S.t.a.l.k.e.d. Read online

  ‘Boss asked me to tell you to call him immediately.’

  I rushed to my seat and dialled his number. Just my luck—his phone was switched off.

  I tried his number a couple of times more but with no success. So I decided to get some hot water in my mug to make myself a cup of herbal tea. I had heard it was very good for slimming down and worked as a great detox. I had decided to drink it frequently even though it was the most tasteless beverage ever created. Once I was back at my desk I called up Riya. Somebody had accidentally left an envelope for her on my desk. It had URGENT stamped on it so I thought it might be a good idea to call her up and let her know.

  ‘Hello Riya, is that you?’ I could hear her sniffling on the other end.

  ‘Yes, Tara.’

  ‘Riya, are you ok? I am so sorry to disturb you on your day off but there is this envelope for you that was accidentally left on my desk and it is marked “urgent”. Can’t make out who it’s from.’

  ‘Yes, I’m fine. Just down with a terrible cold. Thanks for letting me know. I will take care of it when I am in on Monday. Tara, sorry to cut you short but there is somebody else on the other line.’

  ‘Ok then, Riya. Take care of yourself. Do let me know if you need anything at all love.’

  ‘Sure. Bye, Tara.’

  It was very unlike Riya to behave like this. I knew something was not right and I could also bet anything that there was nobody else on the other line. But maybe she really was sick and just needed some space.

  Just when I was about to dial the devil’s number for the ninth time, sleazy Gupta approached my workstation.

  ‘Hello, sweetheart.’

  I cringed every time he called me names but I held myself back.

  ‘Yes, Sailesh? How can I help you?’

  ‘I was wondering if you’d like to go for coffee after work? After all, I won’t be seeing you for a while and I wouldn’t want to deprive you of my company.’

  Did the man ever give up? ‘Won’t be seeing for a while’ meant just the weekend. How theatrical, really. Thankfully, today I had a legitimate excuse to say no.

  ‘I would love to but I am busy with the legal awareness drive this afternoon, remember?’

  ‘Oh yeah. Cool, no problem. Maybe another time.’

  ‘Sure, maybe another time,’ I said, secretly thinking, in his dreams! Just then I was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. It was none other than the boss himself. As usual, the conversation lasted a few seconds, a monologue with him telling me what to do, and that was it. Thankfully, it wasn’t as unpleasant as I had imagined it would be. I would actually have the weekend to myself.

  After winding up my work, I quickly headed to the legal awareness drive. Once I was done, the rest of the weekend was uneventful. I had to make it up to GlamMa so we all decided to make a day trip to Agra on the awesome highway. At ninety, GlamMa even drove a short distance. She claimed she hadn’t been behind the wheel in years and would love to do something totally reckless and scary. Trust me, it was exactly that and more.

  4

  ‘GOOD MORNING, SUZY. Did you have a good weekend?’

  ‘Yes, I did, Tara. I was busy with my cousin. She’s visiting from the States. See the new lipstick she got me? It’s all the rage over there,’ she smiled pointing at her lips, pouting for extra emphasis.

  I had to stifle a laugh because Suzy was not classically good-looking but there was something attractive about her in an elfin way. Against her dusky skin, the orange lipstick was a little jarring.

  ‘Oh, it’s lovely. It brings out the colour in your eyes,’ I politely responded. I wasn’t even sure if I was making any sense but at least it was civil.

  When I reached my desk, I noticed Riya was still not in. It was very unlike her to be late. Anyway, I had too much on my plate to let my mind be preoccupied with her absence.

  I noticed there was something different about my workstation. It wasn’t the cleaning. Something didn’t seem right. Maybe because of all the work I was just being edgy. Of course, I could blame it on good old caffeine as well. Didn’t caffeine make one jittery?

