Manik left the school premises with Soha tagging along with him. They had received no information regarding Mannat. Manik was greatly disturbed. He had expected that the authorities here would have been able to help him out. He ran his fingers through his disheveled hair as he trudged towards Soha's car.
"Now what?", Soha asked clearly agitated by the whole situation. Manik palmed his face wondering whether to report the thing to the NYPD or not. But even though he would launch a report for missing, the search wouldn't start unless the next 24 hrs. Dejected he decided to look for some other option.
"Why don't we talk with some of the store owners down the street. They may have seen or noticed something.", Soha suggested.
"Yeah. That would be great. You take the way to the right and I will see to the left.", Manik spoke and both of them immediately set to work.
The first store Manik came across was a small cafe around the corner. He entered the almost empty place. A few guys were huddled at one counter. Manik headed straight to the counter. An elderly lady looked up to him and smiled.
"What would you like to have Sir?", she asked in a soft tone.
"Actually, I am here to ask you about something.", Manik hesitated a little.
"Yes.", the lady allowed him to go on.
"My daughter has been missing for about 2 hours, Mam. This is her—", Manik showed a picture of Mannat on his phone. "By any chance have you seen her around?" He asked hoping to have some news about his daughter. The oldy woman studied the picture for a while.
"Am sorry young man, I haven't seen her. I would never forget such a pretty innocent face if I had my eyes on her even once.", she replied.
Manik let out a sigh. He was going no where. And with time the things get worsened.
"Thank you for you help.", Manik have the old lady a sad smile before taking her leave.
"Hope you find your little princess soon." She said as Manik left the cafe.
His cell buzzed. He looked at the screen to see it was Nandini calling. She must be pretty worried by now and yet Manik had nothing to tell her.
"Hey", Manik responded picking up the call.
"Did you get some news?", Nandini's panicked voice sounded from the other end.
"Not yet."
"I am standing outside Mannat's school and there is a car parked by. But where are you guys," Nandini asked.
"Oh you're here. Wait I am just down the street. I will meet up with you within a minute and then will explain.", Manik replied walking back towards the school.
"Okay am waiting by the car."
And they hung up.
Soha asked about Mannat in a few stores by the street but couldn't find anything about Mannat. Finally she headed into a drugs store. The store was empty and the man was lazily reading the newspaper.
As he saw Soha entering he kept it aside and went towards her.
"Yes Mam, how can I help you?", he asked.
"Um I am looking for my eight year old daughter. She's been missing for some hours. Do you by any means seen her around here?", Soha asked showing him the picture of Mannat that she had taken from Manik earlier.
The shopkeeper took less than a minute to identify her.
"Yes of course. In fact I saw her about two hours back. She came in with another man to pick some Band-Aids."the man replied.
"Oh thank god. I will just call her dad too.", and she took out her phone searching for Manik's number.
"Can you describe him a little?", Soha asked while searching the contacts.
"Yes sure. He was tall about 6 feet and had a well built physique. He was of fair complexion and he had his hair gelled up in a quiff. And uhh as far as I remember he had a band tattooed around his left hand—".
Soha looked up from her cell and cut off the man.
"What did you say? A tattoo around his left hand?", she asked shocked.
"Yeah just a few inches above his wrist", and he showed the place with his fingers.
Soha stared at the man for a few seconds and then going through her phone she produced a photo of a man.
"Is this him?", she asked hoping for a positive answer.
"Yes of course. That's the guy.", the shopkeeper affirmed proving Soha's doubts.
Just as she was about to ask him some questions more, she saw Manik and Nandini walking in her direction.
She quickly slid her phone back to her purse and passed a grateful smile towards the man.
"Thank you so much for this. I owe you", she replied exiting the store in a hurry.
The man smiled in reply, as he saw the woman leave.
"So did you guys find anything?", Soha asked meeting up with the two.
Both Manik and Nandini shook their heads.
"What about you?", Nandini asked.
"Umm nothing at all", she lied giving a shrug.
"Guess we have to call the police now.", Manik said and Nandini looked up at him with a teary gaze.
"Hey don't worry. They are better at this than us. We all will surely find our girl Nandu,", he replied pulling Nandini to his chest. She rested her head on his chest and nodded a small yes.
"I'll get the car", Soha said awkwardly as she left and Manik gave her a knowing look. She smiled back at him and left.
On her way back she dialled a number she thought she would never ever look at.
And it was none other than, Mr Harshad Saxena.
Hello guys. A little entry into the secrets. And what is your views till now about Soha? Hope you enjoy the update. Keep commenting and voting and I will try to get an update sooner.
Till then happy reading.
