Different Senses (45 page)

Tushar shivered. “But
there’s a man out there who wants me
dead
.”

“Maybe just scared.” I stroked
his neck and he leaned into the caress. “It didn’t sound to me like
a serious attempt to kill or even harm you. More like a warning
off.”

“But from what?
Performing?”

“Probably. With the shows
finishing soon, hopefully that will be all the attacker wanted. The
thing is, you just do what you can, take reasonable precautions, or
you’ll make your life a misery.”

“But I keep thinking about
it.”

“Natural for now. We’ll just
have to distract you,” and he laughed as I ran my hand down his
back.

“Come on, Tushar. Let’s get you
out of here. I feel happier when you’re at my house,” Ursemin said.
“No one will attack you with those reporters around.”

“True. They serve some purpose.
Such nuisances though.”

He peeled off his fake
eyelashes and the stuck on sparkles, then gave his face another
wipe. “There. A shower at home and I’m all clean.”

He leapt up from his chair and
planted another kiss on me, before snuggling against me and making
it clear my arms were for putting around him now. I obliged.

“Let’s go,” Ursemin said. “The
auto is under cover so we should be able to get you inside without
trouble, Javen, but you’ll have to lie low until we’re in the
garage at the house.”

“I’ve done worse. Do you want
your letter, Tushar?”

“Letter?”

“That invitation.” I
pointed.

“Oh, that.” Tushar passed it to
his manager. “Lalit deals with those things. I don’t know anything
about promotion, so I leave it to him and do what he says. He’s
very clever, and has so many ideas.”

Ursemin gave a little bow.
“Kind of you, Tushar, but I can only promote good products.”

“And I’m the best.” Tushar
wriggled enticingly against me.

I grinned against his braids.
“You sure are.”

Ursemin’s auto was more like an
upmarket limousine than a suburban runabout. As I looked at it, he
said, “I used to chauffeur my acts around. I had to keep up
appearances.”

“I don’t care about that,”
Tushar said, climbing in the back. “Javen, there’s room for you to
stretch out if you put your head in my lap.”

“Notice the completely innocent
and unplanned way he said that,” I noted to Ursemin. He grinned.
“Tushar, I should remind you there are public decency laws in
Hegal.”

“Yes, and there’s a blanket in
the back, isn’t there, Lalit?”

“
Completely
unplanned,” I muttered
as I stepped in. “I
am
in disguise.”

“
But those horrible
reporters will make up stories about
another
man spending the night
with me, and then pester you about how unfaithful I am. Come on,
lie down. I don’t bite.”

“Liar.”

His smile nearly split his
face. I laid my head on his lap, yanking off the stupid wig at the
same time. His hands dove immediately into my real hair and
scrunched it up. “Ooh, now that’s better.”

I poked him in the thigh.
“Molestation can wait.”

“
It’s only your
hair
.”
That innocent act really was
very
convincing.

Ursemin threw the blanket over
me, and Tushar tucked it in tidily. Hopefully even someone peering
directly into the auto would see no trace of me. Though if Tushar
kept fiddling.... “You’re giving me away.”

“Now I’d never do that to you,”
he said serenely. My nose was very close to his crotch. “I could
always undo....”

His hand crept down but I
grabbed it. “Behave, you nuisance.”

“You’re so unkind to me. Lalit,
tell him he’s mean.”

“Tushar, behave. Javen’s our
guest, not your pet.”

“Can’t he be both?”

I squeezed the hand I had
trapped. “
Behave
, I said.”

“Make me.”

As Ursemin turned on the
auto’s motor and pulled out of the parking spot, Tushar undid his
safety harness, and wriggled down into the seat well. “What
are
you
doing?” I asked, now just a little irritated.

“
Um, see, I think
this
would
be more comfortable.”

I sighed in exasperation, but
then realised the brat’s plan was to lie on top of me. “Also
against the law, you know. No safety harness.”

“You’re not wearing one,” he
breathed against my face. “Now, isn’t this better?”

He had the blanket over us
both, and now his legs were entwined in mine. “Don’t you care what
Lalit thinks?” I whispered.

