The Blue Bar (Blue Mumbai #1)(54)

“I wasn’t sure how you’d react. I never imagined it would lead to this.”

“This?”

“We both know this was an attempt on your life.” Shinde gestured at Arnav’s injuries.

“What’s the connection?”

“When you stayed on the Versova case, I spoke to Shetty about Neha Chaubey.”

“Shetty ordered this hit on me?”

Arnav strained to sit up, but the room turned into a blur. His right arm spasmed. Knowing it wasn’t broken, Arnav pushed his hand into the bed in order to rise.

“I won’t let anyone harm you.” Shinde rushed to the bed and helped Arnav. “I promised your mother on her deathbed, Avi. I may be a jerk, but I keep my word.”

“I see.”

Arnav didn’t see, not at all—not how he’d been stupid enough not to recognize his friend’s true nature. Nor how he’d feel any loyalty or affection for Shinde ever again.

“Hear me out, please. The thing with . . . Neha was part of the . . . payment. I had no clue what had happened to her till I saw . . . her on that table.” He sank down on a chair beside the bed. “She’d told me she was going back to her village. She wasn’t a good dancer. The bar was not for her.”

“Is Shetty behind this, or not?” Arnav pointed at his own bandaged shoulder. “And the women?”

“He said he’d get the Neha Chaubey situation fixed. A while later you received a promotion offer, and I was relieved. You, being an ass, didn’t take it. You even gave interviews to the press.”

“I like that you’re calling me names. You understand I must report you, right?” Arnav said.

“I cannot stop you. I’ve known Shetty for years—didn’t expect him to do this.”

“I’ve known you, too.” Arnav let that statement hang in the air.

“You should take the promotion.” Shinde met Arnav’s eyes, shamed but defiant. “Once you’re away, you’ll be left alone. Whoever is behind these murders will not sit quietly while you drag them into newspapers.”

Arnav recalled the earlier cases, in various police jurisdictions. The investigating officers who were either transferred or died under suspicious circumstances. The women’s bodies merging into soil over the years.

“Did you orchestrate my promotion? What about Mhatre and his warnings?”

“No. But if you report me, Mhatre will be aware you’re still investigating Aksa and the other cases.”

“You haven’t talked to him?”

Mhatre had been cagey and odd all last week—unwilling to acknowledge that the cases could be related. He’d backed Commissioner Joshi on not investigating Taneja Estate Holdings and on Arnav’s promotion out of the Malwani station.

“I’m telling you I haven’t,” Shinde said. “Someone with higher connections is pulling the strings—not Mhatre. He’s only a senior inspector.”

How could Arnav be sure Shinde wasn’t lying? Arnav felt like he’d stumbled into quicksand. Taneja, Joshi, Mhatre, and now Shetty and Shinde.

“Avi, this is serious. I put my wife on a flight to Delhi this afternoon along with our children. I won’t have a job with Mumbai Police after this, and if you go public, no one will hire me at a security firm. I’ve posted plainclothes guards in the corridor. If someone wants you eliminated from this case, it will happen, one way or another. Are you willing to risk your life?”

“What sort of man is Shetty?”

“I’ve worked with him for seventeen years. He’s a regular bar owner, and he doesn’t force the girls. My role included locking up any clients who acted smart or hurt the girls during private performances.”

“You didn’t know the clients?” Arnav said.

“In most cases, no. He had men escort the girls to the locations and bring them back. Not all clients demanded sex. Some asked the women to sing or dance. One even insisted a girl should act like his wife, cook for him, and keep his house clean.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“I can’t say right now who—”

Nandini knocked and walked into the room. “Tara is leaving.” She stared at Shinde.

“Where is she?” Arnav said. He couldn’t let Tara go back to Shetty.

Tara strode in. “I’m going to work. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Wait, you can’t—”

“I have to, Avi. I’m already late.” Tara looked anxious. “I’d taken leave only for the afternoon.”

Her use of “Avi” didn’t go unnoticed by the others, but neither commented on it.

“No,” Arnav said. “Come here.”

“I have a contract with him.” She glanced at her phone. “He’s calling.”

“Shetty can’t be trusted,” Shinde said to Tara and Nandini. “Talk to Arnav.” To Arnav he said, “I’ll go make a few calls, and tell Naik you’re awake.”

“How can I trust you?”

“I have a lot to atone for.” Shinde stepped out, leaving Arnav faced with the two women.

A month ago, if someone had suggested to him Nandini and Tara would ever stand in the same room, he’d have laughed. Yet there they were.