Michael Pearce - The Last Cut

‘So you were able to meet her?’

‘Yes.’

‘More or less when you wanted?’

‘At lunch, mostly. When she was on her way to her father to take him lunch. Or on the way back. Not at other times. She was very strict.’

‘Did you ever see her in the evening?’

‘No.’

‘Or at the end of the afternoon? Just, say, when it was getting dark?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘But you were in the area?’

‘Not, really, after dark. I need to be able to see. We’ve been looking for holes in the pipes. There’s been quite a water loss.’

‘I’d like to ask you about one specific date: the 27 th of June.’ Suleiman took out a diary.

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I was over there that day.’

‘Evening?’

‘All I’ve got down is that I had to be over there that day. I wouldn’t have thought so.’

‘Did you see Leila?’

‘No. It was after she’d said-well, that we couldn’t see each other any more. In fact-’he looked at his diary again, ‘that must have been about the time that-’

‘Yes.’

He put the diary away.

‘I didn’t know they were going to do that to her. It happened after-after we’d said goodbye. I didn’t know till later.’

‘How did you find out?’

‘I asked someone. When I hadn’t seen her for some time, I thought she might be already married.’

‘I thought you said that you didn’t see her?’

‘I wouldn’t have spoken to her. I just wanted to see her. And then when I didn’t see her, I–I became desperate. There was an old woman, the wife of another carrier, who I knew quite liked her, so-so I asked her.’

‘What did you ask her?’

‘Where Leila was. I hadn’t seen her. And then she told me. She said that women usually had it done when they were younger-that Leila had really been too old-and that it had gone wrong. I can’t understand it,’ said the boy, ‘that they should do these things!’

‘Did she tell you where Leila was?’

‘Back with her father. I wanted to go and see her. I wanted to go and see him, and tell him-But she said no, no, I mustn’t, it would make it worse for Leila, that it was all over and done with now and that there was nothing I could do. I mustn’t see her, she said. So, well, I didn’t. But I hated him for it. For all he had done to Leila, for marrying her to Omar Fayoum, and then-then this!

He looked at them passionately.

‘These old people,’ he said, ‘the terrible things they do! They are what is wrong with Egypt. They are killing Egypt. Just as they killed Leila.’

‘Killed her?’

‘It wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t insisted. She was too old for it. And it was wrong anyway. I have spoken to Labiba Latifa and she says it is wrong even for young girls. It is backward, these old people are backward, backward!’

‘You hate them,’ said Mahmoud. ‘Did you hate her?’ Suleiman stared at him.

‘Hate who?’

‘Leila.’

‘How could you think that?’ cried Suleiman. ‘Leila was all that is good. It is these old people that I hate, her father-’

‘She did what her father wished. She would not come with you. She ordered you away. Did that not make you hate her?’

‘No, no! Never! I could never hate Leila! She-’

He threw his head down on his arms and burst into tears. Mahmoud watched him impassively.

Suddenly the boy started up.

‘Why do you ask me these things? Why do you say these things?’

‘Because the old people did not kill Leila. Someone else did.’

‘What do you mean?’ Suleiman whispered. ‘Someone else did?’

‘She did not die because of the circumcision. She died because someone put a cord round her neck.’

‘No,’ whispered Suleiman, ‘no!’

The blood drained from his face.

‘They throttled her and buried her in the Canal.’

‘No!’

‘On the evening of June the 27 th!’

‘No,’ said Suleiman, ‘no!’

‘What is this?’ said Labiba Latifa.

‘The girl was throttled,’ said Owen.

‘And Suleiman is suspected?’

‘I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. Mahmoud will be looking at date, time, place and motive, and will be checking a number of people against these. Suleiman is one of them.’

‘Why?’

‘Motive, primarily.’

‘But surely in Suleiman’s case that points the other way? What possible motive could Suleiman have for killing the girl he loved?’

‘Love is complex. He might have felt jealous.’

‘Of Omar Fayoum?’

‘Yes. Or angry.’

‘He certainly felt angry. But not at Leila. At about everyone else, I think: her father, Omar Fayoum, the women who had caused her to be circumcised. At everyone old. Suleiman is not a stupid boy, Captain Owen. He could see that it was not Leila’s fault, that it was all part of the pattern that women in this country are subjected to. He was angry at the pattern, Captain Owen, not at Leila.’

‘No doubt; but Mahmoud has to check all possibilities.’

‘Perhaps I can help? You mentioned dates. What dates had Mahmoud in mind?’

‘The 27 th of June.’

‘I will just look in my diary. Time?’

‘I cannot say precisely. An hour either side of six o’clock.’

‘Then I can help. He was with me.’

‘I am sure Mahmoud will be interested to know that.’

‘I can be precise,’ said Labiba, who was never anything other than precise, ‘because I remember the occasion well. It was just after Suleiman had first come to me. I wanted him to see that the issue was not just his alone but something wider, so I took him to a meeting of the Assembly.’

‘The National Assembly?’

‘Yes. I wanted him to meet Hussein Maktar and a few other people. Mohammed Jubbara, Ali Hamad el Sid, Al-Faqih Mas’udi-You know them, perhaps?’

Owen did. They were all Congressmen. And all Nationalists. ‘I would have thought their word counted for something.’

‘Your own, I am sure, would be sufficient,’ said Owen politely.

Labiba laughed drily.

‘If I know Mahmoud, none of our words will be sufficient. He will want to check all.’

‘As I say, he is merely checking possibilities.’

‘But why check this poor boy? He is shattered enough as it is.’

‘He has been spending a lot of time in the quarter, Madam Latifa. “Creeping around” is how they put it.’

‘Have you never been lovelorn, Captain Owen?’

‘Not to that extent.’

‘Ah, but you are English, Captain Owen. You do not like to show your feelings as we Egyptians do. But I have persuaded you, I hope, about poor Suleiman?’

‘It is not me you have to persuade, Mahmoud is in charge of the case.’

Ah, yes, but since I had spoken to you previously about Suleiman, I thought-Have you had a chance to have a word with him on that score? I am still worried about him-even more worried now that I know how she died. He will be very angry, I fear. I am afraid he may do something rash.’

‘That was not the occasion. I will, however, still try to see him.’

‘Please do. He means no harm. Yet he may do some.’

‘I will do my best. But the case is Mahmoud’s.’

‘Of course. I understand.’ She paused. ‘Have you spoken to Mahmoud lately?’

‘I spoke to him yesterday.’

‘Did you discuss with him-? You know I am interested in female circumcision.’

‘We did not, in fact, discuss that.’

There was a little silence.

‘You see, I felt there was a chance of him taking a line sympathetic to us.’

‘I am sure he would not wish to take a line unsympathetic to you.’

‘It is just that now that the case has become one of murder-’