43

She looked around her room to make sure if she was the only one inside because she can’t erase the fact that she had been feeling Abba all around her ever since the day they had that staring contest and she could swear she felt his eyes having a tour in her soul. It was as if she didn’t have to tell him anything about herself, it all felt like he knew her from the innermost depth of her soul.

They had sat in the court for the second time and still Barr. Bassam had no concrete evidence that will release Abba and have the culprits captured. The case was adjourned and it had been long that Abba was taken to the prison. That made it quite hard for her to see him because whenever she wanted to; she had to go with Barr. Bassam and act as if she was a lawyer herself. If not, they will get suspicious of her constant visits.

What she was disturbed about was that she could sense the melancholy he carried along with him, and a week before they sat in the court; he had been in his gloomiest mood. She was quite disturbed because he wasn’t like that even when Rafiq was killed. Today, she had asked the maids to cook something for him so she’ll branch in the prison when she was done with the house and the detectives. They had found a secretly fixed CCTV camera that belonged to the building adjacent to her house, and it was having the whole view of her house. They had tried to coax the guards to let them have the look into their CCTV records because that was the only way they could confirm their thoughts about Dawoud and Habeeba.

Barr. Bassam brought her the result of the tracking of that anonymous number and it was registered with the name of Habeeba, and her men now lived in an unknown area in Taraba. It always got her ruminative how Dawoud manoeuvred his way and had the whole head of her six men. They had a meeting with Barr. Bassam in her house and she stood up to get ready. But deep in her heart, she wanted all this to end, but her topmost priority was to get Psycho back his freedom. She was glad that Daddy didn’t know, he would’ve stopped her since. And Ilham didn’t know where the case was heading, she couldn’t trust her not to tell Daddy either.

She stood up and walked to her bathroom, and still while bathing; she thought about his now constant sad face that didn’t appeal her anymore. She was done getting herself ready and before she went out, she looked at herself through her mirror and came back into her room. She did that first thing she had never done while going out, she wore a hijab on her clothes. It felt all good and provided her with a sense of protection. Even though this was among the plan to let herself into the prison, she loved the feeling it provided to her.

She drove to the house and met Barr. Bassam already taking some notes about the surrounding. The house was still untouched even after a month and a few weeks. She walked to him and looked startled before he sighed and smiled, “Hijab looks good on you, Humaira.”

She chuckled and brushed it off, looking around the living room as well, “I think when all this case is done, I’ll ask Daddy to seel off this house and buy me a new one. It has all sort of bad memories in it.” She walked further in the living room and something caught her attention just below the sofa.

Kneeling, Humaira pulled it out from the ground and when she checked, it was Habeeba’s student ID card. This was probably not with her the day she had her tied in her house and gave her a concrete warning. But what brought her ID card here? She was a medical student, and that impressed Humaira. As she thought about it, maybe she was coming back directly from school and they came to her house. Maybe Rafiq tried to fight them off and while helping Dawoud, the card slipped out of her bag. Maybe her men left the house long before the crime was done. This was just all her guessing, as she handed Barr. Bassam the ID card.

“I’m glad you found this, we can now have the full evidence to put both Habeeba and Dawoud behind the bars. Abba saw Dawoud’s car driving out when he came and Habeeba this. I think we should move to this house and see whether we can get the recording of that day.” Barr. Bassam spoke as he put the card into his bag.

Humaira was having cold feet about this, she wanted to find the culprit but she feared him or her to be the person she knew. Because she felt like she can do something for whoever it is that killed her Rafiq. Her lovely innocent Rafiq. They walked down to the house and Barr. Bassam hid from their eyesight as Humaira walked towards the two guards.

She broke into tears and fell on the ground, “Please, have you seen my husband walked around here yesterday? He was abducted and I couldn’t reach him!” She cried, as soon as she got the attention of the guards to her, she watched as Barr. Bassam discreetly slipped into the house. It was illegal, but that’s the only chance they had in finally revealing out the truth. Because they couldn’t let them in even when the detectives showed them their ID card.

“Young woman, what are you doing here? Kindly get up and go look for your husband somewhere else, because we haven’t seen him here.” One of the guards said as he tried to lift her from the ground.

While inside the house, Barr. Bassam had tried and got himself into the room he was sure had the CCTV footages kept, and they were kept in the guard's room. He quickly typed the date Rfaiq was killed and copied everything in his flash drive without taking a look. He knew Humaira was trying so hard out there, and he shouldn’t waste more time to give them a chance to be suspicious of her. He discreetly walked out of the house and as soon as she saw him she wailed even louder so they couldn’t take the usual glances they took to the gate.

It was only after some minutes that the guards finally got her walked away and she practically ran to where Barr. Bassam parked his car. She got into the car and sat down, “How did it go? Were you able to get the footage?” She asked briskly and he nodded his head.

He pulled out his laptop and connected the flash drive to it, Humaira nearly shouted at him not to play the b=video because she was afraid that she would see Habeeba and Dawoud as the real culprits. Even though she wanted to know who the real culprits were, but she didn’t want them to be Dawoud and Habeeba. She watched intently as the video started playing. It took some time with only the compound of her house with no suspicious moves that Barr. Bassam had to forward it and they watched as her men began coming out one by one with their bags in their hands.

She watched as their leader shouted at one of them and she thought he was giving them orders to move fast so they could leave and wipe away every trace of them. She watched as they looked around and checked for something that will someday be evidence that they were once there before they left. They didn’t know about the camera, no one knew. It took almost to an hour before the gate was opened and a car drove inside. The moment Humaira saw a black Mercedes she clenched her eyes shut and only opened them when Barr. Bassam cleared his throat.

