"Hell, yeah," Sunny said when Lauren called to ask him if he wanted to go to an open house near where he lived. "That sounds like a brilliant idea."
Jordan's situation had bugged him all night, as tired as he'd been from all that dancing and, to his delight, Tej's sudden randiness for him after everyone had been put to bed; dancing sometimes did that to her, and he was happy he'd suggested to Tori that they end the night that way, because everybody had loved it, even his friends as soon as they'd gotten over their embarrassment at not knowing the moves.
Even after their sweaty lovemaking, though, it had taken him a while to relax enough for sleep, because he felt guilty for turning Jordan away, regardless of the fact that he was supposed to be glad-handing the whole time he spent looking at that footage with him.
Here was a chance to redeem himself, even if Jordan never knew he was doing this. They couldn't do anything about the footage, because it did rightfully belong in the hands of the police, but what harm could it do to meet one of the players in this game?
"Lauren," he said, "Does it seem strange to you that this man is hosting an Open House while his wife is missing?"
"It would seem strange," she said, "if in fact she is missing. We have only Jordan's word she's missing and that her husband filed a missing person's report."
"So, if he's there," Sunny said, "does that make Jordan a liar?"
Lauren was silent a moment, as if she were considering his question. "I don't know. Maybe he still has to pay the bills, so he does this open house; maybe it was scheduled before his wife went missing, and when he's done he'll rejoin his family and friends, who've been looking for his wife the whole time he was doing the open house."
"I suppose. If Tej went missing I'd be a basket case, unable to perform my work with any competence."
"Because she's the best thing that ever happened to you and you'd be lost without her," Lauren said. "Speaking of Tej, we really need her to come, too, because we need her to play the part of our agent."
"Done. I want her to come too. I'll leave Harpreet and Ajit with my parents."
"How did your parents do last night, by the way?" she asked. "I know they don't go out a lot because of your dad's health."
"They were okay, thanks for asking. They mostly sat and watched from the side. My friend Manny took them home before the night was over."
"That's nice of him. Doesn't he live in the Fraser Valley somewhere?"
"Yeah, well, Surrey, but it's not a terrible detour to take them home and then get on to Stewardson Way, which takes you to Royal Avenue and then the Pattulo Bridge."
"Okay, well, should we meet you there in an hour? Outside the house?"
"Perfect. I'll let Tej know, she'll be so excited."
He hung up and looked for his wife, finding her just out of the shower and combing her wet hair in their ensuite bathroom, one of three and a half in the house as Tej would define it; the kids shared one, and his parents shared one, plus there was a powder room on the main floor for guests to use the toilet and wash their hands.
She smiled lasciviously at him in the mirror as he approached and put his hands on her naked hips. "Good morning," she said. "I hope you didn't mind me sleeping in a little; I was exhausted after that fantastic night."
He leaned in and kissed her neck, and she took in a deep breath. "No problem, you know me, I get up early no matter the day for morning prayers. So, what about last night exhausted you? The dancing, or--"
"Or," she confirmed, twining an arm around his neck, turning and kissing him on the mouth. "We haven't fucked like that since we were college students."
"Oh, I don't know," he said. "We've had a couple of notable entries in our love diary lately."
"Lately, as in, since you reunited with your childhood friends?"
"Yes, I suppose that's what I mean. Speaking of our friends," he said emphasizing the fact they were her friends too, "they want us to help them do some investigating today."
She gasped, but he didn't think it was because he was cupping her breast. She turned to him and said, "Is the LSDC on the case?"
He chuckled. "Apparently so. They want to attend an open house hosted by our man Birinder Sandhu, and they want you to pretend to be their agent."
"Fabulous! I won't even have to get into character."
"Exactly. While we're looking around, we can all try to get some info out of him."
"I like it. Does Jordan know we're doing this?"
"No, and I think it's better that he doesn't. Something about last night tells me he's very interested in concentrating our attention on his story, when there could be a completely different story out there. This will hopefully give us some clarity on what that is."
