What If Vincent Uncle Did Not Go To Egypt?

Charu came back home quite depressed. There were many issues clouding her thinking. Why would anyone want a mountain named after her? What was her relationship with Sherry? Was sherry her ancestor or was she the reincarnation of Sherry? The sword with its code was another enigma for her. All these issues would have to wait for Vincent Uncle’s availability.

She wondered if she should forget all these issues and go back to New York. In her heart, she knew that she could not back without having at least answers to some of her questions. She had not been able to get any information about Vincent Uncle’s contact details. Martha’s abnormal behavior had shaken her to the core. Why would she shriek on seeing her? She could understand that she resembled Sherry, but that did not make her Sherry. In this era of science, everybody had to stand the test of logic and she was very confident that nobody had so far been able to provide conclusive evidence about reincarnation. Even if Martha believed in reincarnation, there was still no need for such embarrassing behavior.

She wondered if Martha was hiding something from her. Perhaps Vincent Uncle had not gone anywhere. He was just trying to avoid her. But there was no reason for him to avoid her. He had been exceptionally nice to her and very open about the issues of Sherry.

She was not confident that behavior of Martha would be any different if she went back. She was not in a mental position to face another series of shrieks. Ruth was not of much help. He did not have Uncle Vincent’s contact details. Perhaps Martha was having, but it was not possible to discuss anything with her.

Then some doubts assailed her. Vincent Uncle had no reason to leave for Egypt suddenly without telling her. If at all he wanted her to leave urgently, he would have left a message for her. Was Martha hiding something from her? She hoped that nothing untoward had happened to him. She had become quite close to him during a short period.

She did not entertain any hopes of getting Vincent Uncle’s contact details from Martha. Perhaps Martha was hiding something from her. It was possible that Vincent Uncle had himself told her not to share his contact details with anyone. It was also possible that he was held captive somewhere by someone and Martha had lied to her about Vincent Uncle having gone to Egypt.

Although it was a long shot, she had to try it. She knew someone at the Airport who could tell her whether Uncle Vincent had really taken a flight for Egypt. She needed to check for passengers for at least a week as she had met Vincent Uncle a week ago.

The person known to her worked in Immigration, but he could always get information from his sources.

Rajesh was quite surprised at her request. He had hundreds of reasons for denying the request, but he knew that Charu must have her reasons for such a strange request. He told her, “” Give me some time and I shall get back to you.”

She said, “I want the information at the earliest.”

He replied, “Ok, I shall try my best whether he has taken a flight from here to Egypt during this period.”

She thanked him and disconnected the phone. Now there was nothing but to wait.

Since she had time. She thought of visiting Martha again, perhaps she will be in better frame of mind by now.

It was with some trepidation that she rang up the bell of Vincent Uncle’s house. She expected Ruth to open the door and as expected the door was opened by Ruth. She asked him, “Could I see Martha now. I want to know the reason for her shrieks and hope that she will be able to give me the contact details of Vincent Uncle.

Ruth told her that Martha was in shock and was not in a position to see her. Probably it was something to with her uncanny resemblance to Sherry. Perhaps Martha thought she had seen a ghost. In any case, she was not in a position to meet her.

Disappointed, she took leave of Ruth and went back to her place. While she was coming out, she felt someone looking at her from behind the curtain. Could it be Vincent Uncle?

The night came, she slept fitfully. In her dreams, she saw Vincent Uncle many a time, but when she went near him, he disappeared into the thin air.

She woke up next morning. There was a late-night message from her contact at immigration. No one with the name of Vincent had traveled to Egypt during the last one week.

That made her think that either Uncle Vincent was avoiding her or he had been taken captive by some people. Her suspicions were centered on Ruth and His mother Martha.

She surmised if she wanted to solve the mystery of Vincent Uncle’s disappearance, she must find out the reasons for his vanishing act. She needed to find out if it was voluntary or he was being held captive.

She had to start the search somewhere. She wondered if Uncle was hiding/being hidden in his own house. She ruled out that idea. Nobody would have been able to stop her without arousing suspicions had she wanted to search the house. So that left the choice between a museum and the City Mall where he might be hiding/held captive.

The ideal place to search would have been Mount Varghese, but she had been told that it could not be constructed, instead a hotel had been constructed, which was now a City Mall. So possibly she could begin by visiting the City Mall.

She took out the book, perhaps she will get some clue from the book. Her hands automatically took her to page 67, the code MV02FK09 stared back at her. She needed to decipher the code to solve the mysteries.

She was sure that there was some link in the code which might help her in solving, at least a part of the mystery. If she could decipher the code she will also be able to solve the case of the missing sword. She started reading the book to make some sense of code. She read about the idea of Sherry wanting to have a mountain named after her. It was mentioned that although the mountain could not be named after her, Anthony constructed a hotel which he had named Mount Verghese. At present, that hotel had been converted into City Mall.

She wondered if the first two letters in the code stood for Mount Verghese. If that was the case, it could only be City Mall. However, decoding the remaining letters stayed beyond her mind.

She lied down on the sofa and closed her eyes and let her imagination run wild. Could next two letters 02 stands for the second floor, perhaps the next letter F stood for the floor. Now the challenge was to decode the next 3 letters.

She tried to focus on deciphering the next 3 letters. It was only a wild guess, but a guess had to be made. She kept on thinking about the meaning of K09, but nothing came to her mind.

Finally, she decided to visit the City Mall.

She stood admiring the City Mall from outside. Although the building had been constructed a long time ago, it was still a magnificent structure. Perhaps a lot of renovations and changes had been made over the period of time, including converting rooms into shops. A lot of plumbing and electrical work must have been carried out.

She needed to walk in and see the Mall. Perhaps something will occur to her when she entered the Mall.

It was a Mall like at any other place. It was full of shoppers as also people who were there just for enjoyment by window-shopping. She took the escalator to the second floor. She had no idea what she will do there and if she found any lead, but she was going to try.

There were many shops on this floor like other floors. She was looking for something which will catch her eye. She walked from one end to another, but could not find anything out of place. Then she walked on the other side. When she reached the corner, the last shop appeared to be different from other shops. It appeared to have a larger area than other shops. Perhaps because of space reasons, this shop had a bigger area. Then she found that the shop was divided into two parts with an actual brick wall.

She entered the shop and saw there was a door leading to a smaller walled portion. She asked one of the salespersons what was behind that door. He replied, “There used to be a kitchen there earlier. Now we use it for storage. When she looked at the door, she was surprised that the number 09 was written above the door. The salesperson had no idea how the number got there, but he remembered that it had always been there, as old-timers had told him.

There was nothing that helped her. Just as a matter of curiosity she pushed the door of the store open.

It was a room with a lot of furniture and other paraphernalia scattered all over. What caught her attention was that a man sitting at the table looking at some papers.

As shop people tried to stop her from entering the room, stating that it was a private area, the man turned around and looked at her.

She found herself looking into the startled eyes of Vincent Uncle.