“Yes, and Jingo seemed shocked that it happened. Claimed to know nothing.” She peers out across the ocean, as if recalling the conversation in her mind. “All his answers stacked up.”
“So which part was weird?” I probe.
“After I was done with my questions, he went into this whole speech about how he’s heard exceptional reports about me, about what an asset I am to the police force. And that it was his intention, once elected, to offer me a series of quick promotions.”
“What?” I ask, taken aback. “What does that even mean?”
“I asked the same thing. Honestly, I was shocked,” she says. “And he quickly reassured me, saying he thought it would be good for Mumbai to have a woman in a high-up leadership role. And he asked me if I wouldn’t want to make a real difference, instead of worrying about small cases.”
“Small cases?”
“Cases like the school attack. Family First. He said any cop could follow those leads and do that job. But that it would be much better for me to rise in the ranks and be a role model for women.” Riya gives a laugh that’s not remotely amused and shakes her head.
“So—to be clear,” I say, dropping my voice, “he was bribing you to get off the case?”
She looks at me, her eyes wide and focused. “Indirectly, yes, I felt he was. I mean, he tried to make it seem honest and real, but this guy has a very poor track record on women’s rights,” she says.
“I know,” I tell her. “I did some research on him.”
In the back of my mind, I’m sure that’s why Sunil skipped the meeting with Jingo. He must have known Jingo was going to try to persuade Riya to drop her investigating. She looks at me, reading my thoughts.
“Sunil may actually have been busy,” she says, but her voice drops and so do her eyes, away from mine.
I decide to just spit out what I’m thinking. “Do you think there’s some kind of cover-up going on?”
“Within the police?” she says, looking away. “Absolutely not.”
Well, I didn’t mention the police directly. But she did. It doesn’t make me feel good. It feels like she’s keeping quiet about something, maybe out of misplaced loyalty to Sunil.
“You don’t want to believe Sunil is cozy with Jingo?” I suggest.
“I’m not naïve,” she says firmly. “But anyone faced with a request from a powerful politician to send me alone might have done the same. It’s expedient. It doesn’t mean he has any involvement.”
That could be true but I’m less kindly disposed to Sunil than Riya is, and considerably more wary of his motives. But I decide it’s better to move on and so I ask another question:
“Did you tape your conversation with Jingo?”
She shakes her head. “As soon as I arrived, he asked me for my phone and placed it in a box by the front door. Far from his study, where we met.”
“And that didn’t make you suspicious?” I wonder, surprised.
“It made me completely suspicious. And that’s why, early on in the conversation, while I was still asking about the ADS and whatever, I pretended to have a coughing fit and asked him for some water and some tea.” She glances at me with an embarrassed smile.
“I’m not following,” I tell her.
“When Jingo stepped out to order the tea from his cook, I did something terrible,” Riya explains. “I put a thumb drive into his desktop computer and downloaded the hard drive.”
Well, I wouldn’t have believed it. Riya, the stickler for due process, sneaking out evidence on the sly.
“Then what?” I ask.
“Then, he came back and I went on with the interview,” Riya says. “And when we were done, I asked him about one of the beautiful paintings hanging on the wall behind him. He turned to look at it and I quickly pulled out the drive and took it with me.”
“Impressive,” I tell her, smiling.
She shrugs. “It was pure instinct. And not something I’m proud of.”
“Why?”
“Because what I did completely ignores police procedure and legal boundaries.” She turns away from me and leans on the railing that looks out over the ocean. “If everyone just does whatever they think is right, wouldn’t the world be in complete chaos?”
That’s exactly the question that Kit, Li, and Peggy chewed over before starting Athena—an agency that devotes most working days to breaking the rules set by judicial systems. The irony is that now Riya looks back at me like she’s waiting for my answer to her ethical dilemma. If only she knew who she was asking for advice.
“Here’s the way I see it,” I tell her. “The terrorists and criminals we’re looking for don’t follow those procedures or any rules. So, all you’re doing is trying to level an uneven playing field. Jingo tried to bribe you.”
“So, it’s okay for me to leave behind my moral code? Why doesn’t that make me feel better?”
She looks away again, her dark eyes focused on the inky line far out to sea where the water meets the horizon. I do the same. For a long moment, neither of us speaks, but I am very aware of her arm right next to mine on the railing.
“It’s strange that you are the only one I can talk to about this,” she says finally.
I hesitate. “Isn’t there anyone at home who’d understand? Husband? Boyfriend?”
If Riya notices how clumsy that little probe was, she doesn’t show it. She shakes her head, but still doesn’t look at me.
“I’m never going to make my parents happy by finding a suitable young man. It’s just not who I am,” she says simply.
“I understand that,” I say.
“Do you?” Her gaze meets mine, earnest.
“Yes.”
For a long moment, we just look at each other, and the seconds seem to stretch out painfully, pleasurably. Suddenly, Riya leans toward me. I hold my breath as her lips brush my cheek and linger there for a moment. My face burns. The scent of her is all I can process. Then her hand
