Sunny pulled into the driveway of the house he saw in the footage, stopping just before the door of the garage. Any vehicle in the garage was effectively trapped, now. No getaways. He didn't know why he thought that would give him an advantage if anything happened; if Birinder wanted to kill him and his family, he could just steal the fob to the Prius from his pocket and pull it out of the way, or drive it somewhere and burn it to get rid of the evidence.
He had to stop thinking like this, or he was going to work himself into a quivering mess, and Birinder was going to wonder what the hell was wrong with him; or, if Birinder really was a bad guy, he would interpret his nerves as knowledge of his wrongdoing and take action to silence him. He tried to remember what Lauren taught him yesterday about engaging with the target, but he had a feeling he didn't absorb it all, because he couldn't help worrying about Lauren.
"Sunny?" Tej said next to him in the passenger seat.
"Hm?" He snapped out of his reverie and looked at her. She was especially beautiful this evening in a sari whose orange matched the colour of his turban, but it made him uneasy; she rarely dressed traditionally, and when she did it made her appear like a delicate flower instead of the capable, radiant woman he was used to, like the one in the power suit who canvassed door-to-door with him and Tori earlier today in the Brow of the Hill and West End neighbourhoods, driving them between them in a van full of lawn signs with his grinning mug on them. He needed her to be the latter this evening, and hopefully her dress wouldn't affect her composure.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You've been sitting there staring for ten seconds."
"Sorry," he said. "I think I'm just apprehensive."
She gave him a knowing look and said, "Don't worry, I have no intention of joining his real estate group." He'd told her about Birinder's offer when he'd arrived at home on Wednesday. "Or is it something else?"
"Something else."
She nodded knowingly again, but didn't expand, because the kids didn't need to hear about the sordid details of the case that made Sunny curious enough to bring them here. She was just as enthusiastic as he was about spying on the Sandhus under the cover of this quaint meeting of two South Asian families but, unlike Sunny, she didn't seem nervous at all. "Well, come on," she said, unbuckling her seat belt and shifting her covered dish of sweets on her lap as she did so. "I'm sure they know we're here by now, and they must be wondering what we're doing sitting here."
"Hold on," he said as he heard his phone ping with a text. He pulled it out of his pocket and read the message, and smiled.
Rachel: We're almost there.
He typed: Thanks. We're just going in. Who's we?
Rachel: The whole crew, except Lauren, she's running late. Joe and Joanie are going to Jordan's house, and Al and I will walk the neighbourhood and keep an eye on B's house.
Sunny: Thanks very much, Rachel. I feel much safer now.
Rachel: LSDC forever. Smiley face emoji.
He put his phone back in his pocket, deciding against recording their conversation tonight, and then they climbed out of the Prius and smoothed their clothes down. All of them wore their best, Harpreet and Ajit dressing as if for Gurdwara, neither of them looking happy to be here. Sunny's explanation for the invitation didn't leave them any the wiser about why they had to go with their parents to these strangers' house, strangers who had no kids of their own yet. Sunny could understand why they might feel extraneous here; he would have too when he was their age. Birinder had told him to bring the kids, though, so he didn't want to just suddenly show up without them, and there was another reason he wanted them along: the presence of children would reduce the likelihood of anything untoward happening.
Birinder met them at the door so they didn't even have to knock. He was dressed in khakis and a white collarless button down. Sunny suddenly felt like he'd overdressed in a suit and tie; Birinder saved his formal wear for work, it seemed.
"You made it!" he said.
"We did. Thanks again for the invitation, you have a lovely house."
"Thank you. Is this far from where you used to live?"
"Not far at all. Lawrence Street is just west of here, and the gurdwara I attend is very close by."
"It must be the same one my parents attend, then. Please, come in."
In the entryway, Naira greeted them too, looking happy to see them. Unlike Tej, though, she was dressed casually in a soft pink sweater and grey slacks. Beside her stood an elderly couple, Birinder's parents most likely, the father turbaned and wearing a kurta over trousers, the mother also in a sari.
"Waheguru ji ka Khalsa. Waheguru ji ki fateh," Sunny said in Punjabi, holding his hands together in the prayer position and bowing his head. He saved this greeting only for elders.
They returned his greeting, and then Tej and the kids repeated the greeting. Birinder introduced them formally, and then Naira asked, "And these are your children?"
"Yes," Tej said, and turned to the kids. "You're old enough to introduce yourselves, now."
Harpreet took the lead, and Ajit mumbled his name after her. Naira said, "Can I get you two something to drink? Water? Coke? Juice?"
