HONEYDEW (A murder mystery)

Chapter 40

Salaam readers,

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Thank you.

Dedicated to fmk350

The next day was one of the worst days of my entire life. I hadn't slept a wink on the previous night and nor had Aahil.

It took us a terrifying amount of will power to remain calm. Aahil had sensed danger as soon as Uncle Haroon had fled the scene and he had immediately rephrased his earlier sentence and told Hamilton that he had just invited him for dinner as we hadn't seen him from a long time.

But, Hamilton was no fool and had returned a look of a wicked smile. Aahil had to make up some false stories to satisfy the detective's lust to gain information.

We had to act happy and smiling host until the dinner was over and as soon as he had vacated the house, we had begun a mad search of the entire house but had found not a single clue.

The whole house seemed to be messed up and I had never experienced mom's wrath to such extent.

She had thrown one glance at the house and gone into hysterics. I couldn't divulge to her the complete truth and make her worry, therefore, I had told her that I was searching for some precious thing that I had lost.

Eventually, she had calmed down but had been obdurate that the house should be cleaned by those who are responsible for the current state.

Aahil had laughed out loud and agreed to clean the mess. I had tried my best to help him but felt too weak to do anything.

Every hour or so the bile kept threatening to show up and I was sure that I had caught a stomach bug.

________

The following morning when Ayaath woke me up, my throat felt like I had swallowed a packed of razor-blades and my head felt like it was splitting in two.

"Mom is waiting for you, downstairs. It is already past ten and you are still in bed." Ayaath drawled bemused.

"I won't be needing any breakfast," I croaked, just the thought of food made me terribly nauseous.

Ayaath narrowed her eyes, "I guess you had a late night. Is that handsome hubby of yours keeping you awake." She ended her sentence with a husky laugh.

I threw her a nearby pillow when I found my energy to lift my head.

"Calm down. I ain't a kid anymore," She teased, "Mom will be sending the housekeeper in a few seconds so don't lock the door."

"Tell mom not to bother about cleaning my room. I'm going to die in it today," I added dramatically.

"You are such a baby," Ayaath was diplomatic enough to ask any further questions and she left the room throwing one last glance at me, "We are planning to play a game of scrabble, you could join us if you wish."

I could hear loud chattering noises from the hallway. I heard ayath shouting and Noor arguing with her over a word on the scrabble board and after a few seconds, Ali came to their rescue.

The happy conversation's and laughter got louder and I groaned against the bed, pressing the pillow to my ears.

Consequently, I was surprised not only to hear a knock at the door several minutes later but to see Aahil walk in response to my feeble squawk.

"What on earth happened to you?" In a dark pinstriped suit, he looked superbly healthy, in contrast to how I must appear, I thought, if my matted hair, hot cheeks and aching eyes were anything to go by!