Daisy's Long Road Home. Merryn Allingham
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right, I haven’t.’ Grayson yawned, dazed by the soporific atmosphere. ‘Not an actual clue, at least. But I’ve been thinking about the conversations I’ve had these last few days. Nothing very specific, but I’m getting a feel for where I might start.’
His colleague looked decidedly sceptical. ‘A feel? You mean you’ll point your compass and feel where the needle leads you?’
‘Not quite so haphazard. It’s just that certain comments, certain ideas have stuck in my mind. Almost as though they’ve been blown towards me in the breeze and then lodged deep in my consciousness.’
‘Very poetic, but pure fantasy, Gray, and hardly likely to get you very far. What comments by the way?’
‘I can’t be certain and I shouldn’t say too much for the moment. But the idea of a princely state is beginning to ring bells.’
‘But surely they don’t exist any longer? I thought they’d been incorporated into India.’
‘Most of them. Mountbatten managed to persuade nearly all of them to sign the Act of Accession but some held out. Some are still holding out—the larger states particularly.’
‘But not Rajasthan?’
‘Rajasthan has always been a collection of princely states. Some large, some very small. Most have signed up, but a few haven’t, and they’re the ones I should be looking at, I think. It’s the smaller ones to the north where there’s trouble. And one or two of the ICS officers are convinced that Javinder travelled northwards.’
Mike’s expression made it clear that he wasn’t equally convinced. ‘Have you thought that the problems you’re talking about might have nothing to do with Javinder’s journey? They might be nothing more than the usual disputes.’
‘How is that?’
‘From what I gather, tension between the different communities is long standing. If there is aggression, it could be the same old trouble rearing its head. Why should it be anything new?’
‘Because disaffected people cause trouble. And that’s what we’ve got. There are rulers who refuse to accept the new dispensation. For them the fifteenth of August last year was a day of mourning. That was when they lost their privileges, lost the world of pomp and splendour they’d expected to inhabit for the rest of their lives.’
‘You’re saying these chaps might be responsible for the violence? That they’re deliberately organising it? That seems pretty far-fetched to me. What on earth would they gain? In any case, there must still be pockets of unrest around the country. The odd disturbance is still happening elsewhere in India, isn’t it, so why not in the north of Rajasthan?’
‘It is happening,’ Grayson conceded wearily. ‘And you could well be right. I don’t honestly know what to make of the reports. At the moment I’m just going on a hunch.’ He swung his legs off the desk and got to his feet. ‘I think I’ll miss the tea break. I’ve had enough chai today to float me to the Indian Ocean. I’d feel better if I went back to the bungalow and stood under a shower.’
Mike walked with him to the door. He laid his hands on either side of Grayson’s shoulders and shook him gently. ‘You can’t plunge through Rajasthan on a hunch. You have to have more to go on than that. The country isn’t properly stabilised yet and God knows what kind of mishap you could meet with. That’s if you’re lucky and it’s not outright danger that you face.’
‘I appreciate your concern, Mike, but I’ve been asking questions for two whole days and I’m still none the wiser. A hunch, I fear, is all I’m going to get.’
‘So the answer is don’t go.’
Grayson’s expression was mulish. It said quite plainly that Mike was making needless difficulties and he wished that he wouldn’t.
‘Your place is in the town,’ his companion ploughed on, undeterred. ‘Send scouts to wherever you think best, but stay in Jasirapur and manage the search from here. Think man, you’ve brought Daisy with us. I’m not saying she’s a problem, at least not at the moment. And I like her well enough. But she’s here against my advice, I’d remind you. And you need to keep a closer watch on her.’
Grayson’s eyes opened wide in astonishment. ‘Whatever do you mean?’
‘Let me ask you this. Do you know what she’s doing right now?’
He felt mystified. Of course, he didn’t know exactly. And did it matter that he didn’t?
Mike looked satisfied at having startled him. ‘I thought not. You have no idea what she’s up to and neither have I. But I’d bet a pound to a penny, it’s something you wouldn’t approve of.’
Grayson wouldn’t have approved, Daisy was sure. She was following a uniformed retainer down a long hall of polished marble and feeling very slightly intimidated. She wondered whether after all she should have mentioned her plans to him, or at least left word with Ahmed. It was too late for that now. The hall which had seemed unending finally came to a halt, and she was ushered into what she supposed was a drawing room. She had a brief glimpse of sumptuous walls lined with red and gold silk before a man glided towards her. He offered her his hand in greeting.
‘Miss Driscoll? I am Ramesh Suri.’
Her host wasn’t a large man, no more than average height and of slender build, but Daisy still felt a qualm when she looked at him. She wasn’t sure why. He gestured her towards one of the several thickly brocaded sofas and sat down opposite. The servant who’d escorted her toured the room, pulling the satin blinds fully down at every window and plunging the space into near darkness. For a short moment, she was blinded but then her eyes regained focus and she was able to take in her surroundings. There was richness everywhere, from the wall coverings to the embossed ceiling to the Indian silk rugs on the floor. What she took to be antiques were scattered at random throughout the room. Ramesh Suri was evidently a very wealthy man, but one who chose to live isolated. She wondered where his money came from and had a premonition that it might not be too sensible to enquire.
‘You have come far, Miss Driscoll?’ he asked in a soft voice.
‘From Jasirapur.’
‘That is far enough on a hot day. And in an open tonga.’
Her skin was doing an unpleasant thing, sending short, sharp prickles around her body. There was nothing in his speech to make her wary, so why did she feel this disquiet? She sensed his gaze on her, hard and impervious. Yes, it was his gaze, she decided, or rather his eyes that were so disturbing. They were coal black and, at a certain angle, they appeared opaque, as though a screen had descended. As though their owner could look out but no one could look in.
‘Have you happened at my gate by accident?’ he asked.
He must know that she hadn’t. He had clearly heard her tell his aggressive servant that she had come to speak to the master of the house. But she answered him tranquilly enough, ignoring his pretence. ‘Not by accident, Mr Suri. I came to see you.’
She heard a slight shuffling behind her and saw Suri beckon to whoever had come into the room. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of two young men, one not much more than a boy. They hovered discreetly to one side until their father beckoned to them again.
‘You must meet my sons, Miss Driscoll. This is Dalip.’ The older of the two came forward and bowed. He didn’t offer his hand, she noticed. He was dressed less ostentatiously than his father but there was the same opaqueness to the eyes. ‘And this is Daya.’ The boy moved awkwardly forward. He was barely out of his teens and had not yet lost the innocence of boyhood. His face was open, friendly. Quite unlike his brother or his father.
A second servant, dressed in the same red embroidered