Ch:- 2 Heart – Connect

*It has been 6 months since the disappearance of Nupur and her family. The case had gone cold but Ram got a lead. The location of one of the workers from Nupur’s family bungalow.*

In the middle of the city there is a dark un-lit building, covered in fungus from the outside and walls falling apart from inside. Neil, Ram and two more officers are making their way through the building’s corridor. All the apartments are empty in this building, as most of them have caved in on themselves. All of a sudden they hear a door close from the same floor. Neil and Ram rush to the end of the corridor with the two officers following shortly after. From there the corridor continues to the left and the right. Neil is trying to figure out where the sound came from as Ram taps on his shoulder and points at the end of the corridor on the right. There is a door at the end of the corridor with light leaking through the bottom of the door. Neil and Ram make their way to that door and bust it open. Inside the dirty, broken apartment they see the same butler, who greeted them when they went to the bungalow all those months ago. But he looked much different, clothes torn, dirty and his body malnourished. Seeing all the offers he tucks himself in a corner, with his eyes fixed on a single officer. Without a blink, just staring at Ram.

The butler is sitting in the interrogation room, mumbling to himself, as soon as an officer enters the room he goes silent and starts staring at them. Neil, Ram and Jeet are standing on the other side of the glass. Looking through the one way mirror. Jeet says “you guys get one lead in six months and it’s too broken to help us” he turns to Neil, lets out a sigh and says “get him some help… maybe he’ll be able to help us out then”. Jeet pats Neil on the shoulder and leaves the room. Neil turns back at the butler, who’s still mumbling under his breath. Neil suddenly says “Fuck it! Send this mumbling motherfucker to the hospital…maybe once he gets help he’ll actually start talking” Ram had been laser focused on the butler since the beginning, suddenly Ram says “i don’t want to go back” Ram looks at Neil and says “That’s what he has been mumbling since the last hour” Neil looks at the butler and then back at Ram. Neil asks Ram “do you want to go in and try talking to him?” Ram nods his head and says “Nah… you should try talking before we send him off” Neil looks at the butler again and says “fine… I’ll give it a shot”. 

As soon as Neil enters the interrogation room the butler stops mumbling again. Neil places a bottle of water in front of the butler and takes a seat. Neil looks at the butler and asks ” do you remember me ? We met around 6 months ago ?” The butler doesn’t reply, with his eyes still wide open and fixed on Neil. Neil lets out a sigh and says “look we are not sending you back. Or anywhere if I am being honest… in fact we want to help… get you in better shape mentally and physically” The butler starts breathing a bit heavy. Neil continues “before anything, tell me how you are feeling ? Drink some water” the butler shifts his eyes to the bottle of water. Neil continues” don’t worry it’s for you.” The butler slowly reaches for the bottle and grabs it. Neil with a smile on his face continues ” in fact you must be hungry” The butler’s eyes instantly shift back to Neil. Neil continues ” As I said. We are here to help.. but for that you need to help us too… so tell me where is the whole family ?” The butler doesn’t answer. Neil drops his smile and says “okay forget the family” Neil puts a sheet on the table and slides it over to the butler. The sheet has all the pictures and names of the workers from the bungalow. Neil continues “do you know where any of these guys are ?” The butler looks down at the sheet. His breathing gets fast, his body slowly starting to shake and Neil notices this. The butler’s breathing intensifies and he looks up at Neil. The butler screams and tries to charge at Neil across the table. But Neil effortlessly moves aside and puts the butler in a hold. All the other officers rush in but by that time the butler had already passed out. 

The butler is taken to a mental health facility in a police van as Neil and Ram are standing outside the police station. As the van leaves Ram asks “you think Nupur’s father kidnapped all the workers and kept them somewhere so that they don’t speak up” As the van disappears in the distance Neil turns to Ram and says “well could be… But all of the workers ? And a man of his stature would just get rid of them, instead of mass kidnapping. That doesn’t add up”. Ram turns to Neil and says “maybe he has gotten rid of them all… I say we go back to the house… He’s a big shot maybe he has another house where he’s hiding… look it has been 6 months, the house had been untouched and cold for awhile and our only lead is acting like a fucking tool. I say we can at least try… maybe we’ll find something at the bungalow” Neil pauses for a moment, he looks at the organ sky and says “yeah… okay back before dinner though” Ram chuckles and says “yeah don’t worry we are not gonna make her wait”.

