He stiffened. “I don’t want to argue. But did you know Lalitchandra Ursemin’s mother died ten years ago?”
“So?”
“So nothing. Blessings of the day.” He folded his arms and bowed, then walked away to be quickly swallowed up by the milling crowd.
What the hell? “Fuck.”
A woman turned and gave me a reproving look. I smiled in apology, but I still wanted to kick something.
My enjoyment of the event had fled, so I took myself off away from those having more fun so I could think. Once I’d cleared the tents, I found myself alone, and a tree root made a slightly better seat than the ground.
Shardul hadn’t seen Tushar after the knife attack. Or Ursemin. Ursemin was horrified, worried out of his mind, and Tushar.... I’d seen many victims of random assaults, and every one of them had that same shocked, sickened look about them. You couldn’t fake it. Besides, Tushar still had nightmares about it, and you definitely couldn’t fake those.
So what if Ursemin had been a little loose with the oaths he made? It wasn’t a life or death matter, and so far as I could tell, he meant to keep his word. Shardul had chucked a bit of ‘proof’ at me that no one could be reasonably expected to take seriously, and then left in a huff because I hadn’t instantly thought Ursemin a villain on the strength of it.
Shardul wasn’t a disinterested party. I had to remember that. He liked to pretend to be the logical, objective lawyer, but he was as ridden by emotions and delusions as anyone else, and he had a bug up his arse about me being with Tushar. And Tushar himself, so it looked like.
I rubbed my eyebrow. Shardul could give me his special brand of headache when he wasn’t even there. The thing was, racists were only one answer. Could be another stalker. Could be a jealous performer. Could be a critic who didn’t like Tushar’s music. Hell, this could all be about Ursemin, and the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if that was a route we’d overlooked. Attack Ursemin’s biggest act, and he’d suffer. It had been Ursemin’s house someone had fired a gun at, and the bomb threat affected him as much as Tushar. And Ursemin surely had more enemies than Tushar—the guy had been in the management game a long time.
Just as I made my mind up to ask Ursemin about this on the drive back, music started up behind me—the concert beginning. That meant I had about an hour before the police gave the three of us a lift back to the hotel and I collected the auto. Plenty of time to think of how to ask Ursemin about this without pissing him off or upsetting Tushar.
In the end it was nearly three hours before we cleared Arni’s limits and hit the main road. The concert ran over time, with Tushar and the other performers giving multiple encores, and then he’d spent over half an hour meeting his fans and admirers. The police hadn’t wanted to force the issue so they’d let it go, in the interests of not causing ill-feeling.
Tushar was in his now familiar post-concert mix of emotional high and physical exhaustion, and chattered away, demanding to know what we’d thought, reliving every moment of the admittedly enjoyable concert. If anything, he was more hyperactive than usual, making it hard to concentrate on driving and keeping an eye out for bad hats, and impossible to talk to Ursemin about something as serious as motives for hurting him. I’d have to let it go until Tushar collapsed, which would take a couple of hours—or vigorous sex, which wasn’t an option right now.
“I’m starving,” he declared suddenly.
I looked at the GPS. “There’s a rest station about twenty minutes from here. Want me to stop?”
“Can we? I had a little breakfast, but I was too excited to eat much. Now I could eat the upholstery.”
“Lalit? Any problem with that?”
“Not at all. I could do with using the bathroom myself.”
The road was clear and I’d seen no one following us. I’d just keep an eye on everything, and my weapon handy, but I could see no reason not to stop. We still had nearly three hours of driving ahead of us.
A few minutes later I pulled into the rest station. Two other autos were parked there, but it all seemed pretty quiet. “Okay, make it quick and don’t go wandering around, Tushar. In and out, eat in the auto.”
“I understand. Lalit, my paycard, please?”
Funds provided, Tushar dashed into the small eatery. Ursemin headed over to the toilets. I thought I may as well pick up some food too, something I could eat while driving. As I queued up, Tushar, already finished with his purchase, asked me to hold his food. “Sorry, I need to piss, Javen.”
