Page 69 of The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

Samir looks down at my offering. Without raising his head, he lifts his eyes to mine. “What am I to do with these?”

I put my hands in my pockets. “They’re pieces of a puzzle I’m trying to put together, but I’m missing a piece.” I begin pacing the area in front of his desk.

“On the Royal Jewel Cinema project, decorative bricks like this were substituted for the bricks specified in the original contract. The invoices show that the palace paid for class one bricks, not these less expensive ones. If the palace was charged full price, did Singh-Sharma pocket the difference?

“Now, as for this cement. It’s too porous to be used on the balcony of the cinema house. Wrong ratio of sand to water. That can happen when unskilled labor is used. But I thought Singh-Sharma has a reputation for using only the most qualified labor. The palace certainly pays top rates for your labor costs. So once again, if the palace was charged full price, did Singh-Sharma pocket the difference?”

“Sit, Malik. You’re making me dizzy.”

“You again?”

I turn around. It’s Ravi.

He walks into the room, rolling his eyes at his father as if to sayMalik ispagal.

Ravi throws up his hands. “Abbas, is this another flimsy excuse to catch a glimpse of Sheela?”

What?The confusion must show in my face.

“With or without her sari?” He tosses a chin at his father. “Papaji knows all about it.”

I turn to Samir, who has put a hand over his mouth, as if hiding a smile.

“My wife is a stunner,hahn-nah?” Ravi smiles. “She told me how you’d tried to get her clothes off the night of the cinema house collapse.”

The image of Sheela, fresh from the bath, appears unbidden in my mind. I feel my face flush. What did Sheela tell Ravi? Why would she say such a thing?

Now Samir chuckles. “You do look guilty, you know.”

“It wasn’t like that!” I say.

“Let’s ask her, shall we?” He walks to the door and calls her name. She appears with Baby on her shoulder and a cloth diaper.

“Where is Asha when I need her?” Sheela sounds irritated. She stops midstride when she sees me. Ravi places his hands on her shoulders and guides her to stand in front of me.

“Now,priya, did this man not ogle your naked body the night of the collapse?”

Her mouth forms an O and her eyes widen in surprise. “No, not like that. He helped me with my bath. But—not in that way. I... I was drunk—and tired.” She turns to Ravi. “I didn’t say he tried anything, did I?” She pivots to face Samir, waiting behind his desk. “Papaji, I wouldn’t. I love Ravi! I’ve never—”

Samir holds up his hand, nodding his head. “Enough,bheti.Theek hai.Go. Go take care of Baby.”

Stricken, Sheela throws a bewildered look at me, shaking her head.You must believe me, Abbas! I never said that!Ravi escorts her out of the library and returns with a grin on his face. I know that look. When you think you’re about to win the match.

But the game isn’t over yet.

Without a word, I pull the last item from my pants pocket. One of the unmarked gold bars I borrowed from Moti-Lal. I set it on the desk next to the other items.

Samir inches forward in his seat, staring at the bar. The light from his banker’s lamp shines directly on the gold, making it glow. I lift the gold and place it neatly in the recessed area of the brick. It fits.

For a moment no one speaks.

Ravi comes forward. “Party tricks, Abbas? Papaji, he’ll say anything—”

Samir silences him with a warning look.

To me, he says, “What’s your point?”

“I think these bricks are used to smuggle gold into Jaipur. The bullion is removed and the bricks are mixed with all the other class one bricks Singh-Sharma uses in construction.” I point to the brick on Samir’s desk. “These can’t be traced to Chandigarh Ironworks, your supplier, because they don’t have a manufacturer’s stamp on them. They do, however, have an indentation deep enough to hold a gold bullion.”

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