The kids looked at Tej, who sighed and shook her head. "These two can speak for themselves. I know it doesn't look that way, but they can."
"Are you saying if we ask for Coke, you won't make a face?" Harpreet asked, and Birinder burst out laughing.
"It's a special occasion, so, no, I won't make a face," Tej said, rolling her eyes. She turned to Birinder. "I limit their intake at home, so I'm the worst mother ever."
"Come on into the living room," Naira said, placing her hands on the kids' backs. "I'll bring your drinks in there."
Ajit gazed up at Naira as they walked together, and Sunny guessed his son was looking at his first crush. He remembered being that young; being touched by a pretty older woman who wasn't a relative would have made him swoon too.
Birinder's father turned to Sunny and said, "Mr. Parhar, we've heard about your campaign at the gurdwara. We're very excited for you."
Sunny bowed slightly to him and said, "Thank you, Sandhuji. I'm excited to be running. Please, feel free to discuss anything you'd like about the election."
The older man chuckled and said, "Perhaps later, after dinner."
"Oh!" Tej said, looking down at the plate in her hands as if she'd forgotten about it. "I've brought sweets for dessert."
"My mother made them," Sunny said. "She and my father send their regards."
"Thank you." Birinder took the plate from Tej and looked in her eyes just a little too long as he said, "They were welcome to come too, I should have clarified my invitation."
Sunny pretended not to be offended as he said, "Oh, please, don't worry. They don't get out much. My dad has diabetes, and tires easily. They prefer to stay in in the evenings."
"Your father wouldn't happen to be Amandev Singh Parhar, would he?" asked Birinder's father.
"He would!" Sunny said. "Do you know him from the gurdwara?"
"Yes, but we also worked together at Macmillan Bloedel. He was senior to me, but he took me under his wing and showed me the ropes, and he represented me when I was injured and needed help." The older man proffered his right hand to them, and Sunny noticed with dismay, but not surprise, that it was missing the ring and pinkie fingers. The mill was notorious back in the day for accidents. "Back then, the Workers' Compensation Board actually had teeth, but navigating the paperwork was a challenge. Your father was a godsend, and I'll always remember him."
Sunny was touched. "I will pass on your regards, Sandhuji. He'll be thrilled to hear you still remember him from his union days."
"Yes, it's a shame the mills are all closed down in Queensborough now," he said sadly. "Those were good paying jobs for young men willing to work. My boy here could have learned a thing or two on the mill floor."
Birinder smiled condescendingly and shook his head. "I'm happier with what I do, Dad. No risk of breaking bones or losing fingers."
His mother said, "Why don't you join your children in the living room, I need to finish up in the kitchen. Birinder, will you send Naira in to help me?"
"Of course," he said, handing her the plate of sweets. "Come in, come in," he said to them, and led the way.
Sunny made sure to scan every inch of the house as they walked down the hall while not letting on that he was paying too much attention to the architecture. So far, no evidence of criminal activity presented itself. It was just a house like any other, with furnishings he wouldn't have chosen for himself.
He found Naira between Ajit and Harpreet on the couch, staring at something on Ajit's phone screen. Glasses of coke sat on coasters on the coffee table in front of them. Ajit was declaiming on something with enthusiasm, his eyes bright and, whenever he met eyes with Naira, lovestruck. Naira, for her part, looked amazed at what he was showing her.
"You're here a few minutes, and already you have your phones out?" Tej said incredulously.
Naira looked up at Tej and smiled sheepishly. "Your son was showing me pictures of the sand sculpture competition at Harrison Hot Springs back in August," she said. "They're incredible."
"I've heard of that," Birinder said. "You went to see it?"
"We went with friends of ours for the B.C. Day long weekend, and stayed at the big resort there," Sunny said.
"Did you swim in the pools?" Naira asked. "Were they nice and warm?"
"They were fabulous," Tej said. "Like bath water."
"Where did you put your kirpan?" Birinder asked. "And did you wear swim trunks or soak your kachera?"
"Birinder, don't be crude," his father said in Punjabi. "Just because you don't live Khalsa doesn't mean you can mock those that do."
This appeared to be a long standing point of contention between father and son. "It's all right, I'm not offended," Sunny replied in the same language, shrugging. He switched to English when he said, "I left the kirpan in the room safe, and I wore trunks; I can be Roman when it suits me. I left the turban on, though; no diving for me."
"Were the friends you went with the ones that attended the Open House?" Naira asked.
"Yes, plus a couple more."
"Yes, you said you were old friends, it's nice to have that history. That one friend, the little one, Lauren?" When Sunny and Tej nodded, Naira said, "She seemed very interested in my name."
