Shan Grover-Wells investigates: "Missing"

By Molly Naidu Webster

In Molly Naidu Webster's gripping novel, "Shan Grover-Wells Investigates Missing," readers are immersed in the world of Detective Shan Grover-Wells as he tackles a perplexing case that unfolds with heart-pounding intensity. From a chance encounter on a plane, Shan's journey takes an unexpected turn as he

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wordsworth Writing House
• Release date: Jan 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9781962886079

Book preview

SHAN GROVER-WELLS

INVESTIGATES

MISSING

Molly Naidu Webster

Copyright © 2023

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-962886-06-2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

THE END

CHAPTER 1

On a crisp sunny morning in St Tropez, south of France, Shan Grover-Wells and his French girlfriend, Vivienne Henri Chambon, walk along the promenade, taking in the morning sun. Shan was looking forward to this break after spending months in South America, working on an assignment trying to find the kingpin of a drug dealing racquet who escaped from the United Kingdom, eventually finding him and getting him extradited back to the United Kingdom. Shan and his girlfriend Vivienne had been seeing each other for over three years; they first met on a plane and have been seeing each other since. They both got chatting on the long flight; Vivienne, a director for an art gallery in Paris, fell in love with Shan’s Latino looks, and they exchanged phone numbers and email addresses, promising to stay connected. After a year of their first encounter and many dates later, he realised that he was falling in love with Vivienne. Initially, Shan felt reluctant to get into another relationship after being left heartbroken when his girlfriend of four years dumped him for another woman. This left him very hurt. In all the years he had known her, little did he realise that she had feelings for the same sex; he felt he could have managed the breakup had she left him for another man. As much as he was not ready for another relationship, he felt comfortable being with Vivienne, who was powerfully independent and remained patient throughout their relationship; she was also very understanding about the nature of his job, knowing he could be away on assignments for lengthy periods of time. Two weeks into his holiday, he gets a call from the Bureau of International Investigations (BOII) about two foreign university students who have disappeared after the police had questioned them, suspecting them of hacking into the bank account of a large company. Vivienne looks at him, feeling downhearted at not spending more time with Shan; she always knew he could be called anytime to investigate a case but still missed the idea of not being with him. Shan hugged her, saying he was not sure how long this assignment would be, but he would look forward to the next time they could be together. Shan Grover-Wells has been working for the BOII for the past six years after giving up his job as the head of security for the British Police Force. At thirty-five, he had a tall, athletic figure with a tanned complexion; he was born in Britain, his father was a British citizen, and his mother was an Indian national who came from the beautiful sunshine state of Goa.

As a youngster, Shan travelled quite a lot with his parents; his father was a captain in the army and was posted to various parts of the world, and his mother was a psychologist and was able to adapt to wherever her husband’s work took them. As a teenager, he wanted to join the police force, and his parents were happy with his choice of career. Growing up, he read many books on unsolved crimes, and he knew early on, long before becoming a police officer, that he would one day like to become a crime investigator. At eighteen, he joined the police and was very quickly promoted to a high-ranking officer. After a chance encounter with the head of BOII, he was offered the post of crime investigator, and he happily accepted the post. Initially, he investigated minor crimes, then soon after, he worked on bigger assignments; one year into his job, he found criminals who disappeared and brought them to justice. He was now the most sought-after investigator in the United Kingdom, as well as being known internationally.

