“Of course not!”
“So would you like to answer some questions?”
“I have nothing to hide.”
“Yes or no? It’s your call. I haven’t got all day here.”
“I would like to answer her questions,” Kiraz told his lawyer.
Amin said something else in Arabic.
“Let us in on it,” Nellie said.
“I told him it’s his own funeral,” Amin said.
Q: Mr. Kiraz, would you like to tell us where you were at three this morning?
A: I was at home in bed with my wife.
Q: You wife seems to think otherwise.
A: My wife is mistaken.
Q: Well, she’ll be subpoenaed before the grand jury, you know, and she’ll have to tell them under oath whether you were in bed with her or somewhere else.
A: I was home. She was in bed with me.
Q: You yourself are under oath right this minute, you realize that, don’t you?
A: I realize it.
Q: You swore on the Koran, did you not? You placed your left hand on the Koran and raised your right hand...
A: I know what I did.
Q: Or does that mean anything to you?
Q: Mr. Kiraz?
Q: Mr. Kiraz, does that mean anything to you? Placing your hand on the Islamic holy book...
A: I heard you.
Q: May I have your answer, please?
A: My word is my bond. It doesn’t matter whether I swore on the Koran or not.
Q: Well, good, I’m happy to hear that. So tell me, Mr. Kiraz, where were you on these other dates at around two in the morning? Friday, May second... Saturday, May third... and Monday, May fifth. All at around two in the morning, where were you, Mr. Kiraz?
A: Home asleep. I work late. I get home around one, one-fifteen. I go directly to bed.
Q: Do you know what those dates signify?
A: I have no idea.
Q: You don’t read the papers, is that it?
A: I read the papers. But those dates...
Q: Or watch television? You don’t watch television?
A: I work from four to midnight. I rarely watch television.
Q: Then you don’t know about these Muslim cab drivers who were shot and killed, is that it?
A: I know about them. Is that what those dates are? Is that when they were killed?
Q: How about Saturday, May third? Does that date hold any particular significance for you?
A: Not any more than the other dates.
Q: Do you know who was killed on that date?
A: No.
Q: Your cousin. Salil Nazir.
A: Yes.
Q: Yes what?
A: Yes. Now I recall that was the date.
Q: Because the detectives spoke to you that morning, isn’t that so? In your aunt’s apartment? Gulalai Nazir, right? Your aunt? You spoke to the detectives at six that morning, didn’t you?
A: I don’t remember the exact time, but yes, I spoke to them.
Q: And told them a Jew had killed your cousin, isn’t that so?
A: Yes. Because of the blue star.
Q: Oh, is that why?
A: Yes.
Q: And you spoke to Detective Genero and Parker, did you not, after a third Muslim cab driver was killed? This would have been on Monday, May fifth, at around three in the afternoon, when you spoke to them. And at that time you said, correct me if I’m wrong, you said, “Just find the fucking Jew who shot my cousin in the head,” is that correct?
A: Yes, I said that. And I’ve already explained how I knew he was shot in the head. I was there when the imam washed him. I saw the bullet wound...
Q: Did you know any of these other cab drivers?
A: No.
Q: Khalid Aslam...
A: No.
Q: Ali Al-Barak?
A: No.
Q: Or the one who was killed last night, Abbas Miandad, did you know any of these drivers?
A: I told you no.
Q: So the only one you knew was your cousin, Salim Nazir.
A: Of course I knew my cousin.
Q: And you also knew he was shot in the head.
A: Yes. I told you...
Q: Like all the other drivers.
A: I don’t know how the other drivers were killed. I didn’t see the other drivers.
Q: But you saw your cousin while he was being washed, is that correct?
A: That is correct.
Q: Would you remember the name of the imam who washed him?
A: No, I’m sorry.
Q: Would it have been Ahmed Nur Kabir?
A: It could have. I had never seen him before.
Q: If I told you his name was Ahmed Nur Kabir, and that the name of the mosque where your cousin’s body was prepared for burial is Masjid Al-Barbrak, would you accept that?
A: If you say that’s where...
Q: Yes, I say so.
A: Then, of course, I would accept it.
Q: Would it surprise you to learn that the detectives here — Detectives Carella and Meyer — spoke to the imam at Masjid Al-Barbrak?
A: I would have no way of knowing whether or not they...
Q: Will you accept my word that they spoke to him?
A: I would accept it.
Q: They spoke to him and he told them he was alone when he washed your cousin’s body, alone when he wrapped the body in its shrouds. There was no one in the room with him. He was alone, Mr. Kiraz.
A: I don’t accept that. I was with him.
Q: He says you were waiting outside with your aunt. He says he was alone with the corpse.
A: He’s mistaken.
Q: If he was, in fact, alone with your cousin’s body...?
A: I told you he’s mistaken.
Q: You think he’s lying?
A: I don’t know what...
Q: You think a holy man would lie?
A: Holy man! Please!
Q: If he was alone with the body, how do you explain seeing a bullet wound at the back of your cousin’s head?
Q: Mr. Kiraz?
Q: Mr. Kiraz, how did you know your cousin was shot in the head? None of the newspaper or television reports...
Q: Mr. Kiraz? Would you answer my question, please?
Q: Mr. Kiraz?
A: Any man would have done the same thing.
Q: What would any man...?
A: She is not one of his whores! She is my wife!
I knew, of course, that Salim was seeing a lot of women. That’s okay, he was young, he was good-looking, the Koran says a man can take as many as four wives, so long as he can support them emotionally and financially. Salim wasn’t even married, so there’s nothing wrong with dating a lot of girls, four, five, a dozen, who cares? This is America, Salim was American, we’re all Americans, right? You watch television, the bachelor has to choose from fifteen girls, isn’t that so? This is America. So there was nothing wrong with Salim dating all these girls.
But not my wife.
Not Badria.
I don’t know when it started with her. I don’t know when it started between them. I know one night I called the supermarket where she works. This was around ten o’clock one night, I was at the pharmacy. I manage a pharmacy, you know. People ask me all sorts of questions about what they should do for various ailments. I’m not a pharmacist, but they ask me questions. I know a lot of doctors. Also, I read a lot. I have time during the day, I don’t start work till four in the afternoon. So I read a lot. I wanted to be a teacher, you know.
They told me she had gone home early.
I said, Gone home? Why?
I was alarmed.
Was Badria sick?
The person I spoke to said my wife had a headache. So she went home.
I didn’t know what to think.
I immediately called the house. There was no answer. Now I became really worried. Was she seriously ill? Why wasn’t she answering the phone? Had she fainted? So I went home, too. I’m the manager, I can go home if I like. This is America. A manager can go home if he likes. I told my assistant I thought my wife might be sick.