Wind in the East by Steve Turnbull

Author:Steve Turnbull
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: british detective, thriller, murder, female protagonist, india
Publisher: Steve Turnbull
Published: 2017-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

i

“Are you going to tell me why we’re here?” asked Françoise as she helped Maliha down from the carriage.

The hotel had been pleasant. Madras was a much more cosmopolitan location than Pondicherry, a difference that was mostly the fault of French indifference—though the destruction the British had visited on the place had not helped.

“Research,” said Maliha. “Information.”

“About what?”

“Someone wanted to disrupt the wedding; I want to know why.”

“At a hospital?”

“Next door.”

Maliha instructed the driver to remain, as she would be requiring further transport, then strode towards the hospital with Françoise in her wake. The Lady Lansdowne Hospital was an imposing Victorian building of polished red sandstone. It was untouched by any thought of Indian sensibilities, and would have been perfectly at home in the centre of Manchester. Sitting next to it was the office of the Registrar for Births, Deaths and Marriages.

“I’m afraid this will all be in English,” said Maliha.

“I’ll do my best to follow it.”

The doors were oak with stained glass windows depicting scrolls with illuminated writing. Maliha pushed one open and entered the open foyer. The Gothic exterior was repeated inside with pillars, tiles, and wrought iron. On the right was a polished oak cubbyhole for the doorman. He was British through and through, probably ex-Army, sporting an impressive and well-trimmed moustache.

“Can I help you, young ladies?” he said. “The hospital for women of Indian birth is next door.”

Maliha paused to assess the man. She did not think he spoke out of malice; most women could not read so the opportunity for error was high. Instead of becoming angry she smiled and spoke in her most cultivated English, practised in the most prestigious of girls’ schools in England. “Thank you but I can assure you that I am in the right place. I am researching family lineage.”

His change of gears was visible. There was a type of person who responded to the right voice from the right class, even if she did not have quite the right colour, and he was one of those.

“Of course, Miss?”

“Anderson. And this is Mam’selle Greaux,” she said. “If you would be so kind as to direct us to the archives?”

The man gave her directions and they set off through the building. They took the stairs down into the vaults where one of the administrative staff directed them to the shelves for the correct year.

“What are we looking for?” asked Françoise as Maliha lifted down three books covering the right period. She knew Renuka’s date of birth but there was no harm in gathering additional data.

“Anything of interest.”

“How will I know what is interesting?”

“Something will catch your eye.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then there was nothing interesting.”

Maliha started two months before the births and gave Françoise the registry for the month after. “Work backwards.”

They were silent for a while. Maliha ran her finger down each page noting names and children. There were a frightening number of still births, children who died in child birth along with their mothers. Perhaps having a child was not a wise move, although medicine had certainly advanced a long way in the last few years.

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.