“Mrinal. Mrinal. Where are you?” Antara was frantic on phone.

“At the university. What happened?”

“Mrinal. Mahi…”

“What happened to Mahi?”

Antara barely managed to make herself intelligible, “Mahi is missing.”

“What? Where are you?”

“At Phoenix mall. Mahi… She was here… Just…”

“Talk to the security. Tell them to make announcements and look for her. I am leaving for Phoenix mall right now… Stay calm…”

But how could she stay calm? Where was her baby? How scared she must be? How did she just disappear? Antara managed to talk to the head of security at the mall and a frantic search started. They checked out every nook and corner of the mall. Shops, play area, restaurants, food court, bathrooms… Multiple announcements were made asking people to look out for a two and a half-year old girl, wearing a pale-blue frock, matching hairband and shoes. By the time Mrinal arrived, it was clear that police will need to be called in. It was probably a deliberate kidnapping and not just the child wandering off.

“How can that…” Antara was dying with worry and guilt. “She was there… Just a minute back she was there…”

“Where did it happen?” Mrinal asked, himself sick with worry, but trying to keep a cool head.

“We came out of that grocery store and went to the baggage counter to pick up the stored bags… She was holding my dupatta. And…. Then the moment I looked back after picking up the bags, she was not there…” Antara broke into pitiful sobs. “Where… is… she…” she kept asking through her sobs.

Police came and started with watching the CCTV recording that covered the baggage counter. At around the time mentioned by Antara, they could see her and Mahi coming to the counter. Then as Antara waited for the bags, they saw Mahi looking at someone, who could not be seen on camera. She hesitated, but then moved away from Antara.  Then the camera lost her.

Antara looked on anxiously as the police officers tried to get more information. “Any enemies? Anybody who would like to harm either of you?”

Mrinal shook his head. On the verge of a breakdown, he was no longer talking. Then he looked at Antara. Antara also shook her head.

Some officers started talking to other visitors in the mall, while couple of them decided to start looking at the CCTV footage of all the exits after Mahi was last seen with Antara.

“I will also see those,” Antara said.

“Ma’am. There are multiple exits. Two of us will look at the two different footages in parallel. And it will take a lot of time.”

“I will do it. I will sit with one of you. I will recognize her better.”

For several hours Antara sat with one of the officers. She would sometimes be called by the other to see if someone they had spotted was Mahi. Mrinal meanwhile accompanied the other set of officers in canvassing the mall and nearby areas.

The officers viewing the CCTV footage were on a break when Mrinal came back, looking dejected and forlorn. Antara had not abandoned her station though. She was going through the footages watched by the other officer, whom she had not accompanied earlier.

“That’s her!” she shouted and Mrinal rushed to her. “Mrinal. That’s her. In different clothes.” The quality of CCTV footage was bad. But Mrinal peered in and concurred with Antara.

“You are right,” he said cautiously, almost willing himself to not get too hopeful lest the hopes be crushed.

“The officer didn’t realize because she changed her clothes…” Their attention shifted to the woman on whose shoulders Mahi was asleep. “It’s a woman. It’s a kidnapping. Who is she?” The woman was looking down and the angle of the camera was such that her face was obscured by her hair and Mahi slung over on her shoulder.

Mrinal frowned. Antara looked at him. Was he able to place her… “What?” she asked.

“It’s weird… But she… she reminds me of… Raksha. The hairstyle… And height…”

Antara looked back at the paused footage. The hairstyle and the woman’s height was reminding her of someone else… But why… And a thought struck her. “I need to see a photo of Raksha ji.”

“They would be in the store-room probably…” Mrinal replied. He was focused on the image on screen. If only he could see the woman from another angle!

“Something online? Somewhere?”

Mrinal handed her his phone. “Check my flickr account. Probably in some old private albums.”

Antara grabbed it and started browsing through the albums. The officers had come in meanwhile. Mrinal showed them the image and told them about his suspicion of it being Raksha, his first wife.

“Your first wife?”

Mrinal explained, as calmly as he could, their history.

“You are talking about her real mother?” one of the officers asked looking incredulous.

“Her biological mother. Real mothers don’t do what she did.”

“Her full name?”

“She would go by Raksha Malhotra,” Mrinal said, “Or Raksha Agarwal. Or…” he took a deep breath as he took the name of her lover, “Raksha Singhania.”

“It’s her!” Antara cried.

“Who?” Mrinal and the officers asked in chorus.

Antara rubbed her forehead trying to get her thoughts together. Then she explained, “She came to my office, consulted me using a false name. What was the name… Yes… Priya… Priyal Malhotra – that was the name she had told me.”

“Oh God!” It was premeditated. That well-planned! Mrinal couldn’t believe it. He had come to terms with her betrayal and insensitivity. But now she had turned into a criminal too? Abducting the daughter who she had mercilessly abandoned as an infant? “I should talk to her parents…” he mumbled and made to dial the number. He hadn’t kept in touch, but knew that they were still in the city.

“Wait Mr. Agarwal. Are you sure they are not involved? It would be better if we did it our way,” the senior officer interrupted him.

He looked incredulous at the idea. “They can’t be… But… now I don’t believe anyone. Please note down their number and address.”

“And I think you should go home now. Your being out won’t help. As soon as we find something, we will call you.”

—

“I don’t know how to apologize to you, Mrinal,” Antara said while they were driving home, “When I will never be able to forgive myself.” And with that despite the hope they had about Raksha’s lead, she broke down.

Mrinal stopped the car and looked at her for a moment. She had been berating herself so hard that he hadn’t said anything unkind to her. But he realized that he had not been particularly reassuring either. They both were worried and sad, but she was carrying the additional burden of guilt!

“Antara. It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was my fault. It was my fault. If I hadn’t been careless…”

“It wasn’t your fault, Antara,” he repeated and pulled her towards himself across the gearbox. “Calm down. It will be all right. She would be all right… We will find her. Raksha can’t just disappear…”

And then he started crying himself.  But they got hold of themselves after a while and drove back home.

—

To be continued