The Siya Rajput Crime Thrillers Books 1-3 (Where Are They Now / Finding Her / The Bones Are Calling)

by UD Yasha

‘Hopefully, they'll still be in the same position when we come home. Take a picture for us,' I said. ‘Did Atharva get through to the doctors?'

  ‘Not yet, they’ve been insanely busy throughout. Both have had one surgery after another.’

  ‘Alright, we’re almost home. We’ll see you in ten minutes,’ I said and hung up.

  We got home in eight minutes. I missed the spectacle that Radha had described on the phone because Shadow got up when he realized I was coming. He gave me the welcome that he always gave me. He jumped on me for a while and then kept rubbing his face on my leg. I always loved it when he did that.

  Maa and Natasha were still sleeping. So, we went upstairs with Radha.

  They had set up their base in my room. I could not help but smile on seeing Atharva. He got up when he saw me.

  ‘I heard both you and Radha haven’t had much luck today,’ I said to him, joining him at his right elbow.

  He shook his head. ‘I'm going to speak to Rucha's doctor in fifteen minutes. Hopefully, there won't be any life-threatening injury to anyone.'

  ‘I knew you were never selfish,’ I said and winked. ‘How’s Malini doing?’

  ‘I spoke to her on the phone a few times. She’s eating today so that’s a relief.’

  ‘I’m glad. We had a productive day,’ I said. ‘I’ll call Rathod as well so he will also get to know when I tell you both about it.’

  I called Rathod, put the phone call on speaker and narrated the events of the day. Rathod had nothing to report. All CID officers were deeply stressed. The media had ridiculed them after Manohar had been killed in their custody.

  Rathod said, ‘The entire matter has blown out of proportion. The Chief Minister was here in the afternoon. He had to issue a press statement as well.’

  I could make out from Rathod’s voice that he was frustrated. I went to the kitchen after the call and grabbed some water.

  I was still feeling tired so I decided to take a shower to feel fresh. As the hot water flowed down my body, my mind drifted. Bits of conversations I had during the day played in my mind non-stop. Round and round. The water kept flowing.

  I entered a trance. I felt like staying under the running water for a bit more. But I had decided not to take long showers in order to conserve water. It did not feel right to know that farmers committed suicide due to water scarcity when I used it in copious amounts to relax. I shut the tap and began drying my body.

  Just then, something clicked in my lizard brain. It was an idea that stemmed from two different conversations I had during the day. Jay Parikh’s words rushed to my mind. At the end of the day, the Dark Web lends anonymity and secrecy. But that can be exposed if you are not careful. Then I remembered something that Radha had said. I tried to see if there was a pattern by taking into account different currency exchange rates over a period of time.

  How foolish was I to not have thought of it earlier?

  I wrapped myself in a towel and ran out. I called Radha to maa’s room.

  ‘Hey, you said you were looking at the difference between the exchange rates of different currencies to see if there was a link between the accounts, right?' I said.

  Radha nodded her head.

  ‘Which currencies did you check?’

  ‘The Indian Rupee, the American Dollar, the British Pound and the Russian Ruble.’

  ‘We didn’t know before that we’re dealing with the Dark Web.’

  Radha squinted her eyes.

  I said, ‘The Dark Web is all about secrecy. Paper money is traceable. Check their account statements by converting the entries into—'

  ‘Different cryptocurrencies,’ both of us said together.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Radha ran out of the room and grabbed her laptop. I put on shorts and a T-Shirt and joined her in my room.

  ‘What’s happening, ladies?’ Rahul said.

  ‘The essence of cryptocurrency is anonymity, secrecy and freedom,' Radha said. ‘The same values on which the Dark Web stands. That it is used to do illegal stuff is not the point. The intention to start to develop both the Dark Web and cryptocurrencies was the same. They were created to move away from establishments. And that's why the two go hand in hand. I know most Dark Web monetary transactions are funnelled using cryptocurrency.'

