Kiara looked up to her sister: ‘Vikram won’t be very happy about you spilling the beans to the police, Prish.’

‘He can go to hell. Let’s face it, there’s been too much secrecy. You and I have been kept in the dark for years, not to mention short-changed.’

‘We have until Thursday at noon to accept the bid or it will be withdrawn,’ Kiara said. ‘Harry seems to think that we might run out of cash to pay suppliers in a week or two. So he is recommending that we accept.’

Prisha took over. ‘Kiki and I voted against, on principle. But we’ve only got one per cent between us. Harry and the trust basically do what they want because they’ve got an inbuilt majority.’

‘Who do you blame for this?’ Gillard said, knowing it was an inflammatory question.

‘Deepak,’ they chorused.

‘I’ve always known my ex-husband was greedy,’ Prisha said ‘But I didn’t think he was stupid. If I get my hands on him, I’ll kill him.’

‘She means metaphorically speaking,’ Kiara added hurriedly.

Gillard looked at the expressions exchanged between the two sisters, and decided there was nothing metaphorical about it. Prisha Roy was molten.

The detective realised that some criminal offences had almost certainly taken place within the management of Empire of Spice, but his priority still lay with investigating the murder. That didn’t mean to say he shouldn’t hand out some advice. ‘I would advise you at this time to do the right thing by your staff, customers and suppliers in case you are called to account.’

‘You had better save that for the directors,’ Prisha said. ‘We’re the victims in this, remember? Shareholders, especially small ones with no board representation, are the first to get wiped out when a company goes belly up. Look, I’ve got to go,’ She looked at her watch, slung her handbag over her shoulder and said goodbye to her sister. With a small smile at Gillard, she stalked out. They both watched her go.

‘She is still very angry,’ Kiara said. ‘She has a burning sense of injustice, because she’s much harder working and probably more talented than Harry, and throughout her life it was just never recognised.’ She leaned towards Gillard conspiratorially. ‘She’s probably too proud to tell you, but when Harry was born, Prisha felt like she had suddenly ceased to exist. She told me this, in sisterly solidarity, when I was having my own bad times. She was fed by the housekeeper, while Mummy fed Harry on her knee, and had his cot in her room. If he cried, she would gather him into her bed. She never did that with her.’ She shook her head in exasperation. ‘The exquisite irony is that Indian mothers are still foot soldiers in the patriarchy.’

‘So that is why Prisha went off to form her own business?’

‘Yes, in the end. Particularly when she married Deepak. She was trampled in the rush as he was welcomed into the bosom of the family, and treated immediately as the talented entrepreneur he never was. The fact that he was always an utter shit, both to her and everyone else, seemed to count for nothing.’