Page 73 of The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

“But what about the garden? Who will tend to it? I have to water the young plants—”

Dr. Kumar shakes his head. “For now, your safety has to take priority. Mrs. Kumar will take care of things when she returns.Chinta mat karo.”

Don’t worry?Worrying is all I’ve done since Malik left.

26

LAKSHMI

Jaipur

This morning marks the third day I’ve been away from Jay. Malik comes to the Agarwals’ early to tell me about his visit to the Singhs. Kanta and Niki have already gone out for a walk with Saasuji. Manu has barricaded himself in his study, far from the drawing room where we’re sitting.

Malik says Samir seemed genuinely shocked when he showed him how the gold bar fits into the brick. We agree it’s unlikely that Samir would put his firm in jeopardy for the promise of more money. What he really wants, we decide, is to believe his son has made the honest mistake of accepting damaged goods. But neither Malik nor I believe that Ravi’s error is an innocent one. Based on how smoothly he seduced my sister twelve years ago and shrugged off the consequences, we know how disingenuous Ravi can be.

Malik also summarizes his visit to Hakeem, the facilities accountant.

That puzzles me. “And Hakeem won’t come forward to say that he switched the receipts? Why? Who is he protecting?”

Malik hesitates. He never lies to me, but I know he won’t share things that might hurt me or hurt others. I wait.

“Hakeem...lives with Mr. Reddy.”

“The theater manager?”

Malik nods. “They share lodgings here in Jaipur. And Hakeem has a wife and four daughters in Bombay. He doesn’t want them to know about Mr. Reddy. It would destroy their lives.”

I’m trying to put the pieces together when it comes to me.“Accha.”Who am I to judge the accountant? I’m a woman who deserted a marriage and slept with another woman’s husband. People find love where they find it. “And the Singhs know...about the relationship?”

“Ravi Singh found out. Mr. Reddy will sacrifice his job. Hakeem will keep his. He has a large family to support.”

“So Reddy agreed to say he let more people onto the balcony than he was supposed to. Even though that’s a lie?”

“Right.”

Samir certainly won’t turn his own son in for fraud and misappropriation. Parvati will keep pressing Maharani Latika to fire Manu. And, as appalling as it is to me, Maharani Latika isn’t interested in an investigation; she wants the problem to go away and for the cinema to open again as quickly as possible. I understand. The tarnish on the royal reputation increases every day the situation is in limbo.

I’d promised Kanta that the maharanis were fair, but now I’m realizing how foolhardy that was of me. We have just one day to convince Her Highness not to let Manu go.

The pressure of being labeled a thief is getting to Manu. Instead of returning to work, he stays locked in his study, listening to the radio or reading poetry. At mealtimes, Kanta brings him his food on a tray instead of having Baju deliver it so she can sit with her husband while Niki, Saasuji and I eat in the dining room. Kanta says he takes only a few bites, claims to be full and asks her to leave. He hasn’t shaved in days, so when he does make a rare appearance to walk from the study to the bathroom, he looks more and more like the holy men of the Ganges. His unwashed hair hangs over his brow. He’s been sleeping in the same shirt and trousers for three days.

Niki is also reacting to this shift in his father. Even if Kanta allowed him to go back to school, her son wouldn’t go. Bad news travels even faster than good news, it seems. Niki’s friends have called to tell him some of his fellow students are calling his father a cheat and an embezzler. Niki knows his father isn’t capable of such deception, but neither is he capable of defending a father who isn’t even trying to defend himself.

Kanta spends time with Niki going over the lessons his teacher drops off. Reading novels, which they both love to do, keeps them busy, too. I stop by Niki’s door sometimes, listening to them discussSlaughterhouse-FiveandTravels with My Aunt. It reminds me of the way Radha used to lose herself in herJane EyreandWuthering Heights.

Manu’s despair is affecting Saasuji and Baju, as well. Manu’s mother finds fault with everything the old servant does (he didn’t salt thedalor he let theparanthaburn or he didn’t roast the cumin long enough), and Baju is grumpy as a result, clanging pots and pans in the kitchen and grumbling to himself. It almost makes me wish Madho Singh were here.

What a relief it is to leave the Agarwal house for my next appointment.

This time when I arrive at the Maharanis’ Palace, the guard gives me a warm smile. “Elder or younger?” he asks.

“Elder,” I reply.

He tilts his head ever so slightly to show his surprise. But he nods and beckons an attendant forward. The immaculately uniformed bearer leads me up a set of marble stairs, the centers of which are grooved from the weight of thousands of feet over two centuries. The stairs lead to a terrace overlooking the lush garden in the center of the palace. I’ve never been to the upper terrace of the palace before. I stop to admire the scene below; it’s like the fairy tale ofThe Three PrincesI was reading to Rekha the other day. Bushes trimmed to look like giraffes or hippopotami or elephants (Rekha would love those!). Waterfalls and fountains. Pink-faced monkeys, often seen around the Pink City and royal buildings, hop from guava to pomegranate to banana trees, taking their meal where they find it. Live peacocks cry out in full display. Sunbirds flit from one flower to another, gorging themselves on nectar.

Finally, I’m shown into a large bedroom off the terrace. White gauze curtains are drawn across the latticed windows, leaving the room in shadows. Two attendants stand at the doorway, beyond which is a large four-poster bed. I assume the doors are left open so the maharani can enjoy the watching the macaques scurrying across the high walls of the palace from her bed.

Several ladies-in-waiting are sitting on settees or armchairs. One is embroidering, one is fanning the maharani with a large sandalwood fan and the third is reading.

---