Page 23 of Wham Line

Fox snorted.

“—because he had made a great deal of money off the restaurant we’d started together.”

“Did you ever think about starting your own restaurant again?”I asked.

Indira shook her head.

“How long ago did you come to Hastings Rock?”Bobby asked.“Before I did, I know that much.”

“Only by a few months.Close to six years now.”

“Because of the job with Vivienne?”

A laugh—a real one—spilled out of Indira.“I don’t know what I was thinking.I’d loved her books, and as you know, she can be quite charming when she wants to.I might have been having a mid-life crisis.”

“How very White middle-aged man of you,” Fox said.

Indira laughed again and squeezed their hand.“It didn’t take long for me to realize Vivienne was nothing like her public persona, but she was relatively undemanding as an employer, and I liked the work.To be honest, I liked the privacy.The seclusion too.And then I began to make friends.”She smiled at Fox, who rolled their eyes before squeezing her hand.

“Who knew you were moving here?”I asked.

The question seemed to take Indira by surprise.“I don’t know.My social circle in Portland was limited, but I told a few people.My parents died young.My brothers knew, but by then, they’d given up trying to tell me what to do, and our relationship wasn’t good.Nalini’s visit is as much a peace overture as anything else.”

“Nobody else?”I asked.“Nobody from your old life?Nobody from Mal’s life?”

“It had been more than fifteen years by that point.I wasn’t in contact with anyone from Seattle.I hadn’t talked to Mal since the divorce.”

Fox frowned.“You think someone planned this?You think they knew Indira was here and—what?Decided she’d be the perfect person to frame for Mal’s murder?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

Bobby said, “It’s a possibility.”

“If they wanted to frame me,” Indira said, “they didn’t do a very good job.The only reason I was in that alley was because I’d changed my mind and was coming back; I didn’t want to let Mal run me off again.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Fox said.“What was their plan?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “but—”

A knock at the door interrupted me.

We all traded looks.

“Keme,” Indira said doubtfully as she rose.

But when she opened the door, it wasn’t Keme.It was Deputy Dahlberg.And standing one step below her, Salk.

“Hi, Indira,” Deputy Dahlberg said.She held out a sheaf of papers.“I’ve got a warrant here to search your flat.”

“What?”I said.

“I’m going to need all of you to step outside.”

Indira’s back was to me.Tension tightened her shoulders, but when she spoke, her voice was calm.“Yes, Deputy Dahlberg.I can grab my coat, I assume?”

A bit shamefacedly, Dahlberg patted down the coat and turned out the pockets before letting Indira slip it on.

“What do you mean a warrant?”I asked.“On what grounds?”