THE CITY

CHAPTER THREE

Haryana state carved out of the former state of East Punjab is one of the 29 states in India and is the nation’s seventeenth most populous.

They had made reservations at the Imperium Resort a four star hotel in Hisar district, Haryana India. When they had all settled in they met in the hotels cafe to discuss their next move.

“So what now? Hisar is pretty big from the information on Wikipedia. How do we plan on narrowing down the possibilities?” Edward asked.

“We can ask the locals if anyone knew him or Mervis. That’s a start.” Veronica said.

“We can’t just start. We need an address if we can’t find one let’s find an area with the highest likelihood of where he could have come from. Any ideas?” Michael added.

Ruth who had been quiet up to this point finally spoke up. “If how we got here is anything to go by, I’d say our father seems to have an inclination to the letter ‘E’ I bet the place we are looking for is Ekta Vihar Colony. I say we go there tomorrow and ask around.”

“That’s a swell idea. First thing tomorrow morning we will head there then once we are there we will split to cover more ground. If Ruth is right they will be someone there that knew him as a little boy.” Michael said.

They had a few drinks and a meal before going in to sleep.

At 10.00 AM the following morning they were in Ekta Vihar Colony asking the locals if anyone knew Crispin Montgomery. They were sure to restrict themselves to the old people. They were at it for hours before they had a break.

“Montgomery that name sounds very familiar. I think that’s the same man daada told me about. Come on follow me I will take you to him.” The man said to them. They later learned his name was Aditya Anand.

“Anand? Any relation with the Indian chess grandmaster?” Edward asked.

“I am afraid no. My daada stays over here.” Aditya said.

They turned a bend and a house came into view. It was not as big as the houses they had been seeing on their way but the surrounding looked very clean.

“Wait here.” Aditya said and went into the house.

He came back a few minutes later and told them to go in.

The interior of the house was well decorated in the usual Indian house decors. With a shrine of Vishnu. They followed Aditya through a short passage before coming into the sitting room where they found a very old man sitting. At a guess he was on the good side of eighty.

“Are you the kids asking around about Crispin Montgomery?” he asked them in a very thick Indian accent.

“Yes we are. Did you know him?” Michael asked.

“No I didn’t know him. But I knew his father Enoch Montgomery. Fine man that one but it was a tragedy what happened to him and his family.” The old man said. They could sense a sad note in his voice.

“A tragedy? What happened to him?” Michael asked. They had left all the questions to him being the eldest.

“Aditya bring them something to eat or drink come on.” He said ignoring Michael’s question.

They said they were alright and that he shouldn’t bother.

“You don’t know what happened to him? Oh it was the worst thing that Hisar has ever had to go through. Of course this new generation don’t know the story any more. I worked as his butler in his mansion. Crispin and Mervis his sister were both very little. The year was 1966.” He paused. They got the impression being the Montgomery’s butler was his life’s greatest achievement.