The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

One day, Lakshmi is working in the clinic when two children arrive with an unusual patient—an injured sheep. While examining the animal, Lakshmi notices that the wool has been sheared away and then stitched back up: “The fleece appears to have a clean slit, like a welt pocket on a coat. The wound is underneath the fleece. How could that have happened?” (102). Nimmi is enlisted to help translate what the children have to say about the animal. Apparently, it was wandering alone out in the countryside. Nimmi’s hesitation leads Lakshmi to believe that she’s concealing some information.

That night, when Lakshmi tells Jay about the incident, he seems concerned and says that they must go to Nimmi’s hut immediately. Jay knows that the animal was being used to smuggle gold bars into the country. Nimmi, too, is aware that smugglers recruit shepherds to transport their cargo this way. She says that the sheep belongs to her brother Vinnay and that the smugglers will kill him if they think he has stolen their gold. She’s getting ready to go look for Vinnay, but Jay persuades her to wait until morning. When Lakshmi and Jay check in on her after daybreak, she and her children are already gone.