Read Online Up in Flames by Geraldine Evans - Free Book Online
Authors: Geraldine Evans
Tags: UK
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beautiful daughter or her baby.
Before Casey had the opportunity to leave, the front door slammed again. The sound of laughter echoed down the hallway and a young Asian woman in her early twenties and two girls of around four and thirteen came into the room. The woman and the teenager clutched a variety of colourful carrier bags and, judging by the quantity of bags and the pleased expressions, had evidently had a successful shopping trip. They stopped abruptly as they saw Casey, Catt and the uniformed WPC.
‘What is it? What has happened?’ The young woman asked Devdan.
Devdan ignored her and it was left to his father to briefly introduce them, ‘Rani, my daughter-in-law and Kamala my second daughter.’ He paused, then added poignantly, ‘who is now my first.’
‘First?’ For a moment, the teenager looked merely puzzled, then anxiety spread across her pretty face. It was easy to see she was Chandra’s sister. Her sister-in-law, with her blotchy skin and heavy features, looked very plain beside her. ‘What do you mean, Dad? What has Chandra done now?’
Her words revealed her assumption that her parents, rather than life itself, had disowned Chandra. Rathi Khan waved a silencing hand at her.
‘She has done nothing. Of course, she has done nothing. But we have had some bad news. Some very bad news about your sister and the baby.’
‘Tell me.’ Young Kamala stood, with clenched fists in the middle of the room, tension radiating from every pretty facial contour.
Her father told her, more gently than he had his wife, but not gently enough. There was no gentle way to tell such news, after all. Kamala burst into tears and threw herself at her mother. Rani Khan, Devdan’s wife also began to cry and turned to her husband for comfort, but he brushed her aside, picked up his little girl, and kissed her tears away instead, leaving his wife standing forlorn, sad-eyed and ignored.
Casey felt uncomfortable, but his training hadn’t deserted him. His observation told him that young Kamala’s grief was real enough. But Rani’s? Casey wondered whether he had imagined the look of satisfaction that had momentarily pinked and prettied her plain face before the tears flowed. Had her husband noticed it, too? Or was Devdan’s careless attitude merely habitual?
As Kamala’s agonised weeping hiccupped to a close, Casey felt sure he hadn’t imagined the betraying expression. But if Rani Khan had felt no great liking for her beautiful sister-in-law, what plain woman would? Chandra had been adored by her own husband and loved also by her brother, her sister-in-law’s husband. And poor Rani, standing alone and still uncomforted, appeared to be loved by no one at all. Even her children preferred to be comforted by others. With Chandra dead, she had one less rival for her distant husband’s affections. Anyway, judging by the quantity of shopping bags she had been otherwise occupied during the relevant time and could have had nothing to do with Chandra’s death.
From where she sat, encircled by her mother’s plump bare arms, Kamala suddenly burst out at her father, startling Casey as much as anyone.
‘Why did you have to stop me from visiting Chandra at the flat? Now I will never see her again.’
Her words seemed to catch her father on the raw. He looked defenceless, his face a stiff death’s-head of grief. It seemed as much as he could do to mutter, ‘I told you. Chandra needed to be alone. She had just lost her husband and needed to consider her future. She didn’t need your thoughtless chatter upsetting and distracting her.’
The answer
Before Casey had the opportunity to leave, the front door slammed again. The sound of laughter echoed down the hallway and a young Asian woman in her early twenties and two girls of around four and thirteen came into the room. The woman and the teenager clutched a variety of colourful carrier bags and, judging by the quantity of bags and the pleased expressions, had evidently had a successful shopping trip. They stopped abruptly as they saw Casey, Catt and the uniformed WPC.
‘What is it? What has happened?’ The young woman asked Devdan.
Devdan ignored her and it was left to his father to briefly introduce them, ‘Rani, my daughter-in-law and Kamala my second daughter.’ He paused, then added poignantly, ‘who is now my first.’
‘First?’ For a moment, the teenager looked merely puzzled, then anxiety spread across her pretty face. It was easy to see she was Chandra’s sister. Her sister-in-law, with her blotchy skin and heavy features, looked very plain beside her. ‘What do you mean, Dad? What has Chandra done now?’
Her words revealed her assumption that her parents, rather than life itself, had disowned Chandra. Rathi Khan waved a silencing hand at her.
‘She has done nothing. Of course, she has done nothing. But we have had some bad news. Some very bad news about your sister and the baby.’
‘Tell me.’ Young Kamala stood, with clenched fists in the middle of the room, tension radiating from every pretty facial contour.
Her father told her, more gently than he had his wife, but not gently enough. There was no gentle way to tell such news, after all. Kamala burst into tears and threw herself at her mother. Rani Khan, Devdan’s wife also began to cry and turned to her husband for comfort, but he brushed her aside, picked up his little girl, and kissed her tears away instead, leaving his wife standing forlorn, sad-eyed and ignored.
Casey felt uncomfortable, but his training hadn’t deserted him. His observation told him that young Kamala’s grief was real enough. But Rani’s? Casey wondered whether he had imagined the look of satisfaction that had momentarily pinked and prettied her plain face before the tears flowed. Had her husband noticed it, too? Or was Devdan’s careless attitude merely habitual?
As Kamala’s agonised weeping hiccupped to a close, Casey felt sure he hadn’t imagined the betraying expression. But if Rani Khan had felt no great liking for her beautiful sister-in-law, what plain woman would? Chandra had been adored by her own husband and loved also by her brother, her sister-in-law’s husband. And poor Rani, standing alone and still uncomforted, appeared to be loved by no one at all. Even her children preferred to be comforted by others. With Chandra dead, she had one less rival for her distant husband’s affections. Anyway, judging by the quantity of shopping bags she had been otherwise occupied during the relevant time and could have had nothing to do with Chandra’s death.
From where she sat, encircled by her mother’s plump bare arms, Kamala suddenly burst out at her father, startling Casey as much as anyone.
‘Why did you have to stop me from visiting Chandra at the flat? Now I will never see her again.’
Her words seemed to catch her father on the raw. He looked defenceless, his face a stiff death’s-head of grief. It seemed as much as he could do to mutter, ‘I told you. Chandra needed to be alone. She had just lost her husband and needed to consider her future. She didn’t need your thoughtless chatter upsetting and distracting her.’
The answer
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