She nodded shrewdly and said, "When do they want to do this?"
"In an hour."
She looked down at herself and said, "I guess I'd better get dressed, then."
"Yes, because the longer I'm standing here with my hands on your body, the more I'll want to do things with those hands, and I think everyone's up already."
She burst out laughing, that sultry, deep laugh that had drawn him to her in the first place. "Classy," she said. "My poor baby can't even exhibit a little self-control?"
"Every day is a struggle, my love. When I wake up in the morning and see your face, all I want to do is pull you into my arms."
She sighed and sank into him, and he squeezed her tighter. "As much as I'd like you to do things to me with your hands," Tej said sadly, "I think you're right. I hear people out there, and I don't want them hearing any noises I'd make."
"Yes." He sighed and let go of her, and she continued combing her hair. He changed out of his sweats in the bedroom, adjusting himself to relieve the pressure of his erection. He decided to go more casual today, since this wasn't a work day and he wasn't on the campaign trail. Jeans, t-shirt and grey sweater, just relaxed enough to go house hunting. Once dressed, he began the process of wrapping his hair up in his turban, first by twisting it into a ponytail and looping it on top of his head in a joora, or bun, holding it in place with the khanga, the small wooden comb he'd used to comb it out earlier, and then wrapping it first in a white patka to cover it. He decided on sky blue today to match his jeans, and took one corner in his mouth and underwent the tying process that was buried in his muscle memory. Because this was a casual day, he decided on a simple rather than fortress style, just enough to cover his head without being ornate.
Five Ks. Five articles Sikhs wore at all times, in theory, anyway. The khanga was one; his uncut hair, or kesh, was another; the kara, or steel bracelet, was around his wrist. He wore the kachera, or cotton shorts, beneath his jeans. The kirpan, the small ceremonial dagger, was the most problematic of Ks, especially when noticed by the wrong eyes. Symbolic of the fight against injustice, it nevertheless made non-Sikhs uncomfortable, so he kept it in a sheath hanging from a belt hidden under his shirt, just so he didn't have to answer awkward questions.
While Tej dressed, he made sure the kids had breakfast and his parents didn't have other plans and could keep an eye on them, not that Harpreet and Ajit needed much watching anymore. The two kept in contact with both parents by phone, now, ever since they'd discovered Naomi and Tosh, and Emma and Logan, had phones and declared it unfair that they didn't have them. It was useless to argue that they didn't really need phones, since they were either at home or at school most days, and their parents drove them wherever they needed to go. They now needed to be in contact by text with their counterpart children of the LSDC whenever they didn't see them in person, because they lived one city over, which might as well have been the moon where they were concerned. They'd probably be texting them while Sunny and Tej were out, except Naomi and Tosh might be at church and wouldn't be allowed to text from the pews, as much as they'd like to. That reminded Sunny, it might be a good idea to attend Gurdwara this evening and get the post-game report from his campaign opener last night.
Tej emerged from their room dressed as if for work. If she was going to play a real estate agent to her friends, she might as well be one for real. She looked up the listing on her laptop and printed the details from the printer in their home office, packing it into her soft leather briefcase. "We could walk to this house, it's so close," she said.
"Let's walk, then." He offered his arm to her, and she interlocked it with hers as if they were Victorians going on a stroll accompanied by a chaperone. "We'll see you in a couple of hours," he announced to the kids. "Be good for your grandparents."
They walked out their door, and Sunny felt a little surreal as they strolled down their sidewalk, Tej's briefcase swinging like a pendulum beside her. She was enjoying this, he thought; she wasn't usually so jaunty. He couldn't blame her. He was so used to driving everywhere he needed to go, and he never took the time to explore his own neighbourhood. From where they stood, they could see the river, the Queensborough Bridge leading to his childhood home, and the gurdwara he attended as long as he could remember. It was quite beautiful, and he didn't appreciate it enough.
