Missing Link

by Varun Vashist

  Some of the residents looked at her, but could not recognize her under the hood. Though, she was able to identify few from the café. She increased her pace till she saw a huge gate a few meters ahead.

  Jake was right. No one can miss that, she thought while looking at its size. She looked at her watch. It was already ten past six. She tried to open the gate, but it was as heavy as it was huge. She pushed it harder the second time and got inside.

  A two storied wooden house peeked through the trees. It looked quite old; pleading for renovation.

  As she reached nearer, she noticed that it was dark inside. There was no vehicle in the vicinity, meaning Jake had not heeded her advice and would come at his own time. There was a chair lying on the porch. She climbed up and looked at the chair. She thought of waiting there, but out of curiosity headed towards the door. She turned the knob, but to her chagrin, it was bolted. Of course, it is locked; what were you thinking.

  She sat down but not for long. She thought of looking around the house. She went to the backyard and found one of the windows open. She stood there looking at the window for some time. A part of her kept telling not to do what she was about to do.

  Finally, she succumbed to her temptation and climbed the window.

  Though, the light was fading, she was still able to see till some distance. There was a hall and an adjoining room. At the end of the hall were the stairs leading to the second floor. She checked around the hall. The inside looked as old and rusty as the outside. She moved her finger across the furniture. A layer of dust was covering it. Jake was not someone with good taste. Heck, he did not even have minimal taste, she thought. But, then even she lived like that. She has to give a good impression if Jake comes to her place, she made a mental note.

  Jake's childhood picture was lying at the center table. The sharpness of his eyes and his chiseled jawline was visible even in that picture.

  Suddenly, she remembered why she was there. She felt embarrassed at her thoughts. Margaret, she grunted. She has planted all these thoughts in my mind.

  With that, she changed her concentration towards the second floor. The wooden stairs made creaking sounds as she walked.

  The upper floor had a huge hall and nothing else. The room was empty barring a study table in the center and an LED television on the wall opposite to it. On the other side, it had huge glass windows giving a view till the end of the street.

  She looked at her watch. It was five to seven. Jake can come any moment, she thought. She did not want him to find out that she was already inside. With that thought, she came out of the room. However, she was too late to realize it. As she came out of the room, she heard the screech of tires on the gravel. Her act was up, she thought and ran downstairs. As she crossed the hall towards the kitchen, Jake reached out for his keys. Before Kiara could open the window, Jake came inside. She hid herself behind the refrigerator immediately. She was cursing herself; her curiosity had always caused trouble for her.

  Jake switched on the lights and walked across the hall towards the couch. As soon as he sat down, Kiara moved swiftly towards the window.

  She got her left leg out of the window and as she was about to jump out, her phone rang. Before, she could do anything; Jake came running with phone in his hands. It was he who was calling her. Kiara's face turned red. The phone kept ringing and she did not move from her position. She did not know whether to jump outside or get inside.

  "You were supposed to come after seven," she blurted out at once.

  "What? I can come anytime. This is my house," he said in disbelief, "What are you doing in my house; spying on me?"

  There was an awkward silence for a moment. Kiara knew there was no answer. The best thing to do was to get inside and explain the reason why she had come.

  "Wait.. this will come handy," Jake took her picture and looked at it with admiration.

  Kiara almost jumped at him. He got aside, but not before stopping her fall by holding her left arm. Again, there was an awkward silence.

  "Let's sit and talk.. You want anything to drink?" he said, trying to change the topic.

  "No.. I am good," Kiara said and walked towards the couch. Jake joined her holding a beer in his hand. Kiara looked around. The house did not look that bad under the light.

  "So, what did you unearth today?" Jake asked while taking a sip.

  "What?" Kiara came back from her thoughts. Jake looked at her with question filled eyes.

  "Oh.. right.. I have found something that will change the whole game," she took out the paper from her pocket.

  "This is from his diary?" Jake asked while opening the folds.

  "Just read it. It came today,"

  Jake nodded and started reading.

  ‘Monday, Jan 28, 2013

  “Diary dearest,

  Today I am going to tell you the big secret I was hiding for the past few weeks. Slowly and surely, I have fallen for Sarah. I think I am in love for the first time in my life. The project is completed and she is about to leave. But before that, I’ll call for a farewell party for the team and share my feelings with her. Oh my God, I am so excited, can’t even write any more. My hands are trembling with happiness.”

  It was a short note, but had the same impact on Jake as it had on Kiara. He almost spilled his beer.

  "This dude is in love with Sarah," he said in astonishment.

  "Yes, and this is dated just one day before all hell went loose," Kiara was brimming with excitement.

  "So, he proposes to her and she declines. The next day Richard threatens them. One more day goes by and he takes back his charges only to make a deal with Morgan. Then everything goes calm for three days. And then suddenly she feels guilty, comes to Kingston and gets kidnapped in Portland. A day after that you start receiving the diary pages."

  "Well, yes…. What are you implying?" she asked with confusion.

  Jake got up and walked across the hall couple of times.

  "One thing is certain. She knows the kidnapper," Jake said while sitting down.

