“Stop answering me with questions. Tell us what took place between you two, word for word. And don’t take this matter lightly”
Tajirika told the story of his meeting with Machokali at the Mars Cafe, mentioning that the minister was curious about the kind of questions Vinjinia had been asked when she was in custody.
“Why did he want to know that?”
“I don’t know. He did not say. And I did not ask him.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Just what Vinjinia herself told me: that the questions were mostly about Nyawlra.”
“How did he react when you mentioned Nyawlra?”
“He said that she was the biggest enemy of the State and if one is asked any questions about her one should tell all one knows.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes. I don’t think he was particularly interested in talking about Nyawlra. He just wanted to see her in custody. I remember him consoling me and telling me that I should not worry myself to death over the fact that I had employed her. The sins of the employed cannot be visited upon the employer. Or something to that effect.”
“So when he saw you show concern and remorse over the fact that you had engaged the services of a traitor, he, the minister, was telling you not to worry?”
“Not in the way you’re putting it. He consoled me because he saw that I was badly shaken by the discovery of Nyawlra’s true identity.”
“He himself did not show any anxiety over the matter? He was quite calm even though he knew that a traitor had eluded the police?”
“No, he did not seem anxious about her.”
“He did not show any anger at Nyawlra’s treachery?”
“It is not as if we talked about Nyawlra all the time.”
“What else did you talk about, then?”
Tajirika said, among other things, that Machokali did let him know that Kaniuru was going to be deputy of Marching to Heaven.
“And what did you feel when you heard that?”
“I was quite happy to get a clerk to help me with my work.”
“Was it Machokali who told you that Kaniuru was going to be a clerk?”
“I assumed as much.”
“Why?”
“What is a deputy, after all? Is he not the person who keeps the seat warm for the man in charge when he is not around?”
“How many times must I tell you not to answer me with questions? I’m warning you. That you took him to be a clerk, might this be the real reason why you refused to obey the summons issued to you by the chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the Queuing Mania? You dared to look down upon a person who had been appointed to his post by the Ruler? Or were you afraid of appearing before the commission?”
“No, I had nothing to hide.”
“Didn’t you say the same thing in the previous interview? And yet as it turned out to be the case today you had left out quite a lot about the Wizard of the Crow?”
“That’s correct, but now I am telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God.”
“How am I supposed to know that? If you were not afraid of appearing before the commission, then the only reason you did not appear was because you disrespected its chairman, the Ruler’s choice!”
“No, no,” Tajirika said, alarmed at this accusation. “Ask Machokali himself-he will tell you that far from feeling bad about the appointment of a deputy, I saw his help as enabling me to suggest that perhaps I should be a member of the delegation going to the USA. It was Machokali who didn’t think this was a good idea.”
“Why?”
“I cannot recall exactly the reasons he gave, but he did talk about my being his ears and eyes here while he was away”
“Did he actually talk about ears and eyes? Are you sure?”
“I am sure he mentioned those organs.”
“What did he mean? Have you ever heard of M5?”
“Yes, His Mighty’s eyes, ears, noses, legs, and hands?”
“So he wanted to form his own M5?”
“I don’t think he meant it that way”
“Why? Could you read his mind?”
“No.”
“Then why are you defending him?”
“I am not trying to defend him…”
“Are you sure that he did not leave you behind to organize a network of eyes, ears, noses, legs, and hands to rival that of the Ruler?”
“I am sure.”
“Is that all you talked about?”
“That’s all.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am very sure.”
“Where did he park his car?”
“He did not come in his car.”
“What do you mean? He came on foot? Or in a bus, donkey cart, rickshaw, matatu, mbondambonda, or mkokoteni?”
“I believe he came and left by taxi.”
“Tajirika, do you take the government for a fool? Do you want to tell us that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, busy as he was preparing for the American trip, still found the time to come to you just to say good-bye, to hear about the kind of questions that Vinjinia had been asked while she was in custody, and to inform you about Kaniuru’s appointment as your deputy? Is that a plausible story? About Vinjinia, he could easily have found out by simply looking at the files on her. To say good-bye and tell you about your deputy, he could easily have done so by phone. And why did he come in a taxi instead of a Mercedes-Benz? You had better confess the details of the plan to overthrow the legitimate government of the Ruler.”
“Me? Talking about overthrowing the government of the Ruler? Never. At no time then or ever did Machokali and I discuss any such thing…”
“You will tell us everything. The mouth that told us more about the Wizard of the Crow will now tell us about the anti-government plans that you and your friend were hatching at the Mars Cafe.”
No sooner had these words been uttered than the circle of light disappeared and Tajirika was dragged into the darkness. They tortured him day and night, with needles and whips, drowning, and electric shocks. Each act of torture was accompanied by a fusillade of questions about the impending coup d’etat he and Machokali had planned, but Tajirika refused to acquiesce, screaming only what he had already told them: “That was the last I saw of Machokali. He has not once called me from America…”
He cried, “Please, I beg you, don’t torture me for things I never said or did,” and yet, deep inside, he felt good that he had not said a word about the three money bags and had resisted their attempts to make him say that Machokali had been plotting against the Ruler.
Still, it went on day and night, torture by unseen hands, until Tajirika finally collapsed, unconscious.
19
He woke up to find himself in bed on a soft mattress and pillow, under clean white sheets and a blanket.
