We Were Never There at the Residency Gate

By Prashant Mishra

The story opens after Neil Dutta, 19, spots a childhood photograph in a stranger’s missing-person appeal in a hill station near Shimla. As a cybersecurity analyst, Neil knows how easily facts can be edited, but not why a colleague who may be protecting the culprit seems determined to help. Together they uncover evidence that a supposedly spontaneous romance was designed as a marketing campaign. Their alliance fractures when the online mob turns on the protagonist. With a child’s map of places adults deny exist as the last verifiable lead, Neil must trust the person whose lie began the investigation, only to learn that the protagonist’s first assumption protected the real culprit. Away from the main investigation, the need to prepare an exhibition about forgotten workers, while a festival deadline leaves no room for delay.