Roy and Rohan were sitting in the backseat while Ajay was driving. Roy's phone went off. He answered the call, "Hello, Abhimanyu Roy here. Who is this?"
'Who would call someone this late?' Rohan looked at his watch. '4 am. This early maybe?' It was still a bit dark outside. Rohan was feeling a bit hazy since they had dozed off earlier and just woke up a couple of minutes ago. Even though it was for an hour only yet it felt so long.
"Oh alright, understood. Yes, we are off. Yes, Sharmishtha and Arjun would be coming as well. Mhm. He is here. I will just inform him," said Roy as he hung up. He then turned to Ajay. "It was Mihir Sengupta. He was inquiring about what happened. He asked us to meet him in the afternoon. He also told me to inform you that your mother was admitted to the hospital yesterday night. She is well now. You should go and visit her."
"Maa? At the hospital?" It seemed as if Ajay got thunderstruck. "Which hospital?"
"The A.J. Singh Hospital in Siliguri. Sengupta said that you do not pick up calls from family members while at work. Is it true?"
Ajay nodded at Roy's question. "You shouldn't do that. If Sharmishtha hadn't answered her phone it would have been disastrous. Well, no need to worry now. She is fine and also he informed me that the hospital is treating your mother for free. So no need to worry about expenses either. Take this car after dropping us at the hotel and go straight to the hospital in Siliguri. I appreciate your sense of duty but remember, family, comes first, always."
Ajay was awestruck. It was hard for him to digest all the information. "You alright?" asked Roy as he examined a tensed Ajay. "Don't worry boy. She is absolutely fine. If you need something just call us. We will be there. No worries. Your Maa wouldn't want you to turn up with a gloomy face," he gently patted his back to reassure him.
After leaving them at the hotel, Ajay set off for Siliguri. Meanwhile, Roy tried to dial up Sharmishtha. There was no answer. Then he tried to dial up Arjun. This time no one answered as well. Roy's mind began to flood with worst anticipations. 'What happened? Did they get into trouble?' He looked outside, surprisingly there was a lot of traffic at 5 am.
"Hey, Sir!" Rohan suddenly called Roy with a shivering voice. "There's something wrong."
"What?"
"It's 7am!" exclaimed Rohan.
"What rubbish? It's 5! Look at the watch and the phone and the wall-clock if you want," yelled Roy. With a dark expression on his face, Rohan pulled out his phone. It looked different from the rest of their phones. "This is an android smartphone unlike yours, one does not control date/time in this. The date/time here is aligned perfectly with the time zones. For instance, our time zone is Indian Standard Time. If my phone says it's 7 am then it's 7am. Look outside, do you think there would be this much traffic if it was 5? As for the wall-clock, it isn't working," explained Rohan took out his laptop and sat down on a nearby chair coolly.
Roy's head was spinning. He didn't understand any of it. At that very moment, Rohan gave him a sharp gaze followed by his little statement. "Call Sengupta. Are you waiting for your colleagues to die?"
Even though Rohan's words were harsh but they worked in hammering some sense into Roy. After explaining everything to Sengupta, Roy turned to Rohan. "What are you doing?"
"I am working to see what happened in the past four hours," replied Rohan in an indifferent manner.
"How are you going to do so?" asked Roy.
"I have access to the surveillance cameras."
"What surveillance cameras?"
"I guess you aren't informed then. Arjun Sir and Boss had set up the entire place with surveillance cameras. I am assured the place isn't haunted but rather something else is cooking there," stated Rohan calmly.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Well, first of all, they tampered with the cameras and wiretaps. A ghost wouldn't surely care about those, right? And, secondly..." Rohan halted.
"Secondly?" Roy asked eagerly.
"Secondly, really? I mean really? You expected the place to be infested by ghosts before thinking about actual people whom you can see and touch and most importantly there's a surety about their existence! Jeez, Sir! Grow up!" scolded Rohan.
"..."
"Okay, so this means that we can't see anything right?" Roy asked in disappointment.
"No actually, um I and Boss did something interesting yesterday," replied Rohan as his face lit up.
"What?"
"We had set up some paranormal gadgets too. We did it at the night without telling any of you. She installed a few herself in the mansion while I covered outside. I just need to enter her credentials. Also, you got the scumbag arrested right?"
"Ajay? No, not yet. Sengupta isn't really trusting us at this point."
"Well, what did he say?"
"He sent two policemen to see if Arjun and Sharmishtha are alright. Also, he said he would be keeping an eye on Ajay regardless and would get us tested to see what we had been smoking..." explained Roy as he took the landline phone to call someone.
"..." Rohan was speechless.
"I am starving. Should we order something?" Roy was feeling like he could eat a mountain at the moment.
"Of course, let's order some popcorn while we enjoy this horror show!" Rohan scolded again leaving him to be speechless.
"..."
As Roy observed Rohan, he understood that he was in an anxious state and was about to hit panic mode at any moment. But, these situations require calm and collected individuals. Panicking wouldn't help them rather they could make the situation worse if they do not plan out everything properly. He remembered Sharmishtha's strict instructions if anything was to go wrong. 'One, get Rohan out and take care of him. Two, listen to Sengupta no matter what.'
He gently held his shoulders and spoke in a consoling manner, "Rohan, listen, I knew about the dangers long ago before we started...yet I was hoping for the best. There aren't many things we can do about the situation right now. We had Sengupta as our ally. We need him to trust us. Sengupta strictly ordered no intrusion until he looks up the situation himself. The point that I am trying to make is that no good will come from you starving yourself since you are the only one who can help me in learning what is happening and gathering evidence right now."
Rohan nodded silently. His face had a different expression. This was the first time Roy had ever seen Rohan this serious. He wasn't looking up from his laptop. The way he was working one could easily feel just how tense he was. Rohan was still a child after all. Roy sighed. Even though he was getting anxious by the second, there wasn't much he could have done.
Meanwhile, Rohan had caught up some action in footage and was screaming at Roy. "Look, look here. I am sure that's Boss. She seems like she is running for her life. Let me see if I can find the trail of before and after."
TO BE CONTINUED