Dead in a Mumbai Minute (37 page)

‘How did you learn about the connection between Kimaaya and me?’

‘Soon after I got started, a couple of years ago, she came to your apartment. There was something in the way she looked at you, when she was leaving.’

Shayak’s jaw hardened. ‘That footage was not meant for your eyes.’

‘Yeah, well. Go figure.’

‘Then what?’

‘I found out about the safe Titanium had installed for her, and decided to go on a treasure hunt. The certificates were just sitting there, waiting to be discovered.’

‘In a secure vault.’

‘Secure is as secure does. Remember, Reema, what I told you about notions of unhackability. Not even at Titanium,’ he said, with a look of pride.

‘You thought a personal scandal like this would be enough to take me down?’ Shayak said with a sneer.

‘To hurt you long enough to deliver the fatal blow.’

‘Which you hoped would involve blowing Titanium’s most senstitive operations.’

‘Something like that.’

‘But it wasn’t as easy as you thought it would be, leading to two senseless deaths,’ I said.

‘The plan was a good one. But that Dhingre was a busybody. Afreen was unfortunate, yet unavoidable given that she wasn’t cooperating. It seemed a convenient way to deal with her and frame you.’

‘Why was George sending her messages to provide information about Dhingre’s death when you were around?’ I asked.

‘I guess trust has just gone out of style,’ he said. ‘They wanted to corroborate my version of events.’

‘How did you lure her to Viraat’s flat?’ I asked.

‘Much like I got you to Paras Foods. A fake SMS about a date. I knew Viraat would be out because the first thing he did when he got out of the hospital was call his dealer. I had his phone tapped just in case he knew more about Dhingre’s death than he was letting on, having been within earshot and all.’

‘And you had tapped Prashant Parashar’s cell, too?’

‘Long before I sent him that pen drive.’

Shayak and I returned to my room and awaited George’s arrival. Vinod came bearing coffee that thankfully didn’t taste like dishwater and a tiffin box filled with homecooked food. I nursed my cup with worshipful reverence.

‘So Rishi went from one mess to another in an attempt to clean up after himself, all to make me one of the most notorious faces in the country,’ Shayak said.

‘At the behest of someone with enough influence to have a trumped-up murder charge hanged on you.’

My mind had already raced far ahead. ‘It all connects with your Goa case, the drug hauls and Daanish Alam’s death. The answer is hidden in George Santos’ extended universe. And I guess that’s as good a place to start as any.’

‘Not so fast, Reema. You have a lot of healing to do. Your arm will take at least a month of complete rest.’

‘But this isn’t resolved – not really.’

‘You’ve solved two murders and cleared my name.’

‘Only to open a bigger can of worms.’

‘We’ll move on to that in due course. Don’t worry – none of it will magically go away.’

But I already had an idea. ‘George will be here soon. If he really isn’t an accessory to these crimes, we might be able to use him to our advantage.’

‘What do you mean?’

I ran my thoughts by him. His instant answer was a vehement ‘no’. I had as long as it took for George to arrive to change his mind.

He walked in to my room, clad in white kurta and pyjama, the same worn chappals on his feet, beard neatly trimmed. He gave Shayak a nod. ‘You’ve got to know I didn’t have a clue about this, boss.’

‘A little difficult to believe, George.’

‘You two know each other?’ I asked.

‘We’ve met once, at a party. I wasn’t sure George would remember me.’

George gave a nervous laugh, as if to assure Shayak he was unforgettable. And then he turned his attention to me.

‘Wait a minute – you’re that girl from the film set!’

‘Right. That’s when I figured out there was some connection between you and Afreen,’ I said. ‘It was you who brought her in to the Adil Khan project. That is why you were demanding her loyalty in the form of information on the investigation into Dhingre’s death.’

‘She needed a favour to get her into the film industry. I don’t usually do this sort of thing, but it was at the request of a particular friend.’

‘Who was the friend?’

‘A hotelier in Goa. He introduced her to the ashram. He was a regular of hers, and many of my ashram guests stayed at his hotel. It was an innocent request, one that I was happy to help with.’

‘You were the producer?’

‘No! Oh no. I made a couple of calls for Adil to help him get financing.’

‘Why were you pumping her for information if you had nothing to do with any of it?’

‘A favour to another friend.’

‘Who?’

He smiled. ‘You can’t expect me to give up all my secrets so soon.’

Shayak was stony faced. ‘Rishi says it was you who told him about the job at Titanium. Who put you up to that?’

‘It was a while ago.’

‘Don’t give me that crap,’ said Shayak, finally losing his patience.

‘Look, I thought it was a random tourist who had come for a drink to the bar. Got talking with Rishi and me one night. The next day he swung by and told me about this opportunity at Titanium. Now I realize it was a set-up.’

‘You really expect us to believe that?’

‘I make my living not asking too many questions about people. But now that I think about it, the method makes sense. There are a certain set of people who rely on me to give them assistance from time to time. I don’t really meet them face to face – I only ever meet the messenger.’

‘What sort of assistance?’

