Page 56 of Rising Tiger

Harvath did as he was told.

All of the apartments’ front doors and living room windows faced out onto a walkway with an iron railing that overlooked the courtyard below. No matter where you stood, you could see all of the other units.

Arriving at Pinaki Ali’s apartment, Vijay removed the leather case containing whatever credentials it was that he carried, and delivered a solid, law enforcement pounding to the man’s front door.

Moments later, a woman’s voice said something from the other side in Hindi.

“Police,” Vijay responded. “Open the door.”

He stood directly in front of the door, apparently unafraid of being shot, with his credentials extended.

When the door opened, he made some pronouncement in Hindi, retracted his credentials, and then, nodding at Harvath, switched to English and added, “Special Agent JJ, USG Delhi.”

An older woman stood inside the apartment, looking at both of them. For some reason, she didn’t seem surprised to see them. Stepping aside, she opened the door wider and invited them in. Even from where they stood, the apartment smelled like burnt saffron.

“Don’t say anything,” Vijay directed Harvath. “I want to do all of the talking.”

CHAPTER 31

“Mrs. Ali?” Vijay asked, trying to reconcile the age of their suspect with the much older, graying woman with the deeply wrinkled face who stood before them.

“Yes, I am Mrs. Ali. I’m his mother,” she responded, pulling her blue sari tighter around her. “What has he done now?”

“How do you know we are here about your son?”

The woman clucked and tilted her head from side to side. “Only a government employee would waste time with such stupid questions like this. I know my son. Why are you here?”

“We’re here about his motorbike,” said Vijay. “The one that was stolen.”

“You meanmymotorbike.”

“Yours, ma’am?”

“Of course,” she replied. “I paid for it. Doesn’t that make it mine?”

“But it was registered to your son, Pinaki.”

The woman waved her hand as if someone had expelled a cloud of cigarette smoke too near her. “Technicalities. My money. My motorbike. Why are you here? Have you recovered it?”

“No, ma’am, we—”

“Do you have an insurance payment for me?” she interrupted.

“No, ma’am.”

“Then, Mr. Police Officer, why am I speaking with you? Hmmmm?”

She was a feisty one. Harvath tried to maintain a straight face.

“Ma’am, the motorbike was involved in a crime,” Vijay stated.

The woman rolled her eyes at him. “A criminal steals a motorbike and goes on to commit more crimes. This is most unexpected news.”

Vijay wasn’t happy to have walked up four stories only to get danced around by the suspect’s mother. “Where is your son at the moment, Mrs. Ali?” he asked.

“Wherever he is, I think we can agree that he probably isn’t on a motorbike.”

Trained to detect micro-expressions, Harvath saw the switch get flipped in Vijay before the ex-cop even spoke his next words.Bad cop has arrived.