  "How can you say that?" Kiara widened her eyes.

  "Not only that. Kidnapping was planned after she met her would be captors. They had no intentions of kidnapping her before meeting her," Jake said with a beaming smile as if he had unearthed a great treasure.

  "Don't beat around the bush," Kiara pleaded.

  "Ok," Jake took a deep breath. "She was kidnapped from Portland, meaning they knew when she was coming. Right?"

  "Right," Kiara said thoughtfully.

  "Now, she is not an important person whose itinerary will be closely followed by everyone. Only people who could have known this would be the one keeping an eye on her," Jake explained.

  "The Coopers?"

  "Or Richard or a distinct possibility is Morgan," Jake said thoughtfully.

  "But, if they are behind this then they wouldn't share the diary with me," Kiara said immediately.

  "Exactly. That's why I said there was never a plan to kidnap her," Jake said with excitement, "The plan was made when they got their hands on the diary and came to know that they had landed a golden goose."

  "Someone, for whom Chris Cooper had deep affection," Kiara said thoughtfully.

  "Deep affection and Deep pockets make a deadly combination," Jake smiled.

  "Now, they kidnapped her without thinking much. They knew Chris was in love with her and will pay anything they wanted, but after the kidnapping they realized that they had bit more that they could chew. Blackmailing such an influential person is like a suicide. So they thought of finding a way in which they do not have to deal directly with it. That's when you came into the picture. They profiled you and found you just like Sarah; a student working on the same project."

  "So, they don't know who I am?" Kiara asked.

  "Looks like that," Jake replied.

  "But, how can I help them. I don't even know what they want from Coopers,"

  "Maybe, we need to wait and watch," Jake said thoughtfully, "It will be easier if the
y reach out to you rather than you going after them. We should maintain the status quo till we know who they actually are and what they actually want."

  Kiara nodded and looked at the diary page one more time. Jake looked at her and then at his watch.

  "What do you want for dinner?" he asked.

  Kiara knew that Jake always had his dinner at Elmo's. He was being polite. Besides, she did not want to stay any longer. Maybe she was being followed. She had to keep her identity concealed from Sarah's captors.

  "No.. I will have something at my place," she replied and got up.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Absolutely," Kiara smiled, "I have seen your kitchen. It has not been used in a while."

  "Wait, I will drop you till the main street," Jake said sheepishly as she was about to reach the door.

  Kiara smiled, thinking how Jake's behavior had changed within a day. He was not only helping her out with the case; he was being a gentleman too.

  Chapter 7

  Though Kiara's mind was running with all the thoughts about the case, she could not take her eyes away from Jake's broad shoulders as she sat behind him on his motorcycle.

  "Are you comfortable?" his words brought her back from her thoughts.

  "Yes… I am," she felt a bit embarrassed.

  There was not much talk on the way, but Kiara could not help but think of how Jake put all the pieces together so easily. The first time they had met, she had thought of him as a jerk. Just like all her previous partners, she had despised him. But, in the last two days she had gotten drawn towards him not only because of his looks, but also because she found him like her in so many ways. In fact, it was the first time in her career that she had found a worthy partner; worthy enough that she wanted him to be with her in her all future cases. She smiled at the thought.

  "You know… it will be great if we could become partners in future cases also," she shouted from behind.

  "What?"

  "I said… I want you to partner me in my future cases," Kiara shouted back.

  Jake nodded and stopped the motorcycle on the side of the road.

  "You get me out of Kingston and I will sign whatever document dictates me to be your partner for all the cases," he smiled, his blue eyes twinkling with joy.

  "That's a promise," Kiara smiled in return.

  "Besides, it's been some time I had a fling," he said with a grin, "This place doesn't have any scope for that."

  "You aren't thinking of having a fling with me, are you?" she asked immediately.

  "No..no way.. you aren't my type," Jake blurted out at once. Though, he regretted it once he saw Kiara's face turn pale. "I didn't mean to demean you.. it's just that we are handling a case and I don't need any complications."

  "I understand completely," Kiara tried to put a brave face, "OK.. then I will see you on Thursday,"

  "You can give me a call anytime if you need something," Jake said while turning the ignition on.

  Kiara nodded and kept looking at him till he disappeared in the dark of the night. She wanted to kick herself for what had happened. Every time, she got drawn towards Jake, he would burst the bubble.

  "Not your type," she mimicked him, "Even I am not interested,"

  She must have gone a few meters when she noticed a motorcycle coming out of the path from Paul's house. As she looked towards it, the rider turned the headlights off. She felt as if she was being watched. She stopped for a moment and kept staring at him, but he did not budge.

  This went on for a few seconds, when she had enough of it and started running towards him in an instant. This made the rider nervous. He turned around and started driving towards the town. Kiara increased her pace, but in a few moments he was gone. She gave a loud grunt.

  She could not figure out who he was in the dark, but she was now sure that she had to do something soon if she wanted to get to the end of this. The captors were in Kingston and probably even Sarah was also there.

  Paul was standing on the porch. His face looked pale and Kiara could notice him shivering with fear.

  "Are you all right?" she asked while taking the keys out of her pocket.

