Rupal followed her with his eyes. “We helped ourselves to a few items,” he said pleasantly. “Seeing that the old lady has absconded with her bastard grandchild.”
Smita flinched at the insult. “The child is innocent,” she said. “Of course, so was her mother.”
Rupal’s eyes were hard. They flickered slightly as Mohan was pushed inside as well. “That child is living proof of our disgrace, miss,” Rupal said. “To be honest, it’s more important for us to find her than it was to kill the whore. And we will. After all, how far can an old grandmother and a young child go?”
Smita’s heart flooded with fear. They would hurt Abru, the silent, wounded toddler with the sweet face and birdlike manner. These monsters would hurt a child. Meena’s final words came to her. Abru was hiding somewhere, not too far from the hut. How long before these bastards hunted her down?
She forced herself to laugh, hoping that Rupal wouldn’t hear her insincerity. “Good luck finding them,” she said, keeping her eyes on Rupal but speaking loudly enough for Mohan to hear. “Anjali knew you goons would be up to no good. She insisted that Ammi and the child stay in town with her. You will never see them again.”
She heard Rupal’s sharp intake of breath, saw the disappointment on his face. But the man was nothing if not cunning. “Then why did the whore return?” he said.
Smita’s mind froze.
“We warned her.” Mohan spoke into the silence. “We begged her to stay with that lawyer. We even invited her to go with us to Mumbai. But Meena was crazy. She insisted on returning to the land where her husband died.”
Rupal looked from one to the other. “Wait here,” he said. He strode out of the hut.
Smita turned immediately to Mohan. “Call the police,” she hissed. “Now.”
“It’s a risk. They’re all standing right outside,” he muttered. “They’ll hear me.”
She bit her lower lip. All she could think of was the men searching in the tall grasses for Abru. How long had she and Ammi been hiding? How long could they continue to do so? “Call,” she said.
He nodded and fished out his phone from his pocket. He dialed the number to the station, muffling the ring the best he could. The phone rang and rang. “Where are they?” he asked desperately. “Why aren’t they answering?”
And suddenly, she knew. “Hang up,” she said. “Hang up.”
“What the hell?” He ended the call.
“They’ve been paid off. They won’t answer. Otherwise, don’t you think someone from the village would’ve let them know? And they would’ve been here by now?”
Mohan swore under his breath.
Smita moved closer to him. “The child is alive. She’s hiding with Ammi in the field behind Meena’s house.”
“How would you—”
“She told me. Just before she died. We have to keep them from searching the field. I don’t know how, but that’s what we have to do.”
Mohan stared at her for a long moment. In the light of the lantern she could see his face, bleary with fatigue and stress. He went to the entrance of the hut. “Rupal!” he yelled. “Govind, come quickly.”
“What is it?” A man they’d never seen before sauntered up to the hovel. “They are busy.”
“Busy?” Mohan thundered. “Arre, saala, they are going to be busy in jail for the next fifty years if they don’t show up here in one minute. Tell them the police are on their way.”
The man laughed and spat on the ground. “Police knows not to . . .”
“Not the police from your little tadpole pond. This is the big shark that’s coming here. They will be here in less than a half hour, chutiya.”
The man turned and left.
“What are you doing?” Smita hissed. “You will get both of us killed.”
“Trust me,” Mohan said.
She was about to chastise him when Govind entered the hut. The front of his tunic was spattered with blood. Smita stared at it, her stomach heaving.
“You’re lucky to be living,” Govind said insolently. “My men could . . .”
“Your men can do nothing,” Mohan said haughtily. “You are out of time. I just called the big inspector-sahib at his home. He is a friend of my father’s, but still he was not happy to be disturbed at home at this hour. And you know what he said, fucker? He said he was going to come to see for himself the bastard who would kill his own sister. They will be here soon. And I am going to sit right here and watch the tamasha.”