Club You to Death by Anuja Chauhan (pdf e book reader .TXT) 📗

the Moov to mask the booze – because this is church, you know! So now I smell of Mooze.’

She smiles and holds out her songbook, not at all rattled. ‘Do explain the ceremony to me. I’ve never attended a mass before and I don’t want to make any mistakes.’

As Rax takes hold of the songbook with clammy hands, Urvashi Khurana looks over his head at Kashi, and flashes him a conspiratorial thumbs up.

‘Real classy,’ Kashi whispers to Bambi.

‘Yeah,’ she says serenely. ‘Urvashi auntie’s like that.’

The organ sounds, the church choir starts to sing and everybody rises to their feet. Father Victor, his simple white cassock now covered with the ceremonial robes of the Holy Mass, walks into the church with the red-and-white–robed altar boys before him.

Reaching the pulpit, he waits for the song to end, then intones in a low reverential voice, ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit!’

And the mass begins.

‘It’s going to be a great final episode.’

Sho has tied her pink ombre hair back into a ponytail and is packing her camera and lenses away, speaking more to herself than to Bhavani. The church is almost empty.

‘How nice,’ he replies genially.

She smiles, then puts out a friendly hand for him to shake. ‘Shonali Jha. You’re investigating Leo’s death, I believe.’

She has a smoker’s voice, deep and husky, and a firm but relaxed grip – she doesn’t need to prove anything with her handshake, clearly.

‘Yes. We were waiting to speak to you only. Didn’t want to disturb while you were working. Leo’s phone records reveal that you two were very close.’

Sho chuckles. ‘Really? I haven’t the faintest memory of what I talked to Leo about on the phone. Were there any dirty pics?’

‘No,’ Bhavani says calmly. ‘Should there have been?’

She rolls her eyes. ‘I don’t know … maybe in the early heady days. I bet there’re none recently!’ She throws back her head and laughs. It’s a warm, comfortable laugh.

‘You two were … a couple?’

She shakes her head. ‘No. We weren’t even friends-with-benefits – more like colleagues-with-benefits. Is that even a thing?’

‘An office romance,’ Bhavani suggests trendily.

She chuckles. ‘Only there’s no office, and no romance! Just work, and a weekly deadline, and some … er … benefits. Am I embarrassing you?’

‘Nat us, but perhaps all these murtis of saints and virgins …’

She looks about the church ruefully. ‘Don’t they hear lurid confessions all the time? But you’re right – let’s go outside. I want a smoke anyway.’

A little while later they are standing in front of a Mother Mary grotto, ablaze with sweet peas, larkspur and bright red poppies. Shonali’s hair is candyfloss pink in the sun. She puts her heavy camera case on the ground and lights up.

‘Leo hated my smoking,’ she says. ‘He said it was going to be the death of me.’ Her voice breaks a little. ‘I’ll laugh at your funeral, he used to say.’

You are more affected then you let on, Bhavani thinks, as the woman next to him shudders and struggles to control her tears. You are genuinely grieving.

He sighs sympathetically.

They stare in silence at the small statue of Mother Mary in her blue and white robes.

‘What do you want to know?’ she says finally, abruptly, gripping the railing around the grotto and turning to face him. ‘How can I help?’

Bhavani spreads out his hands. ‘Just … a general picture – of your friend and colleague … that’s the most important thing – and also, if there’s anything you think could be useful, or pertinent to the case.’

‘I’m a trained film-maker,’ she says. ‘With a fairly fancy degree! But when I became a single mom – long story, totally irrelevant – I had to find a way of earning money while being with my son. So I started shooting birthday party videos for my friends and their kiddies. Luckily, they were all really wealthy and they wanted to help me.’

She takes a long drag and exhales – no fancy tricks or sexy pouting, just matter-of-fact exhalation.

‘I met Leo at a little girl’s birthday party – I think the mother went to his Zumba class, and she’d asked him to come by and show the little girls some of his fancy moves. Later, I sent him the video I’d shot that day – he’d given me his number. We went out for a drink, which turned into dinner, which turned into coffee at his apartment, which turned into breakfast – which turned into Lose It with Leo! I wasn’t in love with him or anything – I’m beyond all that now, I save all my love for my son and my mum – and Leo, he was very cynical about conventional relationships. But yes, I guess we were … comfortable with each other. I’d like to help catch his killer.’

‘Thank you for sharing such an intimate story with us, Shonali ji,’ Bhavani says softly. ‘You have been very honest – tell us, when you say he was cynical, what do you mean?’

She looks thoughtful. ‘He didn’t respect the usual boundaries – as in hands off because somebody’s married, or like, be polite because somebody’s old, or don’t do that, that’s against the law … Things like that.’

‘He steered his way with his own unique moral compass?’

She nods vigorously. ‘Yes! That’s it, exactly! The laws of Leo! Not the laws of society!’

‘The laws of Leo,’ Bhavani Singh muses. ‘So interesting that you say that … and what about the laws of … er … your YouTube channel? The paperwork?’

‘We split everything fifty-fifty,’ she says crisply. ‘Ad revenue, as well as in-product placement. It was perfectly fair – I made him look damn good, you know!’

‘O yes, you did! His fans clearly adored him!’

She chuckles. ‘Aren’t they hilarious? Leo’s horny auntie army! I’m actually thinking about tracking a few of them down and shooting a video where they finally meet Leo!’ Her face falls. ‘Except that … I can’t any more. Fuck!’

She stares blindly at