"So. Jordan," Tej said. "What do you think?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think he's telling the truth?"
He thought about it. "I think he thinks something's wrong. I believe him when he says Naira isn't answering his calls or texts. Maybe she doesn't want to see him anymore? Maybe she realized how creepy he was and finally had enough? Was he like this when he dated Bishan, and if so, how did I miss it?" He snapped his fingers as an idea came to him. "Maybe that woman in the footage is a friend of hers, not Birinder's mistress, and she played the decoy to let her escape from his surveillance."
"Or maybe she's escaped from both of them, have you thought of that?"
He stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "Huh. I never thought of that."
She shrugged. "Sometimes we just get tired with the whole lot of you and want a break."
"Have you ever thought that of me, my love?" he asked.
She placed a hand tenderly on his cheek, held it there for a second, and then tapped it lightly. "Not yet, but the day's just begun."
He chuckled. "I'll consider myself warned. So, if your scenario is correct, there's something creepy or controlling about both of them."
"Well, we know about the one, now let's find out a little about the other."
They continued walking, and Sunny said, "The only thing that would reassure me is seeing Naira in the flesh, safe and happy."
"That's why I love you, Sunny. You know where your priorities are. Maybe she'll be there."
"Do spouses attend open houses? I don't believe I ever have, except maybe your first one, for moral support."
She sighed. "Yeah, you're right."
They found the house, a newly renovated faux craftsman that reminded Sunny of Lauren's own house, just not the garish green colour she and Joe had unfortunately chosen. They waited until Lauren's Nissan Versa pulled up to one of the few free parking spaces left along the street; the event was already attracting a lot of attention, and through the open doors of the house Sunny could already see activity.
Lauren, Rachel and Al climbed out of the car. Tej asked, "Don't you have the Highlander, Lauren?"
"I only use that to drive the kids around," she said. "It's too big for me otherwise. These two always carpool with me in this car, so they're used to it."
"She's right," Rachel said. "I've banged my head on the ceiling so many times, I don't even feel it anymore."
"She's joking," Al said. "There's plenty of headroom, unless you're Joe."
"Is Joe at church with the kids?" Tej asked.
They nodded. "It's always great fun when he comes to get them," Lauren said. "At least they've stopped asking him when he's coming home."
They all looked anywhere but at each other. Lauren had a habit of saying things that hit directly at the heart.
Tej, to her credit, fought through the awkwardness and asked, "Have you gone to counselling yet?"
"Once, so far," Lauren said, "and I think we made some headway. Wanna know what we talked about?"
"No thank you," Sunny said a little too loudly. He didn't want to go over all this again, not when they had work to do. "That kind of thing is confidential between therapist and patient. So, what's our game plan?"
"We play it cool," Lauren said, immediately all business. "He doesn't suspect anything. We're just pretending to like the house and making polite conversation. Let's all try to engage him at different times and see if we can pick up anything different."
They nodded and climbed the stairs to the front porch. Inside the open door, they removed their shoes and placed them on a free place on the floor with all the others. Tej took a business card from a stack on the corner table near the door and showed them all a picture of a short haired South Asian man, handsome and polished. Not a turban wearer, maybe he felt the need to look more Canadian to sell houses.
It didn't take long to find him. He was in the living room chatting up potential buyers.
The woman from the footage was right beside him, but when she saw them entering the living room, she smiled and strode over to meet them. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Naira Sandhu, and that's my husband, Birinder. Welcome to the Craftsman on Connaught Heights."
Did you see that coming? I hope not. Thanks for reading this far! If you liked what you just read, hit the "Vote" button to send this title up the ranks. If something didn't ring true about my description of a culture and religion that isn't my own, leave a comment; I strive for authenticity. Before we get back to how the LSDC reacts to this news, let's go back to Sunny in 1978, and his burgeoning feelings for Rachel and Lauren, by clicking on "Continue reading."