"Really? You never told me that," Birinder said to his wife.
"Yeah, it was when I greeted them as they entered, and I introduced myself. She seemed surprised, like she couldn't believe that was my name."
Birinder looked to Sunny, whose heart beat a little faster. "I'm not sure why that was," he said. "It's a beautiful name, meaning radiant, shining, especially in the eyes."
Naira blushed and said, "Maybe she heard the name somewhere before? She seemed to have mistaken me for someone else."
"Maybe someone she knew in school? She went to Endub like you did, Birinder."
"I didn't go to Endub," Naira said, "and from the way she talked I think she's a few years older than me, maybe we wouldn't have been in school at the same time. Also, she wouldn't have known me as Sandhu back then, but Bains, my maiden name."
"Very true," he said, fighting his rising panic. "Maybe someone she once worked with?"
"Maybe..."
"Oh, Naira," Birinder said, "Sorry, I forgot, Mom asked that you help her in the kitchen."
Naira's face fell. Clearly she wanted to stay in the living room and keep interrogating Sunny, but she nodded and said, "Excuse me."
Sunny let out a quiet breath as she left the room. She was getting awfully close to the truth, and he would have had a hard time continuing to play dumb.
"Did they need any more help in there?" Tej asked.
"No!" Birinder said a little too forcefully. Then he corrected himself. "You're our guests. Please, sit. I haven't gotten you drinks. I have wine, Tej, if you drink."
"I don't, but thanks for the offer. Oddly, now, I'd like a Coke if there's still some available."
Birinder found that incredibly funny, because he was still laughing when he turned to Sunny. "And you?"
"I'll make it easy on you and ask for one as well."
As Birinder went to get their drinks, Sunny took a seat beside Ajit on the couch, Tej sitting beside Harpreet. Ajit turned to him and said, "Dad, I wasn't finished showing Mrs. Sandhu my photos."
"Yes? And?" he said.
Ajit shrugged and said, "She might want to sit there."
"I'll move if Mrs. Sandhu returns and asks to sit here," Sunny reassured him, understanding his crush but in no mood to encourage it.
"Just don't let her hear you call her Mrs. Sandhu," Birinder said as he walked back in with their drinks. "She'll claim that's my mother's name."
Birinder's father sat in an armchair that was probably always his; unlike the leather couch and love seat opposite, on which Birinder sat himself, it was a soft red brocade.
"Well, you've only been married a year," Tej said. "It takes a while to get used to the prefix, unless she actually prefers Ms."
"I don't think she likes prefixes at all."
"So, how did the two of you meet?" Tej asked, and Sunny marvelled at how easily she was able to slide that one in. Maybe coming from a woman, especially a woman with whom Birinder was infatuated, it didn't sound so intrusive.
Birinder smiled and said, "A dating website, if you can believe it."
"Seriously?" Sunny asked. "Do those actually work?"
"It has so far. The one we used is geared specifically toward the Desi community, searchable by language, religion and country."
Sunny looked at Tej and said, "I wonder if we would have found each other that way. We met at UBC. Those sites weren't even around, then."
"They are becoming the primary way of meeting people," Tej said.
"I don't know why he felt he needed to go that route," said Birinder's father. "Plenty of good families attend Gurdwara, and they all have lovely daughters looking for husbands."
"You know why that's not an option for me anymore, Dad," Birinder said.
He didn't elaborate, and just as Sunny was about to ask him why, Naira entered the living room to announce that dinner was served.
Sunny had to admit Birinder's mother would have given his own a run for her money, and he found himself putting away more than he predicted. The food made him think about the kitchen, though, and why Birinder was so adamant Tej didn't set foot in there. He wondered if Tej offered to help so she could have a look around, because she also offered to bring empty dishes back to the kitchen, and Birinder refused again, assuring her she didn't need to lift a finger. It was a brilliant idea if that was her plan, but there was no way they were going to get in there without looking suspicious, now.
"So, Birinder," he said, "When I ran into you on Wednesday you mentioned your drone problem. Is it still going on?"
Naira turned to Birinder and said, "You told him about the drone?"
Birinder shrugged sheepishly and said, "I did. He's running for Council, you know, so I thought I'd ask if there was anything the City could do to regulate those things, especially at night. It was driving me crazy."
"Was?" Tej asked.
"It didn't happen last night," Birinder admitted. "Maybe whoever's doing it decided to take the night off, or maybe the novelty's worn off and they've stopped for good; I guess we'll see how tonight goes."
