The Retribution
Page 13
He went to work late to find Stuart was waiting for him.
“You are late. You look like death warmed up. Dev, I am telling you to slow down.”
“Don’t start. Please Stuart. I am not in a mood.”
Stuart looked at him for a minute and said, “Come, let’s go for a coffee first.”
When Dev hesitated, “I am sure they can do without you for another half an hour. They are not going to miss you anyway.”
They walked in silence to the little café round the corner from the council offices. Stuart did not say anything until Dev had his first sip of the coffee.
“Do you want to tell me anything?”
Dev looked up. He could feel the sensation of panic coming back.
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m quite sure …” There was a hint of hesitation there in his voice.
“I can only help you if you tell me what is going on.”
“Why? What do you think is going on Stuart?”
“You tell me Dev. I have known you for a long time and you are my friend. I wouldn’t like to see you get hurt.”
Now the panic set in. He could feel the heat under his collar. Stuart could see the fear on Dev’s face.
“Sheena came home last night.”
“And you weren’t in?”
“Yes.” Was the brief reply.
“You were at the bloody club, weren’t you?”
Dev did not reply. He bent his head down and sipped his coffee.
“Don’t tell me you took a boy home last night?”
“No. No. I would not do that. I was at the Harrison road house.”
“You silly clown.” Stuart exclaimed. “How many times have I told you? You are risking your reputation and career with these stupid escapades.”
“I know, you have Stuart. I will change. I promise.”
“You have said that in the past. But you have never changed.” Stuart paused. “Now, things are more serious. Sheena has been calling around. She called me this morning and looks like she has been talking to someone at the Hindu Society too.”
Stuart could see beads of sweat appear on Dev’s forehead. He loosened his collar and stopped drinking his coffee.
“What did you tell her?”
“What could I tell her? Nothing.” Irritation in Stuart’s voice was obvious. “I didn’t know where you were or what you were up to. You are sunk if she speaks to that old man Nathu from the Hindu society. He doesn’t like you one little bit.”
“No. He doesn’t.”
“In fact he hates you with a passion. He will get you into trouble if he can.”
“You are not helping me Stuart. Tell me what I should do.”
“That is rich! How many times have I told you to behave and slow down?” Stuart’s sarcasm did not go unnoticed. “You just won’t listen. Is it worth losing such a lovely wife? And you tell me you are planning to have a family too?”
Dev looked up at Stuart. He looked desperate. He promised he would stop going to the Quebec and frequenting Abbey Park or the Central Motors for picking up boys. He had to find a way for getting out of the clutches of the drug dealer somehow. Dev was not sure how he got through work that day. When he got back home that evening there was still no sign of Sheena. He called her mobile.
“Hello.”
“Anju, where are you?”
“I have been out. I am coming home now.”
Her voice was brusque.
“OK. I thought I would let you know that I am going to the temple now.”
“That is fine.”
Her reply was brief and curt. He thought he could hear some male voices in the background. Asian male voices. He wanted to ask who she was with, but bit his tongue in the last minute.
The temple that night was busy with it being a Friday. Both Kishen and Vijai were already there. They looked up as he entered the hall. He looked at them to see if they suspected anything.
“Bhaiya, where were you last night? Bhabhi was worried sick. I called you too and you did not pick up the phone.”
Dev gave a weak smile and replied, “I was at Harrison road with Stuart and the builders. I had forgotten that my phone was on silent. Sorry.”
“That is OK. You should switch your phone back on when you get out of your office.” Kishen said.
“I normally do, Bhaiya. I must have forgotten last night.”
Sheena did not come to the temple that night or any time during that weekend. She was fast asleep by the time he had gone back home. There was a just a peck on the cheek for goodbye on Sunday evening as she left for Leeds.
Dev spent most of the Monday throwing ‘poppers’ out of the Harrison road house and cleaning up. He stopped going to the club and the Belgrave toilets. Stuart noticed a change in Dev, but he did not say anything. He had ignored messages from Ankush. Until one Monday night a few weeks later, when he turned up at the temple just as he was closing the doors along with his elder brother, Kishen.
“Hello, young man.” Kishen had noticed him first. “The temple is closed now. Come back a bit earlier tomorrow.”
Dev looked at Ankush and felt guilty at seeing his sad face. It looked like he had been crying with bloodshot eyes. He immediately went forward and put his arms around his shoulders.
“What is the matter Ankush? What are you doing so late on a school day? Come I will drop you home.” Turning to Kishen, he continued. “Bhaiya, this is Ankush. I have known his family quite well. He does not look very happy. I better take him home.”
Kishen looked closely at the young boy and nodded his head.
“Yes, I think you better do that. It is quite late at night for a young boy to be on his own.”
Dev had gently ushered Ankush towards his car parked on the far side of the road. Ankush had not said a word till he shut the door.
“You are not answering my calls or texts.”
“I am sorry Ankush. I have been busy at the temple. It has been hectic with Diwali coming soon.”
