Chapter 3
Sameer woke up with a jerk, wondering what had disturbed his sleep.
When nothing hit his conscious he shut his eyes again.
He needed to sleep, he was exhausted and this was one of the rare nights he had actually fallen asleep the minute his head had touched the pillow.
His phone vibrated. He blinked and sat up on his bed.
Yawning, he took a look at his phone. It was his GM, the General Manager of his Hotel, The Marquis.
A call so late at night meant only one thing; there was a problem at the hotel.
Exhaling, he rubbed his face and picked up the call.
Five minutes into the call and Sameer had understood exactly what had happened at The Marquis. He heard his manager out and told him he would get there as soon as possible.
He changed quickly. He needed to get to The Marquis fast and there was only one person who could get him there in super speed.
He left his room and walked across the hallway and knocked on his brother’s door.
When there was no response, he banged hard on the door.
He didn’t have a lot of time so he called him from his cell phone.
His brother answered after several rings.
“Rishi,” Sameer spoke into the phone in an urgent tone, “open the door, I’ve been knocking since ages.”
“I need to go to The Marquis right now. There’s a problem,” Sameer told his brother as soon as the door opened.
“Now?” Rishi asked, yawning loudly. “What has happened?”
“One of the guests valet-parked their Audi at The Marquis and now it has gone missing. The guest is very disturbed and has called the cops. I need to get there as soon as possible.”
Rishi rubbed his eyes. “I can’t believe you woke me up for this. Why do you need to be there? Why can’t the GM handle it?”
“Because the car belongs to a politician’s son who also happens to be grandfather’s friend.” Sameer took the name of the politician.
“Bloody hell!” Rishi slammed his palm on his forehead.
“Exactly,” Sameer sighed. “Obviously, the son is cashing in on the friendship between his father and our grandfather and demanding to talk to me directly. He’s creating quite a stir and is refusing to deal with the GM.
Besides, he’s a regular guest at the hotel and his company rents rooms round the year at The Marquis.
He is threatening to stop his business with us and has called the media already.
I need to get down there and talk to him myself before this becomes a publicity nightmare. ”
“Fuck!” Rishi made a face. “Let me get dressed. I’ll meet you down in five.”
“Oh and take your bike, Rishi. We need to get there quickly,” Sameer said, walking out of his brother’s room. He called the GM again to get the latest update from him.
Bikes were Rishi’s pet passion. He raced bikes along with some biker friends of his frequently.
It was crazy and he and his parents had been trying to warn Rishi off this for so long.
Then again, being reckless as he was, he didn’t pay any heed to them.
But tonight, he needed Rishi and his bike.
It was the fastest way to reach across to The Marquis, which was at the other end of Mumbai in Marine Drive.
If he took his car, even at this late hour, it would take him at least forty- five minutes to reach there.
On Rishi’s bike, however, they would be there in no time at all.
Just as they reached their garage, they heard a car pull in.
Sameer watched his younger sister, Rhea park her car.
Shauna, Rhea’s twin, and she both studied in London until Rhea suddenly dropped out of her college.
She had returned home three days ago without any prior intimation to them.
Worried about her, his parents had tried to talk to her, but she had refused to speak about why she had come back so unexpectedly, requesting them all to leave her alone.
Something was going on with her but she rejected all their efforts to talk to her about it.
Sameer had even tried speaking to his other younger sister many times but Shauna too remained tightlipped.
Rhea got out of her car and strode to the front door, ignoring them both. His normally chirpy and bubbly sister had changed and Sameer had no clue why.
Rishi exchanged a frustrated look with him before he asked, “Rhea, where are you coming from?”
Rhea turned to face them, her arms crossed in front of her, a defiant expression on her face.
“Out,” she replied.
“I can see that, Rhea, but where and who were you with?” Rishi questioned.
“I was out with friends, Rishi. I’m not a child. I’m an adult. Why don’t you treat me like one?”
“I will, once you behave like one.”
Sameer put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. Rishi turned to him and Sameer shook his head. He was concerned about their sister too. But right now they needed to get to his hotel. Rishi gave an aggravated sigh but stayed silent.
