Thursday, Early Morning
Ding Dong.
Akriti’s Mom, Ruchi woke up with a start. It was pitch dark outside. Was that the doorbell? Not sure if it was a dream or for real, she decided to wake up her husband, Pranay. Pranay, who was fast asleep and snoring gently, woke up with a start and sat up rubbing his eyes.
‘What happened?’ He looked at his mobile on the bedside table. It was 2:30 a.m. ‘Why are you awake so late?’
‘I thought I heard the bell ring,’ Ruchi replied, somewhat confused.
‘It must have been a dream. Go back to sleep. I have to get to work early tomorrow.’ He rolled over and was about to pull the quilt over his face when they heard the sound again.
Ding Dong.
Alarmed, both of them sat up.
‘Who could it be at this hour?’ Ruchi asked anxiously.
‘Let me see,’ Pranay said as he got up from the bed and walked to the door picking up a cricket bat on his way to the front door. ‘Who is it?’ he asked softly.
‘It’s me,’ a gruff voice answered.
‘Me? Me who?’
‘Walia. Open the door.’
Pranay looked at Ruchi with a puzzled expression on his face. ‘What did you do? Why are the police at our door in the middle of the night?’ she hissed, horrified.
‘It’s not the police. It is Walia,’ he whispered back.
‘But Walia is the police!’ she shot back.
Pranay hesitated. Why would Walia come to their door at this hour? Could it be an imposter?
That’s when he heard another voice, ‘Uncle, it is me. Kabir. Open the door, please.’
Reassured that it was no imposter at the door, he hurriedly undid the latch and opened the door. Kabir stood there in his pyjamas along with his Dad, Police Chief Walia.
‘Is everything OK?’ Pranay asked, concerned.
‘Is Mrs Walia fine?’ Ruchi asked.
‘Yes, yes. All okay at home.’ He then looked around the house, as if he was looking for something he couldn’t find.
Pranay waited for him to say more, throwing Ruchi perplexed looks. There was an awkward silence, then Chief Walia spoke, ‘Aren’t the kids around?’
‘Aditya and Akriti?’ Ruchi asked. ‘Well, it’s 2.30 in the night. As you would expect, they are both asleep.’
‘Oh yeah. Yeah!’ Walia shook his head, as if to clear it. ‘They are sleeping. Right. It is 2:30 a.m.,’ he said to himself sounding a bit disoriented.
Ruchi hesitated, then asked, ‘Do you want me to wake them up?’
‘That might be helpful. We have a small problem on our hands.’
‘Problem?’
‘Yes, problem. Maybe if you wake them up, we can talk through this.’
Ruchi looked uncomfortably at Pranay. This was getting weirder by the minute. Why in the world would the police chief want to speak to the kids in the middle of the night?
However, when he nodded, she looked at Kabir, ‘Go wake them up,’ she urged. ‘If I go, they will take ages to wake up. Maybe if you go, they will come down quickly.’ Even before she could complete the sentence, Kabir had disappeared in the direction of their room.
Without knocking on the door, Kabir pushed it open and jumped on Aditya’s bed. ‘Wake up. Wake up. Wake up, you dumbass,’ he said as he started punching the quilt that covered Aditya. Aditya woke up with a start, swinging his arms wildly in self defence.
‘Hey!’ yelped Kabir as he ducked for cover. When Aditya realized it was not some stranger, but Kabir, he calmed down. ‘What happened? What happened?’ And when he realized it was 2.30 a.m., he looked at Kabir and asked, ‘Have you run away from home? Was the English test so bad?’
By this time Akriti was also up.
‘Something’s come up. A big problem. Dad wants to meet us about it. He is waiting downstairs.’
‘Problem?’
‘Hmm,’ Kabir nodded his head.
‘What problem?’
‘I don’t know. He said that he would tell us all together. He doesn’t want to repeat himself again and again.’
‘I guess he doesn’t trust you as much as he trusts us. Ha ha!’ Aditya taunted Kabir as he got out of bed.
Within minutes the three of them, all in their night suits, were down in the living room, huddled around Chief Walia, waiting with bated breath for his news.
‘Dad,’ prompted Kabir impatiently when Walia stayed silent. ‘Say something!’
Chief Walia stretched out his right hand. He picked up a glass of water and gulped it down. He took a deep breath and said without a trace of emotion in his voice, ‘Pingu is missing.’
‘What?’ The three of them exclaimed in unison.
‘Yes. Pingu is missing.’
‘She must have wandered off like the cat we saw on Sunday.’
‘No, she hasn’t. She has been kidnapped.’
‘How do we know that,’ Aditya asked.
‘A note was found in the room. Inside the small basket that doubled up as Pingu’s bed.’ Chief Walia opened his phone’s photo gallery and swiped his way to a photo and passed it on to the three crime busters.
On the screen was a typewritten note that said: ‘Lose Friday’s match. Else you will never see Pingu again.’