Naina needed to make a decision. She could go to Principal Verma — but Verma was implicated, or at minimum complicit. She could go to the police — but she didn't know how far this went. She could go to the board exam authority directly. She could go to a journalist. She could wait and gather more, which risked more time passing in which Kavitha Rao was somewhere she didn't want to be.
She was a substitute teacher. She had been in this school for two weeks. She had no institutional standing, no professional protection, no allies except a thirteen-year-old boy and a grieving roommate.
She added to her notes: Next step: find Kavitha Rao first. The evidence goes nowhere without her. And she's the one at risk. Find her, then use the evidence together.
The question was where to look. Kavitha Rao had left on a Friday morning. She had taken a bag and her laptop. She had texted Priti from an unknown number. She was safe — she said so. She had help from someone.
The note: If anyone who seems official asks, call my sister first. The sister in Chennai. She had not called the sister. She had assumed the sister was a backup. But the sister was the first person Kavitha had thought of. The sister was the person Kavitha trusted most. The sister, very possibly, was the person Kavitha had gone to.
She needed to call Chennai.
