Wizard of the Crow

2

The impact of the video on Kaniuru was different; he dwelled on Tajirika’s talk of symbolic Burl coins in the envelopes as an omen of wealth to come. Kaniuru knew from his own experience as deputy chairman that Tajirika was lying about the amount of money in the envelopes. Not a day had passed since taking up his duties as the deputy of Marching to Heaven that Kaniuru himself had not filled up one or two bags with these envelopes of introduction. How much more must the boss have gotten prior to his own bounty?

But, like Tajirika before him, Kaniuru would not and had never uttered a word about this to his friend and benefactor Sikiokuu. So although he knew very well that Tajirika was lying about the money, Kaniuru also knew that he himself would never raise this aspect of Tajirika’s confession to anybody, for doing so would mean revealing his own sources of sudden wealth. Kaniuru also knew that Tajirika must know that he, Kaniuru, was receiving money, and there was a moment when viewing the video that he panicked, fearing that Tajirika might have told on him. But when he came to the end of the video and heard nothing more about the money, Kaniuru took self-satisfied comfort in the fact that Tajirika had lied about the matter. There was a tacit pact between them about disclosing personal gains from Marching to Heaven, and in this Kaniuru trusted his nemesis. Anything else would have been a recipe for mutually assured destruction. In the matter of money gained from Marching to Heaven, he and Tajirika were on the same side.

The only other person who knew of Kaniuru ‘s wealth was Jane Kanyori. She had taken some courses in accounting at the Eldares Polytechnic, where Kaniuru used to teach, but their acquaintance came later, at her workplace as a teller in the Aburlrian Bank of Commerce and Industry. Kaniuru kept an eye on her as she rose in her job, not in adoration but in reference to the future. He courted her with uncharacteristic patience, taking her out to lunch or coffee and even sending her Christmas and birthday cards. Kaniuru liked the fact that Jane Kanyori was only a secondary school graduate who showed no interest in university education and seemed completely innocent of Nyawlra’s women’s lib nonsense.

When he learned that she was promoted yet again to senior sales representative and could access duplicates of coded signatures and could okay checks, Kaniuru acquainted her with his needs. Kanyori would not countenance any vulgar misuse of her access to the bank secrets, but she could help by not asking too many questions about the signatures of anybody in whose name he wanted to open an account.

Though satisfied with Kanyori’s help and loyalty, he remained worried. The greater the flow of Burl notes his way, the more he became anxious about this bubble of good fortune bursting, his wealth disappearing into thin air. His anxiety made him toss and turn in bed for entire nights; he needed something more secure than bank vaults and the accounting schemes of a loyal friend.

The mention of symbolic coins made him recall that, in the pre-video interrogations by Peter Kahiga, Tajirika had also talked of benefiting from protective magic. He had dismissed this as one more example of Tajirika’s stupidity. But now “protective magic” was as cool water to a thirsty person; he felt a touch of gratitude toward Tajirika. Why had he not thought of this before? Should he not seek a bit of protective magic for his person and property to augment Jane Kanyori’s aid?

And so he thought of the Wizard of the Crow: Kaniuru might not have been a deep believer in magic, but cautionary measures, hardly expressions of cowardice, had to be taken, and he made his way to the wizard’s shrine.

3

“My life is in my hands?” Tajirika asked defiantly. “Did I arrest myself, put myself in handcuffs, and drag myself to the dungeon?”

Sikiokuu’s personal reception area was a veritable living room, with settees and plastic flowers in a vase placed on a low coffee table. Generous curtains and a liquor cabinet completed the decor.

The minister exuded unbridled self-confidence in the way he walked, sat, and gestured, stroking his earlobes or rolling his tiny eyes. For a moment Tajirika feared that something was up with the government. Had a coup d’etat taken place? Was Sikiokuu the man in absolute charge?

Sikiokuu did not respond immediately but first poured his guest a little brandy, handing him cigarettes and a lighter as well. Tajirika grabbed everything offered as if he feared Sikiokuu might change his mind. He had not had a drink or a cigarette in a long while.

“You are quite right. You are not under self-arrest,” Sikiokuu told him. “But there is a reason for your being here. I am sure that Intelligence would not have detained a person of your stature without proper cause. What did the Waswahili say? Dark clouds herald rain, or, more appropriately, where there is smoke there must be fire.”

“So where is the smoke that led them to me?”

“Nyawlra.”

“Has she been captured?”

“State secrets,” Sikiokuu said vaguely.

“Hear me out, Mr. Sikiokuu. If she is under arrest, I am glad. Then I can confront her and refute anything she may allege against me. You have employed workers, I am sure. Can you honestly say that you know where and with whom they sleep every night? Or what’s going on in their heads?”

“Mr. Tajirika, the M5 have relative autonomy; they reign over us. They gather information about us all, at work or play. They bring us information, but we don’t know how much they have kept to themselves. Obviously, we have to make decisions on the basis of that information. Personally, I believe you, Mr. Tajirika. And let me confide in you as a friend. Nyawlra, your former secretary, has not yet been caught, but you can be sure that sooner or later she will be. She cannot outrun the State. So the good news for you is that she has not said anything against you. Still, you are in deep trouble.”

“Why? What have I done wrong?”

“Keeping bad company. Showing poor judgment in your choice of employees and even friends in government. And what is more, being unable to control the company your wife keeps.”

“Mr. Minister, please explain. Stop talking in riddles and proverbs. What do you mean, the company my wife keeps? I can tell you that Vinjinia is a true housewife. Her routine is very simple. She goes to the fields, to the market, and to the office in my absence and to church on Sunday.”

“Is that what you think? They say that a husband is always the last to know.”

“What are you implying, Mr. Minister?” Tajirika said, almost jumping from his seat.

“Sit down, Titus. This has nothing to do with her seeing other men. If that was all there was to it, I would not even mention it. In Aburlria married women have become easy lays, but to be very frank I have never heard it said that your wife has even been found in a compromising situation.”

“So what are you talking about, then?”

“Pictures. I have some photos here and I would like you to look at them and tell me what you know about them.”

Sikiokuu went to a drawer by the wall and came back with an envelope, which he handed over to Tajirika. Tajirika took out a picture and looked at it long and hard. Then he quickly went through the others, shaking his head from side to side. Then he began all over again. No, his eyes were not lying to him; yet he still could not believe what he saw.

The photos showed Vinjinia seated somewhere in the open in front of a group of dancing women, all dressed in traditional garb. Sikiokuu did not disclose that he had personally ordered these photos taken on the day Vinjinia had confronted Sikiokuu outside Kaniuru’s offices. The pictures were taken from different angles and in such a way that Kaniuru and Sikiokuu and the other dignitaries who were present on the occasion were not in any of the scenes depicted. But Vinjinia, either alone or with the dancing women, was in every one of the ten pictures, and it appeared as if the women were dancing solely for their guest of honor, Vinjinia.