Different Senses (8 page)

“Which is?”

“Um...I’m getting divorced from
my husband. He’s wealthier than me and can afford really good
lawyers.”

“I don’t think Wala and Faute
are exactly what you’d call ‘really good’ anything, except crooks.
So you admit to setting off the smoke device, concealing the
pendant and secreting it from the building in a parcel dispatched
to that firm? Say it, Jishnu.”

“Yes, I admit it,” he said
sulkily. “What more do you want?”

“A signed statement admitting
your guilt, a resignation without notice, and then your departure,”
Kirin said. “No one needs to know about this except us, unless you
cause me any trouble. Don’t expect a reference and if you contact
Wala and Faute about this, I’ll call the police and let them rip
you to shreds.”

Jishnu typed out the two
documents and signed them, with me as a witness. Kirin called his
security guards and had him escorted from the building, his
personal belongings to be sent on later. When Jishnu departed,
Kirin rubbed his forehead. “He’s been with me so long. I’ll have to
speak to the staff about it.”

“Do that, and if Pritam’s
hiding something, which I’m sure he is, that’ll give him a false
sense of security. I’ll contact the repair firm just to confirm
what I suspect and have them send the unit back. Do the chemical
testing, okay? He could still repudiate the statement, and he’s
only the little fish. I want to net Gemate, and the stronger our
proof, the tighter the net.”

“I understand.” He looked so
miserable, I actually felt sorry for him. But I couldn’t make him
feel better. I could only stop him losing his livelihood, or I
hoped so, anyway.

Meeting Kajal Gemate was my
first excuse to get cleaned up properly in months. I pulled out the
outfit I’d last worn to Yashi’s wedding, and a silky scarf Tara had
given me for my birthday years ago. I’d much prefer to be wearing
my police uniform for something like this. I felt naked without it
and my gun. Not that I expected to need a weapon but I missed the
weight of it. I missed a lot of things.

Shrimati Gemate lived on a
frankly disgustingly lavish estate just outside Hegal’s city
limits. From my reading of the divorce case, the actual squabble
was over the pre-marital financial agreement which would allow her
fifty percent of her obscenely wealthy husband’s property and a
hefty lifetime annuity in the event of divorce—except in the case
of her infidelity. And infidelity was what the pendant was alleged
to prove. No wonder she was desperate to stop Kirin testing the
thing.

I’d never met the woman, but
she and her husband were part of the elite crowd my parents moved
in so effortlessly—and which bored me to tears. News media carried
their pictures, reported on their doings, and the Gemate divorce
had been seized on with glee. Even I, who avoided gossipy news
reports, couldn’t help but hear about the case. Kirin had been
incredibly unlucky to be caught up in it.

A tidily uniformed
banis
maid
led me into Shrimati Gemate’s sitting room. The lady herself,
splendidly bedecked in shimmering yellow and glittering gems, rose
to greet me. “Sri Ythen. What a pleasure to meet you.”

“Same here, Shrimati
Gemate.”

Close up, she showed the strong
bone structure and good skin she was famous for. The strong natural
UV shield on Uterden was kind to the looks of older people, but not
to their bones unless they took care. She obviously did. If her
dark hair was dyed to hide the grey, she clearly paid more for her
hairdresser than I did because it looked natural to me.

“Do take a seat. Chai, or
something stronger? I have some rather lovely wine that came in on
the latest ship from back home. A truly extraordinary vintage.”

Wine from Kelon? Some people
had more money than brains. “No thanks. Actually, I’m here on some
personal business. Something that might not be suitable for uh....”
I tilted my head towards the maid.

She snapped her fingers at the
woman, who bowed and slipped out silently. “Now we’re quite
private. How can I help you?”

“Well, you can give the pendant
back you abstracted illegally from Kirin Nel’s laboratory, and you
can also file a statement of non-contention in your divorce
case.”

She sat up straight. “And why
would I do that, young man? What are you talking about?”

“The pendant, Shrimati Gemate,
with your lover’s sexual fluids on it. I have a sworn statement
from the employee at Sri Nel’s laboratory your lawyers paid to
steal the pendant. If Sri Nel goes to the police, it’ll get very
ugly.”

