Run: 2026-09-02-01M1GTJD9YCPAKFTG2V9Z4J9X6

# Voice Sheet — Scene: "The Cider Press Café" *Setting: Tuesday morning, four days after Dev Kapoor vanished during the Apple Festival. Selvi sits alone at a window table, scrolling through photos on her camera. Hunter approaches.* --- Hunter: "Ma'am? Ma'am— sorry to bother you. Detective Hunter, Alborn PD. Mind if I take five minutes of your time? Couple of questions." Selvi: "Kya? Oh— maaf kijiye, main... main photo dekh rahi thi. Aap kuch pooch rahe hain? Mujhe bilkul samajh nahi aaya." *(What? Oh— I'm sorry, I was... I was looking through my photos. Are you asking me something? I didn't understand at all.)* Hunter: "Whoa, whoa— easy. Slow down. I don't speak Hindi. Not one word of it. English? Do you speak any English? Eng-lish?" Selvi: "Mujhe angrezi nahi aati. Aap dheere-dheere... dheere boliye? Nahi— isse bhi kuch samajh nahi aaya. Main kya karoon?" *(I don't know English. Could you speak slowly... slowly? No— I didn't understand that either. What do I do?)* Hunter: "Okay. Okay. Police. Po-lice. I'm with the police. Detective Hunter, Alborn Police Department. See the badge? Police." Selvi: "Police? Aap... aap police mein hain? Bhagwan, kya hua hai? Koi jurm? Is chhote se sheher mein?" *(Police? You... you're with the police? God, what happened? A crime? In this little town?)* Hunter: "I'm looking into a disappearance, ma'am. A college student— Dev Kapoor. Do you know him? Dev. Kapoor." Selvi: "Dev? Dev Kapoor? Aapko Dev ka naam kaise pata? Kya hua? Kya usse... kya usse kuch ho gaya hai? Boliye na! Woh theek hai na?" *(Dev? Dev Kapoor? How do you know Dev's name? What happened? Has something... has something happened to him? Say something! He's all right, isn't he?)* Hunter: "Dev— yeah. Dev Kapoor. You knew him. He walked out of this café last Thursday night, around eleven. Nobody's seen him since. Were you here? You. Here. Thursday." Selvi: "Haan, Dev! Hum dono ek hi college mein padhte hain. Main use us raat yahin mili thi— isi café mein. Shaam dhal rahi thi, mela ki roshni baaki thi... Sab chupke-se kehte the, raat ko akeli mat ghoomo— is sheher mein log gayab ho rahe hain. Pehle ek... phir do... ab teen!" *(Yes, Dev! We study at the same college. I met him that very night, right here— in this café. Evening was falling, the fair lights were still on... Everyone kept whispering, don't wander alone at night— people are vanishing in this town. First one... then two... now three!)* Hunter: "College— you said college. Students, the both of you. Fine. Thursday. Eleven o'clock. This café. Which way did he walk out? Can you point? Point for me." Selvi: "Maaf kijiye... meri angrezi bahut kharab hai. Main do mahine pehle hi is desh aayi hoon. Aap Dev ke baare mein pooch rahe hain, na? Kya woh mil gaya? Woh... woh zinda toh hai na?" *(I'm sorry... my English is very poor. I came to this country only two months ago. You're asking about Dev, aren't you? Has he been found? He's... he's alive, isn't he?)* Hunter: "That was a lot of words, ma'am, and I caught 'café.' Wonderful. The orchard. Did he go to the apple orchard? The orchard. Apples." Selvi: "Sach kahoon, mujhe khud se darr lagne laga hai. Us raat maa ko phone karna chahiye tha— sab kuch batana chahiye tha. Par maa dar jayengi... Aur ab aap aa gaye hain. Matlab... matlab baat bahut kharab hai na?" *(To tell the truth, I've started to feel afraid myself. That night I should have called my mother— told her everything. But Mother would be frightened... And now you've come. Which means... it's very bad, isn't it?)* Hunter: "Ma'am, is there anybody at that college who speaks— is there someone here who— hell." Selvi: "Rukiye! Ek minute— photo! Photo! Mere paas photo hai!" *(Wait! One minute— photo! Photo! I have a photo!)* Hunter: "Photo? Now that one I know. You have a photo? Of Dev? You have a picture of him?" Selvi: "Haan, photo! Is camera mein— dekhiye, yeh wali. Maine us raat Dev ki photo kheenchi thi, mela ki roshni mein. Aur uske peeche... uske peeche ek aadmi hai. Pedon ke beech khada hai. Maine use pehle bhi dekha hai— bilkul isi jagah. Aap jaante hain yeh kaun hai?" *(Yes, a photo! In this camera— look, this one. I took a photo of Dev that night, in the fair lights. And behind him... there's a man behind him. Standing between the trees. I've seen him before— in exactly this same spot. Do you know who this is?)* Hunter: "Camera. Camera— I know that one too. Your camera. May I see it? The photos. Show me the photos. Please." Selvi: "Haan, haan— sambhal ke, yeh meri sabse achhi tasveerein hain. Yahan— yahan Dev hai. Aur is taraf— pedon ke beech— dekhiye? Sirf aankhein chamak rahi hain. Yeh aadmi kaun hai? Aap use jaante hain?" *(Yes, yes— carefully, these are my finest photographs. Here— here is Dev. And this way— between the trees— do you see? Only the eyes are gleaming. Who is this man? Do you know him?)* *(Hunter's phone rings. He answers.)* Hunter: "Hunter. ... When? ... Hartwell's Orchard, the north fence line? ... Another one? Tonight? ... Then keep everybody out of those trees. Nobody touches so much as a leaf until I've seen it. Ten minutes." Selvi: "Kya hua? Aapki awaaz badal gayi... Dev ki koi khabar hai? Use dhoondh liya? Mujhe bhi bataiye— please!" *(What happened? Your voice just changed... Is there news of Dev? Did you find him? Tell me too— please!)* Hunter: "Ma'am, I've got to go. Stay here. Stay. I'll be back inside the hour with somebody from the college— somebody who speaks Hindi. That camera— nobody touches that camera but me. Nobody. Keep it on you. Stay. Here." Selvi: "Nahi— aap jaa rahe hain? Rukiye na, meri baat suniye! Photo dekhiye— shayad isi se Dev mil jaye. Please... Dev ko dhoondh lijiye. Please." *(No— you're leaving? Wait, listen to me! Look at the photo— maybe this is how we'll find Dev. Please... find Dev. Please.)* Hunter: "Not one word of that got through. Didn't think so. ... Stay put, ma'am. Dev. We'll find Dev. Stay." Selvi: "Bhagwan kare woh jaldi wapas aaye... aur Dev— Dev, tum abhi kahan ho?" *(God, let him come back quickly... and Dev— Dev, where are you right now?)* --- *Note: The only words that cross the language barrier are shared loanwords (police, college, café, photo, camera) and the name "Dev"— which lets them communicate just enough to miss each other, and plants the photo of the man among the trees as the scene's hook.* Happy to provide Selvi's lines in Devanagari script, or to expand this into a fully narrated prose scene, if you'd like.