فصل 03

Chapter three

Next morning, Anna Harland went to the court. She was first there. She sat in the courtroom and waited.

A lot of people came in, and she saw a man and his wife. ‘Perhaps they’re Hassan’s father and mother,’ Anna thought. But she did not want to talk to them.

The lawyers came in next, with a lot of papers. They sat at a table in front of her, and talked quietly.

‘Those two lawyers,’ Anna thought, ‘they’re old friends. But one of them wants my daughter to die, and one wants her to be free.’

After the lawyers, the jury came in - twelve people, men and women. They sat down and watched the lawyers.

They looked at Anna, and then talked quietly about her. ‘These people don’t look very important,’ she thought. ‘But they are the most important people here. They’re going to say “she did it”. or “she didn’t do it”. And then Sarah comes home to me. or she dies.’ She watched their faces carefully.

Then some policemen came in. Inspector Aziz saw Anna and smiled at her. But Anna did not talk to him, because Sarah came in at the same time. She looked afraid, and her face was very white. She looked across the courtroom, saw her mother, and gave her an unhappy smile.

There were two policemen behind Sarah, but Anna did not look at them. She looked at the tall dark young man next to Sarah - Hassan!

‘He’s about twenty years old,’ Anna thought. ‘He’s very tall. But he has a nice face, and very beautiful dark eyes. Sarah likes him, and I can understand that. But he looks very unhappy, too. and afraid. His hands are moving all the time.’

Hassan looked at Sarah and smiled. She smiled back at him. Anna wanted to talk to Sarah, but just then a policeman said loudly: ‘All stand, please.’ Everybody stood up, and the judge came into the courtroom. He went to his chair and sat down.

The police lawyer began. ‘These two young people came into our country last week,’ he said. ‘The young man lives in this country, and the young woman is English. At the airport, the police looked in their bags, and they found three tubes of toothpaste. These tubes of toothpaste!’

He had the three tubes in his hand, and he looked at them. Everybody could see them.

‘But are they tubes of toothpaste?’ he asked. ‘No, men and women of the jury, they are not. Oh no. There is no toothpaste in these tubes. There is heroin in them! Yes, heroin. a bad, dirty drug. Perhaps the worst drug. People die from this drug. The “White Death”, they call it.’

The lawyer stopped, and looked at the jury. He waited for a minute or two. The courtroom was very quiet. Then he began again.

‘But why, you ask me - why did these two young people have this heroin in their bags? I can tell you. Because heroin is one of the most expensive drugs, too. They can sell these tubes of heroin in our country for perhaps eighty thousand pounds. Eighty thousand pounds! Easy money!

And, men and women of the jury, many people in our country - young people, school-children, too - take this drug. At first it’s exciting and they feel happy. But then they need more and more heroin, and they need more money to buy the drug. They leave their homes and families.

They take more heroin. and more. They can’t stop. Soon the drug begins to kill them. And in the end they die. The “White Death”. It’s not a quick death, and it’s not an easy death. Yes, men and women of the jury, many young people and children - your children and my children, remember! - die because of this drug.’

The lawyer stopped again. The jury watched him, and waited.

‘He’s very good,’ Anna thought. ‘Very, very good. He’s telling the jury an exciting story, and they like him. But it isn’t good for Sarah.’

The lawyer walked across the courtroom and stood in front of the jury. ‘But, my friends,’ he said to the jury, ‘we have a law in this country. And the law is not difficult to understand. When people bring heroin into this country, they bring death, too. We need to stop these people. And how can we do that? The answer is easy. The law for these people is death.’

The lawyer walked back to his table. ‘Now please look at these two young people here in this court,’ he said to the jury. ‘They brought heroin into this country. The airport police are going to tell you about it. Please listen carefully. It’s not a long story. And remember. the law is death.’

The police lawyer sat down, and an airport policeman went to the front of the courtroom. Anna felt ill. She looked at Sarah. Sarah was white-faced and very afraid. Anna closed her eyes. ‘Sarah,’ she thought, ‘Oh, Sarah.’ The police lawyer stood up again. ‘Please tell the court about Sarah Harland and Hassan,’ he said to the airport policeman.

‘Yes, sir,’ said the policeman. ‘I found two tubes of toothpaste in the girl’s bag, and one tube in the young man’s bag. All three tubes had heroin in them.’

‘Thank you.’ The police lawyer sat down, and Mr Cheng - Sarah’s and Hassan’s lawyer - stood up.

‘What did Sarah Harland say when you found the heroin?’ he asked.

‘Nothing, sir. She began to cry.’

‘I see. Was she afraid?’

The policeman thought for a minute. ‘I don’t know, sir. Perhaps she was, yes.’

‘And she said nothing? Are you sure?’

The policeman thought again. ‘Well, yes, sir, I think perhaps she said: “This isn’t my toothpaste. This is all wrong.”’

