Afraid of the Dark

Chapter Sixty-one

Your boyfriend is the Dark,” said Jack.

Jack’s use of “the Dark” meant nothing to Shada, but he put the pieces together and brought her up to speed on the string of notes with the same creepy messages: Are you afraid of The Dark?

“He killed your daughter,” Jack said. “He killed Jamal. He killed a guy named Ethan Chang. He probably killed my friend Neil and Dr. Spigelman along with him. And now it sounds like he almost killed Jamal’s uncle.”

Chuck’s reply rattled over the computer’s little speaker. “How did Jamal’s uncle get involved with this?”

“I’ve got a better question,” said Jack, looking at Shada. “Who is the girl in the cellar?”

“I don’t know,” said Shada. “This is the first I’ve heard anything about that.”

“It’s obvious that’s where Habib-the Dark-went today after he left you. And you’re telling me you had no idea-”

“I had absolutely no idea,” she said firmly.

“This wasn’t one of your threesomes you arranged for him?”

“No way. I told you it wasn’t anything illegal. And it definitely wasn’t about sex with underage girls.”

“Threesomes?” said Chuck.

“Oh, Chuck, like you didn’t enjoy them.”

“Oh, sure, here it comes. You’re sleeping with the sick son of a bitch who killed McKenna, and it’s all my fault because I turned you on to threesomes.”

“I didn’t say it was your-”

“Can we focus here, people?” said Jack, reaching for his cell. “Or I’m calling the police.”

The sparring stopped.

“Good,” said Jack. “I’m not asking you to settle all the issues between you here and now. Just behave yourselves. Now, whether you like it or, I’m calling Jamal’s mother. She deserves to know.”

No one argued.

It was midafternoon in Minnesota. Maryam Wakefield answered on her home phone, and Jack could hear her concern as soon as he said he was calling from London. He delivered the news as gently as he could. She caught her breath, but she didn’t sound totally shocked.

“Is Hassan dead or alive?” she asked.

“We don’t know,” said Jack.

“I told him not to go,” said Maryam, her voice quaking. “Islam has no place for vigilantism. But Hassan was convinced that there would be no justice for Jamal in a court system that treated an innocent boy like a terrorist.”

“I understand,” said Jack.

“When I asked you to help us sue Chuck Mays, and, instead, you teamed up with him and Vincent Paulo, that pushed Hassan over the edge.”

Jack understood that, too. “How did Hassan track down the Dark?”

“His brother.”

Jack started pacing as he spoke, as if energized by his own confusion. “I thought Hassan hated his brother for going over to al-Shabaab.”

“He did, but Hassan would do anything for Jamal. His brother forwarded me an e-mail that he received: ‘I killed your son,’ it said. I showed it to Hassan, and he took it from there. I told you that the three of us used to live together in London before Jamal was born. Both brothers still have contacts in London-Hassan, especially, at the East End Mosque. As much as he hates his brother, he swallowed their differences and found Jamal’s killer.”

“Who is he?”

“I don’t have a name. But it’s someone who used to be part of al-Shabaab with Jamal’s father.”

Jack could hear the strain in her voice. She couldn’t afford to lose Hassan on top of Jamal. “Maryam, everything is going to be okay. I want you to take a minute to collect yourself, and then you and I are going to get on a conference call with Scotland Yard. You need to tell them everything you just told me.”

“No,” said Chuck. “We can’t call the police.”

“Watch me,” said Jack.

“Stop,” said Chuck. “Listen to this for one minute.”

“Listen to what?”

“I was treating it as my business. Now we all have to deal with it.”

“Look,” said Jack, “I agreed to keep the police out of this at first, but that doesn’t make any sense now.”

“Just listen,” said Chuck. “It’s the tail end of a phone call I got about twenty minutes ago.”

The computer screen flickered. The transmission was audio only, and the band on the audio tracker spiked up and down with each voice inflection on the recording.

“Listen up, Mays.”

Even though Jack didn’t recognize the voice, he somehow knew it was the Dark. The recording continued: “I have someone you’ll want to hear from.”

Jack waited, the audio line on the LCD went flat, and suddenly it wobbled again with the beaten-down voice he instantly recognized.

“The Dark is in charge,” said Vince, obviously saying what he had been told to say. “Do not come looking for me, and do not call the police. If you do, he will kill me. I’m afraid of the Dark. You should be, too.”

The recording ended, and the audio line went flat again.