  ‘I’m checking the account entries against Bitcoin exchange rate to begin with. If that’s not a match, I’ll go for the other popular cryptocurrencies,’ Radha said. ‘This is going to take a bit of time. There’s a lot of math and possibly thousands of combinations that need to be analysed. I’m going to write a code so my computer does the heavy lifting for me.’

  Atharva entered the room.

  ‘My lucky hour,' Atharva said. ‘I spoke to Natasha's doctor—Vinay Sapre. He doesn't know Rucha's doctor personally but knows of him because they are both prominent in the field. He told me Natasha was finding it difficult to breathe. He conducted a few tests and then cleared her for anything major. He asked her to use a mask whenever she stepped out. He saw Natasha at least thrice a year because she has an atrial septal defect—which is commonly known as a hole in the heart. It's not as dramatic as it sounds.'

  ‘What did he think of Natasha’s health in general?’ I said.

  ‘It went up and down according to him because of the Atrial Septal Defect. He said that congenital diseases can be tricky. Most people born with ASD lead a healthy life despite it. Some are less lucky.’

  ‘Did he know of her cardiologist's opinion that she should be careful for the next few weeks?'

  ‘Yes, he told me Sumeira had called him up after her cardiologist's appointment. He said in cases of ASD, high blood pressure in the lungs can be fatal. He even spoke to her cardiologist, who said Natasha had recently developed high blood pressure in her lungs.'

  ‘That sounds rough.’

  ‘That’s why she had to be careful in the coming weeks. The medicines are helping her.’

  ‘What did Dr. Sapre sound like?’

  ‘He sounded busy. He was being called to do something even in his five minutes of free time. I'll speak to Rucha’s doctor in an hour. I think his name is Dr. Sameer Bhide.’

  I checked the time. It was ten minutes past seven. Talking about doctors reminded me that I had rescheduled maa's session with her psychiatrist Dr. Aakash Pande from earlier in the morning at his clinic, to nine o’clock in the evening today at our house. He was going to drop by for an hour after he finished with his clinic.

  ‘I'm done,' Radha said. ‘I've fed all the account entries from the Sinhas and the Gills into the computer. I have written a code that tracks every credit and debit with the price of bitcoin against the entry date in the passbook. Now we will sit and wait. The code will scan the entries year by year.'

  She got up from the bed and let out a huge sigh of relief.

  ‘You seem happier than usual,’ I said.

  ‘I don’t want to celebrate prematurely.’

  ‘Did you find something in their accounts?’

  ‘The value of Bitcoin was the highest at the start of 2018. Certain outflows from Malini and Daksh's joint account, their personal accounts as well as Sumeira's account were the highest then. That is because one Bitcoin was worth about fourteen thousand dollars then. The higher the value of the Bitcoin, the more dollars or rupees you need to spend in buying them. From a peak of more than fourteen thousand dollars in early 2018, Bitcoin's value fell to less than four thousand dollars in early 2019. That's a steep drop of sixty-six per cent. Some outflows from both accounts also dropped by roughly the same ratio. The logic I'm using is that they would buy bitcoin by paying for it from the money in their bank account. Which in this case was rupees. Then that money goes to a Bitcoin Wallet. From there they can purchase anything they want using Bitcoin. I wouldn't be able to trace that unless I have access to their wallet.'

  ‘I don’t get it,’ Rahul said. ‘Wouldn’t the values in dollars also be the same in their accounts as the exchange rate of Bitcoin is the same for bot
h of them?’

  ‘That’s only if they buy something of the same value. If they buy different things, then the amount they have to pay is different. I don't know what they were buying. So, I’m only looking at ratios. Like I said before, this would only tell us if they were buying or selling Bitcoins.’

  ‘Great job, Radha,’ Rahul said.

  ‘But we need to wait. I need to confirm if the math adds up. What I told you right now was based on a simple observation.'

  ‘What about Manohar?’ I said.

  ‘His account has no such activity. It is easy to make it out as well. He was a salaried employee so he did not have business expenses. In Daksh and Sumeira’s case it is not straightforward because they were business owners and have hundreds of various transactions.’

  ‘If it's true, they were using Bitcoins to pay for something online. If we find out what they were buying, we'll get to the bottom of this,' I said.

