The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

Back in Jaipur, Malik is working in the accounting department for Hakeem and discovers some odd discrepancies related to the theater building project: “The amount Singh-Sharma Construction has spent on cement is three times the sum the firm has spent on bricks. So why would the latest invoices show the opposite?” (115).

Later, Malik shows the problem to Ravi, who casually reverses the numbers in the ledger to make the problem go away: “Ravi shrugs. ‘Look, there’s no need to complicate things. Hakeem needs the numbers to match. They’ll match. End of story’” (118). On the spur of the moment, Ravi invites Malik to dinner that night at a fancy restaurant.

Ravi’s wife, Sheela, joins them there for the meal. Afterward, Ravi makes the excuse that he has a late-night business meeting even though he’s planning to meet his mistress. He sends Malik to accompany his wife home. Sheela invites her escort in for a drink. Although Malik feels attracted to Sheela, who might be trying to seduce him, he escapes before anything happens. Back at home, he feels as guilty as if he’d actually cheated on Nimmi.

Nimmi has gone in search of her brother in the foothills of the Himalayas. She eventually finds him unconscious, clearly injured from a fall. When she struggles to revive him, Vinnay speaks briefly, pointing to a book of matches in his pocket. He’s concerned about the gold and the missing sheep but dies before he can say more. At that moment, Lakshmi comes riding up on her horse. The two women conclude that the shepherd fell down a crevasse and broke his back and legs. He might have been lying there for a few days.

Nimmi worries about the rest of the flock. She will need to round them up so that the smugglers won’t come after Vinnay’s family if the gold goes missing. Lakshmi agrees to help her. They load Vinnay’s body on the horse’s back and take him back to the hospital for cremation. Nimmi then gives Lakshmi the matchbox that her brother had: “‘Canara Private Enterprises Limited, Shimla,’ she reads aloud” (137). Lakshmi concludes that this must be the smuggling contact.

On their way back home, they encounter the rest of the missing flock. Rounding them up, the women herd them back to town. Nimmi thinks, “A month ago, I was still angry with Lakshmi Kumar for telling me what to do [...] for being so bloody competent. But now I just feel a sense of relief that someone—anyone—is willing to take charge and help” (139).

After arriving at the hospital, Lakshmi looks for Jay. He suggests penning the sheep on the hospital grounds for a few days, where they can eat the grass. After getting Nimmi and the children settled, Lakshmi mounts her horse and goes in search of Canara Private Enterprises. When she arrives there, Lakshmi notices that the company is engaged in making bricks. She meets the contact for the smuggling business, who insists that he only wants the gold, not the sheep. Lakshmi promises to bring the cargo the following day. This commitment means that she, Jay, and Nimmi must stay up all night to shear the sheep.

In Jaipur, Malik calls on a jeweler named Moti-Lal, whom he knows from the old days. The jeweler’s wife was one of Lakshmi’s first customers. Today, Malik wants to buy a gold necklace for the old woman who cared for him as a boy and another necklace for Nimmi. This gesture alleviates some of Malik’s guilt about his flirtation with Sheela.

At home, Nimmi has already begun shearing the single sheep that was treated at the hospital. Lakshmi arrives and says that they must shear the entire flock that night. Nimmi thinks, “I notice the tired lines under her eyes. She’s done so much already—trekking up and down the mountains, carting my brother’s body to Shimla, riding to that business on the outskirts of town” (164). Nimmi is touched by Lakshmi’s kindness to someone who isn’t family.

That night, Lakshmi goes to the pasture with Nimmi; Jay insists on coming along too. They must shear 39 sheep to recover 20 pounds of gold bars. Afterward, Nimmi says that the sheep must be completely shorn to remove the telltale signs of the pockets in their flanks. She’ll keep the wool and sell it later.

Back at home, Jay confesses that he started asking around about any smuggling in the vicinity. Lakshmi fears that his curiosity might alert the police: “If the authorities were to find those half-shorn sheep at the bottom of the lower pasture, we’d all three of us be implicated” (170). Furthermore, the Indian government runs on nepotism and corruption. Lakshmi fears that the police might be on the payroll of the gold smugglers. This means that they must get the sheep completely shorn the following night.

The next morning, Lakshmi arrives at Canara to deliver the gold bars. She finds a woman at work making clay bricks, all of which have hollow indentations in the center. This seems odd, though the worker doesn’t know why they’re shaped this way. Just then, the smuggling contact arrives to collect the gold. Two bricks are missing, but Lakshmi bluffs and says that she kept those as payment. She hastily departs before the smuggler demands the missing bricks, and Jay is waiting outside to escort her home.

Nimmi and her children are now staying at Lakshmi’s house for protection. Late that night, Nimmi, Jay, and Lakshmi sneak out to complete their shearing operation. Hours later, they’re almost done when Jay hears someone approaching. He tells Lakshmi to hide and asks Nimmi to accompany him to see what the problem is.

The local police captain and his team are making a night patrol. Jay pretends that he is having a lover’s tryst with Nimmi in the pasture. He bribes the police captain to ignore the rendezvous and not tell his wife. Nimmi drops a casual hint that she has heard gossip about a smuggling operation at Canara Enterprises. The police leave without even noticing the sheep.

On the way home, no one speaks about the awkward pretense of an affair. Lakshmi feels insecure and jealous: “I saw the way that Jay reacted when confronted by the captain, pretending—so convincingly—to be having an affair with Nimmi. Even I almost believed him” (184).

Back at the house, Lakshmi receives a late-night phone call from her friend Kanta in Jaipur. She learns that the new theater has just collapsed. Malik is safe, but Kanta’s husband is being blamed for the tragedy: “The biggest project for the palace so far—the maharani invested all that money to build it! And Manu was in charge of it. He’s beside himself! Says he has no idea how it could have happened” (185). Because Manu was the project manager, everyone’s pointing a finger at him. Realizing that her friend needs her, Lakshmi promises to take the morning train to Jaipur.

Before Lakshmi leaves, Nimmi confronts her angrily. She blames the older woman for putting Malik in danger by sending him to Jaipur: “He needs to live his own life now. He deserves to make his own way in the world. It’s time for you to let him go. He needs to hear it from you” (189). Lakshmi is taken aback by the accusation that she’s controlling Malik for his own good: “I feel hollow—like a reed before the henna paste fills its core. I don’t know what to say, or what to think. I can neither speak, nor move” (190).