The Bandit Queens (111)

His words roused her temper. “Exactly, we’re a bunch of housewives. We make your food, we watch your children, we hear your business. We know your lives well enough to ruin them. So I’d be careful.”

“My wife would never—”

“Would Lakha?”

BB’s face slackened. Geeta spoke over his sputtering. “I told you: I pay attention. You keep calling her your mistress, but she’s not, is she? More like your prisoner. Remember when she nearly ran away? No, no—don’t worry about how I know that. Worry about if she decides to take a different approach. You don’t think her life would be better without you and your shrew wife? You don’t think she wishes you were dead so she and her son could be free?”

“Are you threatening me?”

Geeta shook her head. “I don’t need to threaten you; there are four of us, BB. You can’t shoot us all. And despite what you think, I’m not your enemy.”

Saloni said, “None of us is. So be smart enough to listen when I say I know how to help you.”

BB snorted. “You think I trust you?”

“Geeta!” Ramesh ordered. “Come here.”

“The police are coming,” Saloni said. “You don’t have much of a choice.”

When BB’s face contorted, she added, “Listen, Chintu, you’re thinking one step ahead instead of ten. What if, by the time the cops come, it’s like you were never here in the first place?”

BB looked tempted, but he gestured to the room’s blood and disarray. “How?”

“If you leave, we’ll say this was a domestic dispute. You were home the entire night; your family will vouch for you. Ramesh hurt Geeta, we tried to stop him.”

BB frowned, still dubious, but he listened. “How will you explain how he got shot?”

“It’s just a flesh wound; we’ll say the dog bit him or whatever. But to be safe, we need to find the bullet. On C.I.D. they always trace it back to the gun.”

“Geeta!” Ramesh thundered. He clapped his hands twice for attention. “If you don’t get over here right now, I swear to Ram I’ll break your damn head.”

“But if we lie for you,” Geeta said, looking only at BB, “this is all over, Bada-Bhai. Swear on your son’s head: no more revenge, no more threats, no more. Otherwise, we’ll make your life hell. We’ll get Sinha crawling all over your business. We’ll help Lakha take your son. You think you have no peace now? Just wait.”

“What happened to not being my enemy?”

“Make the deal and I won’t be.”

BB appraised the women. After all that had transpired, she couldn’t believe she had the ability to hope, but there it was, beating like a wing behind her chest. Let this work, she begged all available gods. Let us get out of this. The tic under BB’s eye throbbed as he weighed his anger and pride against his neck. “How do I know all four of you can get a story straight with the police?”

Farah said, “We’ve had plenty of practice.”

BB said, “If you halkat randis fuck this up and that Sinha bitch comes to my house, I will find you. And I’ll bring better goons than him.” He pointed to Ramesh.

Since she knew in her gut that there were likely no cops en route, Geeta’s calm was real when she said: “Then we’re very motivated to not fuck it up, aren’t we?”

Saloni lowered her eyes with calculated shyness, her voice very quiet as she said, “You have all the power here, Bada-Bhai. Just say the word and we’ll obey.”

BB did not look happy, but he gave a terse nod. “Help me find the damn bullet and we have a deal.”

Ramesh slapped the ground. He hissed like a spurned goose, “You can act all high and mighty with your bitch friends around, Geeta, but the minute they leave, I’ll make you pay for this.”

Geeta finally looked down at his pathetic form. “Does your thick head really not understand, Ramesh? I will never, ever live with you again. You will never, ever steal from me again. I’d say I’d kill myself before letting it happen, but that’d be a lie. I’ll see you dead first. Do you understand? If you stay in this village, I will make sure you die.”

Khushi nodded. “We all will.”

“We’re happy to be accessories. Like jewelry, but way more dangerous,” Saloni said, her lips peeling back in a feral grin. She grabbed Geeta’s broom.

“Is that supposed to scare me?” Ramesh was propped up in a corner, his leg extended. Sweat stippled his forehead as he gripped his knife tighter.

“Yes,” Farah said encouragingly, as though he were a student who’d finally recited the correct answer.

“BB, give me the gun,” he snarled. But BB was across the room near Geeta, bent at the waist as he searched.

“I should mention there’s more of us,” Saloni said casually, sweeping the floor for the bullet. “Preity and Priya will be happy to help.”

“The twins?”

“Who do you think wanted Darshan dead?”

“O Ram,” BB muttered as he looked. “No man is safe in this village.”

“You’re all insane.” Ramesh studied Geeta, hunting for a weakness to rip wider. She kept her face placid.

“Hardly,” Farah said, kneeling to check under Geeta’s cot. “We never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it.”