Neil and Ram are in their Jeep heading back to the bungalow. Even though that house was an active crime scene, no one had really been there since the last 4 months or so. As Neil is just looking at the sunset through the window Ram says “it’s weird how I don’t ask you this a lot but how has it been with Kashish since you guys moved in ?” Neil smiles and says “well… it’s been very good… it’s just very new to me I suppose… living with someone… getting called out on anything I do…well I suppose the house is much cleaner now…” after a small pause Neil realises what he said and continues “ahh shit was that sexist ?” Ram and Neil both chuckle. Neil turns to Ram and asks “and what about you ? How is your search with the pills going ?” Ram lets out a sigh and says “well no luck yet. But Dr.Vinod said once I am done with the case. Apparently stress doesn’t really help the process” Neil looks out the car window again and says “so I’ve heard”.

They finally reach the bungalow, the sun is almost down. Ram drives into the compound and stops right in front of the entrance. Neil steps out of the Jeep and looks at the bungalow for a minute. Neil is thinking about something, he turns to Ram and says “straight to Ashok’s room and then to his wife’s” Neil turns to Ram who just got off the Jeep and continues “and since we are here… we’ll check the servants floor as well”. Ram looks at the bungalow and replies “i say we start from the top then” The house is mostly taped up from inside with police tapes. Ram and Neil are making their way upstairs, the house has collected dust over the months, so much so that every step they took made a new footprint. As they reach the top floor Neil turns to Ram and says “check the rooms on the right”. As Neil himself went to the left. As Neil is walking down the corridor he looks at the window at the end of the corridor, the Heart-connect building visible through the window and a bit brighter than last time. Neil is approaching the first door, when all of a sudden he hears a loud thud from inside the room. Neil is shocked, he quickly rushes to the door and busts it open with one push. Inside, to Neil’s shock, he sees a lanky guy with a black mask around his face. The guy steps back a bit. Neil notices him starting to panic, he smirks and tells the guy “afraid huh?” Neil takes a few steps forward and continues “there’s no need, just calm down yeah ?” As Neil is slowly walking forward, the guy starts panicking more, seeing that Neil quickly and very carefully hides away his batch. Neil sees that the guy is looking at the window, probably to escape. Neil calmly says “listen don’t make any harsh decisions… I want to just talk”. Suddenly runs up to the room to check. The guy sees Ram, who is in a police uniform and makes his move to the window. Neil tries to grab him but the guys takes a huge leap, throwing him out of the window, he slides down one of the roofs and lands shoulder first on the ground. As the guy is trying to get up and run while holding his shoulder, Ram quickly jumps out the window as well and follows him. Ram falls to the ground as well and gets up as soon as possible. Neil shouts from the window “he’s heading to the grove !” Ram barely catches a glimpse of him entering the grove and quickly follows him. Neil turns his attention back to the room, he looks on the ground. He left footsteps, bearly visible but it does the job. His tracks suggested that the guy entered the room and went straight to the cupboard he was standing by. Neil walks near the cupboard and starts inspecting it. The cupboard mostly has books in it, like novels and textbooks. Neil starts to brush off books, thinking something might fall out of them. And from one of the books, something falls out, a picture. Neil bends over and picks it up. It’s a picture of Nuper with a young guy, who’s body structure resembled a lot with the guy who was here. Neil puts the pictures in his pocket and rushes downstairs. Neil runs out of the house, he looks at the grove but it’s too dark to see anything properly. So Neil gets in his Jeep, he starts up the Jeep and drives it through the lawn. Neil parks the Jeep right in front of the grove, he leaves the car on, lighting up the entire grove. As Neil is trying to look inside the grove, he gets a call. It’s from Kashish. Neil picks up the call and walks into the groove. On the call Kashish asks “Hey. Where are you ?” As Neil is looking around he replies ” I am in the middle of something a bit serious.” As Neil is saying that, he sees Ram, limping back. Neil tells Kashish “I’ll be home soon” and cuts the call. Neil rushes over to Ram, he sees Ram’s disappointed face and figures out that the guy got away. 