“He’s used to me. Are you angry
with me, Javen?”

I wrapped my arms around him
and held on tight, hoping like hell Ursemin didn’t brake hard or
that at least the back seat collision devices were in excellent
order. “You’re utterly incorrigible.”

“
Oooh, I like that word.
We say,” he leaned up to lick my ear and murmur into it,
“
lilhila
fon
.”

“Should be your stage name,” I
said grumpily but that only made him laugh, and squirm maddeningly
against me.

~~~~~~~~

“I don’t even need to ask, do
I?” Madan said as I walked in next morning. “That little swagger
says it all.”

“Hush.”

“And the smug grin.”

I pointed at him.
“Jealous.”

“Not my type, Javen. And my
wife is all I need. How did they take the news?”

I shrugged. “About as well as
you can expect. I’d be happier if Ursemin would hire guards, but
he’s operating on a tiny budget. The concert run finishes in a few
days. A lower profile will help.”

He swung his comm screen
around. Tushar’s cheeky smile was splashed across it. “No sign of
interest flagging so far.”

“No, because Ursemin’s still
selling concert tickets and music downloads. Once he stops the
promotion, Tushar can fade into the background.”

Madan grunted. I chose to
ignore the scepticism I sensed from him. “Did Sushri—?”

My phone went. “Good
morning, Shardul,” I said politely. No point in being the one at
fault. At least, not
first
.

“Javen, why didn’t you tell me
Benay had been released on bail?”

I sat at my desk. “Because I
only heard yesterday and I didn’t think it made any difference to
you. How did you hear?”

“I have contacts at the police
station, of course. Why has he been released?”

“Because he’s wearing a
tracking tag and the assault charge is likely to be dropped for
lack of evidence.”

“
What? Damn
guko
Kelon
police!”

“
Actually, the
damn
guko
Kelon police are doing their job. Besides, Benay didn’t do
it. My talent told me.”

“Explain.”

“I spoke to him. He said he
didn’t do it. I believe him.” I didn’t feel a need to be
forthcoming.

“Just like that.”

“Just like that. Did you want
an innocent man to go to prison just because he’s a Kelon?”

A long pause while Shardul
ground his teeth. “It leaves Tushar exposed.”

“Yeah. Already explained that
to him. His manager can’t afford guards, so if you’re so worried,
you guys need to keep an eye on him. I can’t, not all the
time.”

“No one expects you to. We can
handle it.”

“Maybe, but I have a personal
interest in the matter now.”

“Being?”

“Use your imagination, Shardul,
and if you’re thinking of ticking me off for violating one of your
precious Nihan, I’m telling you now, I’m not in the mood.”

“
Spirit forfend I
offer
you
any advice.”

“Not on this, anyway. You’re
not a disinterested party.”

A sarcastic laugh came down the
phone speaker. “Your sexual antics don’t concern me in the least,
and Tushar is an adult. I only called because I need Lalitchandra
Ursemin’s personal phone number. If you don’t want to give it to
me, I’ll ask someone else.”

“Sure I can give it to you.” I
read it out to him. “Anything else I can do for you?”

He hung up without saying
another word. I growled at the phone, and looked up to find Madan
staring at me. “Problem?” I asked.

“You weren’t very nice to
Shardul-ji. He’s connected to our biggest client, and I thought he
was a personal friend.”

“He is. But he’s also an
interfering sod, and I’m not jumping to his command. He thinks I
should stay away from Tushar, and I’m not going to.”

“Fine, fine. But—”

“But?” I snapped.

“Nothing. Forget I spoke. You
were asking something before he called?”

Madan, a wiser man than
me, knew when to back off and let me figure out for myself when I’d
been a dick. But I didn’t call Shardul back to apologise. One,
because he despised apologies, and two, I wasn’t sure what I was
apologising for, other than being a tad curt. He
wasn’t
disinterested, though that had never stopped me asking him
for advice before. But this was different. This was purely
personal, and Tushar being indigenous didn’t make it Shardul’s
concern, any more than Shardul deciding, purely hypothetically, to
