‘Perhaps it would be best if I spoke,’ Tawfiq whispered to Sofia again.
‘What do you want?’ Afzal asked, irritated by the whispering.
‘Some boys recently went missing from Jamal Mina and we’re trying to find out what happened to them.’
Clearing his throat, Afzal took the cigarette out of his mouth and watched as the ash dropped onto the rug they were sitting on. He shook his head. ‘Why have you come to me? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Despite the fact that they were clearly not welcome, the offering of tea to guests was so entrenched in the culture that the two women came into the room carrying glasses of tea, each taking the opportunity to get a closer look at Sofia before they retreated back to the kitchen to stand watch again.
Two slow trails of smoke were leaking out of Afzal’s nostrils and circling up in the air, adding to the thickening cloud in the room. He pushed the tea toward Sofia. ‘Please, drink,’ he instructed. No more was said as they all drank their tea. Sofia was focused on not saying anything while wondering where the conversation could go now. Afzal, who probably didn’t want the conversation to go anywhere, was the first to break the silence. ‘I don’t know why you’re asking me these things. What makes you think I know anything about these boys?’
Tawfiq looked at Sofia. He probably wanted that question answered also.
‘Someone who knows about these things told a friend that you might know where they’ve been taken.’ She was not happy to be speaking.
‘Who told you this?’
‘A friend,’ Tawfiq said, trying to take the conversation back to him. When Afzal looked like he wasn’t impressed with this information, Tawfiq added, ‘It’s complicated.’
Afzal gave an ironic laugh, shaking his head. ‘Everything is complicated these days. You’re wasting my time,’ he added, waving them away as if they were less than irritants. ‘You should go.’
Tawfiq began to rise until Sofia said, ‘No,’ and he sat back down again. She was not going to give up so easily. This man was their only possible lead to the boys. ‘Anything,’ she pleaded. ‘Can you give us anything? Anything at all to help us find these little boys? We’d be very grateful.’
Afzal stared at Sofia before turning his attention to Tawfiq. ‘How important is this to you?’
‘Very important.’
‘That does not show me how important it is.’
Sofia was looking at Tawfiq, willing him to know how important it was, willing him to do whatever he could to show Afzal how important it was. After hesitating for a few seconds, she watched Tawfiq put his hand in under his perahan and pull out a large roll of afghani notes from deep within the pocket of his tunban. When she looked back up at Afzal she could see the hunger in his eyes as he weighed up his options. With money on display his wife and mother had moved into the room. Money was everything, and in the end greed won.
‘There is a house near Ghazi Stadium. You’ll know this house because it has a blue star painted on the wall. Maybe the boys are there, maybe not.’ He shrugged, his dark eyebrows drawing into a frown as he stared at the money.
Tawfiq was not parting with the money so easily. ‘Take us there.’
Afzal’s attention turned back to Tawfiq. ‘No.’ As simple as that. ‘I’ve told you where the house is. That is all I will give you. I will not go there with you.’
Tawfiq stared at the man, looking like he was not willing to part with the cash on such flimsy information. Inside Sofia was screaming at Tawfiq to give him the bloody money so they could get the information back to Chief Wasim and get out of there, but she was not part of this negotiation between two Afghan men and knew she must remain silent. The two men had come to an impasse but then Tawfiq relented and placed the money on the rug between them. As it disappeared into Afzal’s pocket, he said, ‘If you want to find the boys you need to leave now.’ Sofia was already on her feet. She couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
‘This is very bad,’ Tawfiq said, shaking his head as they hurriedly threaded their way back through the old city. ‘How do we know he’s telling the truth?’
‘We don’t.’
‘He’ll probably warn them someone’s looking for the boys.’
She shared his concern and picked up her pace. ‘Which is why we have to let Chief Wasim know as soon as possible.’ When they were a couple of streets away from the bird market Sofia stopped outside a shop and rang Chief Wasim, but he still didn’t answer. She swore. ‘What fucking police chief doesn’t answer his phone? Sorry,’ she apologised to Tawfiq. They continued on. ‘You had a lot of money there.’
‘Dr Jabril makes sure I always have money for an emergency.’
‘An emergency like what just happened?’
‘Maybe not quite like what just happened,’ he said, his shoulders slumping as he walked with her. Sofia reached into the pocket of her coat for her phone again. Tawfiq wanted to know whom she was calling. ‘Dr Jabril,’ she said, stopping by a bicycle shop as she waited, hoping for Jabril to answer. ‘Maybe he can get onto Chief Wasim and tell him.’
Sofia studied her friend as she listened to the ringtone. This whole episode had upset him greatly. She knew it had been wrong to involve him but what else could she have done? She couldn’t wait and there was no way she could have gone to Afzal’s home without Tawfiq, and even if she had been able to find him she probably would never have got the information out of him. Tawfiq’s face was drawn and his eyes dull. Life was hard for him at the moment for some reason and she’d just made it harder.
