THIRTY-FIVE

The guardhouse was a squat structure set close to the Rose Building. Entry was via an arched doorway into a corridor that smelled of boot polish and perspiration. At Arora’s orders, we were shown through to the cells by two guards. The prisoner was at the far end lying on a cot bed. Arora nodded and the guards unlocked the cell door, then lifted the man up by his arms and onto his feet. His head hung limp. Arora walked forward, grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked it back. The man’s eyes opened, bloodshot and unfocused.

‘You’re going to answer some questions,’ said Arora. ‘Who sent you?’

The man said nothing.

‘What is your name?’ The man groaned as Arora yanked his head further. ‘Well get what we need out of you.’

Arora released his grip and the prisoner slumped forward again. He walked around behind him, muttered something in a foreign tongue, then punched him in the kidneys. The man writhed in pain as the two guards held him upright. The colonel raised his arm but I caught and held his fist before he could deliver another blow.

‘Wait,’ I said.

He turned and stared at me. There was madness in his eyes.

‘This is pointless. We want to ask him questions, not beat him to a pulp.’

‘You have a better way?’ growled the colonel.

‘Get a doctor in here. See to his head injury, then get him some food. We can question him in the morning.’

Arora considered it. ‘Very well,’ he said. He issued some orders to the guards and then stalked out. The guards dropped their prisoner unceremoniously onto the cell floor, then guided us out and locked the door.

Surrender-not and I walked slowly back to the guest lodge.

‘What do we do now, sir?’ he asked.

‘We stick to the plan,’ I said. ‘We have dinner with the prince, then get back to the Dewan’s office and look for Golding’s report.’

‘You think the Dewan might be involved in today’s attack?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know,’ I said, ‘but if he’s a suspect in Adhir’s assassination, that also makes him a suspect for the attack on Punit.’

‘There is another possibility, sir,’ he ventured. ‘What if the prince hadn’t been the intended target? What if the victim was supposed to have been you?’

‘Things are complicated enough without us indulging in conspiracies of that nature,’ I replied.

‘I’m serious,’ he said. ‘And there’s something else. What if the search of the Dewan’s office is a trap?’

‘Explain,’ I said.

‘It’s Colonel Arora, sir. I can’t shake the thought of his hesitation before apprehending the assassin. Do you really think we can trust him?’

‘He’s the one who persuaded the Maharaja to allow us to investigate,’ I said. ‘Why would he do that if he didn’t want to get to the bottom of it?’

He didn’t look convinced. ‘But what about his actions this afternoon? You think there’s an innocent explanation for that?’

I ran a hand through my hair. ‘I just can’t believe he’s involved in a plot to assassinate the Sambalpore princes.’

Surrender-not thought for a moment. ‘Maybe he’s only involved in a plot to assassinate the second prince?’ he said quietly.

‘What?’

‘Maybe he believes that Punit murdered Prince Adhir. Perhaps this was his attempt at retribution?’

It was an interesting theory – it would explain why Arora might have wanted to let Punit’s attacker escape but still wanted our help to solve the case of who was behind Adhir’s murder. If Surrender-not was right, it meant that Punit was still a suspect with regard to Adhir’s murder. And if Arora had hired the second assassin to kill Punit, it would explain the colonel’s willingness to beat our prisoner to a pulp before we’d extracted any information from him.

‘What do you think?’ asked Surrender-not.

I sighed. ‘I think we need to keep an eye on Colonel Arora.’