ONE NAME STOOD out: Paresh Singh Rajput. He had been a visiting cardiovascular surgeon for two years in the right time frame—when Gabe was about twelve. The name—which means “son of a king”—was a warrior name and the royal family to which it belonged had ruled a number of princely states between the ninth and eleventh centuries. There were around five million Rajputs in India, mostly in the central region of Uttar Pradesh but also in the northern regions.

From the Google information Decker had pulled up, it was hard to ascertain if Rajput’s father was a maharaja because most of the articles centered on Dr. Rajput’s professional achievements—which were many. He had renowned skills as a surgeon, but he had also devoted a significant part of his time to working in poor communities. He was also active in Doctors Without Borders.

The biographical information told Decker he was in his early fifties with two adult sons, both of them doctors as well. Further information revealed that Rajput’s wife, Deepal, had died three years ago—around the time he took a visiting position in the States. He was currently single.

Decker managed to pull up several pictures of Rajput. The snapshots showed a well-built man with chocolate skin, a thin nose, full lips, thick eyebrows, black eyes, and a head full of salt-and-pepper hair. He wore beautifully tailored Western suits, as well as traditional Indian garb. In those photographs, his fingers sparkled with stones big enough for Decker to notice. It seemed that a man who dressed that well and devoted that much time to the underprivileged didn’t have to worry about money.

The information led to some interesting possibilities if Terry was alive. It wasn’t hard to imagine Terry, after being trapped for years in a relationship with a psychopathic and abusive man, finding a savior in a wealthy older widower who routinely used his money, knowledge, and power to help out the downtrodden.

And it wasn’t hard to picture Dr. Paresh Singh Rajput coming to the rescue: a wealthy older lonely widower liberating a brilliant and gorgeous damsel in distress. Terry was more than just stunning. She had this wounded beauty that melted any male heart on impact, her exquisiteness made all the more intoxicating because she never flaunted her most marketable asset.

Together they would go back to India and Terry could start a new life.

If this were the case, it would be the end of the trail for Decker. Maybe Donatti would pursue it, but Decker wasn’t about to tackle a country of a billion people to look for a woman who wanted to get lost.