MURDER with Abstract Mathematics

Chapter 11

(here be boobies)

I walked down the road white with dust, and found Bilu leaning back in a pile of construction boulder.

She wore a soft blue printed Tee above jeans and looked up as I came towards her. I waved. She nodded at me. A truck roared past us, rasing up a wall of dust.

"Have you no shame?" Bilu asked as I reached her, "Asking a girl to come with you to a place like this?"

"Well, you came," I pulled the invitation card from my pocket and handed it to her, "so you can't complain."

"What is—" Bilu read the card as she joined my walk, "Oh."

"Shalik told you yet?" I asked, turning a corner into a alley, no more than four feet across and wet.

"Yeah," Bilu folded the card and shoved it in her pocket, "Heard you're gonna marry Reshma."

Wait, she knew?

"Yeah," my foot stepped on something wet and mushy. I ignored it.

Bilu said nothing. She squeezed past me to the lead.

We turned a left beside an old moss covered building, to a slightly wider alley, inches raised from the previous one. A group of three girls stood near a door; wearing marginally less than girls usually do. A man, middle aged and shirtless, walked down the lane. One of the girls blew him a kiss.

I realized we've entered Vorapukuria.

"Why do you never come to class?" Bilu suddenly asked.

"What?" I had heard what she said but her question baffled me.

"You haven't gone to class for more than a week," Bilu said again, "Why don't you come to class?"

"Look I, uh," I pinched the bridge of my nose as we passed the group of three girls, "there's a lot going on."

Bilu just shook her head, "Mahbub sir asked about you. Asked where the Taal gaach of the class has gone to."

The class nickname sounded to me like a echo of another millennia. I have been going about my plans for almost a year, but only recently have things been as hectic.

"I'll be back soon," I promised.

Bilu said nothing.

It when we reached the electric transformer of the alley that she pointed towards an open door by the road door and said, "She's here."

Following her in, I was immediately hit by the perfume in the air. Heavy. Oppressive.

The interior resembled one of those central opening you find in old mansions, only smaller. And so much more crowded.

A dozen or so girls sat around the opening, not relaxed, but tired. Beyond them were the rooms. Some were locked and some opened. It was daytime but it was dark in there. The murk of a darkness that fed on meaning and joy, leaving a twitching shell of a person at it's wake. A child sat in the north corner, silent panic on her face.

Some girl's stirred as I came in, but they looked at Bilu and settled themselves.

"Bilu apa?" One of the girls, seemingly the seniormost, came forward.

"Is Ghuri here?" Bilu asked. Her voice held nothing except the words she said.

One of the others, a tall girl with ruffled long hair and copper brown skin came forward, "Me."

"This is your customer," Bilu shoved me towards her. I stumbled a step and when I got balanced I saw Ghuri looking right at me.

She licked her lips, "I charge five hundred for one session. Full pay in advance."