“Elijah, my friend,” said Tajirika. “Can I go now?”
“Why not? Let me see about your
At first Tajirika felt a sudden depression at being left alone. But as he reviewed the encounter, he felt relief and even triumph as he realized that not only had he deftly thwarted all attempts to link him to NyawTra, the queuing mania, and Machokali’s supposed plots, he had also avoided telling details of his illness, had gotten away with lying about the name of the Wizard of the Crow, and, most important, had not revealed anything about the three bags of money. Besides, he had won Njoya over and turned him into a friend and by tomorrow he would be lying in his own bed in Golden Heights.
18
But his new friend Njoya did not come back that night or the next or any other, for that matter, until Tajirika stopped trying to measure the passage of time. And then one day they came for him and blinded him as before, and when later they removed the blindfold he found himself seated in the lone chair in an otherwise empty room, amid a circle of light. All else was darkness. At the edges of the circle of light he saw what looked like traces of fresh and dried blood, confirming his worst fears. They were going to do to him what they had done to countless others, whose blood on the cement floor attested to their menace. He got up and wandered into the darkness in a daze. The spotlight followed him, and out of still more darkness came a voice.
“Who told you to get up?”
“Who are you?” Tajirika asked in terror, stopping dead in his tracks.
“I am Superintendent Kahiga, Peter Kahiga.”
“Where is Njoya, Superintendent Njoya? He promised me… What happened to my transportation?”
“That all depends on your answers to my questions.”
“I have already told you all that I know. What have I left unsaid?”
“Only you can tell us. And I want you to know that I am hardly as understanding as Njoya. I am not easily swayed by tears. I am as hard as a rock. If you fool around, your feet will soon be hanging from the roof.”
What do you want from me?” Tajirika asked, getting an eerie feeling as he addressed the disembodied voice.
“Back in your chair,” the voice demanded.
Engulfed by light, Tajirika did as he was told.
“Answer all my questions, even the least. Why did you really go to the witch doctor?”
“You mean the diviner? I told Njoya that I had gone there because I was ill.”
“How would you say you felt after he healed you?”
“At peace. Happy”
“So you were elated by the person who healed you?”
Would you be sad after being healed?”
“I ask the questions around here, do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“And, now, Tajirika, having been healed so well that you felt so good, so peaceful, so happy, were you not even mildly curious about the person who had wrought such wonders? Not curious enough at least to learn his name?”
Tajirika felt pushed into a tight corner. He had lied about not knowing the name of the man who had healed him for what he then thought were good reasons. But now he started questioning the wisdom of his lies. It seemed as if the unseen Kahiga knew something about the diviner. Had his wife, under threat of torture, told about the money? No matter what, Tajirika would stick to his story.
“I just forgot his name. Everybody forgets things sometimes.”
He had not expected the blow, and so when it came, a full and forceful slap across his face, Tajirika saw a thousand stars in the darkness of his mind. His instinct, when the dizziness subsided, was to rise and fight, but how do you fight a shadow in the dark? He felt tears of rage and frustration streaming down his face.
“Why did you hit me? I have not refused to answer any of your questions!”
“I told you that my name is Peter Kahiga, not Elijah Njoya. Come clean with me. I’m not here to play word games.”
“I have nothing to hide.”
“And you still claim not to remember the name of your witch doctor?”
“No. Forgetfulness is not a crime.”
“I will bring you friends to help jump-start your memory…”
Even as Kahiga was completing his sentence, Tajirika felt presences behind him, but before he could turn around two of the men grabbed him by the shoulders and the neck and pinned him against the back of the chair. The third yanked Tajirika’s hand behind him while a fourth stuck a needle under the nail of his index finger. Tajirika struggled, but pointlessly
“I beg you, stop. I’ll try to remember. What do you want to know?” he asked the men in the shadows.
“How many times must I repeat myself?” the voice in the dark asked. “We want to know everything about the witch doctor, or whatever you choose to call him. I mean everything, every word he said to you, the number of times you met, even the clothes he wore.”
“Then ask your men to take their hands off me,” he said.
“What men?” Kahiga asked. “No one is touching you. Are you hallucinating?”
Tajirika was able to move his hands freely. He quickly turned his head around and saw no one. Am I out of my mind? Or are they playing mind tricks?
“Where are the men who were just here?” Tajirika asked.
“They have gone back whence they came, but they will surely return if you don’t stop asking questions. Now about the witch doctor…”
“I met him only once. The clothes he wore, I cannot remember, but I think, well, I only saw his face.”
“And his name?”
They were definitely on to something, he sensed: there was no point in claiming loss of memory anymore.
“The Wizard of the Crow. That is his name.”
“And why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“The effects of aging. As you get older, memory weakens.”
“Is there anything else about the Wizard of the Crow that you want to tell me? Aside from your cure, what else did you two talk about? Did he mention Nyawlra or Machokali or anybody like that? Have you been to see him since he came back to Eldares from wherever he went?”
Tajirika did not know what they knew and didn’t, especially about the three bags of money. Should he continue to hold back? How could he account for the witch doctor’s possession of his money? He could see where they were headed. If he could give the witch doctor three bags of Burl notes, surely he must have hundreds of them hidden in his house or at his farm. Upon not finding the money they might kill him out of frustration anyway. So Tajirika decided to hang tough. He now knew what to say.
“To tell the truth, I have not met with this Wizard of the Crow since the day he healed me. I did not even know that he had left Eldares and come back. But there was one other thing that he and I discussed, and you can understand that the subject is a little embarrassing since it has to do with property. Just before I left the shrine I asked him to arm me with protective magic so that my property would not be blown away by the wind and my life would meet with no harm from my enemies. In short, I asked and got protective magic against harm to my life and property.”
An awkward silence followed this disclosure. Despite the fact that he could not see Peter Kahiga, Tajirika felt that what he had said about magic had had some effect on his inquisitor, whose next question was not about the Wizard of the Crow.
“Now, what about Machokali? Know this: if you lie to me again, there is no magic in the world that can protect you from my wrath.
“To say good-bye. Isn’t that what I told Njoya?”
