works, they shut down the missing person's case in next few days due to no evidence that could suggest otherwise. "

"Why did the case got no exposure?" Shreya questioned, going through one of the files that Abhijeet had brought in.

"Because local police was convinced that she eloped and they didn't want to spare their manpower in it. At the same time, the Mumbai Fashion Week took place and Komal's case was swept under the rug." Sachin shook his head, looking at his file, at the carelessness of the police.

"Now, three months later, early morning today she reappeared at one of the container lots in the port. Three people from an import/export company were visiting the port to get their goods from one of the containers when they found her trying to get to the port from the water. They immediately contacted the police."

"How is she?" Purvi questioned.

"She is in the hospital. The doctor says it is a long road ahead for recovery, and she might have gone through quite a trauma. She needs time to recover. Police tried to talk to her but she insisted that she will talk only to CID."

"Why only CID?" Sachin asked the question that everyone was wondering about.

"She said something along the lines of not trusting the police. I really cannot blame her for that, but I am also not be the one to let her go through additional trauma again. So, I need two of you in the hospital and other two of you to interview the three men who pulled her from the water. I have the witness statement in the files that the local police sent, but I want us to hear it from the start, firsthand. I don't want to make any mistake in this case. That woman has already been through enough". As soon as the orders left Abhijeet's mouth all of them acquiesced in unison.

"Sir, I think we girls should go and meet up with her. We don't know what she has been through or how she would react to a male authority figure if we are going to explore any SA angle. The guys can check up with the witnesses?" Shreya offered, to which Abhijeet thought for a moment and agreed with her.

As planned, Purvi and Shreya went to the hospital to meet up with girl, while Sachin decided to team up with Ishita, a junior yet bright CID agent who has very recently joined the team, to go meet up with the three witnesses.

"I have a meeting with the commissioner of the police, now that this case picked up its pace. He needs all the details we have so far. Also, Freddy and Mayur is coming back from their undercover mission at 3 p.m. I would need someone to pick them up from the airport. Stay connected, whoever can make it there on time?" Abhijeet informed the team of the two team members who had been undercover in Turkey for over two months to date.

While all of them felt excited to have them back home, they were also aware of the situation that was ahead. So they just nodded and decided to figure out later who was going to pick them up.

As much appreciation as Shreya had for all the health workers, she hated hospitals. Maybe it's not the establishment of the people who worked there itself but more of the smell of it. The smell of mild bleach, mixed with sanitisation formula never brought back good memories for not only her but for many people.

However, with the job she was in, she had to come back to hospitals more often than she would like. But it never got easier. You would think, combined with the number of times she visited hospitals to interview people or to get treated herself, she would be used to the smell and aura of it. But nope. It's just the same for her.

"You know, you could have gone with Sachin Sir if you wanted to. Ishita could have had come with me." Purvi suggested, looking at the slight crinkle of Shreya's nose as they made their way through the hallways.

If it were anyone else, they would have missed out on the slight cringes and jaw ticks on her partner's face. But Purvi knew her best friend better than most people and also she is quite observant.

"Yeah, but it comes with the job right? The good and the bad." Shreya shrugged her shoulders as they turned into a corner.

Purvi just smiled and nodded, as if to say, I know. "Don't worry. We will make it quick, I hope". She muttered the last part. Hoping that the victim had not gone through much pain and torture. It was wishful thinking, she knew. But hey, she could wish for the best, right?

They entered the room, they told the girl was. The room was empty, the hospital had not informed her family at the request of the police. If they were to look further into the matter, they would have to be careful.

No one knew who was after her, so keeping the matter hushed for the moment seemed like a good idea to the investigators. Purvi looked at her medical chart, attached to the foot of her hospital bed, while Shreya looked around to make sure she was in a safe place and no one could reach her. She looked out of the windows, mentally measuring the distance between different buildings from the huge glass window, where she stood.

"Komal Baheti, 33 years old. Doctors have found some wounds in her upper thighs on the inside, some on her arms. Her back has some old wounds and the doctor thinks it might be from whip or belts."

Shreya turned her head. Looking once over to her friend and once to the patient, she asked that probably all of them had been wondering, "Has she been…."

"No, she has not been r*ped" a new voice from the door replied, while both the CID officers whipped their heads towards it. "Hello, I am Naaz Khan, her doctor. You both must be the CID officers." The doctor introduced herself before continuing

"About our patient, I don't know where she has been or who hurt her this bad, thankfully she has not been violated. Which is not to say that she has not suffered from any mental trauma. We have been keeping her under drugs so that her body can heal and her mind can rest."

"Hello doctor, I am Purvi, this is Shreya. Do we have any more information on where she has been, how old are her wounds?"

The doctor opened the cupboard and gave Shreya a plastic packet with Komal's clothes in it, "We have done an MRI scan, we are waiting on the results. We found some grease under her fingernails. And soil. Seems like wherever she was kept, it was underground. The grease might either be from patchouli oil or peppermint oil. On the outside, she does not have any more wounds. However, an emotional breakdown can be expected. I have already contacted our resident psychologist for whenever she wakes up"

"Thank you, doctor", Shreya said as she noticed the patient waking up slowly, trying to adjust her vision.

"Hello Komal, this is Purvi and I am Shreya" she introduced, as Komal had gathered enough awareness of her surroundings. She looked around, something scary slowly clouding her eyes, as she tried to sit up. The doctor rushed to help her, but she flinched at the speed of a lightning bolt. Purvi slowly stepped towards the hospital bed, with her hands in a surrendering motion, to make Komal calm down.

"Hi, it's okay, we are not gonna hurt you. We are from CID, and this is your doctor Naaz. We have been told that you wanted to talk to us. We are here to help you. Please tell us how we can make you feel comfortable."

Komal looked at them for a moment or two, before relaxing. Purvi pulled a chair closer to the bed. As she felt more comfortable with the moment passing, and the doctor conducted some tests, both the officers started the first steps of their investigations. And Komal started recounting her horrifying experience of the past three months.

A/N: Hi, all of you who commented, I am so glad to know that you have read my previous story and excited to read this one. Thank you for welcoming me with so much love.