Different Senses (32 page)

My father stomped into the
library five minutes later. “Javen, you really have been a damn
nuisance this evening.”

“Rajan, he found the
bracelet.”

His sour expression became
delighted. “Really? Where is it?”

“On Harinakshi Narl’s wrist,”
Mum said.

“What?”

I waved him to a chair. “Dad,
sit down, will you? This needs cool heads and a delicate
touch.”

~~~~~~~~

An hour later, I dropped
off two tiddly and jubilant assistants at their homes, and a smug
and rather high ex-boyfriend back at his house. “We
must
do
that again,” Kirin said as he hugged me extravagantly.

I unwound his arms from around
my neck, and kissed his cheek. “Yeah, we must. Sleep well.”

Then to drop Jyoti back to her
home, and finally Shardul, who’d said nothing for the entire
journey. As the taxi pulled up at his office, above which he lived,
I said a little hesitantly because I knew I was imposing, “I’d like
to talk to you about this. When do you have time?”

He paused, his hand on the door
lock. “Now?”

“Here? In your apartment?”

“Office.”

I sent the party taxi on its
way, slightly disappointed not to be invited into Shardul’s private
residence, but not really expecting that I would be. He’d made that
clear from the start and the only surprise was that he had patience
for more of my company tonight.

“Chai?” he asked.

“Yes, please. My mother doesn’t
believe in serving it on formal occasions.”

“Her loss. I won’t be long.” He
went out to where I assumed the staff kitchen lay.

I slumped into a chair,
exhausted but pleased. Not only had the plan worked, my staff and
friends had had a good time, and some pains in the arse had had
their noses tweaked. A good night’s work by anyone’s reckoning.

And I’d danced with
Shardul. A
very
good night’s work.

He returned with two mugs of
chai. I jerked upright as he set it down on the desk in front of
me. I must have been dozing off. “Perhaps it’s too late for this,”
he said.

“No, it’s fine. I appreciate
you taking the time, actually. Not just now...this evening.”

“I forced myself on you.”

“Don’t I wish.” He rolled his
eyes. “You helped a good deal. And you gave my friends a wonderful
time.” I lifted my mug in salute. “Thank you.”

“It was an honour.”

“Even dancing with Kirin?”

His upper lip curled a
little in disdain. “It wasn’t a
hardship
. I’ve done more
distasteful acts. Tell me about the bracelet.”

“Mum will invite Shrimati Narl
to the residence for chai and chat. It’ll have to be done very
carefully. Both she and her husband are powerful people, and the
slightest hint they’re being accused of theft will cause a
stink.”

“
They
are
thieves...only not
in the way your mother thinks.”

“Yes, well, I won’t argue.”

“Will you approach
Veringe?”

“What would you advise?”

He sipped his chai, his eyes
thoughtful. “Tricky. On one hand, he can hardly have an explanation
as to how the same bracelet was sold twice—assuming he’s the vendor
the second time around, which we don’t know. On the other, there’s
no direct proof he stole the item from the residence, so he could
say the bracelet came back from Kelon in apparently legitimate
ways, and disproving that could be difficult. Prosecuting him would
undoubtedly involve your parents in scandal and might easily not
result in a conviction, then he could turn around and sue you for
defamation on top of it.”

“So we need to find out how he
got it out of the residence, and tie it back to him.”

“Suborning a security guard is
the most likely answer.”

“I know,” I said, rubbing my
face with tiredness and exasperation. “But a guard can’t have done
it.”

“You interviewed them all?”

“All but two. One’s on
vacation, the other broke his foot and is home on sick leave. I
don’t have permission to talk to them outside work. But the others
are clean, I’m sure of it. Anyway, the tagging system means none of
them could have done it.”

“That’s what TransPlanet said
about their packets. There will be a way. You just need to figure
it out.”

“I still think the purchaser on
Kelon is in on this. His behaviour stinks of guilt.”

“Agreed,” he said, to my
surprise. “But unless Veringe admits that, you’ll never prove
it.”

“If he is, and Veringe’s
arrested, the guy will back off.”

“Yes. He’s on shaky ground
legally, claiming collateral damages, whatever that incompetent
advising your father says. I think he’s trying it on, personally,
even if he’s not colluding with Veringe.”

“I’ll pass that on to my father
without the personal remarks, if I may.”

“No, don’t. Just suggest he
seeks a second opinion. He hates me enough without inflaming the
situation. I turned his little function into a freak show, I heard
him say as I passed.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t think that
at all.”

Shardul smiled. “If you did,
I’d never have gone with you. I do need his support though if we’re
to get licensing legislation passed. Representative Gopan’s
prepared to propose it as an emergency motion, but we need support
from the council of governors.”

“
So
that’s
what you were
doing tonight. Sweet-talking the wives to convince the
husbands.”

He bowed his head. “Guilty as
charged.”

“Will it work?”

“Who knows, but I had to try. A
little loss of dignity is nothing. I dare say the media will have
fun. My images was taken at least thirty times tonight, and so was
Jyoti’s.”

“Is that good?”

“Have to see. An indigenous man
getting into the news for relatively benign reasons is rare
enough.”

I drained my mug of chai, and
yawned. “Wow, it’s one in the morning. Do you have to work
tomorrow?”

“Fortunately, no. But I should
let you go home.”

We stood. For a second or two,
it felt eerily like that awkward moment after a first date, when
you don’t know if you should offer to stay because you’re not sure
if the guy wants to have sex or not. I could have sworn Shardul was
feeling something along those lines too but it was probably just
projection. I didn’t dare think otherwise.

He held his hand out, and
stupidly I went to take it. “Your mug, Javen?”

“Oh. Oh! Sorry. I really need
to get some sleep.”

“I could call you a taxi but
there’s a rank ten minutes walk away which would be faster. I could
take you down there?”

I waved him away. “Nah. I’m
fine. Thanks. Need to wake up so I can sleep properly. Talk to
you...whenever. When I hear from Mum.”

“Good night, Javen. Sleep
well.”

He’d never said that to me
before. Never been around at bedtime, I supposed. I grinned,
mumbled a farewell and headed off.

The cool night air woke me up
nicely, and by the time I got to the taxi rank, I was a little more
sober and alert and less inclined to foolish notions about
tight-arsed Nihani lawyers. But the memory of Shardul holding me as
we danced still lingered, bright and warm, and whatever happened
over this wretched bracelet, the evening would not have been a
waste, just because of that.

