I had to wait thirty minutes for the trunk call to go through. When it did, I reached back to my schoolboy past and told Girish I was sick. Delhi belly. Everyone would buy that. And since the next day was Sunday, my day off, I was free for the time being. What I would tell them on Monday was another matter.

I was the last to arrive in the drawing room for pre-dinner cocktails. It was already dark outside.

“Will you have some whisky with me?” asked Willy.

“Sure,” I said.

“Are you feeling more relaxed?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” I said, then turned to the object of all my desires, who was seated on the divan. “Sushmita, you look lovely, as always.”

“You’re such a flirt, Danny,” she answered, a glass of juice in her hand. “And in front of Willy. Shameless.”

Damn, she didn’t mind skating close to the edge.

“How did you two occupy yourselves this afternoon?” I asked to change the subject.

“I made some calls for you, Danny Boy,” said Willy. “I’m waiting to hear from my contacts. Let’s be patient a few days more. You’re safe as long as no one knows where you are.”

He toasted to me with his glass.

“Wait,” said Sushmita. We both turned to her. “What about your servant?”

“How would he know?” I asked. “We never said we were going to Poona.”

“No, but I said we had to hurry because we wanted to reach the top of the ghats before dark.”

That was right. She’d said that in front of Ramu.

“But his English is poor,” I said. “Maybe he didn’t understand?”

“Maybe. But servants aren’t stupid. Ignorance of English is not an indicator of intelligence.”

Willy urged us to remain calm. “He may not have heard you, Mita. Or understood. We have no reason to assume he’s disloyal to his employer.”

“But what if this Bikas guy questions him?” I asked. “What if he threatens him?”

We settled into a long silence, during which I conjured the worst possible outcomes in my mind. I pictured Ramu telling all to the man who’d promised to kill me if I didn’t hand over the film. And, at least for the moment, I couldn’t locate the film to give it back even if I’d wanted to.

I was getting ahead of myself. Ramu couldn’t possibly know where I was. Even if he suspected I’d fled to Poona, how would he know where to find me? He couldn’t. Impossible.

Unless he knew Sushmita’s name and thought to check the Poona telephone directory.