Chapter 19: What She Remembers

Mira looked at Rhea for a long moment.

"I can't tell you," she said. "Not because it's a secret. Because you've earned nothing from me but the truth about the pawn slip."

"That is not an answer."

"No. It's the only one you get."

Rhea studied her. Then she laughed, short and tired, and took a phone from her sleeve.

"I'll find out," she said. "I always do."

An auto-rickshaw was already turning in from the main road. She had called it before they arrived.

She climbed in without looking back, the folder against her chest, and the engine's noise faded down the Mehrauli road.

Dev did not follow.

"She won't do anything tonight," he said. "She wants to be alone with them."

Mira nodded. Her hands were cold, so she put them inside her sleeves.

"Dev."

"Yes."

"I need to tell you something, and you won't like where it starts."

He walked her back to the car and opened the passenger door.

Then, without being asked, he went round, got in the driver's seat, and left the engine off.

"Start," he said.

She faced the windscreen, because it was easier.

"At your father's seventieth, in another life, you read forged messages to forty people. Rhea had made them."

He did not interrupt.

"I told you they weren't mine. You said you were ashamed to have me in your house."

Dev's hand closed on the wheel.

"Then you opened the front door for me yourself."

"Mira..."

"Let me finish. I'll lose it if I stop."

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