"You came to visit me, and you've been shedding tears" Abdallah smiled as he spoke, "I've told you, I don't want to see a drop of tear from eyes again", he folded his hands against his chest as he looked directly into her eyes with his lips curved into a smile.

Nadia was seated opposite Abdallah, with a dilapidated wooden table between them. The prison warden gave Nadia ten minutes to talk to Abdallah after getting on her knees to plead to him. It has only been two days since Abdallah's arrest, but it felt like forever.

"How will I not cry?" Abdallah was shocked by Nadia's sudden outburst, "look they have even given you an orange shirt to wear like you're really a criminal" she blubbered pointing at the orange T-shirt he was putting on that had 'prison' in block letters scribbled on the chest area,

"The clothing I'm wearing doesn't matter, the most important thing is that I still look handsome" he smirked, "or don't I?",

"you do but-",

"no buts I'm handsome, that's it",

"stop making me smile, I don't want to smile" she said hitting her legs on the floor repeatedly,

"Common you look extraordinarily breathtakingly beautiful when you smile" Abdallah declared reducing the tone of his voice. Nadia finally gave in to the smile she tried her best to hide,

"I miss you" she mouthed, but he read her lips perfectly,

"I miss you too" he replied only moving his lips also,

"I need to tell you something Abdallah" she declared biting her lower lip to prevent her cheek from forming a rounded contour due to how hard she was blushing,

"I'm all ears, I guess it's serious since you called my name" he said bringing his head forward,

"I ..." she fidgeted with her fingers before she continued, "I love you Abdallah" she sighed as she anticipated his reply. He kept quiet, staring into her eyes. Their pupils dilated as they stared into each other eyes,

"I know" he laughed loudly,

"what?, is that your reply?" she squeezed face, though there was still a small smile lingering on her face, "I'll surely get back at you" she said showing him her pinky finger,

"time's up" the prison warden shouted trudging towards their direction. Abdallah held Nadia's hand in his,

"take care of yourself" he said in a serious tone,

"I promise to get you out of here soon insha Allah" Nadia declared holding the edge of the table with her two hands,

"I trust you" he smiled. The warden cuffed his hand, dragging him by his bulky arms, Nadia waved at him slowly as he was being dragged away. He turned his back at intervals, throwing her his signature smile until he disappeared into a small door.

****

Alhaji Umar, Nadia and Idris sat on the centre mat in Idris's living room. They were determined to at least draft out a tangible clue. They wanted everything to end, they were eager to return to their normal lives where they won't be scared of someone plotting their fall.

"Bismillahi rahmanir rahim (in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful" Idris prayed holding a red pen in his hand, he kept the pen on the A4 paper that was lying in their middle, "uncle hope you came with the letter?" Idris asked as he broke his knuckles and cracked his neck,

"yes it's right here" Alhaji Umar said removing a white envelope from his blue kaftan shirt, placing it close the A4 paper,

"OK let's start and insha Allah we will make it" Alhaji Umar prayed causing Nadia and Idris to mutter 'Ameen' in unison.

"Idris you have a very high chance of knowing the murderer since you were home the day the incident happened, the murderer planted a bomb in your house according to what I heard, so it must be someone who's familiar with your family" Alhaji Umar suggested, "who do you think it could be?" he asked,

Idris held the sides of his head distressed. He shut his eyes tightly and scrunched his nose up like he was struggling with his mind, "I can't remember anything about that day. The only thing I remember is me dragging myself on the floor, struggling to breathe. I don't even know how I survived, I just found myself in the hospital" Idris said, "I've been trying to get my memory back, but to no avail. The doctor I visited told me that until I found something to trigger my memory, it can't be back, I tried putting myself in several similar situations, but it didn't work. So can we jump that part for now?",

"OK" Alhaji Umar concurred.

Abdallah picked up the white envelope on the floor. He opened it to pick the letter that was written inside. He skimmed through the letter, but he was not getting anything, no inspirations, no hint, nothing. He sighed disappointedly.

"Let me see the letter" Nadia said, stretching her hands. Abdallah folded it before handing it to her, Nadia opened the letter slowly. She read through the letter slowly, it was ticking pages in her mind, her brain started flipping through her memory lane, her eyes widened as she held the letter with her two hands,

"what's wrong Nadia?" Alhaji Umar and Idris asked concernedly,

"I... I... I... know this handwriting" she said bewildered, she turned her head towards them, "I... I...have seen it before" her heart beat loudly within her ribcage when realization hit her,

"where?"

