A Tale Of Friendship And Loneliness

The Clue

Atharv's car was parked close to the elevator door. He got Sarah into the car, placed next to his seat and tied her hands behind the seat so that even if she woke up during the travel she would not be able to do much.  Atharv was taking her to the farmhouse Sarah's parents had just bought. 

What better place than her own!Nobody will come looking for her there, thought  Atharv.

The farmhouse was 250 miles away from Atharv's place. He had gotten to know about this place not through Sarah or her friends but through her parents themselves. They had considered him to be a good friend of Sarah's. He was invited to the farm house a month back along with Sarah's friends. To his luck, her parents never mentioned about the invite to Atharv, to  Sarah's friends. The day when everyone was invited to the farm house Atharv did not turn up. So none of Sarah's friends were aware that he knew of the place which made his ploy plausible. 

The guard of the apartments where Atharv stayed had quit his job couple of days back which had again made his task easier. He veered his Audi A3 out the gate in a hurry. Sarah was carefully placed in the seat next to him appearing to others as though she was sleeping. Hence easily Atharv could get past the traffic along the route without grabbing much attention. With the car's speed he was able to reach the destined place in an hour and half. 

It had been over 24 hours and there was no sign of Sarah. Ved and Amita went to the police station to lodge a missing complaint. A constable there said, " The Sub-Inspector has gone out for an investigation, as soon as he returns we might call you for obtaining further details on this case. Do you suspect anyone to have abducted her? If yes, then please do mention it in the complaint".

Amita and Ved exchanged glances. It was too soon to point a finger at anybody. They had not even discussed the possibility of her being abducted by somebody let alone blame someone for her disappearance. 

"No we can't think of anyone . I don't think.. Umm I don't know.. We'l let you know if we suspect anybody", said Amita.

When they both got out of the police station, Ved quizzed her on her second thoughts she had in there. " Do you think she is kidnapped? Why do I think you have a name in your mind?"

"No, its nothing", muttered Amita.

On the way back to Diya's house, Amita and Ved dropped by Sarah's place to fill in the details with her parents. 

" Can you think of anyone who could harm her.. ? I mean do you know of someone who is capable of kidnapping her.. any grudges..or family issue..?", asked Amita carefully as not to offend them.

Sarah's parents were aghast as expected. " NO!" was the response unitedly.

"Sorry I did not intend to hurt you both.. It was a question posed to us by the police and I was just trying to get things clear", said Amita as a matter -of -fact.

Ved stepped in to douse the fire Amita had just lit. "We certainly do not think that it is a family member involved in her disappearance. You know how the police is Mr. Fernandez, they have a certain set of questions to ask irrespective of the person involved. I am sure Sarah is safe and that we will find her soon".

"We will keep you informed. Please do not worry . We are taking care of this", Ved reassured her parents at the doorway as he and Amita were about to leave.

Ved and Amita soon reached Diya's place. Everyone had taken off from their work . Sarah was certainly most important than a day's work.

" Name a person who comes to your mind who can hurt Sarah", blurted Ved as soon as he came in.

 None of them were expecting this question. But they all had answers.

They were hesitant to say it out aloud as they thought what the other one might think!