Neil and Ram are in the jeep, heading back to the station. There is a very off putting silence in the jeep. Neil is in the driver seat this time, he looks over to Ram. He is texting someone on his phone, Neil’s mood switches from disappointed to angry in a second, he shouts “RAM!” Ram instantly keeps his phone aside and looks at Neil. Neil calms himself down a bit and continues “What happened there ?”Ram looks back at the road ahead, with his head hung low, he replies “He got away. I-I dropped wrong while jumping off. Spraining my foot, I still followed him… till he jumped the fence” Ram suddenly punches the dashboard in rage, which makes the dash pop open and a few things fall down. Neil sighs, he pauses for a moment, thinking what to do next. Ram calms down a bit and says “I am sorry if I sound offensive, Neil… but we can’t let Jeet know this, he’ll put us off the case… for sure.” Neil’s eyes are still fixed on the road, still thinking, he turns to Ram and says “alright… but we can’t hide it for too long… on the plus we know who it is” Neil hands the picture he found to Ram. Looking at the picture he says “he’s from the list of workers at the house.” Neil replied “exactly…but this guy seemed pretty fit, unlike the last one” Ram looks at the picture again, he sees the guys standing with Nupur and says “so she didn’t run alone that night… she didn’t kill the granny alone” Neil nods and says “you get the details on his history, if there is any in our database. I’ll have to check on someone tomorrow, as he might have hid something from me… this will get us close to Nupur for sure. But we are nowhere near finding Ashok and the rest of her family… not until that butler gets better.” Neil lets out a loud sigh, finally taking a breath. Ram looks back at the road and under his breath says “sorry. For what happened today.” After a small pause says “don’t worry about it. After all you did jump out of a damn window after him…so I can cut you some slack.” Neil turns to Ram, seeing Ram holding his legs Neil asks “I’ll drop you straight home.”  Ram nods, refusing the offer, he turns to Neil and says “drop me to the station… we get to the bottom of this as fast as possible… this is just a sprain I’ll manage… you on the other hand should go home.” Neil looks at Ram, he waits for a moment before both of them let out a few chuckles.

After dropping Ram at the station, Neil finally reaches home, he drives up the Jeep beside his house, in a small garage like structure. Neil turns his Jeep off, as he is doing that, he sees under the passenger seat few things that fell down, when Ram punched the dash. Neil reaches down to pick everything up, a few papers, some cards and a Heart-connect pill. Neil picks up the small envelope and chuckles. He puts the envelope in his jacket. Neil closes the jeep and gets his phone out. He dials up Dr.Vinod but he doesn’t answer. Neil puts the phone back in his pocket and starts walking towards his house. The porch is dark, with just some light leaking through the house window. Neil climbs the door, making his way to the porch, he reaches for his key. Neil gets the keys out and opens his door. Barely anything’s visible inside the house, apart from the very little purple light emitting from the corridor. Neil easily makes his way to the corridor. At the end of the corridor he sees his bedroom door open. Dark purple light pouring out of the room. Neil starts walking down the corridor, as he reaches the door to his bedroom, inside he sees Kashish facing out of the window, with a wine glass in her hand and just swaying to some smooth jazz. Neil walks up to Kashish, slowly hugging her from the back. Kashish chuckles and says “busy night ?” As both of them are swaying to the music, Neil replies “I would say more crazy than busy”. Kashish turns around, without breaking his grip, facing Neil now she asks “Hungry much ?” 

