THIRTY-TWO

Surrender-not stared at me as I burst into the room, my shirt clinging to my back.

‘Get your jacket on, Sergeant,’ I said. ‘Were off to visit your friend Miss Bidika again.’

I’d left Annie at the steps of the Banyan Mahal and all but ran back to the Rose Building where Surrender-not was still going through Golding’s papers. In hindsight the running had probably been a mistake; the day was far too hot for that sort of nonsense, but I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally.

I’d asked Annie to come with me to the old fort to question Miss Bidika, but she’d demurred.

‘I’ve been invited on a tour of the palace,’ she’d said, then told me she’d meet me for the drive out to the tiger hunt. In my haste I’d left it at that. Now I wondered who’d invited her, not that I had time to dwell on it. The eunuch’s revelation had knocked me for six. At first I thought he might be joking: the idea that the new Yuvraj had been courting the woman arrested for Adhir’s murder seemed preposterous. But the man had a certain sincerity to him and he’d stuck to his story.

‘But why has no one else mentioned this to us?’ asked Surrender-not as the car sped through the palace gates. He held one hand to his hair against the wind. Even in our hurry to leave, he’d taken out his comb and run it quickly across his scalp.

‘The eunuch says it’s not common knowledge,’ I replied. ‘He says he only knows because as head of the zenana, he was the one tasked by Punit to arrange the gifts he lavished on her.’

‘You must have questioned him quite superbly, sir. I am only sorry I was not there to witness the interview.’

‘There was nothing to see,’ I said. ‘He all but volunteered the information.’

The sergeant was silent. He had that expression on his face again.

‘What?’

‘Sir?’

‘What’s troubling you this time?’ I asked.

His forehead creased. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing, sir. It’s simply that I can’t quite understand why?’

‘Why what?’

‘Why would the eunuch voluntarily tell you all this?’

It was a good question. Only the previous evening, Colonel Arora had told me that the eunuchs were prized for their secrecy. Why then would Sayeed Ali share such a thing? With my questioning of the concubine, was I getting close to something he didn’t want me to know? Or was it because someone had told him to tell me?

‘I don’t know,’ I said, frustrated with myself for not thinking it through sooner.

The old fort loomed large, shimmering in the heat.

I decided to change the subject. ‘Did you find anything useful among Golding’s papers?’

He shook his head. ‘Nothing. The report certainly isn’t there.’

The driver stopped the car in the courtyard of the fort and Surrender-not and I jumped out and headed for Major Bhardwaj’s office.

We were shown in by a tall officer with a jaw like the prow of a ship. The major sat behind his desk with a sour expression on his face. If he’d been less than happy to see us previously, this time he was positively hostile.

‘Orders,’ he spat, rising to his feet. ‘I’ve received no orders granting you access to the prisoner. Who are you that you should come marching into my office and expect me to jump at your command? This is not your Raj, Captain..’

‘No, but the man whose raj it is has asked me to investigate and that’s what I intend to do. It has come to my attention that Miss Bidika may not have been quite as forthright in her answers as I had hoped. So either you can offer me some cooperation or we can telephone the palace and see what His Highness has to say about it.’

For a moment we both stood staring at each other like a couple of bulls in a pen.

‘If I may, sir,’ interjected Surrender-not behind me, ‘I’m sure the major would be as anxious as we are to hear what Miss Bidika might have to say. We are all rowing for the same team, so to speak.’

I wasn’t overly keen on Bhardwaj eavesdropping, but I’d take Surrender-not’s compromise if it helped gain us access.

‘I’ve no objections,’ I said. ‘What about you, Major?’

Bhardwaj considered it, then slowly nodded his assent.

We followed him out of the office and back towards the tower where Shreya Bidika was kept prisoner.

‘Rowing for the same team?’ I said to Surrender-not quietly as we rounded a corner. ‘You’re not at Cambridge any more, Bunty.’

‘No, sir. It just seemed an expedient way to break the impasse.’

Miss Bidika was lying on her bed reading a tired-looking book. Dog-eared pages hung loosely from a frayed and ragged binding. She put down the book and stood up.

