فصل 04

Chapter four

At one o’clock the judge left the court for an hour. Anna Harland talked to Sarah for ten minutes. Sarah cried at first.

‘I don’t like that police lawyer!’ she said. ‘Those questions were very difficult. I couldn’t answer them.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ her mother said. ‘Your lawyer - Mr Cheng - is very good. And Stephen is here too now. We’re all going to help you.’

Sarah was angry. ‘Don’t talk to me about Stephen!’ she said. ‘I don’t like him. I don’t want to see him here!’

‘But Sarah - he was your boyfriend for two years! ‘He wants to help you.’

Sarah began to cry again. ‘Perhaps he does want to help me. I don’t know. But he’s different now, mother, you don’t understand. His eyes are different. They’re. I don’t know. And he can’t sit quietly and talk to people now.

His body is moving all the time. He came to see me in our hotel the night before we came to this country, and. I didn’t like him, mother! Why is he here? He doesn’t love me now, and I don’t love him!’

Anna listened carefully to her daughter, and then she went to see Mr Cheng and Inspector Aziz. Stephen went with her.

‘Who made that phone call to the police at the airport?’ she asked. ‘We need to know that!’

‘Yes,’ Mr Cheng said. ‘That’s very important. Can the police tell us?’

‘Perhaps,’ the Inspector said. ‘But it’s very difficult. It was not a long telephone call. And the man didn’t give his name. Perhaps he was a policeman, and he knew about the heroin.’

‘Perhaps,’ Mr Cheng said. ‘But then, perhaps he put the heroin there. And he wanted the police to find it. Perhaps someone doesn’t like your daughter, Mrs Harland?’

‘I don’t know,’ Anna said slowly. ‘But perhaps.’

But then the judge came back into the courtroom, and everybody stopped talking.

The judge then called Hassan. Hassan stood up and went to the front of the courtroom. ‘He’s a rich boy,’ Anna thought. ‘That shirt and those shoes are very expensive.’

Hassan stood there, tall and very quiet. He waited for the questions. He did not look afraid. But when Mr Cheng looked at his papers and asked the first question, Hassan closed his eyes.

‘Did you know about the heroin in those tubes of toothpaste?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Did Sarah know?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Who bought the toothpaste?’

Hassan closed his eyes again for two or three seconds. Then he answered, ‘I did, sir.’

‘You did? You’re sure of that?’

‘Yes, sir. I’m sure. I clean my teeth a lot, you see.’ Hassan smiled for a moment.

‘Well, he does have very white teeth,’ Anna thought.

‘Sarah.’ Hassan began. Then he stopped.

‘Yes?’

Again Hassan closed his eyes and waited for a second. Then he looked at the jury, and said very loudly: ‘Sarah did not buy the toothpaste. I bought it. I bought all three tubes of toothpaste. It was my toothpaste.’

Anna sat up in her chair and looked carefully at Hassan. ‘That’s interesting,’ she thought. ‘Perhaps he does love Sarah!’

‘I see,’ Mr Cheng said. ‘And when did you first meet Sarah Harland?’

‘About two months ago. I was in Australia. We were in the same hotel. She had a. a difficult time with her boyfriend and I helped her.’

Anna looked at Stephen. He was very angry, and he hit the chair in front of him with his hand.

‘I see,’ Mr Cheng said again. Then he asked his next question. ‘Do you usually carry a lot of money? How much money did you have at the airport?’

‘About eighty pounds, I think. That’s OK. When I need more money, I get some work for a week or two. We don’t need much money.’

‘And do you sometimes take heroin?’

‘No, Sir. Never.’

‘Thank you. Stay there, please.’

Mr Cheng sat down and the police lawyer stood up. He smiled at Hassan, but it was not a nice smile.

‘Now, Hassan. You bought the toothpaste, but it was in Miss Harland’s bag. Why? Why did she carry it for you? Or do you always ask your women to carry things for you?’ He smiled.

Hassan said nothing. The lawyer began again. ‘You had eighty pounds, you say. But eighty thousand pounds is better than eighty pounds, I think. What do you think?’

‘Of course it is. But I don’t sell heroin. It’s wrong to sell heroin.’

The lawyer moved his papers on the table. He looked at the jury. ‘So you are a very good young man with very clean teeth but no money. You met a young English girl. She was unhappy with her boyfriend, so you helped her and took her away with you. Is that right? Oh dear!

It’s not a very good story, you know. I don’t believe it, and I don’t think the jury believes it, young man.’

He stopped for a minute. Then he looked at Hassan, and said loudly: ‘You don’t love Sarah Harland, and she doesn’t love you. You went with her because she could help you.

And she went with you because she wanted the money. She carried the heroin for you to sell. That’s right, isn’t it? You put the heroin in the toothpaste tubes, and she knew about it. Is that the true story, young man? I think it is.’

‘No! I.’ Hassan began angrily. But the lawyer did not listen. He sat down.

‘I have no more questions,’ he said to the judge.