Its none of my business why you married Amal. I wasnt asking that.
She shook her head again. Confused. Then why what?
Why didnt you call me when this happened? Dont you know Id have been here in a shot? That Id throw everything down to help you in whatever way I could?
Brookes frown melted. A tear rolled from one eye. She wiped it away quickly with the back of her hand.
You know why, she said. Phoebe must have told you.
I want to hear it from you. Why didnt you come to me?
Because its you, Ben, she said softly. The sadness in her eyes was making something hot and moist and salty rise up inside him. She added, I couldnt, after all the things between us.
But youre asking for my help now.
She nodded and wiped another tear.
Yes, Ben. Because its you. Youre the only one. I need you to do what you do best. Better than anyone. Find my husband and punish these pieces of shit whove taken him. Do whatever it takes.
He let out a long breath through his nose, looking at her and thinking of all hed lost that day hed walked out on her like that. Well, Im here, he said. And Im not leaving until we fix this. One way or another. Do you understand? I will do everything I can to make this all right.
She stepped forward. The ocean between them was suddenly gone. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face into the hollow of his shoulder, and he could feel the wetness of her tears through his shirt. He tenderly stroked her back. Her hair smelled sweet and fragrant, the same scent that brought back a thousand more memories. He wanted to kiss the top of her head, but stopped himself. He moved his hands to her shoulders and very gently pushed her away from him, breaking the embrace.
Im so sorry for what happened, he said. He could just as easily have been referring to their breakup as to Amals kidnapping. If Brooke picked up on the ambiguity in his words, she didnt show it.
Its such a relief to have you here. Ive been at my wits end. Im going crazy in this place. Youve no idea what its been like.
Ben said, Tell me everything.
Chapter 9
Brooke invited him inside the room, which was a large living room with various others radiating off it. Amals personal quarters within the family residence were at least twice the size of her old flat in Richmond, as Ben remembered it. The décor was more classical and old-fashioned than the parts of the house Prem had led him through. Amal had always had good taste in things, Ben had to give him that.
Come, sit, she said, motioning to a chaise longue upholstered in satin fleur de lys. You want something to drink?
I thought it was Prems job to provide refreshments, Ben said.
I only said that to get rid of him. Hes a little too nosy for his own good, that one. Cup of tea?
Ben pulled a face.
Of course. I forgot, you hate tea.
How about coffee?
We only have decaf. Amal gets palpitations if he drinks the real stuff.
In that case, no thanks.
Youre right. Tastes like boiled mouse crap, and its full of dichloromethane. How about a real drink? God knows I need one. She went over to a decorative cabinet and opened it to reveal the bottles and glasses inside. She slid out a bottle and held it up. Laphroaig. Ten years old. Your favourite single malt.
You remembered.
She gave him a sad, tender smile. The little crows feet that appeared at the corners of her eyes were new, at least to him. Worry lines. Ben, there isnt a single detail about our time together that I would ever forget until my dying day.
He had no idea what to say to that.
He watched as she set a pair of cut crystal tumblers side by side on the pretty cabinet, uncapped the bottle and poured a generous three fingers of scotch into each. When shed said she needed a drink, she hadnt been joking. She handed him his glass, fell into a soft armchair opposite him and took a long, deep gulp of her drink. It wasnt lunchtime yet and she was attacking the whisky like a trooper. Ben cradled his in his lap, untouched so far. Hed eaten no breakfast on the plane and wanted to keep his head clear.
She studied him for a moment as she savoured her drink. You look good, Ben. I hope life is treating you well.
Things are fine with me, he lied. You look good too. Another lie. But you need to go easy with the hard stuff.
Whatever, she replied carelessly. I dont sleep any more, I can hardly eat a bite. Im going insane with stress and a couple of drinks is the only thing that makes me feel better.
Thats my job. Were going to find out who took Amal, and were going to get him back. Okay?
She nodded. Okay.
Now talk to me. Backtrack. Start at the beginning. Every detail you can think of.
Brooke took a smaller sip of scotch and leaned forward in the armchair with her elbows on her knees, getting her thoughts together. Did Phoebe tell you about Kabir?