start screwing a Kelon would be my business. I’d wish him all the
luck in the world if he did.

Sure you
would, Javen.
A lot of this delusional
stuff going around.

Pissed off or not, Shardul was
as good as his word. As I turned up at the theatre, two men I
recognised from my work at the Institute discreetly took my
picture. I waved and they waved back, so I walked over. “You guys
are going to be careful, right? Take the wrong picture of the wrong
man, and you could get your heads kicked in.”

“We’re not without resources,
Sri Javen,” the older one said. “But mainly we’re here to record
and report—and raise the alarm.”

“Cops know what you’re
doing?”

“Shardul-ji said he told
them.”

Both looked Kelon on account of
their mixed heritage. They could easily be mistaken for reporters.
“Good. Be careful, okay? You have my number?”

“Shardul-ji gave it to us. Uh,
and told us you’d be around.”

“I bet. I’m going back with Sri
Tushar to Sri Ursemin’s house.”

“He, uh, told us that too.”

“Oh, did he. Okay. We should be
leaving in under an hour in Sri Ursemin’s auto. I’ll be keeping my
head down, but I’ll be with him, so you won’t need surveillance at
the house.”

“No, but Shardul-ji said you
might....”

My empathy filled in the blush
the night covered. “Might?”

“Be too busy to keep an eye on
things,” the other man said in a rush.

“Talkative, wasn’t he? Do what
you like. Uh, but thanks.”

They nodded and I left before
Shardul’s instructions could tear away the remained few shreds of
my dignity. Big-mouthed lawyer bastard. If I’d done something like
that to him....

Oh, to hell with Shardul. I had
two big handfuls of loveliness waiting for me inside, and Shardul
could go screw himself.

Tushar behaved himself this
time, and contented himself with dragging us both to the seat well
so he could cuddle me without being seen at the window level.
“Tired?” I asked, stroking his face.

“Hmmm, yes. It’s been a long
run.”

“A successful one,” Ursemin
said from the front.

“Yes, but hard work, even
though I love it.”

“What’s next?” I asked.

“Touring, maybe. More
recordings and interviews. Lalit will know. I just concentrate on
what I’m doing right now. I wish I had time to write more songs. I
could write one about you, maybe,” he said, giving me a sly
look.

“Yeah? What would it be
about?”

He put his mouth near my ear.
“About my dark-eyed lover with the beautiful voice and the
big—”

“Huh, sounds more like boasting
than music.”

He laughed. “Can I help it? I
wanted to tell the audience tonight about my wonderful man. Didn't
think you’d like that.”

“Not so much ‘like’ as ‘not
think it would be wise’. Don’t give people another reason to hate
you, sweetheart.”

“Say that again.”

“Sweetheart.”

“Oooh.” He rippled with
pleasure. “All the way down to my toes, I felt it.”

“Brat.”

“Now that’s not nice. People
would hate me for being with you?”

“It’s another excuse. Not that
they’re exactly queuing up to sleep with me, but my father’s
position....”

“I keep forgetting about that.
You’re just Javen.”

“
I
keep forgetting about it. But I’m not the press,
or a racist lunatic. We have to be careful.”

“Why are people so full of
hate? Who cares what colour our skin or hair is? We’re all the same
underneath.”

“
Beats the hell of me,
sweetheart. I can’t fathom why anyone would hate
you
.”

He sighed and nuzzled against
me. We sat like that all the way back to Ursemin’s house, and when
we arrived, I had to shake him a little to rouse him. “Oh dear. I
need a shower to wake me up.”

“I’ll wash your back.”

He fluttered his
eyelashes at me. “That’ll certainly wake up
parts
of
me.”

Ursemin opened the auto’s door
for us, giving no sign he’d heard any of this. “I’ll heat up the
food while you two get cleaned up.” Nothing seemed to shock him.
Perhaps he’d seen it all before.

Half an hour later when we
emerged flushed and breathless from the shower in Tushar’s flat,
Ursemin had the table laid, and a big jug of iced fruit juice
waiting for us. “Ordered in again, I’m afraid. Once the concerts
are over, I’ll have time to cook.”