The Misfortune Cycle: River Desert

Chapter 25

Kajol Haji's house loomed menacingly under the midnoon sun as Torun and Ashraful went forward to knock on the door. The window sills blocked the sunlight in a neat square around the house, and it was like the building was sitting in a box of shadow.

An older lady opened it this time. A hijab covered her head and her eyes were encrusted deep into her wrinkled face.

"Who?" She asked.

"We're the detectives hired to—"

"Oh," she moved away from the door. Torun and Ashraful exchanged a glance and went in.

The interior of the house hadn't gotten much redecoration. Plates still crowded the dining room walls and vases cluttered the living room floor. The house was flanked by others from nearly all sides, so the light had to be kept on even during day. Torun stared at the vases. One of them might contain something beyond nature.

Kajol Haji himself showed up a few moments later.

"Detectives!" He said, bubbling as he sat down, "You come here after so long. Is there a problem? Or did you find my boat already?"

"No," Torun said as Ashraful said, "No, we're here to ask some questions."

"Oh, questions?" Kajol Haji sounded amused of the prospect, "Like a quiz? I won a quiz once. Quizzes used to be actually hard back in my days."

"No," Torun said, not humoring the man, "Like an interrogation."

"Back to this?" Kajol sounded crestfallen, "What happened now?"

"That's what we're here to hear," Ashraful seemed to have chosen the direct route, "You're not telling us everything."

A slow smile began to creep up on Kajol Haji's lips, "What makes you think that?"

"There's something up with the shipment you said," Torun said, boldfaced, "You hired someone. Budda, likely, to do things."

"What things?"

"You're making ways through the in-between," Torun swallowed. They're making accusations they can't prove in court, "To smuggle—"

"For reasons we don't know," Ashraful said.

Oh.

Right.

Slander.

"Hmm? You're saying black magic? Such things shouldn't be spoken by detectives who takes themselves seriously."

"Do you know about the things that have been happening to us?" Torun asked.

Kajol Haji stared at them, smiling.

"Do you know about the monsters?"

"Jamal tells me some things."

"So you knowingly put our lives in danger?" Ashraful asked, teeth gritted.

"You knowingly went into it," Kajol Haji shrugged, "With pay."

"And what about Mohona?" Torun riled, "she didn't go in knowingly."

"Now the girl was an unfortunate turn of circumstances. But I don't see how that was my fault."

"You were meant to be perfectly clear with us," Ashraful leaned forward, "But you weren't."

"Isn't the point of private detectives that I get to keep my information private?"

"Not things like these," Ashraful chewed his words, "Not things that can get us killed."

"Yet you continued to take money from me for your service," Kajol Haji's eyes twinkled, "Even though you were looking for the girl rather than the boat. A bit dishonest of you gentlemen, don't you think?"

"Well, we aren't taking your pay anymore," Ashraful said and Torun found himself not resisting to the notion, "You seem to know perfectly well where your boat went, since, I'm assuming, you're the one who got it disappeared. I don't see why you'd need our service anymore."

"Oh?" Kajol Haji seemed even more amused, "You're quitting? Before you find the dancer girl?"

"We'll find her ourselves," Torun stood up.

"Really now? well, that's unfortunate," Kajol Haji was smiling widely, "You boys seemed to know what you were doing, but now you frankly know too much. I'll feel sorry when I have to scrap you."

"Yeah, keep barking," Ashraful stood up too, "We know you've never done anything more than money laundering."

Kajol Haji looked a little pleasantly surprised, "Oh? Is that so?"

"I have my—" Torun looked at Kajol Haji's face and did a double take.

His eyes.

They were yellow. Reptilian. Glowing.

A hum revved around the room, plinking the numerous vases together. Torun smell something both rotten and inorganic. Kajol Haji's form vibrated, and for less than a breath, reality parted like sand. Something small and black was sitting in his place.

And then reality snapped back before Torun got a good look. It was Kajol Haji again, sitting there with an spilling pouch, smiling.

"You might want to check your sources, young man. Keep the change. Eat well. You've got your hands in something you don't understand yet."

Torun wanted to laugh. That was the big threat? You don't understand what you're into?

What did the man think they've been doing this whole time?

The two stomped out of Kajol Haji's living room, the thing that pretended to be an old man watching them keenly, looking entertained. As they passed by the kitchen, Torun heard the sound of ripping and tearing, and the groan of multiple voices. The air was putrid with blood.

Torun didn't let his imagination dwell on it.