Sunny nodded along while thinking furiously about what this meant. Was Jordan giving up, or did he stop temporarily because he knew Sunny was coming here today and would be having a look around inside? Fat chance of that; nothing he'd seen so far was at all suspicious, and he hadn't had a chance to search the rest of the house. He knew there wouldn't be a basement because this was Queensborough and they were at sea level, but there was still an upper floor that needed checking. Lauren had warned him it would be like this, though, and he had to remind himself not to take any stupid chances.
"Well, I looked a little into the law around drones," he said. "Canada actually has some of the strictest laws in the world regarding drones. Their usage is regulated by Transport Canada, a federal body, because they are considered flying vehicles akin to planes and helicopters, so the City unfortunately can't do anything about them. People using them actually need to be licensed, though, and the rules clearly state that they can't get that close to your home; it's actually a safety issue, although I'm sure for you and your family it's more of a privacy issue."
"It's creepy," Naira said. "Those things have cameras, right? Who knows who's looking in on us, taking video; I feel violated every time it comes around."
Naira sounded sincere, and maybe she was, but Sunny knew she had to know something more about it if she had that GPS device on her person during that footage. How could he ask her, though? "The person flying it could have their license stripped, a heavy fine imposed, and their drone confiscated," he said.
"It doesn't help us if we never find out who owns it," Birinder said, clearly frustrated.
Sunny looked to Birinder's parents and asked, "Have you seen or heard this drone yourselves?"
"Not as often as they have," his father said. "Our bedroom is closer to the rear of the house, and the windows are not as large. We keep our blinds drawn, too, so we don't see it, but we do hear it from time to time."
"This sounds terrible," Tej said. "Whoever is flying this thing appears to be targeting your house specifically, unless it's checking out other houses on the street. Maybe it's a potential thief, casing your house without having to be on the street."
"You know, I never even considered that possibility," Birinder said, and his eyes had a hunted animal look. "How can I get the police to take me seriously, though, if I can't show them the drone?"
"Have you ever tried capturing it on video, whenever it comes around?" Tej asked.
Birinder looked at her with the awe of a supplicant approaching a guru at the top of the mountain. "Why the hell didn't I ever think about that? It's usually so fast, though, that I can't even think to get my phone before it's gone. Maybe if it comes tonight, I'll have my phone ready to go."
Sunny wondered about this. Would Birinder have never thought to capture it on video? People recorded every little thing that got on their nerves nowadays, and posted it on their social media feeds. His reaction was like a light bulb going on, though; maybe that late at night, when the drone came around, Birinder might be woken from sleep and too addled to remember to grab his phone. Maybe that was all it was.
Eventually they retired back to the living room, and Sunny feared he wouldn't get a chance to have a look around if he delayed any longer. "Birinder," he said, "may I use your restroom?"
"Of course," Birinder said. "We passed it as we came here from the front entry. It'll be the first door on your right if you go back that way."
Damn it. There was no way he'd get further into the house now. "Thank you."
He made his way back down the hall. There were other doors along the hall, but he was pretty sure one of them was a broom closet, and he couldn't check anyway because he was still visible from the living room. He decided not to make himself look like an idiot and found the bathroom.
He locked the door behind him and quietly opened the doors next to the mirror, then closed them slowly so the magnetic tabs holding them closed didn't click. He didn't find anything but the usual toiletries: band-aids, ointment, dental floss, toothpaste. He decided to actually use the bathroom while he was there and, after flushing, turned on the taps, washed his hands, and then left the tap on while opening the drawers and the doors under the sink. More of the same, except... there was a box of tampons under the sink, and thinking of the GPS device made him take a quick peek.
All of them were pre-wrapped. None of them had slit packaging to hide contraband.
He sighed and put the box back, and was just about to turn off the tap and leave the bathroom when his phone pinged with a text. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen.
Joe: We have a problem.
Sunny's heart began to race. He turned off the tap and typed back: Is everyone okay?
Joe: LSDC all fine. Don't know about Jordan.
Sunny: Jordan?! What happened to Jordan?
Joe: Don't know. We arrived at his house and found his door ajar. Joanie and I decided to knock and announce ourselves but no answer. We then checked around inside and saw a tossed house.
Sunny stared at Joe's words for ten seconds, unable to comprehend what was going on. Finally he typed: And there's no sign of him?
Joe: None. Joanie's calling the police.
Thanks for reading this far! Did you see that twist coming? If you liked what you just read, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. If I made any errors with domestic customs among South Asian families, leave a comment and let me know; I strive for authenticity.
Before we return to what happens outside Jordan's house, let's flash back to Sunny and Tej dating, using Bishan as a chaperone and going to Expo 86, and reminiscing about Lauren, by clicking on "Continue reading."