She recovered fast from the
shock, I had to give her that much. “You have nothing to tie
anything to me. Get out.”

“Really? You think your lawyers
will take the fall for you? You think no one in the firm will admit
they handed it back to you and that it was your idea in the first
place?”

“I’ll take that chance.”

“As you wish. So Sri Nel will
go to the police, this house will be torn apart looking for the
pendant, which I know you have, and in the meantime, your husband’s
lawyers will go to the judges in the case and inform them of what’s
happened. You’ll lose the case and be prosecuted for contempt,
perjury and probably perversion of justice. You won’t just be
poorer, Shrimati Gemate. You’ll be a criminal, possibly face prison
time, and your reputation will be mud.”

She sniffed. “People like me
don’t go to prison.”

“Yes they do. You won’t be the
first rich bitch I’ve helped put away.” Her mouth narrowed at the
insult. “Stop playing. We hold all the cards, and the best you can
hope for is to come out with some dignity and a reduced settlement,
which is probably more than you deserve.”

She slapped me, hard. I laughed
in her face. “You’ll have to fight harder than that in prison,
lady.” I gripped her skinny wrist as she swung again. “Now watch
the talons. You can slap, but draw blood and you’ll find out how
much self-defence I learned as a cop.”

She shook me off and stood.
“Get out of my house.”

“Not without the pendant. Or
you can call the police and I’ll tell them all I know. An ex-cop,
not to mention the governor’s son, would make a pretty credible
witness, don’t you think?”

Her rage made my head ache like
hell and I could see her mind furiously running through the
alternatives. I’d left her with almost nothing, and no choice that
wouldn’t leave her worse off. “If I give you the pendant, what
guarantee do I have you won’t simply give it back to my husband’s
lawyers?”

“I will. But because you’re
going to end the case, no official confirmation you were sleeping
around on your husband needs to be filed with the court. Sri Gemate
wants to finish this, I’m certain. Make him an offer to settle and
go quietly, and no one has to be troubled any further. You already
have money, Shrimati Gemate. Better what you have than going to
prison and be branded a criminal.”

“
You
loathsome
little man.
I’m so glad I never voted for your father’s party.”

“I’ve never voted for it
either. The pendant?”

I followed her to her enormous
bedroom, and a walk-in dressing room nearly as large as Yashi’s
whole house. I pulled on protective gloves and waited for her to
hand me the jewel—an exquisite piece of inlaid purple Garkon
gemstone, set in red jobold. Easy to see why she treasured it.

“I’m sure it will find its way
back to you,” I said as I slipped it into an evidence bag and
sealed it.

She stamped her foot.
“Now get out and
never
return.”

I carefully refrained from
grinning. “My pleasure.”

I didn’t waste any time jumping
in my auto and driving away, half worried the old dear might send
minions after me. Upsetting rich and powerful people wasn’t a
regular pastime of mine and my heart raced until I was well clear
of her estate, and back on the road to Hegal.

I marched into the lab, feeling
triumphant and more cheerful than I had in a long time. I walked
into Kirin’s office, certain he’d be delighted at my success. But
when I laid the pendant on the desk in front of him, he barely
managed a smile and a “thank you”.

I sat down. “What’s wrong?”

“Pritam. Has been stealing for
months and months. Equipment, chemicals, even data. Payal looked
through the books and confronted him. He confessed in full. I’ve
just sacked him.” He looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “I
trusted these people. Nurtured them, trained them. Respected
them.”

“And they kicked you in the
nuts. I’m sorry, Kirin.”

“Like you said, I shouldn’t
complain to you about betrayal.”

“No. But at least you acted out
of real emotion. Fear, anxiety, maybe even grief for what we’d
lost. Pritam and Jishnu did it cold-bloodedly. That’s so much
worse.”

“And Devi. Three employees in
one day. What does it say for me?”

I nudged the pendant towards
him. “It says you’re a nice man with bad luck. Your fault was to
trust too much.”