“I missed you. I went to the care home and they said you had not been there for a while either.”
“I missed you too.” Dev started the car and set off in the direction of Ankush’s house. “We will make up for it after Diwali.”
“I sure hope so.” Ankush replied with a sullen look on his face. Dev dropped him off at the corner of his street with promise of a rendezvous at the care home next day. He had missed the buzz of excitement for a while now. He could feel the urges coming back. It did not matter how he hard he tried, they were there pushing him towards the young boys and the inevitable ‘poppers’ and an odd visit to the club. He had not managed to get away from Lenny’s friend the drug supplier completely.
Sheena appeared to be distant most of the times. She still came home every weekend. The previous camaraderie was missing. They were still a happy couple for any onlookers. At home it was a different matter altogether. Dev would be on his best behaviour. Sheena would be quiet and did not respond to any of his amorous advances. It was about a month after the surprise visit from Sheena, that Stuart dropped another bombshell.
“I saw Sheena last night.” Stuart had said. “I thought she only came during the weekends?”
Dev nearly dropped the cup of coffee he was holding.
“No. You must be mistaken, Stuart. She is not due back till Friday night. I spoke to her last night and she is still in Leeds.”
“Are you sure?” Stuart asked. “I could swear it was her last night. She was coming out of the coffee house with a couple of men. I did not recognise the men. I was driving and could not stop in the traffic.”
“No, Stuart. You are definitely mistaken. She is still in Leeds.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am quite sure.” Dev was not so sure now.
“What men?” he asked as an afterthought.
“Two guys, I think. Asian, must be in their twenties or thirties. I could not recognise any of them though. I was
driving in heavy traffic and couldn’t take my eyes off long enough to look at them.”
“Well, you must be mistaken then. Sheena is not due home till Friday.”
He tried to convince himself that Stuart was wrong. But a seed of doubt had entered his head and it bugged him the whole day. He called Sheena as soon as he got a chance, but could not get through to her till evening. She told him that she would be home on Friday night.
“Stuart thinks he saw you yesterday at the Leicester centre with three men.”
There was silence at the other end of the phone for, what Dev thought a long time.
“No, I wasn’t in Leicester yesterday. I have been in meetings here all day yesterday. Stuart must be mistaken.”
“That is what I thought. OK, Anju. I will see you on Friday night.”
Dev was not entirely convinced. There was a nagging doubt at the back of his mind, which would not go away. ‘What if she has been checking up on me?’ He shrugged his head, ‘she wouldn’t do that. She is not the type.’ He said to himself. His visits to the Quebec and the Central Motors became infrequent. The Abbey Park was shut down partly due to lack of clients and partly on the advice of the police.
Sheena did not get home that Friday till quite late. Dev had made an effort to get the house cleaned up and cooked her favourite dish, pasta with pesto sauce. She did not speak to him when he opened the door. Instead, she went straight to the bedroom and locked herself from inside. Dev went upstairs and knocked on the door.
“Anju. Are you OK? You must be tired after the long drive. I have cooked your favourite pasta.”
There was no reply for a minute. Just as he was about to knock on the door, she said.
“I am tired now. I don’t want any food. I had something before leaving Leeds.”
Dev found that she was distant throughout that weekend. He tried to make small talk at breakfast with no success.
“It is funny Stuart mistook someone for you in front of that pizza place on Wednesday.” Dev laughed as he said.
Sheena looked at him for a minute and smiled.
“Yes. He was mistaken. I had a very tight schedule this week. The firm is busy with a big case. Barristers from London had come.”
“I thought so too. Stuart sometimes gets lets his imagination run away with him.”
Her mobile rang as he replied. She went into the kitchen and closed the door before answering the phone. She had never done that before. He could hear her muffled voice through the door. He was desperate to hear what was being said. The coffee was cold by the time she finished her call and came back.
“I have to go out for a meeting. I’ll clean up when I get back.”
Before Dev could say anything she had picked up the cup and her bowl and dropped into the kitchen sink.
“I will make something for lunch. Or shall we go out for lunch somewhere nice?”
“Ok.” She said as she went upstairs. She was changed and back down in minutes. She turned around as she picked her car keys and said,
“I’ll call you when the meeting is finished.”
And she was out of the door before Dev could say anything. This left Dev feeling very uncomfortable. He cleared the dining table and cleaned the dishes in the sink and kept himself busy to take his mind off. It did not help. His mind was in a turmoil.
‘Stuart has put a seed of doubt in my mind.’ He thought. ‘I am making a mountain of a mole hill. She had gone out for meetings on weekends before. This was nothing unusual.’
He paced up and down the house and felt increasingly restless thinking about Sheena’s behaviour and Stuart’s words. He finally decided to call up Stuart.
“What is up, Dev? You sound anxious.” Stuart had said.
Dev explained Sheena’s behaviour and his suspicions. Stuart just laughed.