They kept watching, it took them long to come out of the car and just as Aisha predicted, Habeeba had a lab coat on her body, enough evidence that she was from school. Dawoud went to his boat and opened it before he looked around to see whether there was someone elsewhere hiding and watching them. Habeeba moved forward and she helped him pull out a dead Rafiq from his boat. Humaira had to wail at that painful sight.

“You have to be strong, Humaira. I know it’s not easy and it will hurt like hell, but just be strong, this was a crime done a month and weeks ago, it’s not something new.”

For the first time in forever, Humaira let out her tears in front of someone that wasn’t family. The first time she cried in public was when Daddy went to the police station, then when she cried only to Ilham, and today, when she cried as she saw the real culprits that killed her Rafiq. Her innocent and lovely Rafiq.

Barr. Bassam played the footage again and they watched as they took Rafiq inside the house with so much aplomb. They didn’t know what happened in the house, but by the time they came out of the house, both Dawoud and Habeeba had their clothes stained with blood. Rafiq’s blood. Both Dawoud and Habeeba looked around and made sure no one was watching and Dawoud pulled out his phone and he made a phonecall Humaira assumed was with the leader of her men before they got back into the car and drove out of the house.

It became peaceful again as if her Rafiq wasn’t lying down on the cold bare floor of her living room. They moved the footage forward for almost an hour before they saw as the door was pulled open, it was evident the intruder left his or her car at the gate. Abba walked in and was smiling handsomely to himself, and just like he told her that day he was exceptionally happy because he finally found the place she lived, he looked exactly as he described. She wanted to shout at him not to get into the house, but she realized it was even too late. Way too late. He walked to the main entrance and he disappeared from the lenses of the camera.

And then she drove in, as soon as she hopped out of her car she lifted her phone and tried calling Rfaiq but it wasn’t reachable. She wasn’t in her most favourable mood and she looked quite annoyed. She could clearly remember what made her annoyed, it was Ilham. Because she was so persistent that Humaira shouldn’t leave the house alone without a driver or a bodyguard and Humaira had to do what she promised Daddy not to ever do again. She snuck out of the house. They watched as she took tentative steps towards the house as if she knew what awaited her, and she too disappeared from the lenses of the camera. And it was all peaceful for a split of seconds until the sirens came, and the police had them handcuffed.

She sighed as she looked at Barr. Bassam with her bloodshot eyes, “Would this suffice? Or do we need more evidence?”

Barr. Bassam chuckled softly, “If to say a blind man could see, this was enough for him to tell who the culprit was. It’s enough, Humaira. You should go home.”

“Call me if there’s anything you need, Barr. Thank you.” And she was out of his car in the blink of an eye. This hijab was nearly suffocating her, if not because she wanted to visit that Psycho in the prison, she would’ve long ripped it off her body.

She drove away and took the lane that would lead her to the prison, hopeful that this news would bring a smile to Abba’s face. He was always sad, and it didn’t sit with her.

❃

She was sitting on a bench across him and he seemed glad to see her. She hated to think about it, but the prison uniform looked good on him. “How do you get in? I heard no one was allowed to see me and when I was asked if I have relatives that will come, I said no.” She heard his voice around her, and she smiled and shook her head.

“I can sneak into everywhere but not the prison, I can’t make the mistake that will have me rooted here. I told them I’m your wife, so they allowed me in.” She saw the look he flashed her, he was pleased and afraid and in pain altogether. “What’s wrong with you, Psycho? You don’t seem your normal self since before the first sitting in the court. You can always talk to me you know?”

Abba heaved a sigh and palmed his face with both hands. Calling herself his wife was something that struck his heart, and he knew he had missed that opportunity long ago. He realized telling her what was bothering him could do more good than harm, so he spoke. “You know Nuriyya, but I know you’ll say that you don’t. She got married a week after put first sitting in the court, and that’s what had been breaking me from within. But I’m pulling through, Insha Allah.”

Seeing her in hijab felt as if she was his old naive and innocent Aisha. Ever since they got married, there wasn’t a day he saw her without her hijab unless he caught her in A & H, but whenever she was going to school; it was always a hijab. And now that she had a sympathetic look in her eyes, he wanted to take her into his arms and beg her to come back home with him. he knew she was putting up this act and will be back to her normal Aisha the moment he got out of here.

“I’m so sorry, that’s so heartbreaking. Was she your girlfriend or the wife you always claimed I was?” She was truly sorry, he must’ve loved her to be sad for this long just because she got married.

“She was my girlfriend, you know that, Ais...Humaira.” One more thing, she loved it when he nearly called her Aisha but got a hold of himself and called her Humaira. It gave her a certain feeling she couldn’t begin to describe.

“I don’t know how many times I’m going to tell you that I don’t know you, Psycho. Here, I brought you some food. The food here isn’t eatable, right?” He nodded his head with a pout and Humaira chuckled at him. “Stop doing that, I’m not saying I know just because you pull up that sorry face. Eat up before my time finishes, Psycho.” She laughed at the look he flashed her. She knew that look from Rafiq, it was a look of longing and what she would like not to be as love. But she knew, it was as clear as the shining sun at daytime and the glowing moon at night. She dreaded what would be of them if he got out of prison.

She didn’t tell him that there was a possibility of him being out of this case and having his name washed away from the stains of the crime and also his freedom fully regained at the next court sitting they were having because she wanted that to be a surprise to the psychotic brain. She smiled to herself and watched as he ate his food.