‘I see. And what about the young man, Hassan? What did he say?’

‘Well, sir, he was very angry. He said: “It’s not heroin. That’s not true! You put it there!”’

‘I see. Thank you. Now tell me, why did you look in these two young people’s bags? You don’t usually look in everyone’s bags. There isn’t time.’

The policeman thought again. ‘Well, no, sir, we don’t. I. I’m afraid I can’t tell you, sir.’

‘What did you say?’ Mr Cheng asked, very angrily. ‘Of course you can tell me! This is a court of law!’ He looked at the judge. ‘This is a very important question. We need an answer!’

The judge looked at the airport policeman. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘Please answer the question. The court needs to know the answer.’

‘Yes, sir. Well, you see, there was a telephone call. Someone telephoned me before the plane arrived. The telephone caller said: “There’s some heroin on the plane. A young man and a young woman are carrying it.”’

‘I see,’ Mr Cheng said. He smiled. ‘That’s very interesting. And who made this telephone call?’

‘I don’t know,’ the policeman said. ‘It was a man, and he talked in English. I don’t know his name.’

Suddenly Anna heard a noise. She looked behind her at the door of the courtroom. A tall young man came into the back of the room. Anna knew him at once. It was Stephen, Sarah’s old boyfriend. A policeman took him to a chair near Anna. He saw Anna, and for a second he looked afraid. But then he smiled, and sat down next to her.

‘Mrs Harland!’ he said quietly. ‘It’s good to see you. When did you arrive?’

‘Yesterday,’ she said. ‘Why are you late?’

‘I couldn’t find the court,’ he answered. He looked very unhappy. ‘Tell me how to help,’ he said. ‘I want to help Sarah, but what can I do? I was on the plane too, but I couldn’t help her. I don’t want her to die!’

‘Stay with me, young man,’ Anna said quietly. ‘We can help her - I’m sure we can!’

Later that morning, Sarah went to the front of the courtroom. Her face was very white, and her eyes were red with crying. Her lawyer - Mr Cheng - began to ask her questions.

‘Now, Miss Harland, why did you come to this country?’ he asked quietly, and smiled at her.

‘Because I like going to different countries. I want to meet new people.’

‘And why were you with this young man?’

‘Because.’ Sarah stopped and looked down at her feet. Nobody could see her face. She began again, very quietly, but nobody could hear her.

‘I’m sorry. We can’t hear you. Can you say that again, please?’

Sarah looked up. She looked quickly at her mother, and then at Hassan.

‘Because I love him.’

Anna felt old and tired. She looked at the tall young man with the beautiful dark eyes. ‘It was his heroin,’ she thought. ‘I’m sure it was. He buys and sells heroin, and he put it in my daughter’s bag. And now she says she loves him!’

Stephen sat next to her. He did not move, and he watched Sarah all the time. But she did not look at him.

Mr Cheng waited a minute, and then he questioned Sarah again. ‘Did you know about the heroin in those tubes of toothpaste?’ he asked.

‘No,’ Sarah said quickly. ‘Of course I didn’t!’

‘And what about Hassan? Did he know about the heroin? Please think about your answer.’

‘No, I’m sure he didn’t know. It wasn’t our heroin!’ Sarah’s blue eyes were angry. ‘We didn’t put the heroin in the toothpaste tubes. We’re innocent!’

‘Thank you, Miss Harland,’ Mr Cheng said quietly, and sat down.

The police lawyer stood up. ‘Miss Harland. How much money did you have in your bag?’

‘Um. about fifty pounds, I think.’

‘That’s not very much. This is an expensive country, you know. How much can you buy. with your fifty pounds?’

Sarah did not have an answer. ‘Um. I don’t know,’ she began. ‘I usually live very cheaply.’

‘Did you need more money?’ The lawyer’s questions came quickly now. ‘Of course you needed more money. You wanted to sell that heroin. You wanted to be rich. Is that right?’

‘No! No! That’s not true!’

The lawyer said nothing for a minute. He looked at the jury, and smiled. Then he said, ‘Do you think toothpaste is very expensive in this country, Miss Harland?’

‘Er. no, I don’t think. er. I don’t know.’

‘Well, I can tell you, it isn’t. Toothpaste is cheap here. So why did you bring three tubes of toothpaste with you? How often do you clean, your teeth, Miss Harland? Six times a day? Or seven, or eight, times a day, perhaps?’

Sarah looked very unhappy. ‘No. I don’t know. Hassan.’

‘Yes?’ the lawyer said quickly. ‘Hassan? Are you going to say “Hassan gave it to me”? You love this young man, but you don’t want to die. Nobody wants to die. And now you’re going to say “It was Hassan’s toothpaste”. Is that your answer, Miss Harland?’

‘No!’ Sarah said angrily. ‘Of course not! It was my toothpaste. But.’

‘Thank you, Miss Harland.’ The police lawyer sat down. ‘I have no more questions.’