Amals younger brother. The archaeology professor. She told me that it all started with him.
Brooke nodded. What else did she tell you?
That Kabir and his two colleagues were attacked three weeks ago while on a field trip to some remote country area. They were killed. Hes missing.
Brooke gave a sigh. More or less, in a nutshell. It happened in north-west India, near a place called Rakhigarhi. Its very remote. They flew there by helicopter.
Charter aircraft?
She shook her head. Kabirs own chopper. Hes a licensed pilot. Or was.
What were they doing there?
Im not quite sure. Its to do with some big archaeological project that hes spent years on. Sai and Manish were two of his graduate students at the Institute. Its not unusual for Kabir to fly out to remote locations for his work, but he always stays in touch with his office. He was supposed to have been back after two days. When he didnt make contact or return, alarm bells started ringing and the local police were called in. The helicopter was found abandoned, raided and stripped of parts. The police discovered the bodies of Sai and Manish a few hundred yards away, but no trace of Kabir himself.
Ben digested the details, and remembered what Brookes sister had told him. Theyd been shot?
To pieces, pretty much. According to the police report. They found scores of cartridge cases lying a short distance from the scene.
Implying multiple shooters. It doesnt take that much shooting to take down two or three unarmed targets.
She nodded. Using military weapons. The cases were surplus 7.62 NATO stuff.
Ex-military, Ben said. After many years of being issued home-grown copies of the old L1A1 British infantry rifle, the Indian Army had switched to smaller-calibre INSAS weaponry in the eighties. INSAS stood for Indian Small Arms Systems. A backward step, in Bens opinion, because the L1A1 with its more powerful cartridge had been one of the best combat weapons ever made. The change had caused a flood of decommissioned but still perfectly usable arms to hit the market, a vast amount of which had inevitably ended up in the hands of irregular forces like guerrilla armies, terrorist organisations and criminal gangs all across Asia and eastern Europe. Along with even vaster quantities of the now-obsolete ammunition, crates of which traded hands for a song. Hence, a lot of very trigger-happy killers on the loose. The kind of morons whod shoot folks to pieces just for the hell of it. If Kabir had encountered a bunch like that, the chances of his survival didnt look too promising.
Ben said, Which would tend to support the polices theory that armed bandits were responsible for the attack.
Thats their take, and theyre sticking with it. The man in charge of the investigation over there is a police captain called Jabbar Dada. He calls himself the dacoit hunter.
Dacoit?
Outlaws, bandits, gangsters, whatever you want to call them. Apparently that whole region is overrun with marauding criminal gangs. Captain Dada and his police task force are on a mission to wipe them out. Sounds like hes got his hands full. So on the face of it, the bandit theory seemed like a likely explanation.
And I gather your Mr Prajapati shares that opinion, too.
Brooke seemed surprised. Phoebe told you about Prateek Prajapati?
Just that hes supposed to be the best private investigator in Delhi.
She shrugged. So they say. It was Amal who hired him initially.
Ben asked, Why would Amal hire a detective?
Because he still wasnt satisfied, and he was frustrated that not enough was being done. He thought that Dada was too eager to run with the bandit theory, instead of trying to come up with proper evidence. If Kabir was shot along with Sai and Manish, why was there no body?
How did they account for that?
They just assumed that it must have been dragged off by wild animals, Brooke said. Wild dogs, wolves, jackals, maybe even a tiger. Even though the other two bodies hadnt been touched, as far as we knew. It didnt seem to make any sense that some hungry scavenger wouldnt have had a go at them, too. Theyd been pecked by vultures, nothing more.
Nice.
So after endless days of going nuts in London, Amal decided he had to fly out to be here in person, and he jumped on the first plane.
You didnt come with him?
No, I had a conference I couldnt get out of. I came out to join him a few days later.
Did Amal go to Rakhigarhi and visit the spot where it happened?
