Wasim, who knew from Omar his wife was in possession of both his notes now, was surprised to hear how easily she lied. He’d never seen this before.
‘What did it say?’ demanded Sofia.
‘That we should tell our friend to stop,’ offered Wasim, before seeing the look on Behnaz’s face and realising his mistake.
‘How do you know what they said?’ Behnaz asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked at her husband. ‘I never told you about the notes.’ She was no fool but she’d just given her lie away by using the plural.
‘Omar told me.’ Thankfully, his explanation seemed to satisfy her and the ferocious look she had given him relaxed. In Wasim’s experience, if you needed to lie you needed to stick as close as possible to the truth: do not elaborate, do not offer more than what is being asked for and say as little as possible. He’d dealt with enough criminals and their lawyers to know this.
‘What friend?’ Sofia asked angrily. ‘Me or Dr Jabril? And stop what? Should I stop working in the square? Should I stop talking about bacha bazi? Should I stop brushing my teeth in the morning? What?’
‘Dr Sofia,’ Wasim said, holding up his hand in the hope of calming her hysteria.
‘Who were they talking about, Chief Wasim? And what were they talking about? Should Hadi stop cheating his customers, should Ahmad start going to …’ Dr Sofia’s words trailed off as realisation dawned. ‘Everyone in the square knew about these night letters, didn’t they? That’s why Ahmad’s been going to mosque in the morning and Tawfiq’s worried. That’s why everyone’s been acting strange. That’s why my security was upped. Everyone knew but me.’
‘Dr Jabril didn’t know about our letters and no one knew about his. You were not the only person who was ignorant. Now, Dr Sofia –’
‘Show it to me,’ she demanded, holding out her hand.
Wasim looked to Behnaz. Reaching into the pocket of her coat she took out one of his typed notes. He suspected the other one was secreted away in the same place. Somehow he had to take possession of all the notes he’d written and destroy them, but he would worry about that later.
Sofia looked at it. ‘This isn’t a night letter from the Taliban. The Taliban write essays, not one-line mysteries. The Taliban always want you to know what you’re doing to upset them. This doesn’t tell you anything.’
‘I think who wrote the shabnamah is not important. Who shot Dr Jabril is what’s important.’ Wasim watched Sofia’s face collapse into tears again.
‘I need to know what’s happening to Jabril,’ she said, getting up out of the seat.
‘Please sit down, Dr Sofia.’ He motioned with his hand for her to sit and, to his great surprise, she did. ‘One of my men is at the hospital now and he’ll let me know when there’s any news. I promise, you will be the first person I tell.’
‘His injuries were really serious, Wasim,’ she said, her words coming out in tiny sobbing spaces.
‘I know.’ As he watched, her look of misery began to morph into something else. His heart sank. What bad news was about to fall on his head now?
‘Why didn’t you put someone outside Dr Jabril’s house to protect him? That might have been a good idea, don’t you think, Chief Wasim?’
‘Dr Jabril didn’t ask for someone to protect him.’ At least that was the truth.
‘Namoos. Nang,’ Behnaz cried out in disgust. ‘This is all Afghan men think about: their pride and their honour when their families are dying. You’re all fools and now Dr Jabril’s going to die and Dr Sofia’s going back to Sydney.’
Sofia looked directly at Behnaz, her eyes blazing. ‘Dr Jabril’s not going to die and I’m not going back to Sydney. This is my home. Here,’ she said pointing to the floor. ‘Right here.’
Her words stunned Wasim. How could she even consider not leaving? Did she not understand the danger she was in? Hadn’t Dr Jabril’s shooting been enough? He had to straighten this out before she was shot also. ‘I think your visa has been cancelled so you have no choice, Dr Sofia. You must go back to Australia immediately.’
Behnaz made a sound like a wounded animal. ‘Dr Sofia’s visa’s been cancelled? Why?’
They both ignored her. Wasim was watching Sofia, fascinated by how her face was a perfect signpost to her rapidly changing emotions. She was looking at him calmly now, all anger having vanished. If he were to describe the way she looked, he thought, it would be an animal that had just seen its dinner. This concerned him more than her hysteria.
‘How did you know my visa was cancelled?’
As Wasim swallowed his alarm he could feel the sweat prickling under his arms. Although he didn’t look at her, he suspected Behnaz, who knew him better than most, was beginning to understand something was not quite right. He had to be particularly careful with his answer. It was Massoud who had told him about cancelling Dr Sofia’s visa. The only way he could possibly get out of this bind was if Dr Jabril had known about the cancellation also. He had no choice. ‘Dr Jabril told me.’ He watched Dr Sofia carefully to see her shoulders collapse as she sank further into the chair. He had been right. Wasim was back in control.
‘What I am going to do now is discover who shot Dr Jabril.’ That was not what Wasim was intending to do. What he was intending on doing was getting back outside and taking control of the investigation before one of his men found something he was not supposed to find. Wasim stood. ‘Under no circumstances can you go back out into the square today, Dr Sofia, do you understand? And you must leave the country as soon as possible. Tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow?’ Sofia said, looking at him in confusion.
‘Today. Tomorrow. You need to leave now, Dr Sofia, because your life might