“Now you are being silly. You are reading too much into the situation. You know her company has clients in Leicester and she has had meetings before. How many times you have complained to me that she is working too hard and does not rest even during the weekends?”
“But you said you saw her in Leicester in the middle of the week and she says she wasn’t here at all?”
Stuart laughed again.
“Oh, that. I must have mistaken. If she says she wasn’t, she wasn’t. Don’t be paranoid now.”
Dev felt a little relieved after that conversation. Sheena called him around noon and they met up at her favourite Italian restaurant in the centre of town. She appeared to be her usual self and was talking about the furniture for the house at Harrison road. She wanted to see the progress at the house and they had driven down in her car. Dev had spent time explaining the progress in refurbishing the house and she seemed quite happy at the progress. They had spent nearly an hour at the house and as they came out of the house, she stopped abruptly. Dev was walking to the car and turned back to see why she had stopped. She was staring at the back of someone who was walking briskly away from them. It was a youngish Asian guy in jeans and trainers.
“What is the matter Anju? Are you OK?”
“It is nothing. I am fine. I thought I recognised someone.”
Dev smiled. “That is not surprising as we are pretty close to the temple and you must have seen someone you had seen before. There are an awful lot of people in this area who visit our temple regularly.”
“Yes, you are right. That must be it.”
But she was quiet throughout the ride back home after that. There were several phone calls to Sheena that weekend and she would go into a different room to take her calls every time. The temple was very busy that weekend with preparations for the Diwali the following week. There were many volunteers who worked throughout the day getting the temple decorated and ready for the big occasion of the year. One of the local restaurants had donated colour lights and the engineers were busy fitting the lights both inside and outside the temple.
“This is beginning to look more like Diwali we used to have back home in India and even Mombasa.” Ramcharan had said when the lights were switched on for the first time for testing. “It is a good thing we have so many people helping this time. I knew this day would come. I must be thankful to my dear departed uncle for making this happen.”
There were tears in his eyes as he spoke. He frequently spoke of his uncle who had helped the family settle down in Leicester, initially with the grocery store and then the temple.
“I miss Mombasa though.” Kishen said. “It was always warm there. It never gets really warm here.”
Ramacharan sighed deeply and replied,
“God moves in mysterious ways. Maybe it was written in our fate that we should live in England. I can’t complain. We have a good life here.”
“I agree with father.” Dev said. “Mombasa was nice. But we have a good life here and we are all happy now.”
He was looking at Sheena as he spoke. She was busy talking to some young men, giving instructions about something. Sheena spent a lot of time in the temple that weekend and Dev was very busy at the temple trying to get it ready for Diwali. He was looking forward to the big day. The local TV channel wanted to televise the occasion for their weekend news bulletin.
“Sheena seems to be enjoying herself.” Kishen said. “She is always telling some young men something to do.”
“I have never seen those three men she is talking to before in the temple. Must be some new comers. There is an influx of Indian students into the university this year.” Dev said.
“I have noticed. It is good that young men are coming into the temple and showing interest in our culture.” Ramacharan said. “I am very impressed with what you did about that play on Krishna. It could have turned really ugly if they had continued with the same name.”
“Yes, the name ‘playboy of Asian world’ was completely inappropriate. I am glad the producers saw sense and changed the name to ‘the Play of Asian world.’
“Not everyone was satisfied with that.” Kishen who had joined them just then said.
“You have to be careful Dev. There have been several threatening phone calls to the temple over the last few months. These calls are getting worse as we get nearer Diwali.” Kishen said.
“You are right. It is worrying. The police are not really interested.” Ramacharan said. Dev was quiet for a moment before saying,
“They must be some fundamentalist elements who don’t like God Krishna included in the play at all.” He could remember one particular caller who had insisted that he speak to Dev and had gone on a tirade once Dev said hello. He was screaming down the phone with ugly names.
“You dirty faggot. You have no right to be a priest. You will rot in hell.” The tirade had gone on for a while ending in “We are watching you. We will get you one day. You better watch your back.”
Such phone calls including death threats at Dev became more frequent as the day of Diwali approached. Police had turned up after a note was dropped through the letterbox of the temple. It was a printed sheet asking the “temple committee” to throw out “queer priest.” The threat was quite clear – they would ‘kill the faggot’ if he continues to officiate in the temple. The police had questioned everyone at the temple and had taken away the letter for “forensic analysis.”
One police officer, Mark Henson had visited the temple on a few occasions with more questions. They had left two police officers to patrol the street outside the temple. When nothing happened for a couple of weeks, they were withdrawn. The nuisance calls continued unabated. Since the attack outside the Quebec all those years ago, there had been few episodes where he was followed by men and abuse hurled at him. He made sure he was always in a group when he visited the club. He managed to hide his visits to the club and the “central motors” from his family. He was still working for the Gay Helpline and spent a lot of time helping gay Asians both over the telephone as well as personal meetings.