“Two halves of one whole,” I fill in.
“Clever if you think about it.”Lilla sits back, sighs heavily.“And pure Maryam.God, that woman was brilliant.The gears churning inside that one pillbox-hat-topped head…”
A thought occurs to me: “You said you tracked down Sabera once you arrived here.Does that mean you were following her as well?Do you know how she ended up in the warehouse district?Who killed the two Afghan men?”
Lilla sits up.“Dead men?”
“The ones who kidnapped her,” I begin, while Daryl states, “The two Afghans bludgeoned to death with a hammer.”
“Homicide by hammer?Ooh, I heard about that on the news.Wait, that had something to do with Sabera?”Lilla appears genuinely surprised.
“Sabera was caught on video near that scene.And afterward, we found a bloody scarf in the townhouse where she’d been hiding.It would seem she was somehow involved.”
“Do you think she killed them?”Lilla sounds delighted.
“Do you think she killed them?”I try out.
“A former university student and current maid?I sincerely doubt it.Sabera’s gift is with patterns, which makes her a brilliant linguist, mathematician, and encryption analyst.Natural-born double murderer, not so much so.”
“What about her husband?”Daryl presses.
“A professor who specializes in math so esoteric most couldn’t even recognize it as an equation?No.”
“What do you think happened?”I venture.“You were ‘looking into things’ around this time.”
“It’s possible I’d returned to the townhouse a few times,” Lilla allows.“If I had to guess, I’d ask the handsome fellow she kept meeting.”
“Handsome fellow?”
“Yank.Middle-aged.Curly brown hair, beard.Rather scruffy, but all in all, I wouldn’t kick him out of bed.”
Daryl blinks, as if that’s more of a description than he required.
“Does handsome fellow have a name?”I want to know.
“Not that I heard.”
“Take any more photos that ‘others’ are now analyzing?”
“You sound like you don’t trust me.”
“I don’t.”
“And yet, I’m not the one with all the secrets.Look: I don’t know what was going on between Sabera and Isaad.Why she moved out—”
“Isaad was killed.Tortured to death.Also warehouse district.His body was discovered just two days ago.”
Lilla stills.Her gaze darts back and forth between Daryl and me.The shrewdness is back.Sabera’s mother apparently isn’t the only spy who tried to hide behind glamour.“Their daughter?”Lilla asks.
“You don’t need to worry about Zahra,” Daryl states gruffly.
“The danger is real,” I emphasize.“Sabera may have mental health issues, but this threat is genuine.Just ask the two Afghans bludgeoned to death, or Isaad, who died with his hands burnt into blackened claws, or Aliah, who’s been snatched from in front of her business.Whoever else is involved, they’re playing for keeps.”
Lilla doesn’t speak right away.“If there’s one thing I learned from Maryam,” she drawls at last, “that family knows how to keep a secret.The entire family.Many, many secrets.Including…” She lifts her gaze until she’s staring straight at us.“For kicks, I didlook into Sabera’s brother, Farshid.I couldn’t find any record of him following August 2021.If you’d asked me, I would’ve said the reports were true and he died when Kabul fell.Except then I swear I saw him with my own eyes.”
“You saw Sabera’s brother, Farshid?Wait, what?”
“Just yesterday.When Aliah was abducted by those men.Someone who certainly looks a great deal like Farshid Shinwari, though in much rougher physical condition, was one of them.”She shudders delicately.“Poor boy.If that’s what the torture camps did to his body, God only knows what they’ve done to his mind.”