“Be quick and I’ll see you back at the auto.”
I kept an eye on him even while I was served. He waited until Ursemin came out, before going into the toilets,. Only one cubicle, obviously.
“You don’t want something to eat?” I asked Ursemin as he headed to the auto.
“I had a huge breakfast. Those Nihan sure can cook.”
“They really can. Think Tushar will be asked to perform there next year?”
He shrugged. “No idea. The offer for this came at very short notice. I want him to do more mixed events. Don’t think playing to his own people is going to give him the boost he needs.”
I got into the driver’s seat and opened one of the snacks I’d bought. In the back seat, Ursemin had his reader out again. Tushar emerged from the toilets a minute or so later, and I readied myself to drive off, but a man standing by a black auto near the toilets suddenly smiled at Tushar.
“Damn it, someone’s recognised him. No, don’t stop and talk to him— Tushar!” I got out, ready to yell at him to hurry up.
The man grabbed Tushar’s arm, dragged him with surprising speed towards his auto, and threw him into the back seat. I ran towards them, but the guy pulled a gun. “Stay back!”
With other people around, I couldn’t risk it. “Someone call the police!” I shouted. “Tushar’s being kidnapped.”
The black auto roared out of the car park, tearing down the filter lane and onto the highway. “Call the police!” I yelled again, and dove into my own auto. “Lalit, call for help! Tushar’s been abducted by the men in that black auto. I’m going after them.”
“Sanity, no!”
I activated the emergency signal with one hand, the engine with the other, and made the wheels scream as I accelerated out. I had to keep that black auto in my sights until the police could block the road. I fed the identification plate details to Ursemin as I drove, and a description of the man I’d seen, but I had to let him do the talking to the cops. The black auto had reached deadly speeds and I needed all my concentration and training to keep up without killing anyone else.
Something hit the front of the vehicle, and the control panel lit up with warnings about damage to lights and sensors. “Shit, they’re shooting at us.” I had to fall back. If they made me crash at these speeds, other autos would be involved. “Lalit, tell the police the kidnappers are firing weapons.”
He spoke urgently into his phone. The black auto suddenly jerked to the right, down a filter lane and onto a smaller road. “Where the hell are they going?” Another bullet hit the hood and shards flew up over the windscreen. Ceramic bullets again. “How long before the police get here?”
“They said a few minutes. They’re tracking us.”
“Whoa! They’re stopping. The door’s opening...they just threw Tushar out!”
The black auto sped off. I slowed down and brought my vehicle alongside where Tushar lay, and leapt out. He looked dazed but unhurt except for some grass stains on his clothes and a minor graze to his arm. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“N-no. Get me out of here, Javen. I’m scared.”
Ursemin had the backdoor open, and tugged Tushar into the backseat. “I’m driving back to that rest station,” I said, turning the auto around and heading back at speed the second the backdoor closed. “Tell the police. Tushar, stay low. Both of you, stay down below the windows.”
The kidnappers were long gone, but I wasn’t going to hang around to give them another ch
ance to come back and pick Tushar off.
The police caught up with us as I approached the rest station, and escorted us in, surrounding us in the car park. I identified myself, then went to the backseat and pulled Tushar into my arms. “Are you really okay? I’m sorry, I should have protected you.”
He buried his face in my neck. “My fault. I’m sorry.”
An officer poked her head through the open door. “Sir? We need to ask some questions. Step out of the car, please.”
Two hours later, Tushar, Ursemin and I were in the back of a police vehicle being driven back to Hegal. My auto had been impounded for forensics to go over. The kidnappers’ auto had been found abandoned not far from where they’d released Tushar—the vehicle had been stolen from Hegal the day before. Tushar had only been able to give vague descriptions of one man, the other having worn a mask. He’d been too rattled to concentrate on details.
