"They were not confined. They were chosen. Selected for perfection. Do you understand what perfection means, Inspector? In a world of disease, decay, and degradation — to find nine women whose bodies are temples, whose blood is clean, whose very cells are in harmony? That is not a crime. That is a miracle."
"Tell that to their families."
"Their families will understand, in time. When the cycle is complete, when the energy is released —"
"The cycle is over, Doctor. We have your son. We have your staff. We have seven women who are going to hospitals, not cots."
For the first time, something moved in Dr. Saxena's face. Not fear — calculation. "Seven. The cycle requires nine."
"I know."
"Without nine, it's incomplete. Everything — thirty years, fifteen cycles, everything — incomplete."
"Some things deserve to be incomplete."
Aarav handcuffed him. The old man didn't resist. He walked out of the shrine room with the dignified posture of a man who believed, genuinely and without irony, that he had done nothing wrong. That the world was mistaken. That history would vindicate him.
It wouldn't. But the conviction in his eyes was the most disturbing thing Aarav had seen in the entire case — more disturbing than the cots, more disturbing than the paintings, more disturbing than the meticulous records of thirty years of abduction. Because it was real. The belief was real. And that meant the system could be replicated, by anyone who inherited the blueprint.
The eight and ninth women — Shalini and Deepika from Sohna Road — were found in a rear bedroom, less sedated than the others. Shalini was sitting upright, fully conscious, her eyes finding Aarav the moment he entered.
"It worked," she said.
"It worked."
She didn't smile. Neither did he. There was nothing to smile about in a house full of drugged women and a seventy-one-year-old man who thought he was performing a sacred duty.
Aarav found Aditi in the garden, as she'd said. Behind the tulsi. She was sitting on the ground, her back against the compound wall, her leather briefcase beside her, her eyes closed. She wasn't hiding. She was waiting.
"Aditi Saxena?" he said.
She opened her eyes. "I'm ready, Inspector."
"I need to take you in. For questioning."