The television is on, Neil is sitting on the couch in front of the television. Kashish is heating up the food for him. As Kashish is walking towards the couch Neil asks “what is it ? Smells great” Kashish takes a seat on the couch right beside him. She hands the plate over to Neil and says “chicken rolls”. Neil sees the plate with 3 rolls in it, he picks up one of the rolls, not bothering if it’s too hot or not, he takes a huge bite out of the roll. Looking at that Kashish softly chuckles and asks “rate it. Out of ten. come on” Neil pauses, he looks at Kashish with food filled in his mouth. Neil nods and starts chewing the food in his mouth. After a solid minute or so, Neil is done chewing, when finally he clears his mouth, Neil thinks for a moment. Before turning to Kashish and saying “7 the masala is damn good… like I was confused between 6.5 and 7 cause the chicken was a bit – ” Kashish breaks off Neil by swinging a pillow at his face. In shock, Neil is more worried about the rolls in his hand as the pillow barely affected him. Kashish gets ready to hit him again and shouts “6?!” Neil slowly places the plate down and says “no. I said 7. And I was THINKING about 6 – ” Kashish swings the pillow, smacking it across Neil’s face again. Kashish swings the pillow again. But Neil catches the pillow with one hand and grabs Kashish with the other. “I am starting to think that you don’t know how numbers work” says Neil as Kashish tries to get out of his grip. As Neil and Kashish are having their moment, all of a sudden Neil’s phone rings, he looks around to find it and sees it’s in his jacket near the front door. Neil gets off the couch, making his way to his jacket, he reaches down in the pocket and pulls the phone out. Dropping multiple things on the floor in the process. Neil, not bothered by that, looks at his phone. It’s Dr.Vinod’s call. Neil gestures Kashish to wait and heads out the house. On the call Dr.Vinod says “sorry I couldn’t pick up, I was a bit caught up. So tell me what happened ?” Neil says “We need to meet tomorrow Doc. It’s about Nupur ” Dr.Vinod without any hesitation replies “Okay no problem. Come by 7 then ? Recently it’s a bit more crowded around here” Neil thinks for a second before replying “yes… thanks for taking time out for us” Dr.Vinod on the other end says “Not at all. All the help I can provide”. Neil ends the call and heads back inside his house. Still unbothered by the things on the ground, Neil walks over them, making his way to Kashish. Who’s sitting on the couch, as she sees Neil ignore the thing he dropped on the ground, Kashish looks at him and says “you know you gotta pick that shit up right ?” Not affected by what Kashish said, Neil picks up his plate again and sits on the couch with his one hand holding Kashish. As Neil is about to go back to eating, his phone rings again. This time it’s Ram. Neil picks up the phone and walks over to the window. Before Neil could say or ask anything, over the call Ram says “come to the hospital right now.” Neil confused on the other end asks “what happened ?” Ram replies “the butler… he’s dead… I am on my way to the hospital right now. Leave right away ” Ram ends the call. Neil tries to wrap his head around the situation. The butler is dead. Their only witness for what happened that night is dead. With the case getting even more complicated, the other worker showing up at the house. Who was in perfect shape unlike the butler. With Neil not able to figure out what’s happening, suddenly he feels Kashish arms around his waist. Kashish hugging from behind asks “Work ?” Neil with a significant change in his tone from earlier says “yes.” Kashish tightens her grip and says “don’t stress… you work best when you have a clear mind” Neil stays quiet and lets out a sigh. He turns around and hugs her back. In their little moment Kashish says “you should probably leave” Neil chuckles softly as he agrees, he grabs his coat and gets ready to leave. As Neil walks out of the door Kashish says “I’ll cook something else for you when you come back… and swear to God if you rate it anything below 9 the next case you’ll be solving will be your own murder” Neil turns