Page 146 - Musings 2020

12

What a Day!

Abhiram Manoj 2017A4PS0410P and Madhumitha Muralidharan 2017B4A21194P

Inspector Jabaar woke up to the sound of his alarm ringing. He had already hit the snooze
button three times before he finally decided it was time to get out of bed. As he half-heartedly
put on his uniform he wondered how he would pass his time today at the office. With a heavy
sigh, he wore his crinkled uniform that was frayed at the sides. and just as he was about to
leave his house he got a call from Joey, his subordinate.

“Sir, there has been a kidnapping. An 8-year-old boy, Rakunde, has been reported missing”
declared Joey. It took Jabaar a few moments to process. It had been years since a crime this
major was reported in Pacifica. “Send me the location. I am on my way there” replied Jabaar.
The drive was surprisingly short. Jabaar felt a surge of adrenaline rush through his blood, a
feeling he felt had been lost forever. Pacifia was known throughout the state as the most
peaceful place in The US. This resulted in the government drastically reducing the number of
police posted there. The crime was basically nonexistent. “Nonexistent until now,” he thought
just as he reached the victim’s mother’s house.

He stopped outside what looked like a white two-storied bungalow. The place looked posh on
the outside but this view was changed when Jabaar went inside as once he went in, he saw
that the house was almost empty. “Are you Mrs. Kapoor?” asked Jabaar. “Ms. Kapoor” she
mumbled. Vidya Kapoor was an Indian woman, quite short with a lean body. She was
surprisingly strong-willed for a woman who had just lost her son. That being the case Jabaar
could make out that she was crying before he reached her.

The conversation they had was brief. Vidya only suspected two people of this action. She told
him that their names were Zucc and Susan Hard. Vidya heard about this website called
rentachild.com wherein you can give your child to a different couple for a few days and enjoy
a few days all to themselves. Vidya being a single divorced mother found it very difficult to
take care of Rakunde, her son while she was working and through this site, she found a nice
old couple who was willing to babysit Rakunde during her working hours. Well, at least they
were nice initially. They started becoming closer and closer to him over the years and
recently they offered to pay to spend time with Rakunde. She was happy about this fact
initially but when they started dropping him off later and later in the night she decided that
this behaviour was affecting her son’s lifestyle and she blocked them from her phone. Vidya
told Jabaar that this was when they started poking too much into her life. She came back one
day to find that they had visited her son in his school. Upon searching his bag, she found a
new phone and some sweets given to him by the Hards. Such disturbances stopped after she
complained to the website about the misbehaviour of the Hards. To her shock and dismay,
when she woke up in the morning she could not find her baby boy.

Jabaar listened to all this intensely and told her that he will see what he can do. He asked if he
could check around the house to look for clues. He looked around the house but couldn't find
anything significant. According to her, the doors were still locked in the morning and the
windows shut properly. It looks like the kidnapper had not left any evidence behind. He
decided to follow his only suspects and go meet the Hards as soon as possible. He asked

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