Gregory Roberts - The Mountain Shadow

‘What a pretty girl,’ Idriss said quietly. ‘Do you know her?’

‘Her name’s Divya Devnani, but I suggest that you call her Diva.’

‘Is her father Mukesh Devnani, the industrialist?’

‘The same.’

‘Then she must be in trouble. Introduce me, please.’

‘Yes, sir.’

I made the introductions. When Idriss took Diva by the hand and led her to the comfortable deckchair I’d vacated, I walked Naveen to sit with me on the log where Rannveig sat with me, weeks before, talking crime and punishment.

Naveen opened the discussion with crime, and punishment.

‘Concannon’s moving his dope gig around,’ he said when we sat down. ‘It’s a moveable beast, and hard to pin down, but I’m starting to get a line on him. And there’s a contract out on Ranjit.’

‘You don’t say. How much is it?’

Naveen looked at me, all straight-arrow detective.

‘Why do you want to know?’

‘Just curious,’ I said, smiling. ‘If there’s a pot, I’ve got some friends who’d like to throw a few bucks in.’

‘Matter of fact, there is,’ he smiled. ‘Legend has it, a local contractor and a local politician were trying to outbid each other to have him killed, but then joined forces, to double the pot.’

‘That should keep him out of Bombay for a while. Check with anyone who knows Goa, if you can. I’ve got some friends from the Company in Delhi. I’ll ask around, and see if he’s hiding there.’

‘Hell, yeah. On another front, there were two fights between Sanjay Company and Scorpion guys in Colaba last week. Shots fired. Two shops wrecked. That little war the Scorpions started at Leo’s got hotter. One of their houses on Marine Lines was burned down. In retaliation, the newspapers say. A female nurse died in the fire. There’s a helluva racket in the press. Sanjay was detained, but they let him go. Lack of evidence.’

I’d been in that house. I knew that Vishnu’s wife was ill. That’s why a nurse was in the mansion; a nurse, who died. I knew that Vishnu wouldn’t stop until the fire was burning in front of Sanjay’s eyes.

‘Oh, and your friend Abdullah is back,’ Naveen added. ‘He said that he’ll meet you, when you get off the mountain. But he said to stay here, at least another week.’

‘Another week?’

‘That’s what he said.’

‘Damn, that was a news report. Thanks for coming up here, to tell me.’

‘Actually,’ he said, smiling, ‘we came up here with a friend of yours.’

I searched his eyes. He nodded.

‘Where is she?’

‘In that second cave, over there. She asked me to give her a few minutes before telling you, and nobody says no to Karla!’

I ran across the slippery white stones, stopping before the entrance to the cave. I glimpsed inside. She was sitting on a wooden stool, examining a silver figurine of the Goddess Lakshmi resting in her palm.

I stood in the entrance to the cave, facing the wind as she’d done, the first time I’d seen her on the mountain.

‘Tell me a joke, Karla.’

She turned slowly to look at me. From the corner of my eye, I could see that she was smiling.

‘So,’ I asked, ‘you got a joke, or don’t you?’

‘Okay. Why do cops call informers two-slappers?’

‘Three weeks I haven’t seen you, and you give me cop jokes?’

‘It’s sixteen days and eight hours. You want a joke, or don’t you?’

‘Okay. Why do cops call informers two-slappers?’

‘Because you gotta hit them once, to start them talking, and hit them again, to shut them up.’

‘Come here,’ I said.

She kissed me, arms around my neck, legs stretched to toes, her body pressed to mine like two trees grown as one.

‘I’m so glad to see you,’ I said. ‘What’s with the ten minutes Naveen had to stall me?’

‘I was a little hot from the climb, and I wanted to look cool. For you.’

‘Let’s go someplace.’

I took Karla to Silvano’s Point, where we sat on stony grass with a wide view of the trees below. A breeze hit the cliff in waves, rolling up from the valley in gusts of warm air. Trees on the cliff-edge swayed, sprinkling feathered shade.

‘Tell me everything,’ she said.

‘That’s funny. I was just going to ask you the same thing.’

‘No, you go first.’

‘There’s not much to report. It’s generally pretty quiet. It’s kind of like a theme park, up here, for people who like housework. They’re big on chores.’

‘How’s that working out?’

‘Okay. I prefer chores to rules.’

‘Thanks for staying, Shantaram. I love you for it. I know it’s not where you wanted to be.’

She hadn’t explained why she wanted me out of the city, and I didn’t ask her. I was just glad that she was with me.

‘It’s never boring, though. A lot of people come up to see Idriss, and only stay for an hour or two.’

‘What kind of people?’

She relaxed, leaning on her palms, and smiling happily in the sunlight.

‘There was a politician up here a couple of days ago. He had an O.K. Corral of guns and bodyguards. He wanted advice. Idriss told him to give up his bodyguards, and armoured cars, and walk among the people in a simple shirt, trousers and sandals.’

‘What did the politician say?’

‘The politician said that if he did that, he’d be murdered. There’s your problem , Idriss said. Go and solve it .’

‘I love that guy,’ she said. ‘He should do stand-up.’

‘And half a dozen Shiva sadhus came and stayed. They preferred their oxygen smoked, argued with Idriss day and night, and started waving their Shiva tridents over their heads, threatening to kill everybody. In the end, Silvano and I had to handle it.’

‘With Silvano’s rifle?’

‘Of course not. You can’t shoot holy men. We paid them to leave.’

‘Smart move. How’s it been, with Silvano?’

‘Great. He’s a good guy.’

‘I knew you’d like him, because he’s a lot like you.’

‘Like me?’

‘Oh, yeah.’

I thought about it, but not for long.

‘I like him. I’d like him on our team.’

‘Our team? We’ve got a team?’

‘I’ve been giving it some thought. I’ve been thinking we could -’

‘Let’s talk about that later,’ she said. ‘How’s it going with Idriss?’

I wanted to talk about us, and what we were going to do together in the Island City, or away from it. I wanted to talk about us, and I wanted to kiss her.

‘I’d rather talk about us,’ I smiled.

‘How’s it going with Idriss?’ she repeated.

‘Idriss… is pretty cool, I gotta admit.’

‘Has he opened any doors for you?’

A big question, and a funny one at that: I spent most of my life closing doors, and doing everything I could to keep them closed. There was too much of the past that I didn’t want to remember.

‘Doors in the mind, certainly,’ I said. ‘But if you mean, am I a transformed man? No, it’s still me.’

She looked out at the view: the valley and the spired village, shimmering in the distance.

‘Did you find Madame Zhou?’ I asked.

‘She’s gone to ground,’ Karla replied, looking at the point where earth strains to kiss the sky.

‘Nothing at all?’

‘No-one’s seen her or heard from her since Didier and Naveen started asking around. She’s probably still here. She’s cunning. If she doesn’t want to be found, she’s invisible.’

‘Nobody’s invisible. If she’s still around, we’ll find her. Naveen gave me a message from Abdullah. He -’

‘Told you to wait here at least another week. Abdullah called, and told me. That’s why I pulled Naveen up here with me.’