back laughing at what she said, he finally open his Jeep, gets in and leaves. Once Neil drives off in the distance Kashish closes the door and heads back in. When all of a sudden she steps on something, she can’t see what it is but assumes it’s the things Neil dropped while getting his phone. Kashish turns on the light near the doorway and starts picking everything up. As she is almost done she notices something. A small pink envelope. Kashish pauses for a moment, as she knows where that envelope is from. Kashish slowly reaches for it and grabs the envelope. As she pulls it closer some light from the window falls on it and she can finally see “Heart-connect” printed on it. Kashish turns the envelope around to see Neil’s name printed on the other side. She is shuck, Not knowing what to think of this she sits on the ground with her back to the wall. Holding the envelope, she just looks off in the distance with all these thoughts running through her mind. All this time spent with him, all these connections built with him, all for him to possibly hide things from her. She can still feel the pill in the envelope. So maybe it’s something he got before but never used it. But again it fell out of his jacket, which he was wearing today. Kashish’s face had gone from concerned to almost in tears. She opens the envelope to see a pink pill inside it. But on the inside of the envelope there are two numbers. One number being Neil’s and the other being Heart-connect’s office. Kashish gets an idea. She looks at the watch. It’s 30 minutes past midnight. Kashish thinks for a bit before getting to her feet and grabbing her phone from the couch. She quickly dials in the Heart-connect number and gives it a call. After a few seconds of silence the phone rings. It rings for a few minutes as Kashish gets inpatient. As Kashish is about to cut the call, the call gets answered. Kashish places the phone back on her ear, as a giy from the other end is saying “hello?” Kashish clears her throat and says “Hey.. I wanted to enquire about something if it’s possible” The guy from the other end says “oh hey… I thought there was a network issue or something… haha… tell me how can I help you?” Kashish holds up the envelope in her hand and says “I-I actually have a Heart-connect pill and I wanted to know when it was… umm… withdrawn” The guy on the other end stays silent for a moment before laughing a bit and saying “umm…I am guessing that’s not your pill then ma’am” Kashish thinks for a moment before lying to him by saying “I actually found it in my husband’s… pocket” the guy on the other end instantly says “ohh I am so sorry for this…. But giving out any information on our customers would be against our policy ma’am” Kashish rubs her forehead, getting more And more stressed. As she is about to say something the guy on the other end interrupts her and says ” but I’ll tell you what. Now this is off the records. So I can tell off the bat that you aren’t a member, so as unethical as this is, I really want to help. Now before going ahead with this, tell me. Does the envelope have your husband’s name on it?” After a short pause Kashish replies “yes”. There is a moment of pure silence after that. The guy takes a deep breath and says “take the pill… before you say anything, listen to me. You want to know what all your husband is hiding right ? If everything you experienced with him has been real or not ?  Well this pill has your husband’s DNA after all. It will show everything that it was, it is and what it will be. All the truths… all the lies. Everything.” Kashish doesn’t know what to say. The envelope is still in her hand as she stands there silent. Lost for words. The guys on the phone contines “umm hello ? Ahh carp, now that I think about it I think I said a lot. Hey, sorry to put so much on you. You should just talk it out with your husband. My apologies ma’am” Right after saying that the guy ends the call. Kashish looks at the phone and lightly drops it on the couch. Now with more thoughts running through her head, she looks at the envelope in her hand. All the thought growing on her as she phases out looking at Neil’s name on the pink envelope.