Brooke shook her head. You know Amal. He wasnt made for roughing it. He freaks out any time he ventures more than ten miles from a major city. He stayed here in Delhi while making a thousand phone calls to Captain Dadas office. Then he went to see Prajapati and employed him to travel out to Rakhigarhi and visit the crime scene on his behalf. Prajapati spoke to the law enforcement officials there and came back satisfied their take on the situation was probably right, and that Kabir had almost certainly been killed along with his two associates, and that it was time to accept it, close the case and move on. Shit happens, basically.
Nothing like thorough police work, Ben said.
Amal called me that night. He was very upset. He wouldnt accept that his brother was dead. Kept insisting that Kabir must be lying injured somewhere, and the police had just missed it, and they werent trying hard enough and needed to widen the search. He had a big argument with Samarth about it.
The eldest brother.
Samarth had already spoken to Captain Dada on the phone and believed he must be right. Amal was furious with him.
What about you? Ben asked. He could see the questions in her eyes.
Brooke clutched her drink in one hand and raised the other in a gesture of helplessness. I didnt know what to tell him. The police had searched the whole area and found nothing. Their conclusions seemed to make sense to me too, at the time.
At the time, Ben said. But now youre not so sure?
Neither are you, she replied. Or you wouldnt be asking me all these questions about Kabir. First one brother goes missing, then the other. It cant be just a coincidence, can it? You see it that way, too, dont you?
Im only trying to build a picture in my mind, Brooke. Maybe it is just a coincidence. Maybe the police are right, and the incident in Rakhigarhi was nothing more than just a tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that we need to look in a totally different place to figure out why this thing has happened to Amal.
Or maybe theyre wrong, Brooke said. In fact, the more I think about it, the more certain I am that theres more to this.
Ben looked at her and could see she was resolute. Based on what?
Based on something Amal said to me, the night those bastards took him.
Chapter 10
Ben asked, What did Amal say to you?
Brooke fell silent, and her gaze seemed to turn inwards as though she was reimagining the scene from that night. When I arrived in Delhi, Id never seen him so miserable and depressed. He felt like nobody was listening to him, he felt betrayed by Samarth who seemed to just want to accept what the police were saying at face value, and he was frantic at the idea that Kabir was lying somewhere badly hurt and suffering, maybe even dying. I wish Id never suggested it now, but I had the idea that going out for a meal together that evening might cheer him up. Theres a big food district only about twenty minutes walk from here, with a lot of great restaurants. He was reluctant at first, but then agreed that a walk and a nice dinner out would do him good. We never got there.
Brooke choked up as she finished speaking, and had to pause for a few moments as she dabbed her eyes. She took another long sip of her scotch. Ben wished shed stop drinking. She clasped the glass with both hands in her lap and stared at it, shaking her head. Her eyes were pink and brimming again. She was gripping the glass so tightly that Ben was afraid it would break and cut her. Oh God, whats going to happen to him?
You dont want to focus on those kinds of thoughts, Ben said. You need to believe hes all right.
She flashed her tearful eyes on him. You know perfectly well youre only saying that. Dont try to bullshit me. Hes either dead already or hes sitting in some dark hole, absolutely terrified out of his mind. Hes not strong, Ben. Hell fall apart under this kind of strain.
Ben leaned forward and reached out, gently took the glass from her fingers and laid it on the coffee table in front of her. So what did he say? he prompted her softly.
Brooke closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. After a few more moments she was collected enough to resume the story.
It was as we were walking. It was a lovely evening, cool and peaceful. Id hoped a stroll would relax him, but he couldnt stop going over and over the whole thing, about how too little was being done to find his brother, and how he was absolutely certain that this wasnt just some random bandit attack as everyone thought. I said to him, Amal, how can you really be so sure it wasnt? Like you, I thought maybe the police were actually right and that Amal should listen to Samarth. I couldnt bear to see him torturing himself that way. But then he stopped walking, and he turned to me in the middle of the street, and he looked at me and said, Theres something else about Kabir. Something I know that I havent told you, or anyone. It changes everything.
Ben asked, Something, like what?
Brooke slowly shook her head. I wish I knew.
He didnt say?
I could tell he wanted to, but couldnt bring himself to. It was gnawing at him.