Hawamahal Bazaar, Jaipur
The bazaar was buzzing with early morning shoppers, tradespeople and tourists. Qiara’s eyes absorbed the splash of colours all around her – the faded pink facades of the buildings, the bright hues of tie-and-dye saris and scarves, the oranges, reds and yellows of spices heaped up in dry-goods shopfronts, the fluttering saffron flags atop a temple. It was almost as if the city was hell-bent on compensating for its grey skies with an explosion of colour on its streets.
Kabir pulled up in front of a line of shops spread under an ancient-looking building with lattice-work awning. Most of these were currency exchange outlets and displayed blackboards with the buy and sell prices of US dollars, British pounds, Japanese yen and other currencies. Tucked among them was an internet café – and she followed in Kabir’s heels as he strode inside.
Several desktop computers were crammed into cubicles with just enough elbow room for one person. At this time of the day, most of them were empty.
Kabir sought out a young man, wearing a bright green T-shirt with the words ‘Being Human’ emblazoned on it in black. A gold stud glinted in one ear. He rummaged through a drawer before pulling out a charger from a tangle of wires. He plugged one end into Khanna’s tablet and the other into the electrical wall socket. Within moments, the screen flickered to life.
‘Thank you,’ said Kabir. ‘We need to go through the device and we would also like to use the Internet.’
‘ID chahiye. Please fill up this form,’ he said handing Kabir a piece of paper.
‘Pull up a chair,’ Kabir instructed Qiara, after he had dealt with the formalities and the man had made himself scarce.
Kabir tapped away at the tablet, browsing through the contents.
Qiara wanted to ask him if he was looking for something specific but found the words drying up in her throat. Should she tell him that one of the pictures was of her father? How would he react to that? Would he be suspicious of her motives? She stared at the images, watching each one with morbid fascination, waiting for the one she’d seen to turn up. As soon as it showed up on the screen, she held her breath, mentally willing Kabir to scroll to the next picture.
Kabir turned to her. ‘Your father?’
She felt the room swivel for a brief second. That sinking feeling returned again. Kabir knew much more than he was letting on.
‘How do you know that’s my father? You have met him?’
He stared at her for what seemed like an interminably long time before answering quietly.
‘He came to our place on the day we had...we were supposed to elope. He warned my mother that if I ran away with you, he would ruin our lives.’
It was as if the air had been sucked out of the room.
‘And you tell me this now…?’
The amber flecks in his eyes deepened to dark gold. He took a deep, calming breath.
‘Did you know anything about your father’s involvement with Ranveer Khanna?’
Struggling to wrap her head around what he’d just told her, she mumbled, ‘I had no clue. The last time I saw him was when Mamma passed away – more than five years ago.’
Turning the tablet towards her, he stabbed a finger at the third man sporting steel-framed spectacles in the picture.
‘Well, it seems like we will have to find your father and this man here. Obviously, they were Ranveer Khanna’s friends or business associates.’
Kabir’s phone pinged.
‘Zayed, we are in Jaipur. Any luck locating Rishi Mathur yet?’
Qiara watched him as his mouth tightened at the response he got.
‘I might have a lead for you. I’m emailing you a picture. My hunch is the guy – the one wearing glasses – may be Khanna’s business associate or a school or college mate. The sooner we can ID him the better.’
Kabir answered a few more questions Zayed had for him before he disconnected and turned to hail ‘Being Human’. ‘Hey, dude.’
Kabir focused on the job at hand while Qiara took a steadying breath. She tugged at the scarf and pulled it away. Rubbing her palms on the back of her neck, she wondered what exactly her father had told Kabir’s mother. Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about it, but she simply couldn’t brush the whole episode aside. For all these years, she blamed him for leaving her in the lurch. Now it seemed like her father had manipulated him. Kabir was as much a victim as she had been. No wonder he had done his best to forget all about her.
Her head pounded with the possibilities of what may have been, of how things could have taken a different turn if it weren’t for her father’s unwanted intervention in their lives. Her heart went into free fall, despairing at their rotten luck. Struggling to break the train of her thoughts, her eyes swept towards Kabir who was totally focused on the here and now while she was cast adrift by events of the past. What a prize fool she was!
‘Qiara,’ Kabir hissed at her. ‘Take a look at this.’
She looked over his shoulder to see a news clip playing on the computer. A grainy picture of a woman fleeing from the Army Polo Club came up. Alarm bells clanged in her head and she dug her fingers into Kabir’s shoulders to steady herself: the CCTV camera had caught her dashing out of the club.