  Atharva stepped forward. He said, ‘Do you want me to ask Malini about it? She would know about money being debited from their bank accounts.’

  ‘We'll wait for a bit. It wouldn't take long now,' Radha said, glancing at the screen. ‘The data sorting has started. I've already got a few transactions that fit my theory. We need to get past to a statistically significant point. A few more minutes.'

  I inhaled deeply. We were onto something. I could feel it. The room became silent. We could hear the seconds’ hand tick by.

  ‘The software has just finished running the scan for the first year,' Radha said and paused, She looked at all of us. ‘It confirms that they were paying for something using Bitcoin in 2017.’

  Radha grinned. Rahul raised a hand for a high five that I accepted gladly. Atharva was silent though. I nudged his shoulder.

  ‘Hey, what are you thinking?’ I said.

  ‘I don’t know what to believe anymore. I don’t know what Daksh or Malini were buying using Bitcoins.’

  Radha said, ‘Transacting in Bitcoin is not illegal in most countries in the world. It’s a grey area in India. But a lot of illegal activities are funded using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency as it is difficult to trace it.'

  I was concerned about Atharva but at the same time ecstatic about our findings. I did not want to waste any time. I kept my phone ready with one eye on Radha’s laptop screen. The code had run half through 2018. The months rolled over.

  ‘The scan for the second year is complete,’ Radha said. ‘I have again found statistical significance. The connection is stronger this time. I think it’s because Bitcoin was more volatile in 2018 than 2017.’

  This time the celebration was muted.

  Atharva walked to a corner in the room and pulled out his phone. He tapped the screen a few times and put it to his ear.

  ‘What were you buying using Bitcoins?’ Atharva asked first up. A few heartbeats of silence. Malini would be speaking across the line. ‘How is that possible?’ Atharva was getting worked up. He walked from one end of the room to the other. ‘Why didn’t you say something?’ More silence. ‘Alright, we found something that is a possible clue. I thought I should ask you about it,’ Atharva said, shaking his head. He hung up after that.

  He turned to all of us. ‘Sorry for that,’ he said. ‘She said she doesn't know about any cryptocurrency related transaction. She said Daksh could have been behind them,' Atharva said.

  ‘In that case, we were probably looking at this very differently,’ Radha said. ‘What if Daksh did something that triggered all of this?’

  I wanted to speak to Jay Parikh. I was waiting for the most recent year's scan for confirmation. The months again rolled one by one. One of the files that we had taken from Mule's house had account information. Jay had told us that Mule had downloaded user information from the chatroom. I wondered if it would mean anything if there was an identical transaction on the chatroom on the same date as to when there was a debit from the bank accounts in question.

  ‘Done. Bang on target for year number three as well,’ Radha yelled, punching the air. ‘The ratios are statistically significant for all the years we checked. Both the Sinhas and the Gills used Bitcoin to purchase something. I also now know, they bought something with Bitcoin every month. Sumeira around the 14th of every month, while the Sinhas purchased something on the 20th.’

  I tapped on Jay Parikh’s contact and held the phone to ear. I told him what Radha had found.

  He said, ‘That’s really big. Given the situation, it’s highly likely that the transactions have something to do with the Dark Web. I’m on it. I can already see that Radha has shared her findings with me, including the raw data. I’ll go through it all.’

  ‘Sounds good,’ I said.

  ‘Thanks. It is useful. While decrypting anything of this kind, it’s easier to focus on cracking small segments at a time. If I know a part of the answer, I can work towards it.’

  ‘Good luck,' I said, feeling deep down that the answers we sought were in the data downloaded by Mule.

  He would not have put everything at stake for nothing. He also did not know he was going to be killed. So, he was prepared to face the consequences of his actions. Something also told me that Manohar picked Mule because of his strong moral compass. Both Manohar and Mule had risked everything they had—love, family and their own lives. Just as much as I wanted to get Rucha back home, I now wanted to find the truth for Manohar and Mule. They deserved it.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  It was eight forty when I went downstairs. I needed to prepare maa for her appointment with Dr. Pande. I could not wait to tell him about her development in the past forty-eight hours. I knew he was going to be ecstatic about seeing her with Natasha. Maa had not only been stable throughout this period but she had been able to think independently and look after herself. I prepared mental notes of what all to tell Dr. Pande. He asked me after every session about her progress.

