"What happened to her?" Tanvi said.
Mrs. Rane looked at the puja lamp. The flame was steady in the still air.
"Nobody says," she said. "Babulal says she left. Some of the other neighbours say—" She stopped. "Different things."
"What do you say?" Tanvi said.
Mrs. Rane looked at her. The long look.
"I say," she said carefully, "that I heard things from that flat in March that I have not heard before in forty-four years in this building." She set down her cup. "I say that the girl who went into that flat in March was not the same as the thing that was in that flat by the 28th. And I say that the mirror was there before Reena and it was there after Reena and Babulal should have taken it out before you came."
The flat was very quiet.
"What things did you hear?" Tanvi said.
"A voice," Mrs. Rane said. "Talking at night. Very low. Not on the phone — not that rhythm. Talking to something in the room." She looked at her hands. "And in the last few days, before she stopped being seen — two voices. In there." She looked up. "I knocked on the door once. Asked if everything was okay. She opened it. She looked—" Mrs. Rane stopped. She picked up her cup. She held it without drinking. "She didn't look like she had in March."
"What do you mean?" Tanvi said.
Mrs. Rane looked at her steadily.
"You know what I mean," she said.
The flame in the puja lamp bent, briefly, though there was no air moving.
"Cover the mirror tonight," Mrs. Rane said. "With a dupatta or a bedsheet. Just cover it." She met Tanvi's eyes. "And then in the morning, go to Babulal and tell him to remove it from the flat. Don't use it again. Don't look in it after dark." She paused. "And if you see anything in it that is not you—come to me immediately. Knock, any time. I don't sleep much."
"You said that," Tanvi said. "The first day. 'Any time.'"
"Yes," Mrs. Rane said. "I said it because I hoped it would not be needed." She stood. "Take the shawl from the hook by the door. Use it to cover the mirror tonight. You can return it tomorrow."
Tanvi took the shawl.
She went home.
She covered the mirror.
She lay in bed in the dark with the shawl-covered mirror across the room and thought about the word Reena and thought about the phrase not the same and thought about the sound Mrs. Rane had described — two voices — and she could not sleep until four AM and when she slept she dreamed of looking at a mirror that had nothing in it at all.
