The rest of the day turned up fuck-all. Fortunately, there were no more surprises. I put in a call to my mum to see how she and Dad were doing.
“He’s still a bit weak, a bit groggy from the drugs, but getting along,” she said.
“And how’s everything else?”
“Oh, your sister and I are still arguing over the wedding arrangements. Vivek is as disturbingly compliant as ever. And Mrs. Dhewan has been very nice. She thinks so highly of you.”
“Because I’ve been making the payments on time.”
“Oh, Ravi, don’t say that. It won’t be that much longer.”
“Hopefully the final payment will be right before Sanji’s wedding.”
“I’m sure we’re all looking forward to that,” Mum said.
Me more than everyone else.
I put the phone down and glimpsed Lord Shiva lounging in the sofa in the reception area, waiting for something, anything, to happen. For a moment I thought of Julia and wondered how she was doing, and quickly stopped thinking about her. Olivia was working on a forensics case of her own, so she wasn’t bothering with trying to crack a password she knew was a waste of her time. Roger and Cheryl were in his office on a conference call, with David giving legal pointers. Benjamin was logging the videos on Sandra Rodriguez’s computer just in case any of them ended up becoming used as evidence later on. As for me, I was waiting. No leads to chase up, no one to interview.
The odd, abstract feeling of limbo, with two dead bodies and a bunch of killers out there, and nothing to do. I suppose it was something the gods understood better than us. That was probably why they were hanging around more than ever. How bored they must have been to come here for this show.
I clocked off early and went to Ariel’s hotel. When she opened the door to her room, I could tell she was in a post-spa state of radiance.
“Long day?” she said.
“Aren’t they all?”
She took my face in her hands and kissed me.
I let the day and the case melt away in her embrace.