CHAPTER 2

Cutting short his holiday, he arrives at the headquarters of BOII, joining a team of officials who brief him about the current case of the missing students, reading the reports on this case and going by the statements given to the police and some students who knew the missing two, he notices that these were top final year computer science students, who shared a flat close to the University, it also states that these students did not interact much with other students, they were rather nerdy. The students were of Indian origin; he also learned that about a year ago, the students were questioned about computer hacking, but no case was brought against them for lack of evidence. Shan scratches his head, thinking that these students must have been planning this for a long time; his secretary gives him a list of the names of the missing students: Jay Naresh and Ramon Ferrara. Shan studies the file of these students, who disappeared after the police started to investigate another case of hacking. To find out more about this case, Shan takes the four-hour drive to the University in the Northwest of England; the Dean comes to meet him, saying the students disappeared a week before the police could question them for suspected hacking into a large utility company account, he gives Shan all the information he had on file for the missing students. He later introduced him to the computer science lecturer. The lecturer tells Shan about how brilliant these missing students were and how well they excelled in their computer science studies and wanted to explore a higher level of computer programming. He also had this feeling that they were ready to explore the internet to see what else was possible, staying in lecture rooms long after the other students have left, he tells Shan some of the students on campus nicknamed them the lonesome twosome, 'then he laughs' The lecturer goes on to tell Shan that these students were highly intelligent and were very advanced in computer technology, saying he always had a suspicious feeling about them. Shan is introduced to another student who knew the missing two students well; he had already read the statement from him, given to the police. He tells Shan these two students did not interact much with fellow students, but he occasionally went to their flat, as they shared a great passion for computer games. He also tells Shan that Ramon, one of the missing students, after a few drinks, boasted about how he could get into the bank accounts of large companies; he thought no more about it until the police came to question the suspects. The Dean tells Shan the police department was alerted of their disappearance and got officers to search for them. Checking out their lodgings, the police found nothing; they got officers from other branches to search the train stations, airports, and ferry crossings, knowing the suspects may have try to escape the country. Shan also gets to know from the Dean of the University that the students came from very affluent families, and the parents were sent an email about their missing sons. Shan, going through the file given to him, noticed the students, both aged twenty-three, came from Nashik, Maharashtra; they had been studying at this University for the last four years and had just finished their final year and were due to attend the graduation ceremony. The next morning, Shan gets a call from the police about two teenage boys who have gone missing from college near their hometown in South London; he once again scratches the back of his head, a habit he has when something puzzles him, wondering if it may be connected to the missing university students from the Northwest. He drives over to the college and meets the head and the distraught parents, who claim their sons, who were both seventeen and missing since they went to college yesterday morning. On speaking to the head of the college, it soon becomes known that the missing teenagers were studying computer engineering and web design; Shan soon realises there may be a link between the missing students in the North and these teenagers. He asks the parents to hand over the missing teenager's computer. They tell him the boys had taken their laptops with them and agreed for the PC to be handed over. On investigating further, the distraught parents share more information about the boys, telling Shan the two boys were always together, spending the evenings on the computer after college. The mother of one of the teenagers said how she came across a very nasty incident with her young son when she went to clean his room. She found all kinds of drawings lying scattered on the floor; just as she picked them up, her son stormed in, demanding her to get out of his room. She was shocked at seeing how angry he got. She decides to question him as to why he is behaving this way, and he literally pushes her out of his room, telling her to mind her own business; she angrily grabs him by the collar, asking him not to talk so rudely to her; being more powerful than his mother, he pushes her out and slams his door shut. Initially, she ignored this, thinking he may have pornographic stuff in his room, remembering her brother growing up with adult magazines under his mattress. Exchanging concerns about her son with her husband, he tells her not to worry too much as most teenagers his age go through this phase. She goes on to tell Shan that soon after that incident, he became very aloof, avoiding all interaction with the family and keeping his room locked. She had no idea what he was up to, and his friend, the other teenage boy, was behaving just as weirdly. A week later, at the headquarters of BOII, a team working with Shan tried to piece together all the information they had so far, with few clues to the disappeared students and teenagers. Shan, once again scratching his head, thinks back to when he talked to one of the students, who had overheard the conversation, deciding to interview him again, he takes the long drive to Northwest University and meets up with the Dean and the computer science lecturer, he tells them about the missing teenagers in the South. He asks to speak to the student who gave the information on the missing students. The Dean asks him to sit down, as he has some disturbing news he received this morning, which has been passed on to the police. He tells Shan that the student who had given the statement about the missing students has now also gone missing; shocked at this news, he asks if he is a foreign student, and the Dean tells him that he is from Scotland and resides on campus, no one had seen him since yesterday morning, the parents were contacted, and said they had not heard from their son. The police were questioning students who may have seen this missing student; one student who shared the dorm with him remembers him receiving a call in the early hours of the morning. Ten minutes later, he left, not saying a word to anyone; he also remembered that he had a worried expression on his face. Shan leaves there with all the information gathered, realising the two students had covered their movements well, with no access to their laptops or any traces of calls; it was obvious they had changed the sim cards on their phones. Back at BOII headquarters, the PC computer that was taken from one of the missing teenager's rooms had been accessed by the expert; he asked Shan and a police officer to come over to view the content. They were amazed at what emerged on the screen; there were pictures of multiple drawings of various tunnels leading to an underground bunker; Shan was eagerly looking for clues to see if there was a link between the teenagers and the students up North; there were no emails either to connect them, he was beginning to find all this too mysterious. The drawings did not mean much, according to the computer expert, who thinks as boys were studying web design, there was a possibility they were trying to create a new computer game. Shan was satisfied with this theory but still had a suspicious feeling that there may be a link; with not much more evidence, he put this thought on hold.