  "What… what have you done?" he asked in a trembling voice.

  Kiara knew this had to do with the rider following her, "Can we talk about this inside?"

  With that, she opened the door and stepped aside. Paul looked around for his mother and once satisfied, he got inside.

  "You need to sit down," Kiara offered her water bottle to him which he declined.

  She pulled a chair opposite him, "Did he threaten you?"

  Now it was Paul's time to be surprised. She knew what he was talking about. Kiara put her hand over his reassuring him. He took a deep breath.

  "He said that you need to act fast or all of us will suffer," he said in a frail voice, sweat drops glistening on his forehead." And, something about making the noise up to the top level."

  Kiara knew what they meant. The time had come when she had to reach out to the Coopers. She looked at Paul who was still shaking.

  "I thought you were helping him," Kiara grilled him a little.

  Paul looked into her eyes, trying to figure out who she really was.

  "I mean that day there was no forced entry into my room. You helped them with the keys. Didn't you?," she asked further.

  "No.. it was me who kept those pages in your diary. I threw your stuff around to make you feel that there was a break in," he looked down.

  Kiara almost chuckled on Paul's master plan. On some other day she would have laughed in his face, but right now she needed to get the information out.

  "So, you know who he is?" she asked the pertinent question.

  "No, he always has this mask on his face and he doesn't speak to me directly," he answered.

  "So, how do you get the instructions then?"

  "He carries a recorded voice message on his phone," Paul said with his head down. From the look of it, Kiara knew that Paul was new to this and he did not know beyond this. She patted him on the shoulder.

  He looked at her, " I… I am really sorry. I need money for my family. I didn't mean to harm you."

  "Don't worry.. no harm done, yet," she reassured him. "Anything else that you noticed about this man?"

  Paul thought for a moment and then suddenly his face lit up, "The registration number of his motorcycle is of Portland."

  "Maybe, Sarah is in Portland," Kiara mumbled.

  "What?" Paul asked.

  "Nothing,"

  "I don't want my family to be dragged into this," he said with tear drops rolling down his cheeks.

  "Don't worry. I know what they want. Nothing will happen to you or your family. It's my word," Kiara assured him one more time.

  Paul wiped the tears from his sleeve and got up. As he was about to reach the door, he turned around. "What have they against you?"

  Kiara looked at him and thought for a moment, "The same they had with the girl they kidnapped."

  "You should have never come here," he said before leaving.

  "No… I am right where I am supposed to be," she gave a wry smile; "The game is on."

  The wheels had started to move and Kiara knew the next few days held the key.

  Kiara got up at six the next morning. She was too excited to sleep. Jake's interpretation was right; the people who had kidnapped Sarah were known to her. They did not want to confront her directly and that reassured her that maybe they were known to the town folks also. They knew that in case she gets to know one of them, it would be pretty easy for her to get all of them identified. That's why they were getting this done through Paul.

  They had not told her yet about the ransom they wanted. They only wanted her to act as a mediator between them and Chris. So, they had assumed that she was a part of a project like Sarah and had access to Chris. Well, that was good for her. In case, they attack her if she fails to help them, she will get hold of them. They will never suspect a college student to know martial arts.

  How
ever, to reach out to Chris, she had to take the help of her boss. With that thought she dialed his number.

  "Kiara… so early," Carlson sat up while rubbing his eyes.

  "I am sorry, sir, but this could not have waited," she said hastily.

  "What is it?" Carlson asked.

  "Sir, this is about the kidnap of Sarah Edwards," she said in a low voice.

  There was a momentary silence on the other end. "Sir, are you there?"

  "Yes.. I told you not to look beyond your assignment," he fumed. "Did you get any data?"

  "Not yet, Sir. But, I am working on it," she said softly. She knew her move had backfired.

  "I know that. You have been distracted by the kidnaping. Right?" he shook his head in disappointment.

  The discussion was not heading the direction Kiara had hoped.

  "Anyhow, I was going to call you today," Carlson broke the silence.

  "About what, Sir," she asked, hoping this will make the discussion easier.

  "Chris Cooper is visiting Portland today and though it's not confirmed he may come to Kingston. I have heard that Harrison has his loyalty towards the Cooper's. I need you to be cautious. Just keep a check and stay away from the factory till Chris returns,"

  Kiara did not know how to react to this news. She was hoping Carlson will fix a meeting with Chris and now he had specifically asked her to stay away from it. She cursed herself for calling him. She had all the game set. Kidnappers thought she was a student. They were going to be around her and she could have used Carlson's help to nab them.

  "You there?" Carlson asked.

  "Yes, sir," she responded.

  "Let me know if anything happens. If you make a mistake and get caught, the department won't take the responsibility," he said firmly.

  "So much for giving eight years to the department," Kiara murmured.

  "What?"

  "Nothing, Sir, I understand. I will be cautious," she tried to reassure him; though she knew he won't believe her.

  "Ok, then. Bye," Carlson hung up.

  Kiara threw the phone on the bed in anger. She started walking across the room in frustration. Carlson's intervention could have helped in solving the case in a week. But now she was left stranded.