  I plunged into the mountain of files that awaited me. It was almost lunchtime by the time I finished some of my work. I wanted to get something to eat before it got too crowded in the lunch room. We had about ten odd tables, four of which were always reserved for the partners, that is whenever they made it to lunch, which wasn’t all that often, and the remaining few were for the lesser mortals like me. We had a buffet system and the menu was quite predictable. Monday was rajma-chawal day—red kidney beans in a spicy curry served with rice and salad on the side. It happened to be one of the most popular dishes on the menu.

  I made my way to the buffet table and piled food on my plate. The lunchroom was getting crowded. I guess people like me like to drown their sorrows in good food. I was looking for a place to sit when I noticed there was only one empty seat next to Banner, who was sitting on the other side of the room even though he was a partner. Should I, or should I not, go sit with him? When I noticed AK step into the lunch room, I quickly decided I should. The last thing I wanted to do was to be standing and have him engage me in conversation, so I ducked and took the seat next to Banner.

  He nodded at me in acknowledgement and continued to eat while looking at his BlackBerry. I quickly sat down and remained quiet for a couple of minutes eating my food in silence till I noticed him put his BlackBerry away. That’s when I started jabbering to get rid of the awkwardness.

  ‘Hello Mr Banerjee, how was your weekend?’ I inquired as I scooped up a big mouthful of rajma and rice.

  ‘It was okay,’ he replied with an indifferent air.

  ‘Did you do anything fun?’ Just as I said that, I realized my mistake. Looking at his sad, old face it dawned on me: what fun could he possibly have?

  I saw a look of amusement come into his eyes.

  ‘Oh yes, I had a lot of fun. I had three conference calls which lasted for about six hours, one client meeting, and then I had to draft a couple of documents for an upcoming seminar.’ He paused and continued, ‘This was all from home. The rest of the time I was in office.’

  I nodded my head not knowing what to say. So without being asked, I started telling him about my weekend.

  ‘Well mine wasn’t too bad. It was relaxing.’ These were the first words that came into my head. I could tell Banner couldn’t care less.

  ‘Anyway, I better get going. I have a call at 2 p.m.’ he interrupted me. I was more than relieved to see him go.

  ‘Sure, Mr Banerjee. It was wonderful having lunch with you,’ I muttered under my breath.

  How robotic was his existence? I had heard he was married. How did his wife put up with it? The office grapevine insinuated that his wife was so sick and tired of him that they were now living separately. That’s why he spent most of his time at the office, not that he really needed an excuse to be here.

  Finally, I was back at my desk. No sign of Riya. We had a system in our office that an email would be sent out every morning by the HR department informing every one of those who were absent that day. I had been busy that morning. Maybe I had overlooked Riya’s name. I went back and checked: Riya was MIA.

  It was strange. I decided to go and check up on her after work even if it meant going unannounced. Keeping her odd behaviour in mind, she would probably blow me off anyway. But I had a good excuse, dropping off the envelope.

  5

  I FINISHED MY work as quickly as I could and left office early. I drove through the evening traffic to Riya’s house. After an hour and a half I reached her apartment complex.

  Thankfully, I found a parking spot right in front of her house. I got out of my car and picked up the container of Ben & Jerry’s Cookies and Cream ice cream. Nothing perks up a girl more than comfort food.

  I got into the elevator. Riya lived on the seventh floor. The elevator was slowly making its way up when suddenly it paused between the third and fourth floors. I stood there f
or a couple of minutes. Still no movement. I was starting to experience shortness of breath because closed spaces made me feel that way. I put the ice cream container and my handbag down on the elevator floor to take out my cell phone. Just my luck, no signal. I tried pressing the emergency button but no response. I tried prying the door open with my fingers, not caring about the French manicure I had recently got done. The door wouldn’t budge. I was feeling more and more claustrophobic by the second and I started to scream but nobody could hear me.

  Finally, the elevator was moving again. It started going up but shaking vigorously. It was like I was in a boat in choppy waters getting flung from side to side. The door opened on the seventh floor. I was quite shaken. I got out and composed myself.

  Riya answered the doorbell and looked taken aback when she saw me.

  ‘Are you ok, Tara?’

