“No, no. She took a mouthful as if it were. . as if it were rice.”
Hakimi eyes widened with interest.
“That is very concerning behavior. And you watched her run off?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Which direction did she run in?”
“I don’t remember.”
Hakimi inhaled through pursed lips. He leaned back in his chair and tapped his pen against the page.
“Well, if you don’t remember, then I don’t know if I can. .”
“Ah yes, she ran toward the shoemaker’s shop and away from the school. I remember now because I was going to work and had to pass the school.”
“I see,” Hakimi said slowly, as if this detail changed everything. He added a line to the record, his penmanship meticulous. He hadn’t quite graduated from high school but there were other ways, he’d realized, to feel like a learned man. He took pride in these details. One could tell by the way he shined his own shoes, not trusting his children to do a good enough job. It was a task beneath most men with any kind of position, but Hakimi believed the end result would more than make up for that.
“I’ll be sharing this information with the judge,” he said. “Now, unless you have something else that you haven’t yet mentioned. .”
“No, that’s all that I know. Just that she was definitely an afflicted person in the mind. And that was at least a couple of weeks before the man was killed.”
“Understood. Well, thank you for coming in—” Hakimi said, ripping the page off the notepad and paper-clipping it to a stack of similar sheets.
“Sahib, if I could ask one question — out of curiosity. Have you had others comment about that woman’s husband? I didn’t know him really.”
“You mean the murdered man? God rest his soul. No, no one seems to have anything to say about him — not that I’ve been asking. If there’s one thing that’s clear in this case, it’s that he was the victim.”
“Of course,” Timur mumbled and before he could second-guess himself, he went on talking. It was unplanned and risky, but he was like a shaken soda bottle. In a small way, this was the moment he was uncapped. “But I’m surprised you didn’t hear the rumors about him.”
“Rumors? What rumors?” Hakimi said, with one eye squinted.
“I probably shouldn’t say anything. I didn’t witness it myself, but I heard from others. This was a few months ago, and it was so terrible that I didn’t want to believe it myself.”
“Tell me what you heard. It’s my job to sift truth from rumor.”
Timur said nothing, knowing Hakimi wasn’t capable of sifting rubies from desert sand.
“It was an ugly thing that I heard, so terrible that it hurts me to even repeat it.”
“Out with it, brother. I do have other work to do.” Hakimi was growing impatient.
“Of course. It was pretty well known that he was a man of sin and that he had, in a rage, set a page of the Holy Qur’an on fire.”
Hakimi abruptly sat up in his chair, both palms pressing onto the desk. This was shocking news, even if it were only a rumor.
“Set it on fire? God forbid! Why would he do such a thing?”
Timur shook his head. His palms were moist. He rubbed them on his pantaloons out of Hakimi’s view.
“I have no idea. As a man who loves the Qur’an with all his heart, I can’t imagine what would bring a man to do something so ghastly. I told you it was bad.”
“Bad? This is well beyond bad. This is the highest form of blasphemy! And he’s not even alive for us to inquire about this or to punish him. What am I supposed to do with this information? Who can confirm this?”
“I. . I don’t know who can confirm it. As I said, it was about four months ago in the market and I cannot recall who I heard this from, though I do believe it was more than one person who shared this story with me. I went home that day having forgotten what I’d gone to purchase — that’s how upset I was by what I’d heard.”
“Who wouldn’t be?” Hakimi had his elbows on the desk now. He was fidgeting, his arms and legs trying to find a position that made sense when the information didn’t. A thought suddenly occurred to him. “Did his wife know about this?”
“His wife?” Timur shrugged weakly. “I don’t know. I suppose she could have known. She might have even seen him do it. How disgraceful it must have been for her and her children. For their sake, I’m glad the whole town didn’t hear about it.”
“This is bad. This is very bad.”
Such blasphemy was not tolerated in Afghanistan. Both men were thinking of the young woman who had, only eighteen months prior, been accused of setting aflame a page of the Qur’an in a Kabul mosque. A single accusing finger had ignited a frenzied mob of mostly men, who viciously attacked her with beams of wood, rocks the size of watermelons, and angry boots. They drove a car over her body before throwing her into a dry riverbed and torching her remains. Immediately after, an investigation was launched. The purpose of the investigation — to determine whether the woman had indeed burned a page of the holy book.
The accusation proved to be a false one and the men who were arrested and convicted of murder were, over months, quietly released or had their sentences dramatically reduced. The results were clear. There was excusability for those who took on blasphemers and defended the Qur’an. Was it possible that Zeba had been angered by her husband’s actions? Hakimi had heard much about Kamal’s love for the drink. It wasn’t that common in their town, but a few men had fallen for the bottle. It was a sin, no doubt, but one that paled in comparison to this new accusation. What kind of man had Kamal really been?
“This is terrible news. I understand your hesitation in coming forward with this. I don’t think we should say a word about it to anyone else, though. It could make a lot of people angry, including the family of the deceased.”
Timur shifted in his chair.
“I wouldn’t want to upset them further, but don’t you think that the judge should know? It’s possible his wife. . I mean, I can’t say for sure, but isn’t it possible that she knew about this and. .”
“Possible, yes. But let’s leave her fate to the court.” This was more than Hakimi wanted to handle. He shook his head, reassuring himself that he was making the right decision. “We cannot risk the reaction to this rumor. And it is only a rumor, right?”
“I suppose it is only a rumor. Though I heard it from more than one person.”
“You said that already.”
“Of course I did,” Timur said through a parched mouth. “I’m sorry. I just find it hard to let something like this be — as a Muslim. I felt like I had a duty to say something. Someone who stands up against a crime so terrible should be respected in this life as well as the next, I think.”
Hakimi said nothing. He contemplated Timur’s words. “I. . I understand completely. I feel the same responsibility. I suppose I could get a message to the judge quietly.”
“I leave it to your judgment,” Timur said deferentially. “I’m thankful the responsibility for this doesn’t rest on my shoulders.”
Hakimi let out a sigh and glanced around the small police station under his watch. It was true, he thought, that no one in this town fully understood the burden of his position.
“I’ve taken enough of your time, Hakimi-sahib. But I do have a question if you don’t mind. What about the woman. . his wife. Have others mentioned noticing any odd behavior? I was just wondering if I was the only one who’d seen it.”