~~~~~~~~

“Wakey, wakey, brother of
mine.”

I squinted at the clock by the
bed. Seven. My brother was a sadist. “Piss off, Yashi.”

“
Such language. Maybe I
can persuade you by reading a little from this morning’s news
report. ‘Governor’s son shows off new
banis
lover at his father’s
ball.’ Last night, the cream of Hegal society was agog at
Governor’s Ythen’s son, Javen, using the occasion to show off his
new relationship with indigenous lawyer and activist, Shardul
Rishabh. When asked about the liaison, Governor Ythen
said—”

“Give me that!” I grabbed for
his reader.

Yashi held it out of my reach.
“No, he said ‘He had no comment at this time, and his son’s affairs
were a private matter.’ Sri Rishabh could not be reached for
comment as we went to press.”

“
Cursed insanity. Shardul
is going to
eviscerate
me.”

“Never mind Shardul. Dad must
be spitting blood.”

“Are you making this up?”

He showed me the screen. There,
in full colour, was a shot of me and Shardul dancing, staring into
each other’s eyes like a pair of lovestruck fools. I groaned, and
pulled the sheets back over my head. “Shoot me now.”

“So when are you going to bring
him around to meet us as your new partner?”

“Never. It’s ridiculous. He
went with Jyoti, for fuck’s sake.”

“Language. Mum must be
delighted.”

“They know it’s rubbish. At
least, they’d better. Fuck, Shardul!”

“Did you?”

“
Yashi, piss
off
. I
need to call him.”

“Sure. Wouldn’t want to listen
to your ‘private affairs’, after all.”

