Chapter 122: Missing pen drives

Each document was thoroughly examined, there was nothing significant as Aria had stated. It held information similar to what Ivy had collected. There were names of the doctors, hospitals and other people which the four people noted down. Some of them were already on the list they had prepared using the data collected by Ivy while some were not. Those names which were not on the list were added to do a background check on them.

This went on until midnight. Ivy leaned on the sofa, messaging her neck.

"This sucks. We are going in circles, there is nothing in here." She groaned, throwing away the document in her hands. There were only a few documents left for them to check which the men were handling.

Just then Noah noticed something which made him halt. He kicked Joshua's feet to get his attention.

"What?" Jo asked a little too loud, gaining the ladies attention on them.

"Nothing. My mistake." Noah replied giving a glare to his airheaded friend which was completely ignored by him.

After a few seconds when the ladies' minds were elsewhere, he kicked his friend again. But this time he made sure to gesture him to stop making noise.

"What?" Jo mouthed.

Noah pointed towards the box and Jo followed his line of sight to see a grey colored pouch. They realized that the girls had not noticed it yet. Ivy was messaging her neck while Aria was inspecting a bunch of papers.

Joshua bent down and casually picked up the pouch. He passed it Noah who opened it to find two pen drives inside. He pocketed them slowly and gave the pouch back to Joshua. The brilliant actor placed the pouch back inside the box and sat innocently. This whole act went unnoticed by the two sisters.

After some time of messaging her neck, Ivy resumed her work. There were just a few papers left, they could as well finish it and end with the crap. It was then she noticed the pouch.

"What's this?" She asked picking it up. This piqued Aria's curiosity. She recollected about it immediately.

"I found the pouch in Dad's study before we moved out."

Ivy opened the pouch only to find it to be empty. "It's empty."

"What?" Aria asked.

"It's empty."

"That's not possible." Aria was bewildered. She knew it was not empty, she had checked it once before.

"What do you mean?" Noah queried, his tone filled with worry. If his assumptions were true then these pen drives were the ones he had been looking for and if Aria knew about it then everything would become a mess.

"The last time I checked it there were two pen drives. How can it become empty all of a sudden?" She voiced taking the pouch to see it herself.

"When did you see it?" Joshua asked with anxiety though he made sure to hide it.

"I think three years back, the day before we moved here."

"Did you check the content?" Ivy was curious. Those pen drives might be their clue to find their father. Unfortunately for them, they had lost it. But if Aria had seen what was stored in them, maybe they had a chance.

"No, I didn't." The two men took a sigh of relief. That was a close call for them.

"I got a call from the hospital due to an emergency. So, I just saw what it held and left the house." Aria continued.

"How come you never told me about it?"

"Because I completely forgot about it. You were not at home for a week and I had my patients to attend. It just went out of my mind."

Ivy remembered what time she was talking about. It was when she had to go on an expedition with Max to another city.

"Are you sure there were pen drives in there? Maybe it's just your imagination." Noah chipped in.

"That cannot be true. I saw them. There were two. I can tell the color if you want, one was red and the other was silver. I had seen them clearly."

Noah and Joshua looked at each and blinked, not knowing what to tell. Aria's memory was too good. She could tell the color of the pen drive she had seen for a few seconds three years ago. They could only be happy that she had not seen what was inside them.

"Where did they go then?" Joshua asked only to get a hard nudge from the person beside him.

'What is this idiot trying to do?' Noah thought. Joshua realized what he had done unknowingly and pulled out his tongue in realization.

"I don't know. If it's not here, then it cannot be anywhere else. I haven't opened the pouch after the first time."

"Maybe, you dropped it somewhere," Jo suggested trying to rectify his mistake.

"No. I remember correctly that after I received the call from the hospital, I came home to keep the things I had picked up back there before I went to the hospital."

"So, you did not carry the pouch to the hospital."

"Definitely not."

"I suggest you search the apartment thoroughly. It might be somewhere here, they may have got misplaced." Noah spoke.

"That could be a possibility. I'll search for it." Ivy supported his claims.

"I think it's time we leave. It way past midnight and I am tired." Joshua stood up. They were done with the papers and the men were done with the work they had actually come here for.

"I'll take my leave too."

"Okay." The girls stood up along with them and accompanied them till the elevator.

"Thank you so much for today. This means a lot to us." Aria thanked them while Ivy nodded in agreement.

"That's fine. Anyway, what are boyfriends for?" Noah commented getting a snigger from his friend.

"Thanks anyway." Aria pecked his lips before pulling back. Noah would have pulled her for a deep kiss if he did not have an audience around him. Though he did not mind, he was sure Aria would be embarrassed.

The elevator door opened and the two men stepped in.

"Bye." Aria waved at them and waited until the door closed while Ivy was standing absent-mindedly beside her.

After the door closed. Aria turned to see Ivy spaced out. She tapped her forehead to bring her back.

"Ouch." She rubbed her head in pain.

"Earth the Ivy. Let's get inside."

"Okay." Though Ivy followed her, she could not stop the nagging feeling in her brain which was constantly telling her that there was something wrong.

Meanwhile, in the elevator.

"Do you think this has what we are looking for?" Joshua asked looking at the two pen drives in his hand.

"A hundred percent."