Secrets Hidden In Time (Time #1)

11 | The Brochure At The Villa & The Bite At Night

That morning, a behemoth lost his facade. He was chained and taken away, causing justice to finally prevail.

But it was in that very moment that morning, when my eyes briefly connected with his eyes for a second while he was being hauled by the police, the diabolically bestial glint in his eyes and the leer that he flashed at me, made me aware of two things.

One—The man was remorseless. He would always be. Just like all sociopaths were.

Two—He knew. He knew that it was me who had blown his cover. He knew that I was the covert whistleblower.

Yet, was I scared? 

Somehow, no. And I don't know why. 

In the last twenty-five years of being alive, I have never really understood myself. 

The workings of my brain were a mystery to my own pneuma.

A knock on the car window caused me to revert my attention back to reality.

I gazed at the familiar gait of my assistant as he took a turn around the bonnet, unbolted the passenger-side door, and stepped inside my Scorpio.

"I checked the floor plan of the villa; it is the only independent villa in that locality. There are six bedrooms with attached washrooms, one kitchen, a dining hall, a lounge area, and a terrace at the top. In total, three bedrooms are on the ground floor, and three are on the first floor. The third bedroom, which is on the ground floor facing the back side of the villa, has four life-size sliding windows attached to each other. There are no lock systems set up on them. We somehow just need to vault over the main concrete fencing surrounding the villa without garnering the attention of the security guards who are stationed around the fence because after that there won't be any problem." He then brought his wrist up to check the time. "It's twelve thirty-seven a.m. now. The guards there are pretty laid-back in their duties. They will take a break at twelve-fifty on the right side of the fence and then change their positions at one-fifteen a.m. sharp. We will put up our plan for action in those twenty-five minutes."

"Done." I cranked up the engine and drove through the narrow passage into the wider main road. "Any news about Purohit and his wife?" I asked.

"As of now, no. Keshav sold off both his business and the villa a month after his daughter's death. After that, his and his wife's whereabouts have been a mystery all along, with no trace left behind at all. I tried to gather information from their relatives through some acquaintances of mine without directly coming into the picture and revealing myself, but there was no positive outcome. None of them had any idea. It's like both of them just vanished into thin air. The villa is now owned by a real estate agent named Nilesh Grewal, but strangely, no one has inhabited it in years. The moment potential buyers hear the news of a young girl's death occurring in that house, they all back off from the deal. I have a hunch; the interiors of the house are still the way they were before the Purohit couple left—absolutely untouched." He replied while examining the surroundings outside the window.

"Good for us." Taking a left turn, I drove the car into the posh housing area of Mandeville Enclave. "Any intel about that cook who was present at the villa that night?" I asked.

"Same as his employers. No clues were left behind. I am on it, though. We will soon get through something."

I nodded as my visual organs stared at the bungalows and villas on both sides of the exclusive lane. I drove through the lane for nine more minutes in silence and then finally pulled on the brakes.

Keying out of the ignition, I peered down at the glass dial of my watch. "It is thirty meters away from here on the left side of the lane. Since it's twelve forty-six currently, if we start now itself, we'll reach there at exactly twelve fifty. We'll overleap the barricades on the left side, finish off our work, and then vault back over the fence again at exactly one-thirteen a.m. Clear?"