Meanwhile Neil reaches the hospital. He parks his Jeep right next to the entrance. Just a few steps away from where all the hospital employees are gathered.As Neil steps out of his Jeep, he notices Ram’s bike. Ram being the bike fanatic he is, went and bought a Triumph Bonneville on EMI. So it’s not that hard to notice. But In that moment something striked Neil. In a situation like this, why would they call in Ram before him or Jeet ? Neil walks towards his bike and notices the mother and silencer are cold. Neil starts walking towards the crowd, making his way through the people, he can finally see the butler’s body on the ground. Face up on the concrete, with blood splattered all over the ground. Neil looks at Ram standing right next to the body, wearing a full biker outfit. Neil walks up to him and asks “which floor was he on ?” To which Ram replies by just pointing up. As Neil looks up he can see a broken window on the 5th floor, with the cartians flapping through the broken window. Neil looks back at Ram, he can see the expression on Ram’s face that he wanted to say something. Which Neil had probably understood. Neil asks Ram “who called you in ?” Ram hesitates to answer the question, he removes his biker gloves, he looks around at all the people gathered around and says “I think before anything we need to check out his room” Neil looks at the crowd around them and agrees. 

Neil and Ram are in the lift going up. There is an uncomfortable silence between them. Neil suddenly says “So what do you think happened ?” Ram avoiding to make eye contact says “they are saying he jumped out…” The lift reaches the 5th floor. As they both are walking down the corridor to the butler’s room Neil asks again “I asked you what you think Ram”. Ram takes a deep breath and says “I don’t think that’s the case… I think he was…” Neil interrupts him and says “that he was pushed out? Yeah, looking at the distance between him and the building, plus him landing on his back. it’s either that or he took a long ass run up to jump out” As Neil is saying this they reach the butler’s room. Neil opens the door to see a very tiny room, with the broken window at the end of the room. Looking at the room Neil continues “well so much for the run up”. Neil walks into the room, looking around. Something doesn’t feel right. Everything in the room is where it should be, completely neat and tidy. Ram walks over to the window, looking down at the body and the people gathered around it. Suddenly Neil asks “so you didn’t answer my question” Ram turns his head halfway and says “i said he didn’t jump” Neil quickly cuts him off and says “nah… not that question… who called you in ?” Ram turns around, facing Neil and says “Jeet sir. He called me in.” Sudden confusion takes over Neil’s face. Before Neil could says anything Ram continues “he has put you off the case” Neil snaps out of his confused state and shouts “What?!” Bearly making eye contact with Neil, Ram says “I am sorry bu-” Before Ram could finish Neil shouts “No!” Neil furiously walks up to Ram asking “What are you playing at Ram ? Tell since when have you been here at the hospital?” Ram is pushed back a bit, with Neil towering over him and his back almost out the window. Ram holds the edge of the window as hard as possible, trying to push Neil away as he shouts “HEY! What the fuck man” Neil unphased by Ram efforts, with eyes still locked on to Ram, repeats “since when have you been he-” before he could finish someone from behind them shouts “OKAY! THAT’S ENOUGH!” Neil finally moves away from Ram and turns around to see Jeet standing at the doorway. Jeet steps inside the room and says “you know for some reason I knew you wouldn’t take this nicely. All these years of success and all that. But wow this Neil… this is pathetic.” Neil walks forward trying to explain saying “no you don’t get it. I wa-” Jeet puts his hand forward stopping Neil from getting any closer and interrupting him again “I don’t want to know if I am being honest. I saw what I saw and I’ve heard what I’ve heard. What I saw was you threatening your junior officer. And what I heard is you hiding things from your senior.” Neil freezes for a moment, he tries to turn to look at Ram but Jeet continues “don’t look at him Neil. And to be clear Yes I am referring to what happened at the bungalow. To be completely honest I would’ve let that pass as I’ve always trusted your judgement. Had a whole speech ready to go about how you get some rest… lay off this case for awhile… you are getting overworked and all…. But now…” Neil has gone completely silent as Jeet let out a sigh and continues ” You are dismissed Neil. Because you failed at finding Nupur… or her family… and the only witness you had in 6 months has his brain spread on the ground.”  Jeet puts his hand forward and says “badge please… and as for the case… Ram you handle it.” Neil is speechless. He unclipes his badge from his belt, walks forward to Jeet and toses the badge across the floor. Neil walks across Jeet, shoulder pushing him and saying “whatever. You are gonna regret this and you can pick up the Jeep later” as he leaves the room. 

As Neil gets close to the jeep, he looks at where the body was and he gets an idea. He looks up at the window to see if Jeet or Ram are looking. As he sees no one as the window, he rushes to the site. He looks at the blood splatter and manages to find one strand of hair stuck to the ground because of all the dried out blood. Neil picks up the strand of hair, places it in between his napkin and leaves the hospital. As he is driving, he makes a call to Dr.Vinod. Within one ring Dr.Vinod picks up the call and says “hello?” Neil as he is driving says “sorry to bother you this late but this is very urgent… so your pill making process, how does it actually work?” Dr.Vinod replies “no no it’s okay…. Well that’s a rather heavy question…umm… to put it simply with one’s DNA we can kind of trace their past, seeing their behavior, their choices through which we can try to predict what could happen in the future.” Neil after a small pause says “prefect! Where are you now? doc.” Dr.Vinod replies “At the main building”. Neil ends the call and makes his way straight to the Heart-Connect building. 

Meanwhile Kashish has finished her 2nd bottle of wine, still thinking what to do about the pill. Her mind still clouded by the things that guy said on call, she takes another sip of wine, looking outside her bedroom window. The whole city is visible, lights from the city filling up the night sky. But in the middle of that city, now there stands the Heart-connect building, towering over everything in and outside the city. Kashish gets lost in her thoughts looking at the tower. When all of a sudden she finally lands on a conclusion, she can’t take it ain’t more. She grabs the pink envelope, removes the pill, places it in her mouth and washes it down her throat with the last sip of wine in her glass.