Chapter 5: The Garage

Mira tore Harish's cheque in half and left it on his desk.

She did not say anything.

He did not say anything either, and that was the second thing she noticed about him that morning.

At the bank she told Nandini about the cheque and the locker.

"Five lakh for one sentence," Nandini said. "Either your father-in-law is very kind or he is very frightened."

"He's frightened."

"Of what?"

"I don't know yet."

Nandini wrote it on the notepad she now carried everywhere.

That night Mira lay in the guest room with the lamp off, listening to the house settle.

At two o'clock she gave up on sleep and went downstairs for water.

A strip of light lay across the kitchen floor.

It came from the door that led to the garage, which stood open.

She stood at the top of the three stone steps and looked down.

Harish's car sat with its back door open and the dome light on.

Dev was in the back seat.

He had his elbows on his knees and a cold cup of tea between his hands.

He did not hear her at first.

Mira filled a glass of water at the sink, then a second one, and walked down the steps.

"Your tea is cold," she said.

Dev looked up. He started to rise, and she shook her head.

"Stay. I only came for water."

She held the second glass out to him through the open door.

He took it. Their fingers touched on the glass, and neither of them moved for a moment.

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