Murder at Jaipur by Bharti Kirchner

Author:Bharti Kirchner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Epicenter Press Inc.
Published: 2023-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Day 6

Maya made it to the Central Park, located at the heart of the city, before eight a.m. Outside the park’s gate, a row of vendors, already positioned in their respective concession stands, sold pastries, chilled drinks, and an eclectic variety of trinkets. A young barber, clad in white, had set up his chair on the sidewalk, his wares—combs, brushes, towels, and scissors—in full display. A cow lazily lay next to him.

She strolled under a dense canopy of evergreen trees, hearing the gravel path crunch under her feet. Although the inspector’s words buzzed in her mind, she remained firm in her resolve to speak with Rana in person. The proprietor of the ruby, the man she should stay away from, as claimed by Inspector Dev. With the new development of watching Bea enter Rana’s house, not to mention the incident of her being mugged in broad daylight, Maya needed to question him. She assumed Rana still ran here twice a week at eight in the morning. If so, this was the right day of the week at the right time. Would he make an appearance? If he did, would they get a chance to talk? Most likely, yes. In general, runners liked to exercise at a conversational pace. That combined with the natural scenery would be ideal for her to introduce a few potentially upsetting matters.

She made a beeline to the running track—Inspector Dev be damned. The gentle morning sun glowed through the haze; a light breeze tickled her forehead. Yet, despite the pleasant sensations, she felt a deep unease about Dev’s insinuation that Rana might be a batterer. She inhaled and assured herself: Until proven otherwise; and time will tell. For now, she’d continue to carry out her tasks as far as they have to do with this crisis.

Upon spotting him, her body flushed with excitement, she took a step back. He ran toward her, clad in a lightweight black T-shirt and camel shorts, face shielding his intense concentration. He didn’t move as smoothly as the last time. More than likely, his hamstrings were tighter. Maya, although dressed in a sweat suit in her favorite light blue shade, had no intention of running and colliding with him again. Instead, she positioned herself at the edge of the track, watched a flock of birds flying overhead and drank in their feeling of freedom.

“Maya!” Rana’s strong, muscled legs slowed. Awe and delight bloomed on his face, as though he’d half-expected to meet her there.

She stood stock-still. He stopped and faced her. In a voice heaving from the exertion, he said, “Here you are. What a coincidence.”

From somewhere came the sound of an auto rickshaw passing by. “A coincidence, indeed.”

“Haven’t had a chance to call you. Something came up. A crisis in the extended family.” He rubbed his eyes as though wishing to erase the incident. “I had to take care of it.”

“Shall we do a fast walk?”

He wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, hair tousled by the light breeze. “Perfect. I’m almost done.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.