Chapter 3

"Catch you!!" said the handsome cop who caught her when she was trying to reach the back window of Dam's clinic. Dam's clinic had been closed for a while now and she had a pinching suspiscion that something bad was about to happen to Dam and she had to help him. " What were you trying to do miss?", asked the officer tracing her fluent curves. " Sorry sir, my mistake I was just trying to spot my room keys, my room mate usually leaves the keys on the window pane......"."How careless !!!! what will you do if somebody spots you taking the keys like this and do the same tomorrow loot your room !"."Sorry sir this is only a temporary arrangement since we lost the duplicate set of keys", she lied blandly. "Oh! ok then I better not find you in this position again,have a good day", the officer continued his patrol sensing no lies in the lady's voice. Ebullient at accomplishing a succesful mission of conning a cop, she waited for sometime until the coast became clear.
She then climbed on the window pane and lifted the glass which came free. It seemed Dam did not care any more about the security of his belongings. She went in and tip toed towards the desk. She then checked the different drawers of the desk but her search proved futile. She could not find any proof for Dam's disappearance or his whereabouts. She then checked the phone for any unattended phone calls, she noted down the numbers and checked with the directory, the owners of the connection. Most of the numbers were residential except two. One of which belonged to a Pizza hotline and another a tourist operator. Instinctively she called upon the tourist operator on phone and said,
"Hello there! Sir I would like to know what the man who talked from this number talked to you about?? ", the man on the other end replied "Sorry mam, its highly confidential we are getting paid for that secrecy!!"
The lady earnestly said "Its not like that, the man is my husband!! I want to know where he went ! Please help us keep the marriage alive !! He is not a bad man but he is really forgetful! So sir can you please tell me what his last enquiry was?!"
The man pondered on the situation. He did not wan to be the cause for another marriage-split in an already divorce-ridden nation. The human spirit took over the codes and laws he was supposed to follow. He replied "He asked me about the hErE archipelago in the Indian ocean but, he did not get back to me, that miser!! , we had great offers this month.....", she put down the receiver and terminated the call. "Yes!!", she exclaimed. Mission two accomplished, she atleast knew where Dam was supposed to be. She then checked the whole room again and found a wall hanging world-map. She saw a small ink mark on a printed dot. It was the hErE islands as she had suspected. She jumped on the balls of her feet and ran to the window pane extolling herself on confirming the place. Prudent enough, she checked the area, it was deserted but for two beggars. She jumped like a cat out and closed the glass window in one clean movement. Mission three was to pack. She had to go there soon. She better not be late.
The beggars morphed into their two tone red-black macintosh and followed the lady. Their red eyes were sparkling with joy.