Page 231 - Half Girlfriend

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After Chetan Bhagat left, I remained in Patna for a while. I met as
many people as I could from Riya’s past.

First, I went to her old office.
‘She resigned but did not tell us her plans,’ Mohini, her ex-

colleague at Nestle, told me.
‘Did she seem sick?’

‘Not really,’ Mohini said.

I visited East India Travels, the agency Nestle’s staff used.
‘You remember Riya Somani? She worked at Nestles Patna office

two years ago,’ I said.
‘Pretty girl?’ said Ajay, the young agent at the travel agency.

‘Extremely pretty,’ I corrected him.
‘Madam did use this agency. Her father had become quite sick.

Round trip to Delhi, right?’ Ajay said.
‘Yes, anything after that?’ I said.

Ajay pounded his keyboard. He shook his head a couple of times.
‘Anything?’

‘Trying,’ Ajay said and spoke after a minute.‘I have something. She
took another flight to Delhi. One way. On 17 April 2009.’

I checked the screen. She had flown out the same day as the Bill
Gates talk.

I went to the car-hire company. However, they didn’t maintain old

records so they had no idea.
I went to Kotak Mahindra Bank, where Riya had her salary

credited. I met Roshan Joshi, the branch manager.
‘Client information is confidential,’ he said.

‘She disappeared. I’m trying to find her.’
‘Is she missing? Do you have a police report? We could help then.’

‘She went on her own.’
‘Sir, how can I reveal someone’s bank account information?’

I hated doing this, but I called MLA Ojha from the branch