Death to the Landlords

Romesh must have passed by and seen him before I noticed him. When I went out again, he was gone. I think he knew I had seen him, and he did not wish to be seen at closer quarters. So I thought the best thing to do was to get you away from there at once, while he was keeping out of sight for his own sake. And that is what I did.’

‘But why,’ demanded Purushottam, aghast, ‘why did you say nothing? If I’d known we were being followed – if I’d known they were watching us – I’d never have brought you with us into this danger.’

She looked at him with a pale but radiant smile, and said: ‘But that is why. Now I am here, and there is nothing you can do about it. It was not only that I wanted to come with you, it was partly because there was no time for explanations, and I did not want to alarm my family. Also I did want to get you out of Nagarcoil by a roundabout way, in the hope of losing our shadow. And we may have done so, you know – I hope so. I feel sure no vehicle actually followed us. It seems that they know quite well who you are. But if they now know where you are, it’s because they knew in advance where we were going, or at least were able to guess. Or because once again they have simply found us, as he found us in Nagarcoil. A Land-Rover is not so anonymous as one of those black hire-cars and taxis.’

Purushottam said, with eyes for no one but Priya, and in a hurt, reproachful voice, like a baffled child: ‘You shouldn’t have done this to me. Of all things in the world I wanted you safe.’

‘Of all things in the world,’ said Priya, almost crossly. ‘I want you alive.’

It struck Dominic as being one of the oddest, as well as one of the briefest, love-scenes of all time, but it was exceedingly illuminating. Even Larry, whose perceptions were inordinately obtuse where women were concerned, looked astonished and enlightened. The retrospect of Nagarcoil acquired undreamed-of implications. That fantastic set-up knocked on the head all considerations of caste, and even of poverty and wealth. On the one hand this girl so extravagantly rich in relatives and so poor in terms of money, and on the other this lonely, aristocratic, voluntary exile from caste and class, with his head full of exalted ideas and his life empty of kin. An excellent arrangement, Dominic thought, the pooling of equal but different resources. I wouldn’t mind betting the Swami saw this coming. For a life-long non-swimmer he is certainly pretty good at forecasting the tides.

‘No point in arguing, anyhow,’ he said reasonably, standing-in for his distant mentor, ‘she’s here now. Look, you go on out to the shore, and I’ll join you in a few minutes. I’ve just remembered something I’d better do now, while I think of it.’

What he had remembered – though he had never actually forgotten it, or detached his mind from it – was that he had promised to telephone the Swami whenever anything occurred that might be relevant to the matter in hand. And a Saivite sadhu seated in contemplation outside the little house in Jambukeshwar Lane seemed, in the light of past experience, alarmingly relevant.

‘I see,’ said the distant, meticulous voice, with evident concern, ‘that I have miscalculated. I was afraid of it. Nothing has happened here. Lakshman is exemplary and immune – and I must say that I now feel every confidence in him – and no suspicious characters have been seen within a radius of miles. I am afraid no one is interested in us. The hunt has not been side-tracked. You understand what this means? Someone knew about that change of identities.’

There seemed no other explanation. From Koilpatti down to Nagarcoil they had seemed to have the road almost to themselves. If they had been followed – and they must have been – it had been at a most discreet distance. The pursuer had not had to depend on keeping his quarry in sight. And why set out to shadow the Land- Rover at all, unless someone had watched the embarkation, and observed and understood the change in the cast?

‘It is a possibility,’ admitted the Swami, ‘that someone already knew Purushottam by sight, but it cannot be put higher than a possibility. Much more probable is that someone was watching who knew Lakshman. And now you tell me that there are no less than six people there who know Lakshman quite well, from the events at Thekady.’

‘Seven,’ said Dominic, reluctantly. ‘There’s Larry. I don’t seriously believe he’s anything but what he seems, but I daren’t take it for granted. And if one of us was involved, there wouldn’t have to be any watcher to find out the score, would there?’

The Swami blandly ignored the omission of Priya, even though the blanket phrase ‘one of us’ could have been interpreted as including her. He pointed out practically: ’But there was a watcher. At Nagarcoil, if not at Malaikuppam, he was seen. By two quite independent witnesses, whose evidence is mutually corroborative. However, I agree with you, we must lose sight of no one, of no possibility.’

‘You do take this seriously, then?’ He was dismayed but not surprised; he had known in his own heart that it must be taken seriously.

‘I take it very seriously indeed. And since it is known to all these people that Purushottam is in the hotel, that is clearly the most dangerous place, and what I feel we must do is get him out of it as much as possible. Forgive me,’ said the Swami with his habitual subtlety and courtesy, ‘if I say “we”, for of course in every case you will do as you see fit, and I have complete confidence that you will do rightly. But since it was I who sent you there into danger, in the belief that I was sending you out of it, I must take my share of the responsibility for your situation.’

‘Give me your advice,’ said Dominic. ‘I need it.’

‘It will be best if you behave exactly as visitors to Cape Comorin are supposed to behave, and take advantage of the possibilities that offers. It is nearly time now for the evening ritual. Go out loudly and noticeably in a party to the sand dunes to watch the sunset. In dispersed groups everyone will be doing the same. Out there you will soon find more company, the women and boys who sell shell necklaces and other souvenirs. It will be quite cheap to add them to your party – a little conversation, a few strings of shells, and they will gladly go with you for the evening, and hope to make a few more sales on the dunes. Surround Purushottam on all sides – go to the village and the temple afterwards if it is still too early to disperse for the night. No one will attempt the assassination of someone enclosed in a large, mobile group visible for miles around. And I do not think the enemy will be found among the humble people encountered there on the spot, the poorest of the poor who make shell necklaces to sell to tourists. In all their lives few of them travel more than twenty miles from home, or are acquainted with news from much farther afield than that. Also I do not think it will be advisable to eat at the hotel. At the temple and in the village there will be booths. Where there are pilgrims there are always people to supply their needs. And when you come back to the hotel – how are your rooms situated?’

Dominic told him.

‘Good, that may simplify things. Then say good night to the others, lock your door, disarrange your beds as though you have slept in them, and leave by the balcony, taking the key with you. It should be a warm, gentle night, you can safely spend it out in the sands or in the village. Do not come back until the hotel begins to stir, then rouse your friends and go out to see the sun rise. And everything with care!’

‘And not a word to Larry? – or even to Priya?’