  ‘I’m fine. I just got stuck in the elevator.’

  ‘Elevator? Wasn’t there a liftman with you?’

  ‘No, I didn’t know there was supposed to be one.’

  ‘That’s strange.’

  ‘Do you mind if I go to the restroom and freshen up?’

  ‘But of course.’ She pointed towards the restroom.

  I went in and looked at my face. I fixed myself up a bit. While gazing at the mirror, I recalled how strained Riya looked. She was like a train wreck—her eyes were swollen and there were red and blue marks on her arm. Was she inflicting pain on her own self? To top it all off, the normally immaculately dressed Riya was wearing orange pyjamas with a yellow t-shirt—completely mismatched, but then she was at home—one did not need to be fashionably attired when alone at home. Maybe I was exaggerating things in my head.

  I came out of the restroom and looked her in the face. She looked pale and I sensed that it had nothing to do with her being down with the flu; it was definitely something else.

  ‘I’m so glad to see you,’ Riya blurted out. Honestly, this was the last response I had expected.

  ‘Tara, he’s leaving me.’

  ‘Riya, I don’t understand. Who are you talking about?’

  She pulled me into her living room. When I entered, I was taken aback by what I saw. The place looked like it had been hit by a hurricane. There were magazines, books, empty take-out containers and clothes strewn all over the place. You could see that under all that mess, she had a cozy little apartment. It was very tastefully done up in pastel shades with a few colourful abstract paintings on the wall. Everything had been handpicked over the years.

  He saw her entering the apartment. He had thankfully been waiting outside her office when he overheard her mention to a colleague that she was looking up Riya at her place. He knew then that he had to get there before she did. Was she crazy? Why did she drive at such maniacal speed? What if she had an accident? And then he smiled, not that he feared losing her, but he wanted to be responsible for the loss. That was it. He had sent the liftman on some made-up emergency. Tara’s scared expression on the close-circuit television at the guard desk was priceless. It gave him immense pleasure to see that he had riled her up. Any discomfort caused to Tara eased his pain.

  Just then his thoughts were interrupted by a phone call.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Yes, what? . . . Ok.’ He liked what he was hearing. His frown lines started disappearing and he smiled. Yes, things were finally moving.

  It was a dream house that he had managed to procure at a throwaway price by pulling the right strings. It was a beautiful house in Montego Bay, Jamaica—a premature retirement. It was just what he had in mind—a place where nobody would dream of looking for him. He smiled in satisfaction and then he realized he was celebrating too soon. He needed to take care of a few things before he could finally enjoy his life. He looked back at the closed door and realized the one person who stood in the way of his happiness was behind those doors; he had to take care of her so that he could move on with his life.

  6

  ‘RIYA, CALM DOWN. Can you go slow and explain to me what’s exactly going on?’

  Riya was quiet for a bit, then said, ‘Jay wants to leave me and he’s not giving me any reason. I don’t know how things have gotten so out of hand. I really don’t know what to do. We were planning on getting engaged by the end of the year . . .’ She trailed off and began sobbing.

  ‘Riya, have you tried reasoning with him?’

  ‘Yes. But he refuses to talk to me. My world is falling apart,’ and she started sobbing again.

  ‘Wait, let me get you some water.’ I went to the kitchen. The sink was piled with dishes that hadn’t been washed for days and I couldn’t find a glass in all that chaos so I rinsed the one that looked the cleanest and poured some water in it.

  ‘Where is Jay right now?’

  ‘I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing and I don’t care.’

  As much as I liked Riya, she could be a bit of a drama queen. ‘Riya, love, I am sure you must know where he is.’

  ‘I think he said he’s going to some friend’s house but I wasn’t paying attention.’

  Thank God we were finally getting somewhere. ‘Honey, take some time out. Give him a few days and then try talking to him. In the meanwhile, it’s very important for you to have a routine and start leading a normal life before you go crazy. This is not good for you and, most importantly, for your relationship.’

