Ramesh, when asked directly about the consultant Adhira, confirmed only that she had been hired four months ago for the Plaza project. Her credentials were strong. Her work was excellent. Shashank had insisted on bringing her in. There was nothing unusual about this.
"Has she been working closely with Shashank?" Anaya asked.
"They have had several meetings. Design consultations. That is normal for the role."
Anaya requested access to the office security footage. This took longer to arrange, but Deshmukh's official investigation provided the leverage. She watched the footage from the weeks prior to Shashank's disappearance, moving through hours of recorded time at accelerated speed.
Then she saw it. Three weeks prior. Shashank entering the office at 7 PM. At 7:45 PM, a woman enters his private office. She is wearing a cream-colored dress. Her hair is dark. She moves with familiarity, as though she has been in this office before. The quality of her movement suggests ease, comfort, a lack of hesitation about being in this space.
The woman is in the office for seventeen minutes.
When she emerges, Shashank does not follow immediately. He remains in the office alone for another forty minutes before leaving.
Anaya freezes the footage. She studies the woman's profile. She cannot see her face clearly, but she can see her bearing, her height, the way she moves. There is something familiar about her, though not in the way that the sketches are familiar. It is a different kind of recognition.
She requests the security records. The woman's access card identifies her as Adhira. Consulting position. Created four months prior.
That evening, Anaya calls the architectural practice and asks for Adhira's contact information. She does this with the kind of authority that comes from being married to the founding partner, from being established in the professional community, from having legitimate reasons to request such information.
The next morning, she calls Adhira. "I would like to meet with you," Anaya says. "It is important."
There is a pause. Then: "Where would you like to meet?"