The Widows of Malabar Hill

Reunited with her family, they recount their frantic search for Perveen. She confesses that she is worried it could be Cyrus, and her father tells her that he already knew her ex-husband was in town. He explains that the Bengali stranger outside the law office was a private detective he hired to keep an eye on the Sodawallas and that Cyrus is currently staying at a charitable hospital in Bombay.

To convince her to stay home and rest, Gulnaz and Camellia invite Alice to lunch. Rustom returns to work, but Perveen asks him to bring the plans for the Farid residence, which the Mistry Construction built many years before. At lunch, Alice charms Camellia and Gulnaz, especially when she tells them she can handle spicy food because she was raised in India.

After lunch, Perveen gives Alice a coin as a token payment and, declaring her in the employ of Mistry Law, asks her to help decipher the bungalow plans that Rustom sent. Together, they realize that there is a hidden passage that allows entrance from the husband’s room into the wives’ rooms.

After a restless night, Perveen and her father have an early breakfast. She tells him what she learned about the passage, and he reports back from a visit he paid to the Farid widows and Mukri’s family. All the widows denied any knowledge of what happened to Perveen and said they were relieved she was safe. However, when visiting Mukri’s family, Jamshedji learned that he and Sakina were first cousins. As teenagers, they became too close, and fearing a romantic entanglement, the family married her off to Farid. He was 39 years old, and Sakina was only 15.

Initially, Jamshedji is reluctant to let Perveen visit the bungalow alone, but she argues that it is her duty as the women’s lawyer. Finally, he relents, and Perveen hugs him, grateful for his affection and support.

Hatching a plan with Alice, Perveen sneaks into the back of the bungalow while Alice knocks on the door, pretending to be applying for a governess position. In Sakina’s room, Perveen uses a hairpin to pick the lock to the passage. While doing so, she remembers that Sakina commented that the body of Mukri was wearing a suit. She realizes that the only way Sakina could have known this detail was if she had done the killing since no one told her what the body was wearing.

Inside the dark passage, Perveen finds Amina lying unconscious and barely breathing. She realizes that she must get her to safety but is interrupted when Sakina enters.

Dispensing with any deceit, Sakina angrily confronts Perveen. She admits to her affair with Mukri but says that he became cruel to her after Farid died. She realized from Perveen that he was lying about the wakf and decided that she should kill him for threatening them all. Additionally, she became jealous and worried that Mumtaz was pregnant by him. She used an ancestral family dagger but planted Razia’s letter opener on him to keep Razia quiet. She explains that she would have gotten away with it except that Amina found her bloody sari in the passage. She told the young girl that they would have drinks and discuss it, and she drugged her with morphine. She now intends to finish the job.

Stalling for time, Perveen questions her and learns that Sakina also orchestrated the kidnapping, promising Mohsen a share of jewelry if he could do it. Sakina rushes toward Perveen with the knife, shouting that she has ruined everything. The appearance of the police, led by Alice, saves Perveen. They capture and handcuff Sakina, and Alice explains that she became worried when Perveen was gone for so long. In a moment of compassion, Perveen covers Sakina’s face with her sari so that the men will not look at her and asks them not to touch her directly as she goes with them to prison.

Sir David meets with Perveen and thanks her for her help with the case. They discuss the Parsis and their charitable work in Bombay, and she convinces him to let Alice work part-time for Mistry Law.

Two days later, Perveen goes to the local charitable hospital where she meets with a man who sent a letter to Mistry Law, asking for her to write his will. Gulnaz researched his name, which meant alone in the world, causing both women to suspect it was an alias. In the hospital, a disfigured man covered in syphilis lesions greets Perveen. It is not until he greets her that she realizes that it is Cyrus. He explains that he is dying and asks her to mercy kill him, but she refuses. She leaves, feeling a burden of fear and worry lifted.

Perveen meets Razia and Mumtaz at the hotel. Both women are happy. Mumtaz gave birth to a baby girl and is also caring for Zeid and Fatima, who are attending school. Razia has discovered, to her surprise, that she likes living out of seclusion, and shares that Captain Ali recently proposed to her. She intends to accept, much to Amina’s delight. Sakina and Mohsen are in jail for their crimes. Perveen is relieved that the women’s lives are much happier and freer than they were when she met them.

Later, she and Alice meet up at the hotel bar and try to order drinks. A waiter tells them ladies are not allowed to drink, but Perveen argues persuasively until he serves them. She and Alice cheerfully toast to “the power of women” (376).