Simla Mist (The Colonials) by Liz Harris

Author:Liz Harris [Harris, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781913687250
Publisher: Heywood Press
Published: 2023-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

Shadows were collecting in the dust-filled cracks between the cascade of ramshackle shops and dwellings that formed the Lower Bazaar, and mingled scents of sawdust and sandalwood, garlic and ghee, rotting vegetables and sewage, hung heavily in the air.

From every tier, the sounds of music and laughter, of talking and crying, of pans rattling and bedsteads creaking, rose up and joined the ever-present rattle of the cicadas and insects of the night, and the occasional howl of a jackal guarding its territory deep among the forested slopes.

Kamesh stared in irritation in the direction of the art stall.

However, he was staring not at the shop itself, but at two figures shrouded in darkness as they sat close together on a flight of steps a little way down from the art shop.

He should have been the one with Asha, not Stephen, he thought in annoyance.

But not in the way that Stephen was. Stephen had obviously more than a simple friendship in mind. No, he would have sat with Asha as her friend, not as a suitor.

Ingratiating himself with her had been all he’d been thinking about since the moment he’d realised that he could hardly approach Stephen and suggest that he carry messages between him and Asha.

Stephen would have instantly wondered how his friendship with Asha was known, and his suspicions roused, he would be unlikely to leave it at that.

No, if he was going to become their agent, the suggestion would have to come from Asha.

If he could establish a casual friendship with her, based on her knowing that he worked in the same place as Stephen, it wasn’t unreasonable to assume that at some point she would suggest he take a message to Stephen.

From then on, they would welcome him into their lives, and he’d have a good chance of getting more ideas about how to hurt Frederick Hunt.

Tonight had been about beginning that process.

He’d planned to tell Asha that he’d heard of a vacancy for a housemaid, and he’d wondered if she’d be interested in putting herself forward for the position.

She wouldn’t, of course.

She had a much better prospect in mind.

And that prospect was thwarting his plans that evening.

It was just as well that a slight delay wasn’t going to matter. He glared again in Stephen’s direction, and then turned to go back up the slope to the house he shared.

He would return the following day, he decided as he reached the few steps leading up to his front door and try to catch Asha immediately after her siesta, when Stephen was unlikely to be there.

And after that, as he already had something in mind, he’d go into Lower Bazaar and get everything he needed.

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