‘Mr Wyndham and his Bengali sergeant,’ she said drily. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’

‘Prince Punit,’ I said.

She blinked.

‘What about him?’

‘Last time I was here, I rather went away with the impression that you detested the man.’

This time there was no reply.

‘You failed to mention your relationship with him.’

Beside me, Bhardwaj let out a gasp. ‘What is this nonsense, Captain? You led me to believe—’

I cut him off, focusing on the woman. ‘Well, Miss Bidika?’

She walked over to the desk, pulled out the chair but made no attempt to sit. ‘There was no relationship,’ she said.

‘No?’ I said. ‘I’m told the prince courted you most assiduously.’

‘He took a fancy to me. Like he did so many other women. He thought he could buy me.’

‘But he couldn’t?’

‘If he could, I would be sitting in the zenana right now rather than in here.’

That much was true, but there was something she wasn’t telling me.

‘And yet I’m informed that you met him secretly several times.’

‘Initially, the family sent him to sweet-talk me. To convince me to cease the agitation against their rule. He offered me a position of influence in the zenana. He told me it was a chance to make a difference.’

‘He wanted you to marry him?’ I asked.

‘No.’ She gave a short, bitter laugh. ‘Not at first, anyway. At first he simply wanted to make me his concubine.

‘I, of course, declined and told him a few home truths.’

‘But you continued to meet him?’

She walked over to the window and looked out towards the temple across the river.

‘He asked me to. It was too good an opportunity to turn down. He told me that no woman had spoken to him like that before and that he wanted to change things in the kingdom. That’s when the gifts started. A month later he offered to make me his wife. He said he needed an intelligent woman by his side.’

‘And you said no?’

She turned to face me. ‘I had no intention of becoming part of that family. I said no, and then I tweaked his tail. I reminded him of the curse that afflicts the first wives of the sons of the Sai family.’

‘How did he react?’

‘He certainly wasn’t delighted. At first I think he was somewhat bemused. He seemed to treat it as something of a game – the thrill of the chase, as you English say. But when he realised I was not about to change my mind, his bemusement turned to anger. He is, after all, a man who is used to getting what he wants.’

‘What did he do?’ I asked.

She glanced nervously at Major Bhardwaj. ‘First came the threats. Then came the assassination of his brother and suddenly I ended up in here.’

‘You think Prince Punit is responsible for your incarceration?’ growled Major Bhardwaj. ‘The order to arrest you came with the Maharaja’s personal seal affixed.’ He turned to me. ‘This is ridiculous, Captain. I’m minded to put an end to this farce.’

‘Even if Punit wasn’t responsible for my arrest,’ replied Miss Bidika, ‘he knows that I’m here, and he knows that I’m innocent. Do you not think he could release me with a snap of his fingers? But it suits his purpose to keep me here.’

‘Why?’ I asked. ‘What does he stand to gain by it?’

‘He wishes to bend me to his will. Maybe he thinks I shall repent my earlier actions and fall at his feet begging for forgiveness and freedom? But what would that freedom cost?’ She held me with a stare. ‘Do not underestimate him, Captain Wyndham. He may project the aura of an amiable bulfoon but he is in actuality a very smart man.’

‘Smart enough to have engineered the murder of his own brother?’

‘That’s enough, Wyndham,’ said the major angrily.

He opened the door and shouted for the guard. I heard Bidika’s voice behind me as we were frogmarched out of the room. ‘Rest assured he’s smart enough, Captain Wyndham. I wouldn’t have expected him to do it, but then I wouldn’t have expected to be arrested for the crime.’

Colonel Arora was waiting for us back at the Rose Building.

‘Where have you been?’ he asked anxiously, checking his watch. ‘We must hurry, or else we shall not reach Ushakothi in time.’

‘Ushakothi?’ asked Surrender-not.

‘The forest where the tiger shikar will take place. It’s twenty-five miles from here – a two-hour drive.’

‘You’d better send someone to fetch Miss Grant,’ I said. ‘She planned to accompany us.’

‘No need,’ he replied. ‘She left with His Highness Prince Punit half an hour ago.’

Surrender-not read my expression. ‘It looks like we don’t have to waste any more time,’ he said hastily.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Wonderful.’