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me? Let me get the Boroline and some bandages. You sit here... Look; Rex has come to console you. Shoo, Rex don’t lick her tears... Does it tickle? Good dog, you’ve made my Shirin giggle...’
    As Madhu tied the strips of cloth she had torn from an old nightie to use as bandages securely around Shirin’s knees, she asked, ‘So who is teasing you then?’
    ‘The boys tease me to make me talk to them. But I don’t want to; I’ll only get in trouble.’ A hiccup. ‘And the girls tease me for gallivanting with the boys...’ Shirin interspersed the new English word she had learnt from Sister Shanthi, with her Konkani.
    ‘What’s gallivanting?’
    ‘I think it means stealing bimblis. Sister Shanthi used it,’ in a whisper.
    ‘Look here, Shirin,’ Madhu put her palm under Shirin’s chin and tilted her face upwards. ‘If your classmates tease you, you ignore them. Why do you go to school? To study, isn’t it? You work hard and get good marks. Then won’t your ma be so pleased with you? She will be beaming when she sees your report card. And everyone will want to be your friend when you come first in the class!’
    Absorbed in Madhu’s fantasy, Shirin nodded, sniffing away the last of her tears.
    ‘Now don’t let your ma find out, but here is a nevri to eat on the way to school. Isn’t that a sunny smile! There’s a good girl. Rex will keep you company till Lenny Bai’s house.’
    * * *
    Shirin sat up in bed and squinted, bleary-eyed, at the clock. 4:00 a.m.
    Beside her Vinod stirred, then blinked awake. ‘Shonu, is it...’
    The spectre of her nightmare slipped under the covers between them like an old intimate.
    ‘No. I’m fine. Just wanted a drink is all. You go back to sleep.’ She smiled down at his tousled head.
    Reassured, he smiled back, closed his eyes and was snoring in two ticks. She envied the ease with which he could delve in and out of slumber. Sighing, she got out of bed, only to trip over Vinod’s book which he always chucked across the room before turning off the light instead of leaving it on the bedside table like any other normal person. ‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ she grumbled.
    From the dregs of her dream, Sister Maya materialized. ‘Don’t take the name of the Lord in vain, child,’ she admonished.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Super Sleuth Investigates
    T he first task that Reena Diaz, Super Sleuth, undertook was to make a list of all possible suspects.
They were, in no particular order,
    1) Deepak
    2) Anita
    3) Jacinta, Grandmother
    4) Madhu
    5) Walter, Grandfather—deceased.
    She pondered this list for a bit, as she imagined Nancy Drew would. In the end she decided that although it made sense to talk to Deepak and Anita first, as they were the ones actually in the photograph, she wouldn’t do so. For one, Anita was not available to talk to at the moment, and Deepak, well, she was worried that he would confiscate the picture and tell her off for poking her nose in matters well left alone. Confiscation of the picture would spell the end of her days as a detective.
    Ever since she had found the picture, questions had been buzzing like a convent of nuns chanting the rosary in her head. There would be quite a simple explanation, Reena reasoned. This girl must be some cousin they had all forgotten about. But why would they forget a relative? Or shove her photo behind some other picture, out of sight? Why were there no other pictures of her? (She had sifted meticulously through all the other albums for the rest of the afternoon, in the hope of finding more pictures of this mystery girl.) And why had that particular picture been creased and worn, as if it had once been treasured? And even if they had forgotten about this mysterious girl—whom they seemed quite comfortable with in the photo—wouldn’t they remember her when Reena grew up to look just like her? Why the conspiracy of silence? Was there a conspiracy, or had they just forgotten to mention her? Had she been so insignificant that she