"Not that I know. I don't think she did. We're a small village, Mr. Lapid, an extended family in a way. I would have heard something."
I tapped my pen on my notebook, thinking that I wouldn't be able to speak with any of the women either. Their husbands and fathers wouldn't allow it, even if Ahmed Jamalka did.
"Is there anything else you can tell me?" I asked, guessing that there wasn't.
He confirmed my guess with a shake of his head.
I scratched between my eyes. He had given me very little. Next to nothing, really, and his restrictions might hamper my investigation. But that was all right. He had paid for my services; he had the right to give me directions.
We exchanged telephone numbers where we could leave messages to each other, and I said I would give him a progress report in a week, or sooner if I learned something important before that.
I flipped the notebook closed and stared at him. He stared right back at me. I said, "There is a chance that you're wrong, you know. About your brothers, I mean."
He said nothing.
"What happens if, without speaking to your brothers, I discover that they killed your sister?"
He let out a long breath, and his hand went to his scar in what I perceived to be an involuntary motion.
"Then I have made a big mistake coming to you," he said finally, in a voice that was small yet resolute.
There was no more to say. I nodded. "All right, I'll get to it."
He got to his feet, glancing at the chessboard.
"Take the black bishop with the white queen. It's mate in three moves after that."
Then he turned and left the café. I took the cigarette he had rolled for me and sniffed it. Even unlit it had a rich, satisfying scent. I pulled the chessboard closer and moved the white queen as he'd instructed me. For once I played slow, trying to find a way for black to get out of its predicament. Three moves later white won. I smiled. Ahmed Jamalka had left with an oblique parting shot.
About the Author
Jonathan Dunsky lives in Israel with his wife and two sons. He enjoys reading, writing, and goofing around with his kids. He began writing in his teens, then took a break for close to twenty years, during which he worked an assortment of jobs. He is the author of the Adam Lapid mystery series and the standalone thriller The Payback Girl.
Books by Jonathan Dunsky
Ten Years Gone
The Unlucky Woman (short story)