Weirdos, thought Gehna. I’m pregnant, so they already know I’ve done it at least once. Why is it so important to them that I don’t do it any more? And why don’t they just say that instead of telling me to get a separate room? Is ‘separate room’ old-person code for ‘we don’t want you having sex ever again’?

She agreed to both their demands.

Five minutes later, Inspector Coutinho got a call from his boss. Soon after, he told one of his men to fetch the boy from the holding cell. When Gehna tried to thank him for his help, he only grunted and reached for the newspaper. It said that Sporting Clube de Goa were through to the quarters, so at least the morning hadn’t been a total write-off.

On a sunny sidewalk outside the police headquarters, Gehna met Eram again.

‘What up, convict,’ she said, throwing her arms around him.

Eram patted her robotically on the shoulder a few times like people do when they’re uncomfortable in a hug. Gehna stepped back to get a better look at him. He had mad hair and smelled vaguely funky, but otherwise seemed much the same.

‘Oh my god,’ Gehna said, horrified. ‘It happened like in the prison movies, didn’t it? You had to perform sexual favours for a fat guy named, I don’t know, Billa or someone, in exchange for protection from all the other fat guys who wanted to kill you.’

‘It wasn’t prison, it was just this room with two drunks asleep in it.’ Eram looked up and down and across the street in a disoriented way that Gehna thought was cute. ‘I need a shower. I smell like garbage.’

Gehna didn’t disagree. They walked to the nearby impound lot, recovered Eram’s car and drove to a hotel Gehna had found through the travel app on her phone. It was listed as a four-star property, equidistant from Miramar beach to the west and the Captain of Ports Jetty on Mandovi river to the east.

‘That’s where the ferry docks. The one that takes you out to the offshore casino boats,’ Gehna said as Eram pulled into the self-parking. She was pleased with herself for finding such a conveniently located hotel for them.

‘I know,’ Eram said.

‘And Miramar is nearby, in case I get bored while you’re pokering it up.’

Eram didn’t say anything. He gripped the wheel of the parked car and stared fixedly through the windshield. The ticking of the engine as it cooled was loud in the silence.

‘You’re mad at me,’ Gehna said.

‘I’m not mad at you. Why would I be mad at you? Because I just spent three hours locked up in a drunk tank, and almost went to jail for kidnapping you? No, no, I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at myself. I knew I should never have agreed to this insane trip.’

‘Excuse me. How is any of this my fault? I didn’t know Nina and Ajay would go nuts. I didn’t know that the cops—’