FORTY-ONE

I told Surrender-not to get started and that I’d meet him at Golding’s office in an hour. Before that, there was somewhere I needed to be.

There was little to see in the deserted streets. Where the purdah car had crashed, there was nothing save a bent telegraph pole. I drove on and parked outside the Beaumont. There was a different clerk behind the reception desk. I ignored him, made my way up to room twelve and knocked on the door. I held my breath and waited for Annie to answer, but the seconds ticked by and a thousand thoughts, none of them good, ran through my head. I knocked again, this time louder.

‘Just a minute,’ came a muffled voice and I breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Who is it?’ she asked, her voice clearer now.

‘It’s me. Sam.’

The door opened and I was met with the scent of her perfume and the sight of her dressed in a silk bathrobe with her hair wrapped up in a towel. I found myself wishing that the sight was as familiar to me as the scent.

‘Is everything okay, Sam?’

‘Not really.’

‘Is this about last night?’

‘You know about last night?’ I said, trying hard to mask my surprise. ‘Punit told you what happened?’

‘What’s Punit got to do with it? I was talking about your little disappearing act. What are you talking about, Sam? Has something happened? Has it got something to do with Colonel Arora?’

‘What?’ I asked.

‘Last night. I was there when the colonel telephoned Punit. We were still dancing when the call came through.’

‘What happened exactly?’

She stood back from the door. ‘You’d better come in.’

I walked into the room. It was almost identical to Miss Pemberley’s, except that this one contained five large bouquets of roses, each garlanded with a red silk ribbon and placed in vases the size of buckets.

‘You’re taking up horticulture?’ I asked.

‘They’re from Punit,’ she said matter-of-factly.

‘All five of them?’

‘All five.’ She nodded. ‘One bouquet each morning, and one each afternoon.’

‘Seems rather excessive,’ I said. ‘Have you checked them for aphids?’

‘Maybe I should have kept you waiting outside,’ she replied.

‘Maybe you should have,’ I said, ‘I get terrible hay fever. You’d better tell me what happened before my eyes start watering.’

I took a seat on the side of her bed, making a point of pushing a vase that had been placed on the bedside table as far away as possible.

‘Well,’ she said, moving it back, ‘it must have been after midnight. We were still in the salon – Punit, Davé, the Carmichaels and me – when a guard burst in. It was the foxtrot and Punit wasn’t best pleased at the interruption, but he went to the telephone. He returned a few minutes later and called an immediate end to the proceedings, saying he had something urgent to attend to. And that was it. He left the room. The party fizzled out after that. I went looking for you, but couldn’t find you anywhere. Where did you run off to, anyway?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said. ‘Now think carefully. What was Punit’s reaction when he came back?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Did he seem surprised or in shock?’

She thought for a moment, then slowly shook her head. ‘No. At least, I don’t think so. Look, Sam, what’s going on?’

‘The Maharani Devika’s been arrested,’ I said. ‘It’s possible that she and her eunuch were trying to clear the path to the throne for Prince Alok.’

She raised a hand to her mouth. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she said. ‘Is it true?’

‘She had a motive.’ I sighed. ‘The facts seem to fit.’

Annie walked over to the window, then turned to face me. ‘There has to be some other explanation. Have they questioned the eunuch? What does he say?’

‘Not much,’ I replied. ‘He’s dead.’

‘How?’

I thought back to the previous night’s execution. The cheer of the crowd as Sayeed Ali’s skull was crushed. ‘It’s best you don’t know.’

‘What about the Maharaja? Didn’t he stop them arresting his wife?’

‘He’s in no position to stop anything,’ I said. ‘When presented with the evidence of her involvement, he had a seizure. To all intents and purposes, Punit’s in charge now.’

That seemed to take her by surprise.

‘Well, congratulations, Sam,’ she said definitively.

‘For what?’

‘I’d imagine Punit will be very grateful to you for saving his life yesterday. Maybe he’ll offer you a position here.’

I couldn’t tell if she was joking.

‘I doubt it,’ I said. ‘Besides, the Viceroy’s ordered me back to Calcutta. The train leaves at ten tonight. I just thought I should let you know.’