"Where?" the two men asked anxiously,

"Aaima" she quavered as she spoke, "there was a letter Aaima's dad wrote to her when we were in school. She so much loves the letter that she sent the soft copy to me and made me promise to keep it in case she lost hers" Nadia shivered picking her phone that laid by her side, "I've it here" she scrolled through her email looking for the file. Alhaji Umar stood at Nadia's back, watching as she scanned through different mails on her Gmail. They were concentrated on the screen, not noticing Idris that was pressing his hands against his head tightly, "I've found it let's compare" Nadia said bringing the letter close to her phone screen.

They compared the letters in the threat letter and Aaima's letter, and it was absolutely the same, with the curves and styles. "You're correct Nadia, Idris-" Alhaji Umar stopped and rushed to Idris's side when he saw him laying flat on the floor,

"Idris what's wrong" Nadia said tapping him. She cupped his face, tapping his cheek lightly, so he'll open his eyes. Alhaji Umar sprinkled the water that was on the table close to them on his face,

"Idris wake up" he shouted standing over his body. Nadia and Alhaji Umar moved their face closer to Idris's when he fluttered his eyelids open,

"are you OK?"

"What's wrong?" Idris heard voices saying from a distance, he stared blankly at the ceiling for some seconds before realizing where he was. They moved a little backwards when Idris sat properly,

"I think my memory of that day is back" he said looking between the two faces staring at him, "the last person who visited us before I fainted was Yunus Tukur, Aaima's dad" Idris declared.

Nadia looked down in disappointment, he was someone who also stood as a father figure to her, but why will he do such? He never even portrayed himself as a bad person. He was always smiling, but has she forgotten that wickedness wasn't written on anyone's forehead. She felt hurt thinking of Aaima's reaction when she finds out her father was a murderer, or does she know already? .

"Why will he do such, he was Suleiman's very good friend, best friend precisely" Alhaji Umar pondered,

"we can't conclude yet, we can only do that when we gauge his helper's reaction" Idris declared, Alhaji Umar and Nadia agreed with him.

****

Idris clapped his hands as he approached the prison he kept Alhaji Ahmad in. He turned on the light before moving close to the iron cell,

"what do you want?" Alahji Ahmad said in a bored tone. Idris squatted in front of the cell, smirking in his direction. Alhaji Ahmad sat huddled on the floor with his side facing Idris,

"I sent food down to you, but you rejected it" Idris said playfully. Alhaji Ahmad hissed throwing pebbles up and catching it, ignoring Idris's presence. "Or do you want Yunus Tukur to feed you?" Idris asked,

Alhaji Ahmad quickly rushed to Idris side holding the iron railings that was their barrier with his hands, "please get me out of here, I didn't do anything, Yunus only told me of his plans, I didn't do it" he cried getting on his knees, "please" he begged with a pitiful expression on, but Idris knew more than to fall for his traps.

"Enjoy yourself until your partner comes to join you" Idris said before standing from his position, and leaving for the door.

"no!" Alhaji Ahmad shouted shaking the iron railing violently, "it's all that bastard Yunus fault, he only told me he cleared the family, he didn't tell me he left some foolish descendants" he cried, "I was the only one taking measures to hide his evil deed" he said to the empty walls, "I made Abdallah pick a daughter from Umar's family, to threaten Umar with her in case he wanted to report the conversation he overheard the other day. I never knew she was Suleiman's biological daughter until lukman informed me" he punched the wall hardly, "I can't believe that fool Yunus knew, and he hid it from me, if he wanted to kill, why didn't he do it completely? " he asked himself the question he didn't understand as well.

****

Idris, Nadia and Alhaji Umar returned to their position after reciting the asr sallah. "We have to find a way to catch him easily" Alhaji Umar suggested,

"in criminal cases, when we want a criminal to be out of his hiding place, we lure them out, similar to how a rat is being lured out with a cheese" Idris said, "we set a trap for them using something they love the most", he turned to face Nadia squarely, "Nadia you should have an idea of what he loves the most",

Nadia pondered before she replied, "Aaima, he loves Aaima more than anything",

Idris heart raced when he heard Aaima's name again, "Astagfirllah" he mentally said to kill any growing desires in his heart, "okay we have to get Aaima on our side, if we want to catch her dad" Idris declared.

Nadia prayed to Allah for the case to be easy on Aaima because she loves her father alot.

@zinat Abdulkadir ✍️