“He was here at my invitation. He and his mother are once again my guests.”
I must have missed something. “Your graciousness is legendary, O my uncle; but whey do you permit Umm Saad to intrude on your peace? I know she upsets you.”
Papa leaned back in his chair and sighed. At that moment, he showed every year of his long life. “She came to me humbly. She begged my forgiveness. She brought me a gift.” He gestured to a platter of dates stuffed with nutmeats and rolled in sugar. He smiled ruefully. “I don’t know where she got her information, but someone told her that these are my favorite treat. Her tone was respectful, and she made a claim upon my hospitality that I could not dismiss.” He spread his hands, as if that explained it all.
Friedlander Bey observed traditions of honor and generosity that have all but disappeared in this day and age. If he wanted to welcome a viper back into his home, I had nothing to say about it. “Then your instructions concerning her have changed, O Shaykh?” I asked.
His expression did not alter. He didn’t even blink. “Oh no, that’s not what I mean. Please kill her as soon as it’s convenient for you, but there’s no hurry, my son. I find I’m getting curious about what Umm Saad hopes to accomplish.”
“I will conclude the matter soon,” I said. He frowned. “Inshallah, “I added quickly. “Do you think she’s working for someone else? An enemy?”
“Reda Abu Adil, of course,” said Papa. He was very matter-of-fact about it, as if there wasn’t the slightest cause for concern.
“Then it was you, after all, who ordered the investigation of Abu Adil.”
He raised a plump hand in denial. “No,” he insisted, “I had nothing to do with that. Speak to your Lieutenant Hajjar about it.”
Lot of good that would do. “O Shaykh, may I ask you another question? There’s something I don’t understand about your relationship to Abu Adil.”
Suddenly he looked bored again. That put me on my guard. I gave a reflexive glance over my shoulders, half expecting to see the Stones That Speak moving in close behind me. “Your wealth comes from selling updated data files to governments and heads of state, doesn’t it?”
“That is greatly oversimplified, my nephew.”
“And Abu Adil pursues the same business. Yet you told me you do not compete.”
“Many years before you were born, before even your mother was born, Abu Adil and I came to an agreement.” Papa opened a plain clothbound copy of the holy Qur’an and glanced at the page. “We avoided competition because someday it could result in violence and harm to ourselves or those we love. On that long-ago day we divided the world, from Morocco far in the west to Indonesia far in the east, wherever the beautiful call of the muezzin awakens the faithful from sleep.”
“Like Pope Alexander drawing the Line of Demarcation for Spain and Portugal,” I said.
Papa looked displeased. “Since that time, Reda Abu Adil and I have had few dealings of any sort, although we live in the same city. He and I are at peace.”
Yeah, you right. For some reason, he wasn’t going to give me any direct help. “O Shaykh,” I said, “it’s time for me to go. I pray to Allah for your health and prosperity.” I came forward and kissed him on the cheek.
“You will make me lonely for your presence,” he replied. “Go in safety.”
I left Friedlander Bey’s office. In the hallway, Kmuzu tried to take my briefcase from me. “It is unseemly for you to carry this, when I am here to serve you,” he said.
“You want to go through it and look for drugs,” I said with some irritation. “Well, there aren’t any in there. I got them in my pocket, and you’ll have to wrestle me to the ground first.”
“You are being absurd, yaa Sidi,” he said.
“I don’t think so. Anyway, I’m not ready to leave for the office yet.”
“It is already late.”
“Goddamn it, I know that! I just want to have a few words with Umm Saad, now that she’s living under this roof again. Is she in the same suite?”
“Yes. This way, yaa Sidi.”
Umm Saad, like my mother, stayed in the other wing of the mansion. While I followed Kmuzu through the carpeted halls, I opened my briefcase and took out Saied’s moddy, the tough, ruthless personality. I chipped it in. The effect was remarkable. It was the opposite of the Half-Hajj’s dumbing-down module, which had narrowed and blurred my senses. This one, which Saied always called Rex, seemed to focus my attention. I was filled with purpose; but more than that, I was determined to drive straight toward my goal, and I’d crush anything that tried to obstruct me.
Kmuzu knocked lightly on Umm Saad’s door. There was a long pause, and I heard no one stirring inside. “Get out of the way,” I said to Kmuzu. My voice was a mean growl. I stepped up to the door and rapped on it sharply. “You want to let me in?” I called. “Or you want me to let myself in?”
That got a response. The boy swung the door open and stared at me. “My mother isn’t—”
“Out of the way, kid,” I said. I pushed him aside.
Umm Saad was sitting at a table, watching the news on a small holoset. She looked up at me. “Welcome, O Shaykh,” she said. She wasn’t happy.
“Yeah, right,” I said. I sat in a chair across the table from her. I reached across and tapped the holoset off. “How long you known my mother?” I asked. Another shot in the dark.
Umm Saad looked perplexed. “Your mother?”
“Goes by Angel Monroe sometimes. She’s staying down the hall from you.”
Umm Saad shook her head slowly. “I’ve only seen her once or twice. I’ve never spoken to her.”
“You must’ve known her before you came to this house.” I just wanted to see how big this conspiracy was.
“Sorry,” she said. She gave me a wide-eyed, innocent smile that looked as out of place on her as it would have on a desert scorpion.
Okay, sometimes a shot in the dark doesn’t get you anywhere. “And Abu Adil?”
“Who’s that?” Her expression was all angelic and virtuous.
I started to get angry. “I just want some straight answers, lady. What I got to do, bust up your kid?”
Her face got very serious. She was doing “sincere” now. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know any of those people. Am I supposed to? Did Friedlander Bey tell you that?”
I assumed she was lying about Abu Adil. I didn’t know if she’d been lying about my mother. At least I could check that out later. If I could believe my mother.
I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Yaa Sidi?” said Kmuzu. He sounded afraid that I might rip Umm Saad’s head off and hand it to her.
“All right,” I said, still feeling wonderfully malignant. I stood up and glared down at the woman. “You want to stay in this house, you’re gonna have to learn to be more cooperative. I’m gonna talk to you again later. Think up some better answers.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” said Umm Saad. She batted her heavy fake eyelashes at me. It made me want to punch her face in.
Instead, I turned and stalked out of the apartment. Kmuzu hurried behind me. “You can take the personality module out now, yaa Sidi,” he said nervously.
“Hell, I like it. Think I’ll leave it in.” Actually I did enjoy the feeling it gave me. There seemed to be a constant flood of angry hormones in my blood. I could see why Saied wore it all the time. Still, it wasn’t the right one to wear around the station house, and Shaknahyi’d promised to annihilate any moddy I wore in his presence. I reached up reluctantly and popped it out.
I could feel the difference immediately. My body was still quivering from the leftover adrenalin, but I calmed down pretty quick. I returned the moddy to my briefcase, then grinned at Kmuzu. “I was pretty tough, huh?” I said.
Kmuzu didn’t say a word, but his look let me know just how low his opinion was.