There was one more door. If Vikram’s judgement was correct, he must have made almost a complete loop of the tower. Which meant there should be only one room left.
He turned the handle cautiously. It gave onto a corridor. The corridor went off to the right and bent around a corner, presumably skirting back along the rooms he had just passed. Vikram was facing yet another door. This time, he was certain he would meet with a lock.
He glanced down the hallway. It was empty. He put an ear to the door he had just closed, and then to the door facing him. He could hear the muffled sounds of the music and people shouting over it. Nothing extraneous. When he tried the door it opened easily. He held it just ajar and peered through.
Adelaide’s bedroom glowed with faint, violet lighting. He listened again, wary that she might be inside. But the room was still. He slipped through and pushed the door shut.
It felt like dusk. He waited for his eyes to adjust. A subtle scent hung in the air, not floral, something more exotic. The bed dominated the space. The wall facing it was mirrored from floor to ceiling. The window-wall was bare and black-she looked out on the open ocean, a bleak view. There were no paintings. There were no roses either.
The table beside her bed was empty except for a lamp and a bottle of medication. He read the label with little surprise; they were sleeping pills. When he put them down his arm brushed against the lampshade and the bulb lit up, making him jump.
On her dresser was a teapot in the shape of a dragon. He picked it up. A thin trickle of green powder spilled from the spout. Hastily, Vikram replaced the pot and dusted off the dresser.
There was only one photograph. He had to angle the frame under the light to see it properly. The photograph was of Adelaide and her twin, aged about twelve. Their grins and their freckles were identical. Inside her hood, Adelaide’s hair was longer than Axel’s, but otherwise it would have been difficult to tell them apart. They were on a rooftop, and it was nighttime.
The picture was out of focus. It seemed an odd choice to have framed when there must be so many of better quality, but maybe that was the point. Vikram put it carefully back on the dresser. He opened a couple of drawers. They contained cosmetics and lingerie. He shut them. He looked around again at the bed. Its covers were pulled perfectly straight. He supposed she had a cleaner to keep the place in order.
For a girl who could have bought anything in the city, it was a curiously impersonal room.
Voices the other side of the door alerted him. He crossed the room silently. Laughter sounded in the hallway outside. The handle turned. Behind the door, Vikram froze.
A rectangle of light spilled onto the pale carpet.
“Oops,” a girl giggled. “Looks like we’ve found Adelaide’s boudoir.” She rolled the last word around her tongue, loading it with innuendo.
“Not a bad pad, is it?”
“We could…”
A set of painted fingernails curled around the door frame. Vikram shrank back.
“Not if you want to be invited again.”
“Mm, maybe you’re right. Where shall we go?”
“Down here. I know the place better than you.”
The hand withdrew. Vikram’s heart was thudding. He waited for their voices to fade, then stepped outside.
“Hello.”
A girl was standing in the corridor, observing him. Her arms were folded. Her jet black hair shone almost blue and a pink feathery tail fell between two curious eyes.
“Hi.” His throat was as dry as sand.
“It’s okay. I’d want to see it too, if I hadn’t before.” When he didn’t answer, she let her lips part in a mocking smile. “What’s the matter, catfish got your tongue? I’m Jannike Ko. Adelaide’s best friend. You can call me Jan.”
Vikram tried to speak casually.
“Where is Adelaide? I haven’t seen her.”
“Oh, everyone wants to know where Adelaide is. Hiding somewhere, you know what she’s like. Forever mysterious. Wouldn’t you say?”
“I suppose so.”
She laughed. The pink feather tail bobbed up and down.
“Why don’t you come with me instead? I don’t bite you know. Actually I’m sapphic. I should say, I’m dying for your outfit. It’s so ironic. And pioneering, I don’t think anyone’s done western rag yet. You should talk to Mino. What was it you said you did again?”
“I’m a biker.”
“A biker? You must know Udur then?”
“Not really. We’re at different levels. Excuse me, I must find the bathroom,” he said quickly. “It was nice to meet you.”
He made his way back through the apartment, fuelled by an urgent desire to be near the exit.
In the main room, the noise and the scent of roses were overwhelming. He looked for Adelaide but could not see her. Now he wondered if he had missed an opportunity-could that awful girl have been his way in? Why hadn’t he gone with her?
He refilled his drink and headed back towards his original observation post. A man and two women were grouped in intense conversation around a table. A low-hanging lantern cast shadows on their faces, giving them a slightly furtive air. Vikram leaned against the wall and sipped casually at the pink stuff.
“-done well this year, hasn’t she?”
“Of course, she always does.”
“Yes, but I mean, considering the circumstances. ”
“Bound to be difficult.”
“The not knowing-”
“Yes, my dear, but the suspicion is something else again. After all, people talk.” The woman speaking looked pointedly at each of her companions and gave a little laugh. The others joined in self-consciously but then the other woman, who was younger, said in a hushed voice,
“Why, what have you heard?”
“All sorts of things. Speculation, I dare say. But one can only imagine there is a reason dear Adelaide split from the Rechnovs…”
The man unhunched his shoulders in a slight shrug. “Can’t be too big a rift if she’s living in a place like this.”
“Yes, but can you imagine the scandal if they’d cut her off? It was already bad enough with… well, you know…”
The younger woman looked at her in slight confusion, and the man mouthed something.
“Did you know him?” she whispered back. He shook his head. The older woman checked over her shoulder, before saying, “I did.”
“What was he like?”
“Oh, he was a funny one. Bright, I suppose. Almost too bright-he’d walk off right in the middle of a conversation, terribly rude. The family said it was a health issue but I was never convinced; there was something odd about the whole affair.”
“I’ve heard people say he might have-” The man made a circular motion with his hand, as if he did not want to be any more explicit. The older woman raised eyebrows elongated to the edges of her face. “You know,” he muttered. “Done it- himself. ”
The woman responded sharply. “That’s a filthy lie and you tell anyone that says so.”
“Alright, alright…”
“I heard they had fifty boats out looking for him,” the girl chirped. “Fifty! Viviana Rechnov must have pulled every string in the Reef. And that’s not all. They had entire squads of divers.”
“That may be. But we shouldn’t really talk about him at all- she doesn’t like it.”
They all shared a private smile. The young woman leaned forward to take a sip of something violet, and