The reporter was saying: ‘This woman was the last person to have met Ranveer Khanna at the Army Polo Club. SuperNews has learnt that her name is Qiara Rana and she has recently arrived from London. We have also learnt that she was in touch with one Rishi Mathur, who has been helping her with her travels in India. Our sources in the police have told us that both Mathur and Rana are absconding.’
‘Good God!’ Qiara exclaimed. ‘Now, I am a murder suspect?’
Kabir closed the browser and turned to Qiara.
‘It seems like the story has been leaked for a reason.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Whoever is behind Khanna’s murder is trying to muddy the waters by pointing fingers at you.’
‘Was that why Rishi was calling me? Why don’t I call him and…’
‘Zayed, my colleague, is on the job…’
‘But if they are pointing fingers at Rishi, he seems to be as much a victim as I am.’
‘We don’t know that for sure.’
‘So, what now? We just twiddle our thumbs till your colleague finds him?’
Kabir raised an imperious eyebrow at her tone but he remained cool as a cucumber.
‘Not exactly. You will find out by and by. For now, let’s get out of here.’
He walked away to the counter to make the payment. Qiara’s breath hissed out in frustration as she followed him.
‘What’s that supposed to mean? Kabir, how come you didn’t bother to tell me my father may be involved in the case? What else are you hiding from me?’
He glowered at her as he took out his wallet and pulled out the cash.
‘I didn’t know about your father’s involvement till I saw the photo. And, guess what, if I went all official on you, you would be with some heavy-handed cops right now being interrogated to an inch of your life. Get it?’
‘Being Human’ was staring intently at them and she edged past him, swallowing her sharp retort.
She stormed out of the internet café. Kabir was right at her heels and the moment they were out on the pavement he grabbed her arm and turned her around.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
She stewed, though she kept her lips zipped.
Kabir groaned audibly. ‘Don’t be such a juvenile! You know, you can’t go wandering the streets of Jaipur alone.’
‘Last time I checked,’ she blurted out, ‘India was a free country! And in case you haven’t realised I am an adult.’
‘Last time you broke out on your own,’ he retorted, ‘you needed me to save your butt.’
She gritted her teeth. ‘It won’t happen again!’
She could scream in frustration but Kabir’s phone was pinging away. He looked at the screen.
‘Stay here,’ he ordered.
He walked a little further away and spoke quietly into the phone.
‘Hello, Aman Sir!’
‘What are you doing in Jaipur?’
Aman Saxena’s commanding tone put Kabir instantly on the alert.
‘Sir, Zayed must have told you…’
‘I have got Zayed’s update. I want yours.’
Kabir baulked a bit at his mentor’s terse words. Never before had he given Aman Sir the chance to doubt his professionalism and this was his opportunity to come clean. As things stood, he should have been the one to call and inform him about the situation. He launched into a quick update of what had transpired so far and the reason for his detour to Jaipur. When he mentioned Qiara’s name, his mentor caught on to the slight hesitation in his voice.
‘Hmmm…’ Kabir could virtually see Aman Sir purse his lips and drum his fingers on the table. ‘What’s the story with the girl?’
Kabir paused for a micro-second.
‘She is Mehender Singh’s daughter.’
Kabir knew it would probably come as a shock for Aman Sir, who along with Anjana Aunty, had been witness to the mayhem that had followed after Mehender Singh had threatened him and his mother of dire consequences if Kabir so much as dared to look at Qiara again. Aman Sir had taken charge of the situation and sent him packing. His mother, on the other hand, had collapsed at the sight of Singh and had to be hospitalised for weeks after the incident. Kabir himself had gone into a shell, barricading himself from everyone around him.
It was Aman Sir’s paternal concern that had eventually broken through to him. While Kabir had initially rebelled at Singh’s interference, he had realised dreams don’t always come true. Letting go of a dream named Qiara, however, had proved to be a slow, painful process. He often wondered if Aman Sir had ever sought an explanation from Ma about the episode. But if they had discussed it, neither of them kept him in the loop.
The silence that greeted his statement crackled with tension. The seconds seemed to stretch for minutes before Aman responded.
‘So, father and daughter have made a comeback? How do you feel about it?’
Kabir knew Aman Sir was giving him a chance to opt out of the assignment. It was a moment of truth for him. He couldn’t let his mentor down and at the same time he couldn’t forsake Qiara. Suddenly the job at hand had become too weighted by personal stakes: his loyalty to Aman Sir versus his need to do the right thing by Qiara.
‘I…’
Saxena cut in, ‘Kabir, I chose you for this assignment for a purpose – because I cannot trust anyone else. I know this is not a pretty situation for you to be in. Mehender Singh’s involvement means the royal family cannot be far away.’
A familiar sense of frustration assailed him. His past was like an ominous omnipresent shadow he could never escape.