The parents of the missing teenagers are told about the contents of the teenager's laptops; the parents are quite surprised, claiming they knew nothing of what their sons were up to. One parent did remark on something his son had said that he found weird: that one-day young people will rule the world, and all large, monopolised companies will be outdated. Listening to this, Shan now begins to feel sure there is a connection between the missing university students and the teenagers. The following day, he goes up to meet the Scottish boy's distraught parents, who are genuinely concerned about his disappearance. Shan tells them about the investigation and hopes that the missing two students have nothing to do with their son missing. They had given their son's laptop to Shan, who handed it to the computer expert. Sometime later, they gained access and read the emails. There was nothing suspicious, but Shan was curious about one email from Ramon Ferrara, who went missing two weeks ago. The email was brief, asking the Scottish student to meet him about a personal matter. Shan noticed the location was not far from the University; he thought this odd as the email showed Ramon Ferrara to still be in the Northwest. he sent an email back, and as expected, it was undelivered. Shan passes on the information to the police to search the area near the University for any sightings of Ramon. The drawings from the teenagers' computers of an underground bunker were a puzzle; experts in the computer field tried to hack into the missing student's last email addresses, but it was not looking good; no evidence cropped up or, for that matter, where they may be hiding, this case was beginning to become more and more intriguing. Five days after the Scottish student had gone missing, the police made a gruesome discovery; they found the remains of a dead body in a deep ravine in the Northwest. They were waiting for the parents of the Scottish student to identify the corpse. Shan eagerly waits for information from the police, feeling very sure that this could be none other than the missing Scottish student, realising now this case is becoming a murder investigation as well. Sometime later, he gets confirmation that it is the body of this innocent Scottish student; he calls his team together, realising the enormity of this case, with each one looking for any clues that could lead them to the missing students. Shan was fast becoming irritable at not finding anything concrete to work on to solve the mystery regarding this case.

CHAPTER 3

Shan calls his friend David Mendoza, who is the head of security in Mumbai. He had met David when he worked on a case two years ago and kept in regular contact; he passed on the information about Jay Naresh and Ramon Ferrara and asked him to put out a search for them. Shan met David when he was working on a case investigating money laundering. A group of Indian businessmen were suspected of taking millions of pounds out of the United Kingdom without declaring it to the authorities. He found David to be a highly efficient officer who left no stone unturned to find the criminals. His team of officers gave Shan full support in finding each of the suspects; working with David for two months, Shan got to know him quite well and became good friends.