  ‘You’re right,’ she said wiping her tears away with the tissue I handed to her. ‘How are things at the office?’ she asked, changing the subject. It was a sign that we were already making some progress in the right direction.

  ‘Work’s going fine. Busy.’

  ‘Project Emerald, right?’ she said between sniffles.

  How did Riya know that I was working on Project Emerald? Maybe I had mentioned it to her.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. She probably guessed what I was thinking because she immediately said, ‘Suzy had a list of the names of the people working on Project Emerald on her desk.’

  ‘Ok,’ I responded not really caring that she knew. ‘Here, your envelope—I thought you might need it.’ I gave her the envelope.

  ‘Oh thanks, I will open it later,’ she replied, tucking it away in a drawer.

  ‘Come on. Get dressed. Salman Khan’s new film is getting rave reviews. Let’s go out and watch it—even if you can’t pay attention to what’s on the screen, at least there will be some eye candy.’

  ‘No, I am really not up for it. Maybe another day . . .’

  ‘Riya, I insist. Go get dressed while I clean up the kitchen for you.’

  It was 11 p.m. in another part of town. He was wearing gloves. The lights in the room had been switched off. He knew what he was doing was wrong but only this once, he said to himself, he had to do this. His entire life was at stake. He carefully took out the files and started making copies. Nobody would ever suspect him. After all, he was who he was. Pages after pages were copied.

  Tring. Tring. His phone started ringing. He had planned everything so carefully but forgot to put his phone on silent mode.

  ‘Yes?’ he answered impatiently.

  ‘Is it done?’

  ‘What do you think I am, a robot? It takes time. Do you realize my future is at stake? I have to be careful.’

  One thing he hated was to be micromanaged and this was exactly what was putting him off. He had a good mind to just take off and become incommunicado. But then at this stage, he had reached a point of no return.

  What he didn’t know was that at that very moment, his every move was being recorded on a hidden camera. And the person viewing this live action was smiling in satisfaction.

  7

  IT HAD BEEN a pleasant evening. I dropped Riya home. After the movie, we went for Italian and had some Prosecco, our favourite dry, sparkling wine. When I got home, I remembered my folks were out for dinner. So there was my St Bernard, patiently waiting for me at the door. All I wanted to do now was take a hot shower, have a nice cup of hot chocolate, and curl up with this b
ook that I really wanted to finish. While I was in the shower my phone started ringing. I ignored it. Nothing and nobody could disturb me now. This was me time.

  I got out of the shower and went to check my phone. No number was displayed. Weird. I wondered who it was. I had my hot chocolate and started reading the book. The day’s tiredness slowly set in and soon I was fast asleep with my glasses on and the lights still on, until I heard the phone ringing once again. I woke up with a start. I usually turned off my phone before going to bed but I had been way too tired that night.

  ‘Hello, hello?’ I picked up the phone groggily. There was only silence at the other end. Then the person hung up. I was freaking out now. I got out of bed and went to check if my parents were back. They were—that was a relief, and I immediately began to feel better.

  I went back to my room. I noticed that I had left my window open to let some cool air inside. I went to close it since it had gotten a little chilly by now, and I noticed a darkcoloured Scorpio parked outside. I didn’t remember seeing it earlier. I didn’t know why but I felt there was somebody sitting in the car watching me. I then realized that the lights in my bedroom were on and if there was someone watching me, the person probably knew I was looking out of the window. I went to switch off my lights and stood near the window again, partially hiding behind the curtains. Who was it in the car, or was I imagining things?

  I wouldn’t be able to rest till I found out. Sleep was out of the question now. I had to go downstairs and investigate this further. Was it a robber or was someone following me? Or was I just being silly? But being who I was, I had to go and check. My parents were back. What was the worst that could happen? I would start screaming if anyone tried to attack me and they would come running out.

  I went to my closet and pulled out my robe. I spotted a cricket bat in the corner that had been signed by members of the Indian cricket team a couple of years back. It was a souvenir an old family friend of ours had scored for me. I pulled out the bat and decided to use it if I got attacked.