41
Today, Abba was fortunate they gave him his phone and he was able to make a call. It had already been a week after he was nabbed by the police, but no one from neither family nor friends had visited him. He got it that his family didn’t know he was in the police station and was being charged with a murder case, but what of his friends? He was sure even one of them knew but they didn’t come. What baffled him more was Nuriyya, he called her immediately after they were taken to the police station, even when Aisha’s Daddy came he told them to give him a phone so he can call his family. He was terrified to call home, but he called Nuriyya knowing she would do all she can to get him out of the police’s hands.
Now as he waited for her to pick up his call, he felt cold from the depth of his soul. She didn’t pick until he called for the third time and she picked up with an annoyed groan. “Abba, what is it? I wonder how the policemen would be giving you phone and have you disturb the lives of other people. What is it now, are you out of the cell and granted back your freedom?” She didn’t care, and her words felt like an arrow shot directly into Abba’s heart.
He cringed and answered her with words that didn’t seem to be his, “Nuriyya, I’ve been tortured enough in this place. Please help me call your father so I’ll be out of this place. I told them I wasn’t the one that killed him but they aren’t believing me.” His voice broke as he spoke, but he knew better than to cry.
She hissed loudly and Abba had to look at the person he called to make sure it was really Nuriyya. “How sure am I that you weren’t the one that killed him? Abba, you can’t have me involved in your own crime. And let me be frank with you, I’m not calling my father just because you’re in a police station and I want you out. You can stay there forever for all I care.”
“Nuriyya? It’s me, your Abba na. Please, Nuriyya do this for me just one last time. And I swear to you with my life that I didn’t kill him, I thought you were one of the first people that can be my witness. How can I kill him?’ He was shocked, not pained. He saw this moment coming, but he never imagined it to come this early and when he was in a dire need of her help.
Nuriyya hissed once again, it was evident that she was getting irritated by the phone call they were having. “For the last time, Abba, don’t ever call me again. I know you owe me at least one visit to see how you’re doing, but don’t keep pestering me with phone calls, please. I’ll come when I have nothing to do. And for my father, you can rot in there for all I care. If you can remember the times I begged you to call him to ask for my hand in marriage, did you? So, I won’t call him too now that you want. Also, don’t you dare put my name on the list of your witness because I’ll testify for all the tortures you did to Aisha. And that’ll land you in even more trouble.”
He had his phone on his hand and watched as she hissed and ended the call. He stared at his phone unable to do anything or even feel anything. He had never imagined Nuriyya to act like this towards him, he thought she would rush to the police station immediately she heard about it, but she didn’t and it shook Abba to the core. He couldn’t stay here forever, the court sitting will start on Monday. Just two days away.
He had no choice but to call Nasir, calling Mama will be the same as making her paralysed because he was sure she would be shocked and fainted from it. He dialled Nasir’s number and before he picked, Abba made the decision of concealing the truth about Aisha. He wouldn’t involve her, because he knew the kind of help he needed from them would never be granted to him if they knew what he did to Aisha and what he turned her into and that even the person that was killed was her boyfriend. That had to reveal the fact that he divorced her.
“Nasir,” he spoke when he heard Nasir’s voice booming through his phone.
“Hello? Is this by any chance, Abba?” Nasir asked, unsure of the voice he heard. He knew they had been trying to reach Abba for the past few months but were not getting to him, and Baba had stopped them from coming over to Taraba to check on him. He said that he was hiding away because he couldn’t find Aisha with him and he would get tired of hiding and come back home himself.
“Nasir, it’s me,” Abba croaked and couldn’t find the right words to use tell Nasir the kind of dilemma he found himself in.
“Abba what happened? How come your phone was unreachable for the past few weeks. What’s happening? You don’t seem like yourself.” Nasir had noticed the way his voice croaked whenever he spoke and it showed he wasn’t already. Something had definitely happened.
“Nasir, I’m at the police station. I’ve been there for a week now.” The moment he said those words he broke into tears, and Nasir stood up from the chair he was sitting on.
“What happened? What did you do, Abba?!” Nasir clamoured and began pacing to and fro in his office.
“I’ll tell you everything in details, Nasir. Will you please come over? I don’t even have a lawyer to defend me, they’re going to charge me for the crime I didn’t commit.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow Insha Allah. But Abba, before I come, tell me if you’re really the one that did what you’re being charged for. I’m your brother and your secret will forever be safe with me.”
“Have my words, Nasir, wallahi I didn’t. Please don’t tell Mama or anyone, it’s between you and me.” Nasir nodded his head as if he could see him and they ended the call. He sat down and palmed his face, thinking of the possible crime that had Abba held by the police and even be taken to court. Whatever crime crossed his mind, he immediately shook it off.
❃
It was after they had their dinner, Humaira sat in the living room and was staring at the television but her mind had drifted off to Abba. She thought about the possibilities of him killing Rafiq and shook every excuse she had in mind. She thought that even if he was there to get her and he found only Rafiq there before he left, he had no reason to kill him. Because he had never met with Rafiq unless when he was stalking and she was together with Rafiq.
How did he even get into the house? She trusted her men to have very tight security and they couldn’t let anyone in the house except she sent them his or her picture and asked them to let him in. In fact, the Rafiq was the first one to ever set his feet into that house while he was crimeless. He wasn’t there to learn a lesson, he was there to watch.
She jerked upright at the sudden thought of her men. Where had they disappeared to?! She couldn’t remember seeing them the day Rafiq was killed and even after the police made the proper investigations in the house, there was no trace of them. “Ilham!” She shrieked and slumped on the sofa Ilham was sitting on. She had been engrossed in her unending thoughts about Rafiq that she hadn’t thought about the sudden suspicious disappearing of her men.
