Must Read: Paradox Of Abel - Season 1 - Episode 54

7 years ago

Must Read: Paradox Of Abel - Season 1 - Episode 54

“Anuli!” David thundered, he was looking very angrily at his wife, “How dare you, Anuli? How dare you?”

“Give yourself a break, David dear. You’ve been venturing this for years. It’s high time you let off the anguish. It has changed you. I want the David trapped deep down inside you—I want the better David; the caring, loving and understanding David. Not this one, not this one that places curses on people at will.” Tears rushed to her eyes, “You’ve got to let the feeling go, David. The man is dead already—you’ve got to let go. It would be better for you and I that way.”
Lot asked softly, “Is there any truth in what your wife said, Mr. Malik?”

David nodded reluctantly.
“What actually happened?”
He did not talk.
“Tell them, David.” His wife urged.
His lips trembled as he began, “It was around ten years ago—I was about twenty years old at the time when I found out that they were having a relationship. I remember it was shortly after my mother’s accident.”
“What’s her name? Your girlfriend’s.”
“Her name is June Williams; she was named June because she was born within the first ten minutes of the month of June in 1982.” He paused and continued, “I found them both coming out from a hotel gate, the way they were holding each other suggested the obvious that had occurred in one of the suites. The most damning part was the fact that when I confronted June about it later on she admitted without any remorse.” He held his head in his palms and whimpered emotionally.

“What did your father say about it?”
“His father didn’t know.” Anuli answered.
“Excuse me?” said Lot.
“Jamal didn’t know that June Williams was his son’s girlfriend; it was June who put herself before the old man. She was very much aware that Jamal was her boyfriend’s father. She was nothing but a dog, even dogs will take offence at my comparison.”
“So, this June slept with both father and son?”
Annuli shook her head, “No, she didn’t. David never slept with her. He was waiting for the honeymoon night. The old man didn’t understand what made David leave home to live in a state in the eastern part of the country. But David never forgave him for what happened.”
“From your explanation,” Lot remarked, “I don’t see why the old man should be blamed for something of which he wasn’t aware.”
“His father was married, Detective, why would he start jumping from one woman to another? The man’s promiscuity was alarming; God rest his soul.”
“I hope his so called promiscuity was not why he lost his life.”
Annuli scoffed irritably, ‘If you’re thinking that David had any hand in his father’s death, then you’re deeply mistaken.”
“Believe me, Mrs. Malik, you don’t know what I’m thinking—not even a little inkling. What became of June Williams?”
“Nobody knows,” Anuli shrugged, “We don’t know anything about her anymore.”
“She’s deceased.” David said.
His wife cast a sharp glance at him, “How did you know that, David? You didn’t tell me anything about that.”

He looked at his wife furiously, “Why should I tell you? It wasn’t any of your damn business, was it?”
“How did she die?” Lot cut in.
“She died last year—on her birthday. She was thirty.”
“I suppose her death didn’t result from AIDS or Cancer.”
“She was shot to death.”
Annuli gasped.
“By whose hand?” Lot asked.
“I don’t know.”
His reply wasn’t convincing. Lot had learned to be as wary of intuition as he was of superficial judgements, but it was hardly possible to be a long-serving detective and not know when a suspect was lying. He decided to change the topic sooner than later.

“Where were you both on the night of December Twenty-fourth?”
Annuli replied immediately, “We were in David’s room, sleeping.”
Lot’s suspicious eyes were cast on her, then he turned to David, “Is that true, Mr. Malik?”
The husband consulted his wife’s face for a brief moment before replying, “Yes-yes, that’s true.”
“Can either of you recount to us what you can remember about that night?”
It was Anuli who recounted, “After having a nice dinner—well, supper would be a more appropriate word, I suppose—we left the dinning room and went to David’s room.”
“What about others? Did you leave them behind?”
“The after-meal chat was so intense that the mistress had to ask us to leave the room. My sister-in-law, Ruth, was so ill-mannered that I could not wait to leave her presence. I remember that when I was rising to take my exit from the room, others were still seated. David caught up with me in the corridor.”
“So you both went directly to your room?”
“Christopher was asleep in my arms and I had to lay him down. So, yes, we went directly to David’s room.”

“Then?”
“Then we went to bed—until that terrible cry came. It was so terrible; the scream of a man in mortal agony.”
“At what time exactly did you retire to bed?”
“We left the dining room at ten-thirty, and we were already in bed when the grandfather’s clock chimed eleven times. I remember that one vividly.”
“At what time did you hear the cry?”
She frowned, “Um—I can’t really recall. It could have been at around one or two. It wasn’t like I was watching the time and expecting to hear a shriek at a particular tick of the seconds hand. We all returned to bed at about a quarter to three in the morning of Christmas Day.”