  I had decided not to call Dr. Pande a doctor that day. When I had brought up that word in the morning, Natasha’s body language had changed drastically for a few heartbeats and only returned to normal when I told her I wouldn’t call anyone. I had to be careful. I needed to get Dr. Pande on board with what was happening. He usually had a stethoscope dangling around his neck. He would have to keep it inside his suitcase today.

  I sent a text message to Dr. Pande.

  Please don’t mention you are a doctor today. Hide your stethoscope. Don’t worry. This is not about maa but someone else. I’ll explain later.

  I tapped maa’s shoulder to wake her up. I was careful to not make any sudden movements because Natasha was sleeping with her head on maa’s lap on the couch. She had gotten terrified the last time I had woken her up from sleep.

  ‘Hey, get up. It’s almost nine,’ I said to maa.

  Natasha woke up instead. She looked at me with curious eyes. Just a day of being treated like a child must be had sparked life on her face. I remembered Jaggu and felt angry for a flash but that emotion washed away when Natasha smiled at me. I wondered again what she could be thinking. I decided I would ask Dr. Pande to somehow examine Natasha without letting her know. I had no idea how that was possible but Natasha needed to be checked.

  I again began thinking about what she had been through. I waved my hand at her. She tapped her leg and smiled again. She put her hands in the air, beckoning me to carry her. I held her firmly and then raised her as high as I could. She giggled again. I raised her high again and she began tapping her foot. Her giggles filled the living room. They were soft but sweet and genuine.

  I made an airplane of her, and while playing entered the kitchen. I put her on a chair.

  ‘Are you hungry?’ I asked.

  She tapped her leg.

  Radha loved chocolates, especially KitKat, so we always had some in the fridge. Only one was left. I got it for Natasha.

  ‘This is one of my favourite chocolates,’ I said, peeling the wrapper for Natasha before giving it to her. ‘Even my sister loves it.’

  Nat
asha munched on the chocolate with a smile on her face. She licked her fingers after eating it and giggled once again. I wondered if this was the right time to ask her if she remembered anything about what had happened to her or if she knew where her mom was.

  ‘Did you like it?’ I said.

  Natasha tapped her leg once again.

  ‘I want to ask you a question. May I?’

  Natasha tapped her leg again.

  ‘Do you remember what happened to you before we met yesterday night?’ I said.

  Natasha did not move. Her body stiffened. I hated to put her through this. I imagined all the terrible things embedded in her memory were flashing behind her eyes. She began shaking.

  No. No. Not again. Please, I am sorry, Natasha.

  I stepped closer to her and wrapped in her my arms. She shuddered so much that I began shivering with her.

  ‘What’s happening?’ maa said, probably watching from the back.

  I had not thought this through. I had asked her in the same room as maa. Would maa be able to take this?

  ‘Are you okay?’ maa said again.

  I hugged Natasha tighter. I only realized she was crying when my T-Shirt got damp. I stroked her hair. ‘It’s okay,’ I whispered in her ear. ‘I’m sorry I asked you.’

  Amid Natasha’s loud heaves, I heard maa walk up to us. I had been an idiot to do all this in front of maa. I first felt maa’s hand on my head. Then she hugged me from behind. Even she was breaking down. Her tears were warm on my neck.

  Just then, Natasha tried to escape from my embrace. She was gulping hard while trying to breathe. Was she finding it difficult to breathe again? This surely was not great for her blood pressure.

  She put a hand on her mouth and heaved loudly once again. The face of Suhana Kulkarni, the girl who was in coma because of my mistake, flashed in my mind. Have I hurt another child?

  ‘Radha!’ I yelled at the top of my voice. ‘Radha!’

  The next second she was thundering down the stairs. My attention was on Natasha. Maa had released me from her embrace. She was behind Natasha, stroking her back.