Chapter 10 — Babulal

They went to Babulal Parekh's office on the fifth.All three of them: Tanvi, Poorvi, Mrs. Rane. The specific weight of three women arriving together at a man's place of business with a shared objective was not lost on any of them, and they had discussed, on the auto from Sion, what they would say and what they would not and what they needed.Babulal's office was a ground floor room in a building in Dharavi, more administrative than comfortable, with a desk and a filing cabinet and the specific quality of a space used for transactions rather than conversations. He was sixty, heavyset, with the face of a man who had been managing things for a long time and had learned to do it without showing his workings.He looked at Mrs. Rane when they came in.Not at Tanvi. At Mrs. Rane. The look of a person who had been expecting a specific reckoning for a long time and was recognizing its arrival."Sushila-bai," he said."Babulal-bhai," she said.They did not greet each other like people who were comfortable. They greeted each other like people who had shared a long silence and were both aware of the cost of maintaining it."Tell me about the mirror," Tanvi said. She said it without preamble because she had decided that preamble was a trap and directness was the only available ground.Babulal looked at his desk."The flat came furnished," he said. "The mirror was part of the flat.""It wasn't in the furnishings list," Tanvi said."An oversight," he said."Who owned the flat before you?" Poorvi said.A pause."The previous owner," he said. "An old woman. She died in 1987.""Kavita," Mrs. Rane said.He looked at her."Kavita," he confirmed."And the mirror was there when you inherited the flat?" Mrs. Rane said."Yes.""Did she tell you about it?" Mrs. Rane said. "When she was alive. Did she tell you what was in it?"A longer pause."She said—" He stopped. He looked at the filing cabinet. "She said the mirror was old. Very old. She said it had been in her family. She said it needed to stay in the flat. She said whoever lived there should use it every day." He paused. "She said it needed to be used. That if it wasn't used it would—" He stopped again."What?" Tanvi said."She said it would go looking," he said. "If it wasn't given someone to look at it, it would go looking for someone on its own." He looked at the table. "I thought she was an