Chapter 16: Case re-opened

Ivy slumped on her chair. She had expected to get at least some information about her father, some clue that would help her in his pursuit. But they had not been fruitful. The hospital trip was utterly useless, the nurse knew nothing significant. She had thought that they had progressed with the search. But in fact, they had returned to their initial stage.

Maximus walked inside and looked at Ivy being absent-minded. He knocked her forehead, successfully breaking her out of her reverie.

"Earth to Ivy, come back." He said with a glint in his eye.

Ivy punched him and turned on her laptop.

"Ives. I have an assignment for you." Max handed her the papers he was carrying.

Ivy scanned the document and her eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? This is about the illegal organ removal case from three years back. How did you even get it?"

Ivy had searched for the document for months, but all the files had been erased. It looked like something like that hadn't ever happened in the country.

"I didn't look into it until now. But a recent occurrence made me dig it up."

"What occurrence?"

"A 22-year-old woman's kidney was removed without her knowledge in a small clinic named Good City Clinic. For a few days, she was fine. Later, she started experiencing severe pain in her abdomen. She went to another clinic, there she found out about her it."

"Then what happened?"

"She immediately went to the Good City Clinic and a major argument broke down between her and the management. They denied ever operating on her. Even her records of her being admitted a few days back have been erased."

"Didn't she go to the police?" Ivy questioned. This was like a deja vu to her. It was exactly like the cases her father had covered three years back.

"She did. But the police didn't even lodge her complaint. Now she has come to the media's aid to seek justice."

Ivy nodded. "How did you get the details about these people." She pushed up the document in her hands. It had all the possible information on the people who had become victims. Though the scandal was never brought out in front of the public, many people who worked for the media knew about it.

"I had one of my friends look into it. He is a hacker. We were lucky that the details had been fed onto a database. Although it was completely erased, he could still retrieve it."

"May I get his contact details."

"Will that help anyway?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Please."

Maximus had come in as a savior. Since the case had been dug up again, she hoped to get some clues somehow. And the first step would be to get help from the hacker. Maybe he could find more information.

"Sure. I'll send you his contact details."

Hope arose in Ivy's heart on listening to him.

"I'll definitely cover this." She said confidently.

After a few minutes, her phone buzzed. Max had sent her the contact details.

She straight away dialed his phone. It ran for a few times, before a lazy voice spoke. "Hello."

"Am I speaking to Mr. Joshua Martin?"

........

Joshua sat looking at his phone while sipping on his coffee. Occasionally, girls would pass by him and giggle. He ignored them, he was used to this attention. He was waiting for the woman who had asked him to meet him at the cafe. Initially, he wanted to reject her. He changed his mind eventually after she pleaded.

The door to the cafe opened and the bell chimed, indicating the entry of a person. His phone started to ring, it was a call from the woman he was waiting for.

Ivy looked around hearing a phone ring. She walked towards the owner. "Are you Mr. Martin?"

Joshua looked up to see a beautiful girl standing in front of him. She was dressed in blue jeans and a black tank top. Her shiny, black hair was pulled into a high pony. Her face was small and it could easily fit in his palm. She had pretty nose and lips and her eyes were strikingly attractive. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her. His stare made Ivy awkward.

"Excuse me." She spoke again.

"Yes."

"Are you Joshua Martin?"

"Call me Joshua, sweetheart." He smirked. Ivy rolled her eyes at his playfulness.

"I am Ivy." She sat on the chair opposite to him.

"Maximus gave me your contact. Mr. Martin, I wanted to talk about organ trafficking..."

"What's the rush, sweetheart. It's not every day, that I get to meet someone as pretty as you. Order something. It's on me."

"I am fine Mr. Martin."

"Call me Joshua, dear."

Ivy felt disgusted by his flirting. But she had to endure it for the sake of her father.

"Let's get to the point. I am in a little hurry. Have you heard about the organ trafficking case that was being covered a few years ago?"

Joshua's face immediately became serious about listening to her question. He signaled her to continue.

"Can you try to retrieve more information on it?" She asked hopefully.

"I have provided all the details regarding it to Maximus. You can refer to it."

"I know. The document you have given him has details of all the victims of the trafficking. I need information on the people who were covering it."

"And why do you need it?" Joshua asked, startled. He was not expecting that.

"Just that it's very important." Ivy pleaded. She looked so cute that Joshua wanted to pinch her cheeks.

"I'll see what I can do." He couldn't assure her completely. There were a lot of things involved with the case.

"Please. Please." Ivy's phone began ringing at that time. She excused herself and picked up the call.

"Ivy come back. It's urgent." Kira's voice boomed on the phone.

"I'll be right there."

Ivy stared at Joshua.

"I think you have my number. Please give me a call if you find out anything. Even if it is a minute detail, I don't care. Please." Ivy got up to go.

"Wait. You didn't have anything."

"Maybe next time. I am in a hurry." Joshua accompanied her outside the cafe.

"Do you want me to drop you somewhere?"

"No thanks. I have my vehicle." Ivy smiled. Her smile was dazzling, it make Joshua gape at her. However, he immediately came back to his senses.

"I will walk you to your vehicle."

"No need for that. It is right here." Ivy pointed to the black Street Scrambler parked right next to the cafe.

"Is this yours?" Joshua asked in wonder. He had never seen a woman ride a motorcycle before.

"Look, Mr. Martin. I need to go. But please do call me if you find anything noteworthy." Without waiting for his response, Ivy rode off.

Joshua looked in the direction she had gone for a long time and then muttered, "Interesting."