‘I think of myself as a connector.’

‘So basically you are a fixer?’

‘You might call it that. But I don’t have blood on my hands. I try not to know what my associates are up to.’

‘Ignorance doesn’t protect you from the law.’

‘I beg to differ. What exactly are you accusing me of? Getting Rishi a job interview? Helping Afreen out with a role in a film? Go searching, as I am sure you will, boss, and you will find me guilty of nothing more than some tax evasion, probably not more than your average business man.’

‘Money laundering?’

He shrugged.

‘If that is true, help us.’

‘Why would I do that?’

‘Because if you don’t, we’ll make it our mission to find something on you and, trust me, you don’t want Titanium as your enemy. If it is only tax evasion, as you say, at the very least we can arrange a deportation. It won’t even take more than one phone call.’

I wasn’t sure if Shayak was bluffing, but George’s sudden pallor told me he had bought it. ‘What do you need?’ he said.

‘We’ll let you know, in time,’ said Shayak.

‘It sounds like you aren’t leaving me with a choice.’

‘More or less. For now, we only want you to return to Goa and act as though everything is okay. Which it is, for now.’

George nodded, and left us.

‘So does that mean I will be going undercover?’ I asked hopefully.

Shayak shook his head – but it was more out of exasperation than anything else. My spirits lifted.

‘Is that a yes, then?’

He left the room. Yes.

I woke up to a dark room. I could hear voices. Loud voices.

It took me a moment to remember where I was: Shayak’s apartment. Just for the day. After which Sohana was kidnapping me until I got better, for the sole purpose of vegging out in front of her TV and the promise of beer.

I scrambled out of bed and turned on the light, looking at myself in the mirror. My right eye was still a little swollen, my arm in a sling adding to the rough-and-tumble look. I didn’t have any of my things so making myself presentable wasn’t an option. I ran a brush through my hair, straightened my crumpled T-shirt and headed for the living room.

There was Shayak, staring me down. Pratap and Poonam Puri had both swung around to face me, arms akimbo. ‘Why are you out of bed?’ asked Shayak.

‘What, and miss all the action? What’s going on here?’

‘Shayak is trying to resolve our situation, as it were,’ said Pratap.

‘Can I help?’ I must have been giddy from the pain meds because otherwise Poonam’s death glare would have sent me scurrying. ‘I think you’ve done quite enough,’ she said.

‘I don’t believe you’ve formally met,’ said Shayak.

‘No introductions required,’ she snarled.

‘Don’t blame Reema, she’s just the messenger,’ said Pratap.

For some reason, I was smiling.

‘Sit down,’ said Shayak, more gently. Perhaps he was afraid that it had all finally caught up with me.

I took a seat. ‘What did I miss?’

‘You were right about everything,’ said Pratap. ‘Poonam was stealing company secrets through my head of tech and hawking them to the highest bidder, hoping to inflict deep damage before our IPO.’

Poonam rolled her eyes. ‘You left out the part where you were cheating on me and planning to leave me.’

‘You know as well as I that our marriage has been over for a long time.’

‘Here we go again,’ said Shayak.

‘I was merely protecting my interests.’

‘You thought I’d leave you wanting? Don’t you know me better than that at least?’ I saw what appeared to be a genuine look of pain in Pratap’s eyes. It seemed Poonam had registered it too for her anger deflated and she sat down. When she spoke next it was with a mix of sadness and bitterness.

‘Jasmine tea,’ she said, raising the delicate blue-and-white china cup before her. ‘The good stuff, at least, is the result of tea leaves being mixed with jasmine buds till the tea itself takes on the fragrance of the flowers. Marriage is just like that. Bad marriages, too. For years I slept next to Pratap, inhaling the perfume of his deceit till it became a part of my fibre. I could have cheated right back, like so many scorned spouses, but I knew I could do better than a cheap lay. I wanted to really make him bleed. Tell me, given a chance, would you do any different?’

‘Poonam,’ said Shayak, ‘you know how I feel about this stuff. But it’s time to let go. Pratap has agreed not to press charges and to honour your pre-nuptial agreement which, you have to admit, is hardly harsh. Neither of you have been at your best in this business, and this is a chance for both of you to make as clean a break as possible and move on.’

Poonam shook her head, angrily wiping away a tear that had escaped. ‘You know he is just going to turn around and marry your ex-wife. You are okay with that?’

‘I’m happy for them, Poonam. The only thing about this situation that upsets me is the two of you tearing each other up in this way. And that I don’t like being lied to,’ he said, directing his attention to Pratap.

‘What do you mean?’ he said.

‘For starters, you should have looked elsewhere for your witch hunt against Poonam.’

‘I didn’t lie about anything! She had been behaving so oddly, I thought she could be having an affair.’

Poonam, looking exhausted, stood up. ‘I’m going home.’

‘So you’ll look over the papers?’ asked Pratap.

‘You’ll drop the case against me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then I’ll look at the papers.’ She walked out.

Pratap shot Shayak a cheeky grin. ‘Thanks, man.’