Fawzia stared at the floor again as she considered this new piece of information. When she looked up she was smiling. ‘I think I understand. You’re Australian.’
Sofia wanted to laugh. Did Australians have a particularly lascivious reputation in Afghanistan?
* * *
AFTER HER LAST patient before lunch, Sofia was eager to catch Chief Wasim at home. She knew Jabril had got through to him that morning but she was eager to hear if there was any more news. She also needed to tell Jabril that people were thinking she was in danger because of the new security and that perhaps they should go back to normal so people could stop worrying. As she was about to leave, Iman came rushing into the surgery waving a piece of paper.
‘I can’t believe it,’ she said, looking distraught.
‘What can’t you believe?’
‘This!’ she said, waving the paper at Sofia.
‘Iman, please calm down and tell me what “this” is.’
‘They’ve cancelled your working visa!’
‘What!’ Sofia stood, reaching out for the letter.
‘The Ministry of Labour has cancelled your visa.’
Sofia took the letter from Iman and read it. Not only had her visa been cancelled but she had only three weeks to leave the country. ‘There must be some mistake.’
‘Oh,’ cried Iman, ‘you can’t leave. We don’t want you to leave. Who would do this to you?’
‘I don’t know.’ Sofia read the letter again. ‘This definitely has to be some sort of mistake.’ When her phone rang she gave it only a cursory look until she saw the caller ID.
‘I’ve got a name and a location of someone who might know where some of your missing boys are.’
It took Sofia a few seconds to move from the visa cancellation to compute what Daniel was saying. ‘Iman, can you give me a minute?’ she said. Iman looked even more upset but Sofia followed her to the door and closed it behind her.
‘Are you there?’ Daniel asked.
‘Yes, I’m here.’ Sofia walked over to the window and stood looking out.
‘Apparently, this man prepares boys before they’re sold. Maybe he still has them, or can at least tell you where they might have been taken.’
Sofia turned to sit on the windowsill. ‘How do you know this?’
‘A friend.’
The way Daniel said ‘a friend’ meant she couldn’t ask more. ‘Okay. Who’s this man and where can I find him?’
‘His name’s Afzal. All I know is that he lives near you in the bird market above a tailor shop with a green sign. That’s the best my friend could do.’
‘Hopefully that’s enough.’ She needed to catch Chief Wasim before he went back to work and was about to end the call when Daniel spoke again.
‘I hope you’re going to pass this information on to your Chief Wasim and let him deal with it.’
‘That’s exactly what I’m about to do.’
‘Good. I just needed to make sure you weren’t going there by yourself to confront this guy.’
‘No, I’m about to cross the square right now and tell Chief Wasim, who’s hopefully still at home eating lunch.’
She could sense a change in Daniel on the other end of the phone before he spoke. ‘I really enjoyed last night.’
‘So did I,’ she said, as she walked across the room to pull her scarf off the hook and try unsuccessfully to wrap it over her hair with one hand. She gave up. She would have liked to linger over the conversation but she didn’t have time. ‘I’ll see you and Clementine tomorrow morning around six, okay?’
‘Sure. Let me know what happens.’
28
SECURING HER SCARF, Sofia rushed out the door and down the stairs only to discover Iman following her.
‘What was that all about? What are you doing?’ she asked, hurrying down the stairs behind Sofia.
‘I’m going to see Chief Wasim.’
‘Is Chief Wasim going to help with your visa?’ she called as Sofia set off across the square with Rashid following.
‘I doubt it.’ With Sofia disappearing through the gate, Rashid took up watch outside it.
Her husband had already gone back to work, Behnaz told her. ‘He said to tell you that you’re not to worry about anything.’
‘I’d better ring him.’
Behnaz shook her head. ‘No point. He won’t answer.’
‘I’ll try anyway.’
‘Are you in trouble?’
‘No. This has nothing to do with me and I’m not in trouble and please tell everyone in the square that I’m not in trouble or danger or anything.’
‘That’s what he said.’
‘Good, then you should believe him.’
As Behnaz stood in her doorway watching, Sofia rang Chief Wasim’s number only for it to go through to his voice mail. She hung up.
‘I told you,’ Behnaz said, folding her arms and looking righteous.
Sofia turned and headed up the stairs to her apartment where she rang Jabril. When he didn’t answer she left a message about a man called Afzal who lived over a tailor shop in the bird bazaar. Sitting on her bed, she wondered what to do. Going to the bird market looking for this Afzal was not particularly sensible, especially if he was a criminal and possibly dangerous, but she could feel the panic rising. Time was of the essence and it was running out. This might be the last chance they ever had to find the boys.
Opening her cupboard, she searched for her long coat only to find the thing at the bottom of the wardrobe, crushed under some shoes. Buttoning the coat all the way up to her neck, she wrapped her scarf more tightly around her head this time, taking care to cover all her hair, before getting on her hands and knees to retrieve the shoebox she kept under her bed. Counting out the equivalent of two hundred US dollars, she put the money in the secret pocket in the inner lining of her coat and