There was something fishy about it though. How had they known we would stop where we did, when we did? The only people who knew we planned to leave early were the police and the three of us. I hadn’t even mentioned it to Shardul—I’d forgotten to. I’d seen no one following us, though there could be a tracking device on my auto. If that was the case, the level of sophistication in the attacks had just gone up several levels.
Why would someone want to kidnap Tushar anyway? He could have been killed in the car park if that was the aim, but as an object for ransom, did they imagine he was worth much money? Without trying at all hard, I could think of half a dozen people—including me and my brother—who would fetch a higher price on account of our families’ wealth.
I badly wanted to talk to someone about it, but Tushar was in shock, clinging to me in silence, while Ursemin stared grimly ahead, radiating worry. Calling Shardul would be on the insensitive side. So I held Tushar tight, and rolled the available facts over in my mind. I didn’t like what they were telling me.
I stayed at Ursemin’s house long enough to put Tushar to bed and assure him I would be back later. Ursemin said he had someone to see across town, and with the house once again under heavy police guard, Tushar could be left safely. I asked for a lift home, and Ursemin agreed.
But once we came to the city centre, I suggested he took a turn towards one of the parks nearby. “Javen, I said I had a meeting.”
“You’re already late, and there’s something urgent I need to talk to you about. Something I don’t want the police or Tushar to hear.”
His anxiety level went through the roof, but outwardly he remained calm and smiling. “Okay, no problem.” He turned left towards old Hegal, and parked up at a small children’s playground. “So, what’s on your mind?”
“Why did you arrange the kidnapping today?”
His hands clenched. “What are you talking about?”
“Lalit, only a handful of people could have told those men where we’d be, and when, and most of those people are cops. I don’t think Tushar would have done it, but I think you would, maybe to generate a little extra publicity for him.” He said nothing. “You can either talk to me now, or you can talk to the police. The whole thing stinks.”
He sighed. “All right. Yes, it was fake.”
I’d hoped I was wrong. “Why? Why endanger me, yourself, Tushar?”
“You weren’t in any danger.”
“They were shooting at us!”
“They told me they would only fire at the auto. No one got hurt, did they?”
“Not this time. But you ordered the attack on Tushar before too, didn’t you? And arranged for the shots at your house?”
“No.”
I slapped the console and he jumped. “Stop lying! Someone who knew about Benay had to have planted the knife at his house, or arranged it. That was you. You had only arranged dinner at your house that afternoon, which didn’t give the gunman a chance to plan, and anyone really trying to hurt any of us wouldn’t have carefully fired those shots above head height. It was all staged. Admit it.”
He stared through the windscreen. “Tushar wasn’t supposed to be hurt. I only wanted to make sure Benay didn’t threaten us any more. He’s a dangerous man!”
“A harmless obsessive, actually, and there were better ways to deal with it. Tushar could have died. The difference between a cut and a stab wound is only a matter of half a centimetre or so. Who did you order to do it?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Fine, you can tell the police. Did Tushar know about any of this?”
He glanced at me with wounded eyes. A bit rich, in the circumstances. “No. Of course not.”
“He trusted you and you betrayed him.”
“He trusted me to promote his career and that’s exactly what I’ve done. I never meant him to be hurt, but he’s okay now, isn’t he?”
“Sure, if you don’t care about the fact he’s suffering nightmares and terrors. Are you out of your mind, Lalit? Playing games like this with people’s lives?”
“It’s not a game, it’s a ruthless business, and Tushar’s fighting disadvantages other performers don’t have. I only want the best for him.”
“You have to tell the police what you’ve done. If you confess, you’ll be treated much less harshly.”
His big hands fluttered with stress. “I can’t! If the reporters get hold of this, it will wreck Tushar’s career.”
“I doubt that, but you can resign if that’s true. Make sure people know who’s really responsible.”
“And then who would he turn to? You want him to go back to that miserable restaurant and let that talent of his be wasted?”
“No, but I can’t just forget about all of this either.”