David, a very tall and stocky man in his early forties, was a high-ranking security officer within the Mumbai police force. With short, cropped hair and a thick moustache which curled at either side of his mouth, he was a very handsome man with twinkling eyes. He joined the Indian army at the age of eighteen, resigning after a twenty-year service, then joining the police security service. He replies to Shan, saying he will put out posters of the missing students and will send out a team to check the airport CCTV cameras to see if they have arrived in India. Shan was still not sure if Ramon was wanted for murder or not; he could not get his head around why the Scottish student was killed. He needed to check out his accommodation at the campus. He goes back to the university campus and meets a student who shares a room with the Scottish student; he is quite shocked to learn that the dead student was regularly on the phone with Ramon, and they were good friends. He also learns that Ramon was gay, as was the Scottish student. This threw Shan a bit. Were Ramon and the dead student lovers? If so, why was he murdered? Having gone through the dead student’s computer, there were only two emails from Ramon, no indication of their personal life. Shan wonders if Ramon was under any kind of pressure from the dead student, who knew him to be the hacker, or if Ramon was being blackmailed. These questions kept going round and round in Shan’s head. No other evidence was found at the campus dorm. Shan calls the parents of the Scottish student, asking if he could come up to see them and search their son’s room for clues. He also asks them if they knew their son was in a relationship with Ramon; they tell him they knew their son was gay but did not know about his relationship. Shan catches the early morning flight to Glasgow, arriving at the home of the Scottish student. His parents were very helpful. Shan is shown into the room of the dead student; he looks for any kind of evidence that may link him to Ramon. An hour of searching later, he finds a Filofax in one of the bottom drawers of a wardrobe, with lots of notes written with no meaning to his search. He sees an envelope, he opens it and reads a threatening letter which had been sent by Ramon, asking him not to tell anyone he is gay, he warns him their affair should be a secret if he reveals it to anyone then he would not spare his life, lastly warning him not to blackmail him or he would get his throat slit, Shan showed the letter to the parents, then leaves, from this letter, he concluded that Ramon was responsible for the death of the Scottish student; apart from being wanted for hacking, Ramon was also now wanted for murder. Back in London, he heard no more about the teenagers who went missing. Shan pays a visit to the college they attended and learns from the headteacher the teenage boys had constantly skipped class; rumours from some who knew them thought they might be part of some cult, and their behaviour at times was very weird. This, once again, was not a clue as to what they were up to; being seventeen-year-old teenage students, the parents did not question them as to why they skipped class so often. The headteacher called in one student who knew the teenagers well; he told Shan that they had joined some kind of after-school club and did not know where it was. When he asked if he could join, they told him he would have to sign a privacy clause and not talk about the club to anyone. The teenagers being weirdos, he decided not to get involved. Shan wondered what kind of club this could be: two teenage boys missing without a trace, two Indian students also missing; he was not sure which direction his investigation was taking him. Back in his office, he checks out his emails; he receives one from David Mendoza, who tells him the posters or the news channels which showed the pictures of Jay Naresh and Ramon Ferrara did not yield any response from the public, the CCTV has not shown them arriving in Mumbai either. Still, he was waiting for information from the other airports.

CHAPTER 4

Shan was curious about the possibility of the missing teenage boys joining a cult, and he wanted to investigate this further; the boys' drawings of an underground bunker intrigued him. Who could be behind this so-called cult? He decides to visit the college again, hoping the students may know something. The next morning, he meets with the headteacher to talk to the students in the student hall to see if any of them are familiar with any private clubs or groups that students go to after college; they listen to him intently as he tells them there is still no trace of the two missing boys.

Some students go to Shan, telling him that they may know something that could help; in the headteacher's office, each one is interviewed. Three students were approached about four months ago about joining a private youth club and were asked how good they were at working with computers; when they questioned the man in his twenties more about the club, he told them they would only know when they signed up, so they decided to ignore him, another student was met at the college gates and asked to join the youth club, he too could not get a straight answer so he walked away. Shan's interview with another student left him in shock; he was approached near a local shop by a young man who promised him that if he joined the youth club, he would one day be with a group of people with power, money and control, being highly ambitious he decides to get this club checked out, so agrees to join, he tells Shan that he was taken to a large empty house, he followed him down to the cellar, then a tunnel leading to a large room, with chairs and tables, he immediately started to feel scared but soon relaxed when he recognised some faces from the local area, there were six men all in their twenties, two were Indians, he did not know any of them,