“And not trust the one person I
could really count on. I am so sorry, Javen.” He began to cry and I
could only hold his hand across the desk and wait until he grew
calmer. Yes, he’d fucked up. But never in my worst rages would I
have wished this on him.

Finally he sniffled, rubbed his
nose and picked up the pendant in its bag. “What do I do now?” he
murmured.

“Run the tests you would have
done, and send the pendant and results back to the client. Kajal
Gemate will settle before they need to use them. No need to tell
them what happened—just report what you find. Even if the DNA
evidence has been compromised, she won’t dare bluff her way out. I
made it clear she better not. It’s over, Kirin. You kept the lab
and most of your people safe. So now you have to go on, for
them.”

“I need to revise procedures.”
He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and looked up at me. “Want a job as
a security adviser?”

“One day, maybe. But not now.
But I can recommend a firm of ex-cops with an excellent reputation.
Be honest with them about what happened.”

He nodded, and blew his nose
properly before sitting up. “You’re really good at this, you know.
Not just finding the truth, but the way you analyse things. This is
what you should do. Security, or private investigation. Something
like that.”

“It’s not the same as being a
cop.”

“It could be better though. I’m
not just saying this, Javen. I know excellence when I see it.”

“Yeah, you do. I’ll think about
it. But now I need to push off.”

“What about your fee?”

I stood. “You’ve paid enough. I
might need a favour or two in the future. I’ll call it in
then.”

“Anytime. Um...?”

I waved and headed to the door.
“See you around, Kirin.”

I wanted to leave before I said
something stupid, that I didn’t mean or would regret later. Neither
of us needed the heartache that would bring.

~~~~~~~~

I walked out of the building
not really sure where to go or how I felt. Yes, I’d won. Done what
I wanted to do, even to the point of proving Devi was a creep. It
just didn’t feel like a win though, and now it was over, I felt
empty again. Like I had since the hospital.

A tingle in my head. I turned
and saw Jyoti watching me, sitting on the edge of a flowerbed,
holding a mug of chai. “Hello.”

“Good afternoon, Sri
Ythen.”

I went over and sat by her.
“Big day at work.”

“An unhappy day. Everyone’s
upset.”

“At you?”

“Not specifically.” She bowed
her head. “Thank you for finding the thief.”

“I did it for everyone. You
guys didn’t deserve to have your names ruined by him. Or by Pritam.
Things should be more pleasant without Devi too.”

“Yes. I’m not the only one who
thinks so.”

“So now you can get on with
your job, and relax. Kirin will need all the good people he can
get.”

“Yes. I intend to work hard. If
I don’t, I know no one will make excuses for me.”

The way they had for Pritam,
she didn’t say but I heard loud and clear anyway. “You were a great
help to me. That tip about Pritam pointed us in the right
direction.”

“I’m glad.” She shifted
uneasily. “If people see me talking to you, they might...make
assumptions.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” I stood.
“Hang onto my number, Jyoti. I owe you and I repay my debts. You
never know when you might need help.”

“Thank you, but there’s no
debt. May the Spirit guide you to happiness.”

“Ah...thanks.” Overt displays
of religiousness always made me queasy. “Good luck.”

She smiled, but she was
glad to see me go. She was right that people would talk if we were
seen chatting.
Banis
women had enough of an undeserved reputation
without me adding to it by being overly familiar. I hoped she’d do
all right in Kirin’s lab. He really did encourage people and I
hoped all this wouldn’t change that. He was a good boss, even if
he’d turned out to be a lousy lover.

No, that was unfair. He’d been
a good lover too, but not up to the unexpected. He’d lived
something of a charmed life, and this was definitely the worst
upset he’d ever experienced. Maybe in a few years, with a few more
knocks, he’d be more resilient. But I would have moved on by then.
I’d already started.

And now I’d have to see where
the path led me.

“So that’s what an
investigator’s badge looks like,” Yashi said, fingering the etched
metal. “Worth four hundred dolar, do you think?”

“Maybe not, but the license to
carry a weapon and access to official records is.” I took the badge
back and slipped it into the special wallet it came in. “I feel
like a pretend policeman.”