BANE

CHAPTER TEN

Good morning was the only thing Banan said to him when she saw him. She was washing the breakfast dishes when he came in. “Hey dearie.''

“What are you doing?
”
Taking my bath.” ...and the award for the most sarcastic person goes to Banan.

“Hey, about yesterday, maybe you do have a point but this is not about me Banan. We need to try harder now.”

“But Zaid, what if something happens to Sabiha because of our stupid plan. We are wasting time; I hope by the time we finally get to the roots of the issue it wouldn’t be too late. You have no idea what those people are capable of.” She almost bit her tongue when she said that.

“You are right, that’s why we should think faster. Wait, what people?”

“People that kidnap other people.” He gave her a look but didn’t say anything; she knew a part of him had started getting suspicious. She needed to be more discreet. Maybe Fadil could give her tips.

“But I need you Banan; I can’t do this without you.”

She looked at him and smiled. “I’ll think about it.

**************
“Married?” Mubarak seemed surprised.

“Yeah married, who would have thought…Oh God! I feel like, I can’t find the words.” He talked excitedly, rushing over his words.

“Hey, relax man; you are behaving as if she asked you to marry her.”

“I can’t help it.” He raised his face towards the sky as if to breathe in all the air in the world. Mubarak watched him with a stoic expression.

“Well, I am really happy for you.” He said smiling for the first time, his white and perfect teeth showing. He was too happy that time to have noticed anything from the very beginning; Mubarak wasn’t happy for him. Sometimes when we are overcome by certain emotions, we miss out tiny and important, details. How could he have been so stupid and blind?

************
He was feeling much better that day. The drug did work effectively. Karimah prepared breakfast from her house and dropped it for him on her way to work. Her workplace wasn’t far from his house.

His wife used to work there before she passed away. In fact, she had provided the job opportunity for Karimah. They had been great friends. His late wife had been a good woman with a priceless heart. Always on the go to help those in need. He really did lose an irreplaceable jewel.

**********
Maybe he should give up but he had never been a quitter, not even as a child. He chose detective work because he loved challenges and he wanted to believe that this case was just another challenge, another adventure.

He was tired of interviewing people but that appeared to be the only way out. The father seemed broken, the friends were sad, but no one could be trusted. He took out his phone and made a phone call.

**********
“Another interview with the police?”

“Yes.”

“Zaid, I am scared.”
He turned her towards him “You did nothing wrong.”

“No, what we are doing is very wrong.”
He kept quiet for a minute. “Then I promise you, I would try my best to see I get something, if I don’t; then, we can tell the police and I would take the blame for everything.

“Zaid, I won’t let you do that.”
He knew her well, she wouldn’t let him take the blame alone “We will fix this.”

“But we don’t even know…if...she is alive.”
She had a point “Yeah, but if he wanted to kill her, he would have killed her there and then.’’

“What if he is some kind of serial killer or he had another plan for her?”

“Don’t go there, this is no ordinary kidnapping. There is more to this story that we can see and I am determined to find out.”

“We need to act fast.”

“But we had a deal, if we find nothing in a few days, I am telling the police.”

He nodded his head in agreement, he could live with that.

**************
He saw no reason why anyone would kidnap his daughter apart from money, but no ransom notes were found and no call for a ransom had come through.

The detective could be right though; it could be based on a personal vendetta.
But as far as he was concerned, he had hurt no one. He wondered back to his past to see if anyone had enough reason to do that but he came up with no one.