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Now I come into the room, stand in front of his desk. “But how could such a collapse happen because of the weight of a few extra people, Hakeem Sahib?”

“I’m told it was more than a few. More like a hundred extra.”

I take a moment to digest this. “Still, don’t the engineersoverbuild...just in case? To compensate for human folly? Aren’t there standards that have to be met for the overbuild?”

Hakeem shrugs his rounded shoulders. “Who knows? We are accountants, not detectives. We need to put together a report on the building expenses associated with the damage, posthaste. Yes? We are to make a list of all the materials used and the suppliers we paid and how much we spent. You’ll work on the seats, carpets, decorative materials that will have to be replaced. Singh Sahib asked me to work on the cost of the construction materials for the repair and rebuild.”

“You mean Manu Sahib?”

“No, young Abbas. Ravi Sahib gave the order. Mr. Agarwal is in charge of all palace facilities, but since the larger building projects are often contracted out to Singh-Sharma, it feels like we work for them, too.”

Does Manu know Ravi gives orders to his staff? Isn’t that a conflict of interest? If Mr. Sharma hadn’t had a stroke and both Singhs weren’t in charge, I wonder if protocols would have been different. “So we’ll be estimating all the materials costs for replacement purposes?”

He shoots a glance at me as if I’m simple. “Yes.”

I clear my throat. “You’re so busy, Uncle,” I say. “I can help you with your estimates if you’d like.”

“Mr. Ravi asked me especially, yes? And you, Abbas, have your own assignment. Go.” He waves his hand at me, as if he is shooing a fly.

“But...couldn’t the collapse have been caused by something other than overcapacity? Substandard materials, for instance? A compromised structure?”

Hakeem frowns at me, sets down his fountain pen and leans forward on his elbows. “Think about what you’re saying, Abbas. Singh-Sharma is a very trusted contractor. The palace has been working with them for decades. And they’ve used the same materials suppliers for years. Trusted companies, reliable companies. There is no need to cast aspersions on them.”

“Surely there have been some changes in suppliers over the years?”

He sighs. “Abbas, did I mention I have four daughters? The oldest will be ready for marriage soon. The rest will follow. Yes? How will I be able to afford their dowries unless I’m sitting behind this desk, adding up the numbers Mr. Singh wants me to?”

I ignore his frustration. I know what I saw, and none of it makes sense. I need to tread carefully in case Hakeem thinks I’m blaming him for sloppy paperwork or casting doubt on Manu’s ability to manage the project. “Maybe Singh-Sharma used a new supplier, and they delivered materials different from the design specs—by accident. Have we added or changed any suppliers in the last year?”

Hakeem glares at me over his glasses. “You have much to learn, young man.”

I give him my most charming smile. “What if I agree to marry your eldestwithoutasking for a dowry?”

His lips twitch. I’ve made the little accountantalmostsmile! He narrows his eyes, shakes his head. He reaches for his Rolodex and flips through the cards. He stops at one. “Let’s see...this one’s new. Yes. We added Chandigarh Ironworks thirteen months ago. They beat out our former supplier by twenty percent.”

I whistle. “Twenty percent is a steep discount.”

He raises his brows, taps the card. “Hmm. It is.”

“They supply iron rebar?”

He shakes his head. “Used to. These days they supply us with bricks and cement.”

I don’t ask to see the contract with Chandigarh Ironworks. Hakeem wouldn’t show them to me; he’s already wary of my questions. Naturally, I wait until he leaves for the day and then I slip inside his office. I don’t have to collect Auntie-Boss from the train station for another hour and a half.

It’s fortunate for me that Hakeem is an organized accountant: everything is neatly labeled, all receipts are kept. I find the contracts cabinet and open the top drawer. Each contract is filed under the vendor name, which is listed in alphabetical order. I find the folder labeled Chandigarh Ironworks and pull it out. Inside I find an invoice that indicates they are indeed located in Chandigarh, in the state directly north of Rajasthan.

Hakeem told me this was a new contract, so I want to compare the terms with the previous supplier, but I don’t know the name of the previous supplier. One way to find the company name is to look at paid invoices from thirteen months ago or beyond. But invoices don’t always list the name of the project, and there are so many overlapping projects in which the palace is involved. Until I started working for Manu, I didn’t know about the various renovations to the Rambagh Hotel, the Jaipur Palace and the Maharanis’ Palace or that the royal family was buying smaller estates (from Rajputs who could no longer afford to keep up their properties) and turning them into boutique hotels. And, of course, the design and build of the Royal Jewel Cinema was an extensive construction project three years in the making.

The better option, I decide, is to look through the individual folders of suppliers. I sigh and get busy. I start by looking for suppliers whose names indicate they might sell bricks instead of electrical or plumbing or interior furnishings. There are many names ending in “building supply” or “materials,” so I review the contracts in each folder to see whether they’re still an active source for one of the palace’s projects.

An hour later, I run across the folder for Shree Building Materials in Jaipur. The contract, which was for supplying class 1 bricks, ended the day the Chandigarh Ironworks contract went into effect. I understand why the palace would insist on top-of-the-line materials free from cracks, chips, stones and other flaws. The Chandigarh Ironworks contract likewise promised to supply class 1 bricks.

I lean back in Hakeem’s chair and think about this. I don’t understand how Chandigarh Ironworks could deliver the same quality as the previous supplier forlesscost when they would have to add in transportation fees. Chandigarh is, after all, five hundred miles away!

And something else that’s puzzling: the bricks from the cinema house—the ones I picked up and examined—weren’t construction quality. They can’t support load-bearing structures like the balcony. So who authorized their use?

I examine the signatures on both contracts—Shree Building, and Chandigarh. Manu Agarwal and Samir Singh on the previous contract; Manu Agarwal and Ravi Singh on the current contract. It is palace policy to sign off on all contracts for their building projects and keep the original for auditing purposes. Singh-Sharma would have a copy in their files also.