Chain of Custody by Anita Nair Page A

She is just twelve years old. You know, don’t you, that from being a transit point, Bangalore is now a trafficking hub?’
    â€˜You are fond of that child, aren’t you?’
    Gowda nodded. Nandita had often accompanied her mother to Gowda’s house. Shanthi would set her little chores to do as she finished hers. ‘Don’t put her to work,’ Gowda had told Shanthi once.
    â€˜When did peeling garlic become a job, sir?’ Shanthi had frowned. But Gowda had seen that she was secretly pleased.
    Just before he left the station, they had printed the missing posters to send to all the stations and uploaded it online. Gajendra had called the CWC home for girls during the day, just in case someone had taken her there, and the Bosco rescue units at the station and bus stands. But they had drawn a blank everywhere.
    The fan began turning. The power was back.
    â€˜We might as well get up,’ Urmila said, clambering over him.
    He pulled her down on to him. ‘Don’t,’ he said. ‘Don’t go yet.’
    She lay on him, her face resting on the curve of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her into him. ‘Nice,’ he said, finding something akin to solace in that embrace. ‘This feels so nice.’
    â€˜Yes, I know.’ She nuzzled into the side of his neck. ‘When I think of all the time wasted …’ she began and stopped. Borei Gowda, she knew, didn’t like dredging up the past. Almost on cue, his hold around her loosened. He slapped her butt lightly and growled, ‘Go make me coffee, woman!’
    She nipped at the skin of his neck.
    â€˜Ouch! What the hell?’ he said as she leapt off him and padded to the bathroom. They were using the guest bedroom – again, a tacit unspoken agreement that his marital bed was out of bounds.
    He lay with his arms cradling his head, watching her as she dressed. ‘Get up,’ she said.
    Gowda walked into the bathroom and looked at his bleary-eyed reflection in the mirror. The shadow of a stubble speckled his jaw. He ran the back of his hand over it thoughtfully andsniffed at his armpits. He would shave and bathe later. For now Urmila would have to endure his unshaven chin and the odour of sleep. At least he hadn’t had too much to drink last night, he grinned. He splashed water on his face and brushed his teeth vigorously.
    â€˜They’re only teeth, Borei, and not some criminal for you to treat them with such violence,’ Urmila quipped to his reflection.
    He flicked drops of water on her face. She fled.
    He put up the toilet lid and peed into the bowl. He stared at the stream of urine as it tinkled into the toilet. Good boy, he told his penis. You are a good boy to do my bidding even if you have a mind of your own.
    â€˜Who were you talking to?’ Urmila asked as he walked to the living room where she sat curled on a chair. Two mugs of instant coffee sat steaming on the table. She had placed a plate of Marie biscuits beside them.
    â€˜No one,’ he said, reaching for a biscuit to dunk in his coffee.
    He went to sit by her and they sat there gazing at the skies through the open window.
    From within the house a clock chimed the half hour past four. Urmila sighed. ‘I have to go.’
    Gowda nodded. It was best she left before the tenants upstairs woke up. At least she had come in her Scorpio, which wasn’t as conspicuous as the Audi would have been.
    Gowda opened the gates as quietly as possible and watched the gleam of her tail lights till the car turned the corner. Then he went back and got into bed again. A wave of longing coursed through him as he smelled her fragrance on the pillow. He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.
    He had a seminar to attend. And a missing girl to find.

    Nandita shivered. She had woken of her own accord. This was the time her mother woke her up at home.
    Her mother would have started the fire and put the cauldron of