Ilham looked at her and lowered the volume. She knew Humaira wanted to talk judging by the look in her eyes. She still couldn’t believe Humaira had spent a week without going out ever since they came back from Rafiq’s town. She had been exceptionally quiet since then, always engrossed in her own thoughts. “What is it, Humaira?”
Humaira shook her head as if to get iff the sudden revelation she had thought of. “Ilham, I’ll be honest with you today. I have six muscular men at my house guarding it an as well dealing with everyone I wish. it only takes me sending them a picture of that person and I’ll have him or her tied for me. That’s the way I deal with people and teach them the lesson you always heard me say…”
Ilham cut her off with eyes bulged out like a saucer, “Humaira, which house? The house Rafiq’s body was found there? You’re a gangster, Humaira. The leader even. Don’t tell me you asked them to kill Rafiq and have forgotten about it until today?”
Humaira nudged Ilham’s shoulder and laughed at how terrified she seemed, “We’re doing nothing wrong, I promise. The suspicious thing is that they disappear the day Rafiq was killed or rather brought to my house as a dead body. Were they the ones that killed him? Ilham, something is really fishy. I’ve totally forgotten about them until today, where will they possibly be hiding? Who paid for them? Now that I thought about it, that psycho isn’t the one that killed Rafiq!” She abruptly stood up and looked at Ilham, her brain collecting even the tiniest bit of information.
“Where are you going? Humaira you can’t speak a word about those men you have in your house. It’s such a relief that they’ve disappeared before the crime was committed.”
“That’s why it’s suspicious, Ilham! They know about the murder, that’s why they left the house and any trace that proves they were once there. This was a planned murder, aimed at me and it unfortunately fell on that Psycho.” She took her phone from the sofa she was sitting on and dialled her Lawyer’s number.
“Good evening, Humaira.” He greeted, it had been long she contacted him. Whatever crime she committed, Daddy will have him handled the issue without her getting involved.
“I need to see you, Barr. Bassam. Can you please come over?” She asked, and there was urgency in her voice.
“Now? There’s a case I’m handling, Humaira. Can we meet at A & H in an hour?”
Humaira nodded her head, “Yes, I’ll see you there.” She ended the call and looked at Ilham with a triumphant smile on her lips, “I think I’ll have the real murderer’s of Rafiq nabbed not soon, Ilham.”
She rushed to her room and turned a deaf ear to Ilham shouting, “You can’t go out, Humaira!”
She was already at A & H some minutes before the hour clicked, but today she didn’t sit in the restaurant, rather she went to the conference hall and asked the workers to lead Barr. Bassam inside the hall. She felt it was a highly confidential matter that needn’t be discussed in public.
As soon as he sat down, she looked at him and went on talking. She was known for her straightforwardness and sharpness. She told him all that happened and sighed. “Barr. Bassam, what do you think of this? it’s really suspicious how they’ve all disappeared. This only means two things; either they’re the ones that killed Rafiq or they were secretly working for someone.”
Barr. Bassam heaved a sigh and palmed his face before he looked at Humaira, “And who do you think they’re working for, Humaira?”
She was silent for some minutes before she dejectedly looked up at him, “That’s what I really can’t tell…” she let her words trailed off before she screamed and stood up. “They’re working for Dawoud and Hbaeeba! Here, Barr. Bassam, check their text messages. And I’ve been getting these anonymous messages ever since the day Rfaiq was killed.” She handed him her phone and sat down to calm her nerves.
She could clearly remember the Habeeba avowed to do, “Humaira, let me go or what I’m going to do will have you locked up for the rest of your life.” Those were the exact words Habeeba uttered to her the day she had her taken to her house. And she was sure they killed Rafiq so they could make Humaira’s life a living hell.
‘Dearest Humaira, don’t you ever think dumping me and beating me will strain down the drainage, you’ll have to pay for that. And also, having Habeeba in your house while you threatened her will be paid. Don’t panic, you don’t have to pay while you’re alone. You’ll pay it while even the tycoon you have as a father can never save you.’ Those were the kind of messages she was receiving from them before Rafiq was killed, and she had never thought about those two.
‘You’re safe now, but not totally. You’ll have to pay for the blood that was shed.’ The messages changed directly with an anonymous number, and whenever she called the number was stitched. She wondered how they did that.
“I’ll have the service trackers to track down who this Simcard was registered with. I’ll get back to you, Humaira. And also about your name, I’ll have the CID check onto that.” She thanked him and they drove out of the hotel together. Instead of Humaira to drive back home, she took the route to the police station and parked.
She told them that she was there to see the Psycho they were brought with, and because the policemen were almost her acquaintances, she had been there for the time she couldn’t mind counting. She requested that he was taken to her car when they tried to object, Humaira chuckled. “You know me, I’m not running away with him. Just to speak with him for a few minutes and that’s all. You can arrest me back if I run away.”
Abba was taken to her car and she sat down and looked at him, he was no more the energetic Psycho she knew. “Hey, Psycho.” He looked up at the name she called him, but the sophistication that was brewing from her eyes was so strong Abba couldn’t hold her gaze for too long.
“Don’t call me that, Aisha.” He tried to speak up, the last time he ate something was yesterday. He didn’t have breakfast and they gave him a cold and peprish jollof rice to eat. And today, he saw no food. He was so weak and tired.
She pulled her hand backwards and took leather from there, “You should eat, I need to ask you something.”Now that he saw her first soft side, Abba was even more certain that she was his Aisha.
“Aisha,” he tried to speak when she glared at him.
“If you still love your face, don’t call me that again. I told you Humaira is my name. Eat up, I have no time to waste.” With shaking hands Abba opened the takeaway she bought from A & H and began eating the scrumptious meal. All the time he took eating, she had her eyes fixed unmoving on him, and Abba felt slightly unnerved by her eyes.