“What did you do when you heard the scream?”

“David and I immediately sprang off the bed and ran to the door, but the door was locked—it took us about five to ten minutes to get the door opened.”
“Was everyone present when you were struggling with the door?”
“I can’t really tell, I wasn’t counting. My brother-in-law, Gabriel, was definitely there. He and my husband were exchanging words before the door was finally opened.”
“Who else was there?”

She pointed at Daniel and said, “He was there too. There was also the maid.”
“There were Esther and Remi,” David added, “We found them banging at the door.”
“I can’t remember if my sister-in-law, Ruth, was there. Can you, darling?”
David shook his head, “No, I can’t.”
“What about Mr. Johnson?”
The couple shook their heads. They claimed they couldn’t recall seeing him there either.
“I want you both to think back hard,” Lot urged as he consulted the small map of the main building, which he had evidently been studying ever since Daniel had given him. “I understand that your room comes before the maid’s. is that right?”
They nodded in unison.

“Shortly after the time you heard the scream, did anyone run past your window?”
David replied in the negative, “No, I don’t think so.”
Annuli said, “I didn’t notice anyone perform that exercise.”
“Coming to think about it again,” said David, “The person might have run past our window when we rushed out of the room. Such things happen, you know.”

“Mr. Malik, who do you think would have any reason to have your father killed?”
“Isn’t that the job of you detectives?”
“Just humour me.”
“Honestly, I don’t know. It could be anybody. My father has offended many people during his lifetime.”
‘If you asked me,” Anuli said, “I’d say it’s Ruth who did him in.”
“That’s interesting,” Lot said, “Why did you say that?”
“I’m a woman and I know how a fellow woman thinks. That woman hates her father with an unusual passion. You’ll agree with me that the knife is a woman’s weapon. That is why we always advise men never to argue with us in the kitchen. We know where everything is. The woman’s cold countenance is quite murderous.”

“Mr. Malik, you made one remarkable statement shortly after seeing your father’s corpse.”
“Did I?”
“ ‘The moon moves slowly but by daybreak it crosses the sky’ Those are the exact words you said. Do you remember now?”
“I guess.”
“Why did you say that? What does it mean, Mr. Malik?”
David shrugged, “I just said it for speaking sake.”
“No, you didn’t. Those words are a quote and there’s a reason why you used those particular words.”
“I meant that his nemesis finally caught up with him.”
“And what might that nemesis be?”
“I think you already know that, detective. Stop drilling me like crude oil. The can of worm you’re trying to pry open, I hope you have a perfect justification for it.”

Lot turned to Anuli, “And you, Mrs. Malik, what did you mean by your own expression?”
“What expression?”
“You said your deceased father-in-law won’t be changing his will after all.”
She spread her hands in defense, “Of course, the dead don’t come back to life—not since Jesus Christ’s ascension.”
“What will were you talking about?”
“During the time we were chatting at the dinner table, Jamal placed a call to his lawyer. He said he was planning to change his will. From the little David told me, my father-in-law was an eccentric man. He was forever placing people in his will and striking them out a week later.”
Lot and Okafor exchanged brief glances.
“I believe you both saw the second corpse we found last week.” Lot spoke to the couple.
“Of course.” David replied. Annuli merely nodded.
“Does either one of you recognize the man?”
‘I’ve never seen the man before in my life.” David said.
“Me neither.” Annuli added.
Detective Lot paused for a few seconds before saying, “Thank you very much for your time, Mr. and Mrs. Malik. But before you go, I have one last question. Does either one of you know anyone named Abel?”
Annuli shook her head no.

David said, “I only know of the Abel in the Bible.”
“Who owns the copy of Animal Farm in the living room?”
“What animal farm?” David asked ignorantly.
Before Lot would speak, Anuli said:
“Oh, I remember—that book that has the picture of a pig drawn on its front cover, right?”
“Right. You’ve got a great memory, Mrs. Malik.” Lot observed.
Annuli smiled, “Not much, I remember only because of the picture on the front cover. The pig drawn on it was clean and pretty; I’ve never seen a clean and pretty pig in all my life. It’s the insanest imagery I’ve ever beheld, it’s in contrast to the metaphor behind someone being called a pig.”
“Do you know who was reading the book?”
“No, I don’t,” she replied, “I only know who owns it.”

“Who?”
“My sister-in-law.”
“Mrs. Ruth Brown?”
She shook her head, “No, the book belongs to Miss Esther Malik.”

To Be Continued….