The man who had been crouching by her front door started towards them. ‘It’s me,’ he said.
‘Who?’ Shilpa asked from a safe distance, behind Theo.
He stepped out of the shadows. ‘Brijesh,’ he said. Shilpa and Theo stared at the short man with frameless glasses and thick black hair.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure–’
‘My aunty told me you were expecting me.’
Shilpa looked at him blankly.
‘Bippu Aunty,’ he tried.
Now it started to make sense. The day of Mason’s funeral, when she was running late, her mother had told her some story about a nice boy with a pharmacology degree who wanted to visit England. Her car had been playing up and she was late. She hadn’t paid much attention to her mum, but she did recall her saying she had given this man her address. Because it wasn’t enough that she may have a stalker, her mother was handing out her address willy-nilly to strangers. She could hear her mum’s voice now, reprimanding her. ‘He’s not a stranger. He’s Bippu Aunty’s nephew.’ Like that made a difference. Nine out of ten murders were committed by people you knew.
It should have shocked her that in this day and age someone could turn up at your front door unannounced like this, but it didn’t. Nothing in her big Indian family shocked her anymore. Just last month the same thing had happened to a cousin of hers, so it was expected. The Solanki family had a lot to answer for. Shilpa noticed that the man had two suitcases with him. One was sealed in a cellophane wrap, suggesting he had important luggage, but it was probably just mangoes. Her relatives loved sending her mangoes and then immediately called to enquire if she had received them, like they were some precious cargo of gold.
‘But these are different,’ her mother would say, holding one close to her nose and taking in the aroma. ‘These are Mankurads. Forget Alphonso varieties. The Mankurad is the true Goan mango.’
‘Okay, Mum,’ she would say. She had to admit, the taste was unlike anything she had ever eaten before; sweet and delicious. Not like the insipid imports you got at the local store. Maybe she would make a mango cake with Brijesh’s haul.
‘You know him?’ Theo said, looking at her, his hand on her forearm now.
She nodded slowly. Theoretically she didn’t, but she supposed she knew of him. ‘My mum–’ she started, but Theo cut her off.
‘You don’t need to explain. I have a big family, remember? I’ve had several potential girls deemed to be wife material sent to my door.’
Shilpa felt a sudden stab of jealousy. ‘Oh no,’ she said in a whisper, trying to clarify the situation. ‘He isn’t a suitor.’ But she knew this was a lie. How often did her mother send a man her way if he wasn’t potential boyfriend material?
‘I take it Bippu Aunty isn’t a blood relative,’ Theo said.
Shilpa looked at Brijesh, his suitcase and his thick jacket on this warm summer’s evening. ‘Stop it, Theo. He’s definitely not husband material,’ she said under her breath.
‘Phew,’ he said. ‘I was beginning to feel a little jealous.’
Shilpa looked at him and smiled. She wanted to kiss him there and then, but she refrained. She couldn’t do that to Brijesh, not when he had travelled so far. And definitely not if she didn’t want to get an early-morning wake-up call from her mother telling her to be ashamed of herself.
‘I’ll leave you to it?’ Theo said, putting his arm around her waist and giving it a squeeze.
Shilpa nodded.
‘I wasn’t just waiting here,’ Brijesh said, as Theo said goodbye and started walking back down Estuary Road. Shilpa watched him as he went. ‘Well, actually, I was,’ Brijesh continued, oblivious to her yearning for Theo. ‘I tried the doorbell, but there was no answer.’
‘I was out,’ Shilpa said, turning towards him and trying her best smile.
‘Obviously,’ came Brijesh’s reply. ‘I tried your number, but there was no answer, so I thought I would wait.’
Shilpa took her phone out of her bag. She had three missed calls from an unknown mobile number. The tapas bar had been noisy, and she hadn’t thought to check her phone. She slipped her key in the door. Tanvi must have been at a late showing. Great. She would have to deal with this newbie by herself. She realised as she opened the front door that Tanvi was in the guest room. Brijesh would have to camp in the lounge.
‘And then my Mumbai connection was delayed also,’ Brijesh said as he took the tenth mango out of his case and laid it on the kitchen island. The smell was so intoxicating, Shilpa asked if she could eat one there and then.
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘They are a little past the season, but still good. The summer came late this year in Goa.’
‘So, you’re from Goa?’ she said as she sliced into the deep orange flesh and cut it into several pieces.
‘Originally Cal.’ Brijesh saw Shilpa’s confusion. ‘Not California. Calcutta, or Kolkata, as people say now. You know – Bombay is Mumbai, Bangalore is Bengaluru.’
‘I get it,’ Shilpa said. She devoured the mango, licking the juice from her fingers.
‘Yes, you don’t need a history lesson from me,’ Brijesh said, looking at his feet.
‘No, it’s interesting,’ she said. ‘I’ve never been to Goa. I know nothing about India or my heritage. I really need to make the trip.’
Brijesh’s eyes lit up. Shilpa hoped she hadn’t opened the floodgates, allowing him to talk at length about his hometown. She did want to know more about India, about Goa and Delhi. She wanted to go there sometime, but now wasn’t the right time. There never seemed to be a right time.
After her mango, she excused herself to retrieve the spare bedding from the trunk in the lounge and started making up the sofa with a duvet, pillow and a sheet.
‘And you’re just here on holiday?’ she asked, trying to sound casual and not just wanting to know how long she would have a house guest for.
Brijesh shook his head. ‘I have a work permit. I have a sponsorship from a pharmacology lab in the Midlands.’
‘Oh, when do you start?’ she asked, but she wasn’t really listening. Her mind had drifted to what Theo had said about the woman in black and the foundation in the basin in the annex where Mason’s body had been found. She tried to recall anyone wearing black but couldn’t. It was an extravagant party. Someone in black was hardly likely to stand out. She was sure it held some relevance or Theo wouldn’t have mentioned it, but maybe it was just a red herring. If Mason frequented the annex often, then perhaps he was meeting other women there. Although it was unlikely he would do this right under his fiancée’s nose. Perhaps Harriet used a darker shade than necessary. Who knew? Maybe the person Shilpa was meeting tomorrow would shed some light on it. Yes, tomorrow she would know more.
‘And the company has gone into administration,’ Brijesh said as Shilpa tuned in to what her house guest was saying. ‘They didn’t tell me before I left Goa, so here I am. I suppose with everything going on they forgot.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Shilpa asked, wondering if this man would be staying with her indefinitely.
‘I can stay for a couple of weeks and have a nice holiday. That’s why I thought I’d come down to Devon and see you. Devon is supposed to be lovely.’ Brijesh looked out of the window towards the estuary. ‘Although I can’t see much of its beauty now.’
‘No,’ Shilpa said, suddenly very tired. ‘You’ll have to wait till morning.’
‘Or,’ Brijesh said, ‘I could try and find another sponsor. I’ve always wanted to try a different career. Maybe this is my opportunity.’
‘Maybe,’ Shilpa said through a stifled yawn. She was too tired to talk anymore, especially to someone making a career decision. ‘If you don’t mind, I’m completely exhausted. I think I need to get to bed.’
‘Of course,’ Brijesh said with a slight bow of his head. ‘Don’t let me keep you. I’m still jet-lagged myself. I only got into London two days ago.’
Shilpa smiled and said goodnight. It was only once she was in bed that she thought she’d better warn both Tanvi and Brijesh of each other’s presence, but before she could muster the energy to get out of bed, she had fallen into a deep slumber.