Aman Sir’s words rang in his ears.
‘If you mess up, there will be implications for you, me and the entire team.’
Kabir’s retort was sharp and instant.
‘Understood, Sir. I do know what is at stake here but you have known me long enough to realize one thing – if I take up an assignment I don’t back out until it is completed. This one won’t be any different. You will have no cause for complaint.’
‘That’s my boy.’ Aman said quietly. ‘I have full faith in you. You know that, don’t you?’
Kabir’s throat tightened and he managed to squeeze out the words.
‘Yes, Sir.’
Qiara wandered towards the row of shops where colourful baubles glittered in the sun that had finally put in an appearance through the grey haze. Kabir was still on the phone and she unmindfully peered at bangles and earrings. Hoping to make a sale, the vendor tried to entice her with more pieces of jewellery but she barely noticed. Her mind was buzzing like a bee on steroids.
From the moment she had seen her father’s picture in Khanna’s tablet, she had felt a sense of unease. What was it with the people in her life? Her father had never bothered to make her feel loved or wanted and her parents’ relationship had been at best cold and impersonal. Mamma’s wariness to speak about him had forever tainted her own feelings for him. And now, she wondered if Mamma’s reluctance to talk about him had something to do with his murky dealings. Were the NCA’s suspicions about Khanna right? Was her father too involved in the unholy mess?
A loud cacophony of screeching tyres and agitated shouts broke all around her before she felt hands grab at her and pull her away.
She had strayed away from the pavement and had narrowly missed being hit by a speeding car.
The man who had pulled her back, along with several other pedestrians, were gathered around her.
‘Madam! Are you alright?’
She took in a deep breath and gave them a weak smile.
‘Yes, sorry! For a second, I blacked out.’
‘Why don’t you sit down for a while,’ he suggested, as he waved his arm towards a small shop.
He helped her across to the shop, whose walls were covered with intricate tattoo patterns.
Her knees were knocking in the aftermath of her narrow escape and she sat down gratefully in the plastic chair he pulled out for her.
A couple of moments later, he thrust a glass of water at her which she gulped down before handing it back to him.
‘Thank you.’
‘Koi nahin, aap theek toh ho na?’ he enquired. ‘No problem. Are you alright?’
She nodded and in an effort to staunch his curiosity she glanced at the designs.
‘You do tattoos?’
‘Ji,’ he nodded.
He showed her some of his designs where he had used Hindu symbols like ‘swastikas’ and the ‘aum’ with fiery dragons, serpents and floral motifs in unique combinations.
‘Wow, they are really fantastic,’ she said. ‘You are a real artiste.’
The man beamed at her.
‘My mother used to do mehndis for brides and I would often tag along with her as a kid. Body art fascinated me and I learnt how to do tattoos. Have you been inked?’
She nodded and showed him her butterfly tattoo on her collarbone.
He bent down to look at it intently before drawing back. His easygoing manner disappeared and was replaced by a hooded wariness.
‘Nice,’ he said, politely, trying to hide his discomfort.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘Bahut achcha hai. Nicely done.’
Qiara was surprised by his odd reaction.
‘Have you seen this kind of tattoo before?’
‘Madam, if you are feeling alright now, I have to go somewhere. I hope you don’t mind.’
Much as she would have liked to probe him further something was making him nervous. Besides, she couldn’t possibly impose on his time.
‘Thank you for coming to my help.’
The man gave her a genuine smile and shook his head, ‘Koi nahin.’
As she took a step away from the shop he muttered softly.
‘You know those people who put that tattoo on you are really the scum of the earth.’
His chilling words rooted her to the spot.
‘What did you say?’
His smile disappeared instantly.
‘I…I shouldn’t have said it. Sorry.’
‘I have had this tattoo from the time I was a child. What did you mean?’
‘I’m very sorry, Madam. My mistake. Your tattoo is very similar to another design…please forget what I said.’
‘I will but first you have to tell me what you meant.’
He hesitated for a moment and Qiara saw the uncertainty in his eyes. It was almost as if he was trying to come to some sort of a decision.
A strange fear gnawed at her insides making her feel queasy.
Grabbing his hands she pleaded, ‘Please tell me.’
He peered into her face before saying softly, ‘My youngest sister was taken away by some men. Today, she would have been your age.’
Qiara’s heart beat in her breast like a trapped bird as she heard him talk about his sister. His unrelenting search for her had unfortunately been fruitless but it had left him convinced that she was stolen by a gang of women traffickers.
His grim words knocked the breath out of her.
‘They put this tattoo – a butterfly with one wing – on the girls they steal for sale to filthy, rich men all over the world.’