Page 21 of The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

He raises his brows.

“The wounds wereunderthe sheared wool,” I say. “As if the animal had rubbed her raw skin against something abrasive. But how could she possibly have done that when the fleece was mostly still attached?”

“Still attached?”

“Exactly. Like a pocket someone tried to sew back on. The thread had come loose, so the flap of fleece was visible.” I indicate the wound’s size—maybe four inches by five inches—with my hands. “Just about this big.”

Jay puts a hand on my arm. “Who brought the sheep into the clinic?” He says it quietly enough, but something in his tone alarms me.

“Two children. They came across her on a mountain trail while they were gathering firewood.”

“Where’s the sheep now?”

A shiver crawls up my spine. I can tell when he’s trying to make something sound like nothing, like when he has to tell a patient they have cancer. “At the clinic. I asked Nimmi to take care of it.”

“And where is Nimmi at this moment?”

I feel Jay’s hand on my arm tense. Now I’m more afraid than worried. Jay knows something I don’t, and I sense that he’s about to tell me I’ve put Nimmi in some kind of danger.

“At her house, I would imagine, with her children. And the sheep,” I say slowly.

Jay blinks. “You said the wound was only on one side of the animal. Did you check its other side?”

I shake my head.

He covers his mouth with his palm. The look on his face raises goose bumps on my arms.

“Why?” I ask. “What’s happened?”

When we reach Nimmi’s lean-to at the bottom of the hill, I can see the light of a kerosene lamp through the window. I don’t want to wake her landlords on the floor above hers, so I tap lightly on the door, and Nimmi opens it a moment later. She looks surprised to see us.

She’s carrying Chullu in a homemade sling strapped to her back. Behind her, I see Rekha, sitting on one of the many bolsters lining the walls of the room. She’s eating achapatti. Rekha sees me, smiles and looks at me as if she’s hoping that I might have brought another book for her to read. I smile back.

Then I hear a bleat. I hadn’t seen that the sheep was in the room as well, sitting on another grass-stuffed bolster, munching on thistle leaves.

Nimmi hasn’t moved from the door. She looks from me to Jay. Baby Chullu regards us over her shoulder.

“Nimmi,” I say, “Dr. Kumar thinks we need to take the sheep.”

“Why?” she says. She sounds annoyed. “She’s better now. She needed food and rest.”

Jay steps forward. “Nimmi,” he says, “the owner must be looking for it. May I check—”

Nimmi steps in front of him to block his way.

“I won’t hurt her, Nimmi. I just need to see if—”

“I’ve already done it.” Her voice is low. She looks down at her feet.

“Done what?”

Now she looks at Jay. A moment passes. “Checked her other side.”

Jay steps back and nods. “And?”

Nimmi finally moves aside to let us in, then pulls the door closed.

When she turns to face us, she says, “Still intact. The gold.” She sighs.

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