I threw my pillow at him and he
made his escape. Then I found my phone. A message was waiting for
me. “Have read news report. When should we announce wedding?”

I groaned in pain.
Bloody
stupid
reporters.

I called Shardul’s number. He
picked up immediately. “Ah, my intended. How are you this morning,
sweetheart?”

“I had nothing to do with this,
I swear.”

“I know. It’s hilarious. My
aunt nearly choked to death laughing. My first call this morning
was Jyoti, giggling her head off and telling me to read the news
report.”

I relaxed. “I suppose it could
be worse.”

“Indeed. And if you care to
read further, there are some flattering pictures of Jyoti and Vik,
without too much in the way of snide commentary. Just don’t read
comments on the articles. They’re vile as usual.”

“I won’t. So...a success so far
as you’re concerned?”

“Not a failure. Though if
you’re breaking off our engagement, I suppose I ought to issue a
press release so it’s known I’m back in the game.”

“You do and I’ll break your
lilywhite neck.”

He laughed. “Come on, Javen.
It’s funny and relatively harmless. Your parents will be
furious.”

“They will. My brother’s
hugging himself with glee at the prospect. Of course it’s not his
head it’ll come down on.”

“Of course not. The press will
move on in a day or two. And the images were quite nice, don’t you
think?”

“
I guess.” I might even
print them off, but I’d never tell
him
. “Shardul, while you’re in
such a good mood...what do you know about Veringe and any illicit
activities? Other than the artefacts, I mean.”

“What I’ve heard is that there
is very little he won’t buy or sell, and he’s not choosy how he
obtains the goods. I know at least two cases where grieving spouses
were persuaded to part with heirlooms at a time when they were
emotionally vulnerable, and some of the items I saw last night are
ones that disappeared from our community under suspicious
circumstances.”

“Stolen goods?”

“I’m not using that term in a
potentially recordable conversation.”

Wow
. “You’re scared of
him.”

“
You
should be scared of him. He has powerful friends
and flexible ethics, shall we say.”

“What about not so powerful
friends—the kind who might be able to enter a residence
unnoticed?”

A long silence. “This, I won’t
discuss on the phone. Give me some time.”

“Sure. I’d be grateful for the
help.”

“Anything for you, my suckling
child.”

He closed the call as I
tried to control my gag reflex.
What a way to kill off my fantasies, Shardul.

~~~~~~~~

Yashi didn’t think the whole
thing so funny when some enterprising little squit, having
discovered his personal number, called him over breakfast to ask
about my ‘private affairs’, and I ended up being forced to bar
calls from anyone not already on my contact list. I messaged my
people, Kirin and Jyoti to warn them to do the same for the
weekend, and then I fled up to my grandfather’s house. Yashi and
Tara decided it was a good day to take the kids to the beach.

The whole thing tickled my
grandfather, though he understood how aggravating it was for the
family. He’d read the reports and been curious, he said, about his
new grandson-in-law to be. “Fine looking fellow, don’t you
think?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But he’d never
marry me or any other Kelon.”

“Sorry about that, aren’t
you?”

Granddad radiated nothing but
warm sympathy, so I told him the truth. “Very. Please don’t tell
Mum and Dad.”

“Do I look like a fool, Javen?
I can imagine the conversations at the governor’s residence this
morning. But all the same...he’s a fine young man.”

“He’s gorgeous, but considers
himself too good for me.”

“Hmmm. Then maybe he’s the
fool. Let’s do some gardening. That’ll take your mind off it.”

It didn’t, but it gave me a
chance to mull a few things about the bracelet case, and other
cases I was working on. And about Kirin, and Shardul, and dreams
unfulfilled.

Back in Hegal, the office
message system was full of crap from reporters. I’d got in early
just so I could deal with this nonsense, and deleted them all
unread. Fortunately—unfortunately for the victims, of course—a
beautiful young actress and her lover had died the night before in
a murder suicide, and the feeding pack moved on. A governor’s son
and a possible indigenous
lover had
nothing on sex, glamour and death.