Sameer’s cell phone rang again.
“Yeah, I’m coming. Twenty minutes.” He disconnected the call and ran his hands through his hair angrily. “Rishi, we need to be there now. The media is all over the incident.”
“What’s happening?” Rhea asked, as Rishi revved up the engine of his bike.
“There’s been a car theft at The Marquis. We are just headed there,” Sameer told her.
“The Marquis?” Her eyes widened. “I was just there. When did this happen?”
“Less than an hour back.”
“My God, I left about the same time, I think.”
“Anyway, we need to be at The Marquis right this instant. Let’s talk later,” Sameer said, strapping his helmet on and getting on the bike behind Rishi.
Sure enough, Sameer and Rishi had reached quickly only to find that the entire incident had become a huge uproar, with his hotel The Marquis caught in the center of the storm.
Chaos reigned all around him. The cops were everywhere, questioning the staff and the guests.
And a horde of reporters had descended seeking a story.
Their cameras flashed, much to his annoyance, as they interviewed the car owner whose car was stolen and the irrational man was basking in all the attention.
After speaking to the hotel staff and going through all the CCTV camera footage, Sameer had been able to piece together what exactly had happened.
A big party was being hosted in the hotel and with the valet service inundated with work, several guests had been waiting for the valets to bring their cars around.
In all that chaos a young man had casually exited the hotel talking on his cell phone.
He had coolly walked up to the valet who had just brought in an Audi to the porch.
The young man had confidently tipped the valet and driven off with the car.
The valet had not checked for the car tag and simply opened the door to the man and accepted his tip.
The actual owner of the car, Sameer could see in the video, had been busy chatting on his cell phone and hadn’t even noticed that his car had been brought around and that someone had driven away with it.
It was as simple as that. The thief was dressed smartly. He looked like he was a hotel guest and no one had questioned him when he took the car from the valet.
It was only after several minutes had passed that the actual owner lost patience and had started to create a ruckus with the valet for the delay in getting his car, that they realized that something was amiss.
The car owner had threatened to sue The Marquis for negligence, which entailed Sameer waking up his father in the middle of the night seeking his legal counsel.
His father, Jai Sehgal, ran the legal department of the Sehgal group and was a renowned lawyer in his own right.
He confirmed what Sameer already knew, the owners could seek damages but it would become messy because hotels always disclaimed liability for the cars they parked in their premises.
As a result, in order to avoid it getting ugly, Sameer would have to convince the owners to not sue.
But right now, tempers were flying high everywhere. He spoke to the politician’s son, a curt and bad-tempered man, politely, so as not to aggravate him and convinced him to go home and let them come up with a solution. He requested him to give the authorities a chance to look into the matter.
One silver lining was that he was happy how his staff at the hotel had stepped up and taken care of the situation.
They had efficiently handled any questions posed by their guests, the media were dealt with and the cops were assisted professionally.
The cops having finished questioning the staff, were waiting for hotel security to go through more CCTV camera footage to give them a better idea of how and when the thief had entered the hotel.
A chain wide memo was also sent to all the Sehgal hotels to beef up their security.
Now, two hours later, the hotel was quiet and it was business as usual. Sameer stood in his hotel lobby and observed the routine activity in the hotel. He scraped a hand down his jaw. He was tired, sleep deprived and angry that such an incident had occurred in his hotel.
His brother came up to him, “I hope this doesn’t become a commercial nightmare for us.
It has been made into a circus.” Rishi handed his cell phone to Sameer.
It was opened onto a popular social media site and sure enough Sameer could see the car owner’s interview posted there with pictures of The Marquis in the background.
Rishi also showed him several other sites that had similar posts.
Sameer took a deep angry breath.
“Fuck!” he swore out loud. “I hate the obsession people have with social media. It’s just so unnecessary and blows everything out of proportion. Anyway, the crisis is averted for the night, so I think we can head home now.”
“I have a better idea. Let’s go for a fast spin on my bike and this time you drive.”