The Mountain Shadow

Farzad began to unwrap the block of hashish, his fingers trembling. He glanced at the petite socialite.

‘You’re thinking!’ Divya warned.

‘No!’ Farzad protested. ‘I’m not!’

‘You’re disgusting.’

Farzad finally succeeded in unwrapping the parcel, leaving the hashish exposed on his palm. Divya picked it up between forefinger and thumb, broke off a little piece, and dropped the rest of it into the silver fish-mouth of her purse.

She took out a cigarette, squeezed some tobacco out of the end of it, and placed the little piece of hash into the blank end. She put the cigarette between her lips, and turned to Naveen for a light. He hesitated.

‘You think this is a good idea?’

‘I’m not going in there to talk to the cops unless I have a smoke,’ she said. ‘I don’t even talk to the downstairs maid until the upstairs maid has given me a smoke.’

Naveen lit the cigarette. She puffed at it, held the smoke in her lungs for a few moments, and then let out a solid stream of smoke. Naveen turned to me.

‘Her father filed a complaint against the wannabe actor, before I came along,’ Naveen said. ‘The actor acted heavy. I paid the actor a visit. We talked. He agreed to back off, and to stay backed off. Now we need to lift the complaint, but she has to do it in person. I want to get it done early, before any reporters get onto it, and –’

‘Let’s fucking go, already!’ Divya snapped, grinding out the cigarette under the sole of her shoe.

Naveen shook my hand. I held it firmly for a moment.

‘The guy following the Zodiac Georges,’ I said. ‘His name’s Wilson, registered at –’

‘The Mahesh,’ Naveen finished for me. ‘I know. In all this, I forgot to tell you. I tracked him down last night. How did you find out?’

‘He came here, looking for information.’

‘Did he get any?’

‘Dilip, the duty sergeant – do you know him?’

‘Yeah. Lightning Dilip. We’ve got a little history.’

‘He says Mr Wilson wouldn’t pay, so he threw him out.’

‘You believe him?’

‘Not usually.’

‘You want me to go see this Wilson?’

‘Not yet. Not without me. Check him out. Find out what you can about him. Get back to me, okay?’

‘Thik,’ Naveen smiled. ‘I’ll get on it, and –’

‘This is the fucking longest I’ve ever stood up,’ Divya interrupted angrily, ‘on my legs, for God’s sake, in the same fucking place, for God’s sake, in my whole fucking life! Do you think we can get on with it now?’

Naveen smiled a goodbye, and escorted the poor little rich girl through the arched gate.

‘It’s Farzad!’ Farzad called after her. ‘My name’s Farzad!’

When he lost sight of her, the young Parsi turned to me, grinning widely.

‘Damn it all to hell, yaar! What a beautiful girl! And such a nice nature! Some of those super-mega-rich girls, they can be very stuck-up and all, so I’ve heard. But she’s so natural, and she’s –’

‘Will you cut it out!’

He opened his mouth to protest, but the words withered when he saw my expression.

‘Sorry,’ he said bashfully. ‘But . . . did you see the colour of her eyes! Oh, my God! Like bits of shining stuff, you know, dipped in something . . . really, really full of . . . really lovely stuff, like a bucket of . . . loveliness . . . honey.’

‘Please, Farzad. I haven’t had my breakfast.’

‘Sorry, Lin. Hey, that’s it! Have breakfast! Can you come to my place? Can you come home with me, now? You promised to come this week!’

‘That’s gonna be a no, Farzad.’

‘Please come! I have to see my Mom and Pop, take my bath and change my clothes before I go to work. Come with me. They’ll still be having breakfast at home, some of them, and they’d love to meet you. Especially after you saved my life, and all.’

‘I didn’t save your –’

‘Please, baba! Trust me, believe me, they’re waiting to meet you, and it’s very important that you come, and you’ll find it damn interesting at my house!’

‘Look, I –’

‘Please! Please, Lin!’

Four motorcycles pulled up hard beside us. They were Sanjay Company men. The leader of the group was Ravi, a young soldier in Abdullah’s enforcement group.

‘Hey, Lin,’ Ravi said, his eyes behind mercury lens mirrors. ‘We heard some Scorpions are having breakfast at one of our places in the Fort. We’re all heading there to kick the shit out of them. Wanna come along?’

I glanced at Farzad.

‘I’ve already got a breakfast date,’ I said.

‘Really?’ Farzad said.

‘Okay, Lin,’ Ravi said, putting his bike in gear. ‘I’ll bring you back a souvenir.’

‘Please don’t,’ I said, but he was already riding away.

The Fort area was only a thirty-minute walk from where we were standing, and roughly the same distance from Sanjay’s mansion. If the Scorpions were really provoking a fight so close to home, the war that Sanjay had tried to deal away was already on his doorstep.

‘Do you think they might take me with them, one of these days?’ Farzad asked, watching the four motorcycles vanish in the traffic. ‘It would be so cool, to kick some ass with them.’