“Why not? There’s no evidence of my involvement.”
How could he not get how serious this was? “No, but once I tell the police what you’ve told me, they’ll start digging. You have a choice. You tell them, or I’ll tell them. If you leave it to me, it will be so much worse.”
He chewed his lip. “Please, give me some time to minimise the damage.”
“One day. That’s all.”
“Two. Please, Javen, I need that long. It’s for his sake, not mine.”
I heaved a sigh. “Day and a half. Not an hour more. The morning of the day after next, I’m going to the police myself to make a statement. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll beat me to it. And you better not come up with any more crazy ideas. Tushar doesn’t need stunts.”
“I was only trying to do the best for him.”
“Goodbye, Lalit. I’ll make my own way back from here.”
He nodded and I climbed out. I really should have insisted he drove straight to the police station. A day and a half was an awfully long time to let two gun-waving, knife-wielding criminals go free. Damn the man.
He drove off slowly, and I walked toward the street to hail a taxi. What a mess. It might not wreck Tushar’s career but it would take the gloss off it, give people the excuse to denigrate him because of his race, even if it was his Kelon manager who’d come up with these schemes.
I needed to talk to Tushar, so instead of asking the taxi to go to Yashi’s house, I told the driver to head to Ursemin’s place. The police nodded me through as an approved visitor. I found Tushar where I’d left him, in bed, apparently asleep, but at the sound of my footsteps, he opened his eyes. “Mmmm, Javen. I wondered where you were. Come here.”
I sat beside him and pulled him into my arms. “Feeling better?” I said lightly, though my chest felt drum-tight from stress.
“Yes. So tired. And hungry! I never had anything to eat after all that.” He kissed me, and despite my anxiety, I responded as I always would to his lush mouth. “I need food.”
“Kitchen then. I’ll make chai.”
“Are you all right? You sound a little tense.”
He rubbed his hand up my chest, and I smiled. “I’m okay, but I need to talk to you. Food first. Don’t want you passing out.”
“Spirit save me, this sounds serious.” He grin
ned. “But I need to eat!” He leapt out of bed and headed to the main part of the house. I trailed behind him, feeling like a worm. I was the one who’d crush him because I insisted on doing the right thing, but he had such a talent. Did I have the right to make people think less of it because of what his manager had done?
I boiled water for chai, while he devoured some of the snacks we’d bought at the rest station so many hours before, and then some fruit. I set his mug of chai before him, and sat down. “Lalit confessed the kidnapping was fake, Tushar. He’s told me everything.”
He put his hand up to his throat in shock. “A fake? How...why?”
“To generate publicity. And there’s more. He also arranged the knife attack and the gunshots on his house. Probably the bomb threat too.”
He shook his head, sending the braids flying. “No. I don't believe you.”
“Tushar, he told me himself. Ask him if you don’t believe him.”
“I will. He’s a good man and would never hurt me.”
“Not intentionally, no. He says he only wanted the best for you.”
“And he does. Why do you want to hurt him? Hurt me?”
I stared. “He tried to frame an innocent man for a serious crime. He ordered other people to commit serious crimes, and let Mitul be blamed for them. Damn it, he nearly had you killed!”
“Not deliberately, and I’m fine now.”
“And the others? Don’t you care about Mitul?”
He looked down. “You said he had an alibi, and that horrible man is free now. I can go to the police and say I won’t press charges.”
“That’s not the point—”
“What is the point, Javen? What do you want me to do? Rush to the police and throw Lalit in prison—the police who did nothing about Benay in the first place? Sack Lalit? No. He’s my friend and a good man, and ultimately, no one was hurt.”
“He broke the law. If he doesn’t go to the police, I will.”
“And I’ll tell the police you are lying out of jealousy. I won’t let you hurt him.”
I stared in disbelief at this pretty creature I had come to care for so much, but who I didn’t actually at all. “The police will find the truth and Lalit will take you down with him.”
Different Senses Page 37
