Death to the Landlords

‘Not with that much room to manoeuvre. He could have fixed it to go off when he wasn’t aboard —’

‘How? You think a man like Bakhle would ever go aboard first and wait for his boatman? At the landing-stage, whatever pretext he might have made to absent himself, it would not have been a practical proposition. He would have been under suspicion immediately. No, if it was to happen in the boat, it had to be well out on the water, and therefore he had to be there. But don’t forget the circumstances. They were close to shore, and it would appear that Bakhle himself was at the wheel at the time, apparently quite a frequent habit of his, and perhaps not difficult to contrive more or less at will. Thus Ghose would be behind him, while Bakhle’s attention would be focused ahead. I have already confirmed that Ghose is a strong swimmer. May he not have intended to slip overboard shortly before the hour, and swim ashore? The boat was to founder. What would the boatman be then but a lucky survivor who happened to be blown overboard, and had no chance to help his passenger? If he wished to continue here and behave as an innocent victim, I think his chance of success would be pretty good. If he wished to disappear, having accomplished his immediate mission, that, too, would be easy. But…’

‘But,’ said Dominic flatly, ‘the timing mechanism was faulty, and the bomb went off ten minutes early.’

‘It is possible. I don’t say more. We shall be examining his belongings, and tracing his antecedents. As we shall in the case of everyone else concerned.’ He rose to indicate that the interview was over. ‘Meantime, remember only that your position, and that of your friends, just may be a slightly exposed one, if someone fears that you may have noticed too much and too accurately.’ And he added: ‘A last point – your really devoted Naxalite might well contemplate the sacrifice of his own life with equanimity, if it was a necessary risk in the cause of taking Bakhle’s. I don’t say he would surrender it gladly, or refrain from all possible precautions; but he would not let that consideration stop him. As usual, it is only among the top ranks of the hierarchy that total cynicism prevails. The rank-and-file can be truly dedicated.’

Dominic was halfway to the door when he halted and looked back. ‘But if you’re right, then the terrorist is already hors de combat - even if he’s still alive.’

‘So?’

‘So there seems no continuing threat to any of us.’

Inspector Raju said gently: ‘It is not yet certain that the solution I have outlined is the correct one. But even if it is… Mr Felse, Ajit Ghose, though literate, is almost without education. He may have planted the bomb – he certainly did not make it. Someone supplied him with it, and taught him all he needed to know to make it effective. Someone, somewhere, will be busy observing the results.’

Four

Thekady: Monday Morning

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Patti came out of her sedated sleep reluctantly and sluggishly, to sense the white of day outside her eyelids; and for a while she lay without opening them, unwilling to face the world. But even inside her own closed mind she could still see the obscene horror of abrupt death, the mangled body stirring rhythmically and helplesssly in the water, the upturned face with blood and mud for eyes. A man who, according to Romesh, had hired thugs to attack and kill, simply to suppress a demand for better pay. Remember that, too… This is a dirty world, and nothing is ever simple. But to kill that way, from a safe distance, and not caring in the least about the wretched, innocent boat-boy, who had never hired thugs to kill anyone, and owned no land. There are things which can never be justified…

She knew she would have to open her eyes at last, and get up and dress, but she waited until she heard the soft rustle of Priya’s cotton sari, and knew that her friend was already up and busy, and maintaining this considerate silence only on her account. Then she lifted her lids resolutely, and sat up in bed. Priya was standing in front of the mirror, braiding her long black hair. She had on a low-necked white blouse and an amber-and-gold sari this morning; and the soiled sari she must have washed last night, and draped in the shower-room to dry. She turned quickly at the slight sound, and smiled at her room-mate composedly, if a little anxiously.

‘Good morning! How do you feel today?’

‘Doped,’ said Patti truthfully. But not, she thought, heavily enough; I can still see him. ‘And stupid. And ashamed. I’m sorry I was such a dead liability yesterday. But I’d never seen – never imagined – anything like that. Even if you tried to describe it, to someone who’d never actually seen such a thing, it wouldn’t mean anything. But when you run your nose right into it…’

‘I know,’ said Priya warmly. ‘It was not your fault at all. Don’t think about it any more – at least try not to think about it.’

‘It’ll be a long time before I stop,’ Patti said wryly. ‘Priya – how do you ever manage? I mean, in a casualty department, when these things are brought in – hit-and-run victims, gang killings, knifings in fights – all that… How do you set about keeping your cool? Or do you just get used to it in time?’

‘No, you do not get used to it,’ Priya said almost with asperity. ‘Or rather, perhaps you do and you don’t, because if you don’t – in one way – you can’t bear to go on being a nurse, and if you do – in the other way – you had much better stop, because you’re not fit to be a nurse. Your mind gets used to it, and then you can use your faculties to try and combat it. But your heart never gets used to it, and you never stop being hurt.’ She added deprecatingly, suddenly aware of her own warmth: ‘It is not for everyone, of course, why should it be?’

‘Not for me,’ said Patti with decision. She swung her feet to the floor, and sat on the edge of her bed. In the corner of the ceiling a tiny jade-green gecko clung upside-down, motionless but for the slow lift and fall of transparent eyelids, and the pulse in his throat, which vibrated almost too rapidly to be seen. Harmless, mysterious, jewel-like little things. The more I see of men, the more I like animals! But we’re all caught, aren’t we? You can’t resign, once you’re born.

‘He seems to have been guilty of some deaths himself,’ Priya said, attempting comfort that seemed to her quite irrelevant, but might make a difference for Patti. ‘It is not only Romesh, I have been asking. Everyone knows the story, and most people believe it was he who was responsible for that attack. And it was a very bad case – one family was burned in its hut. But the raiders got away, and no one can prove anything.’

‘No,’ Patti agreed, reviving, ‘I gathered he wasn’t a very nice man.’ She got up and pattered across barefoot to the shower-room, suddenly brisk and resolute, as if she had made up her mind about facing both today and yesterday, and had to take the plunge now, and violently, or lose the initiative altogether. ‘Do you suppose Inspector Raju’s still here? I’ve got to see him…’

‘Just a minute,’ Priya called back from the bedroom. “There’s someone at the door. ‘ And she went to open it, to find herself confronting a sleepy but still debonair Sergeant Gokhale. Even after a sleepless night he was not so tired that he could not take pleasure in the sight of a good-looking girl fresh and spruce from her morning toilet, and not so devoted to duty that he could not make use of his eyes and his smile to convey his pleasure.