A Day in the Dark

Chapter 7

Asha had a calculative look in her eyes. She glanced at Maha then back at me before nodding. "I'll bring Maha after Asr. Give me the address."

**

Isaac poured the milk into the two mugs and I watched as the white colour mixed in with the dark water of the Kericho Gold tea. It smelt strong and I was looking forward to taking a sip of the much praised tea. As soon as Isaac placed the mug in my hands, I relished in the warmth it gave. Taking a deep breath of the steam coming from the tea, I took a tentative sip. I wasn't a fan of tea, I disliked it. Isaac would call me uncultured every time I denied tea whenever he made it. Coffee was more my style. But ever since I arrived in Kenya, Kericho Gold had been everywhere. And I finally caved into Isaac's incessant begging. I didn't regret it.

"Well," Isaac said, coming to sit beside me on the two seater, "sounds like you're going to be busy for the rest of the month."

"Mhmm," I mumbled, too absorbed in the richness of the tea.

As soon as we arrived back to the hotel, Isaac had been given a quick rundown of Maha's situation. I didn't let him hear the recording because I was still a lawyer and she was my client so I would have to respect her privacy but I figured telling Isaac some of the important bits wouldn't hurt. Besides, Isaac was smart and he had a way of seeing things I didn't.

"Do you have any idea on who the men were?"

I looked up from my mug. The t.v was blaring a rerun of Charlie Chaplin.

"Yeah. From the way her parents reacted, I'd say someone who's pretty influential. But there were 3 of them so, it'll be hard getting all three sentenced."

"And she's from Mombasa?" Isaac asked.

I nodded, "I honestly did not see that coming. And that would also mean—"

"We'd have to go to Mombasa," Isaac finished my sentence.

I sighed and placed my hand on his leg. "I'm sorry. I know I keep asking things from you and you always do everything but I don't want you to feel like you have to do these things."

Isaac chuckled, "I like making you happy. And if you taking on this case is going to end up with Asha believing you, then I'm all for it."

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"You could stand to mention it more," Isaac stuck his tongue out. His phone started ringing and Isaac picked it up, the light smile on his face fading into a frown.

"Who is it?" I asked, blowing some steam from my mug.

"Just...work. I should probably take it," Isaac gave me a tight smile, placed his mug on the coffee table and walked into the bedroom. I took another sip of my tea.

**

If I was back in Brisbane, I would've hated the normal Wednesday. It was the day I'd have to do the laundry, visit Aunt Fatima which meant having to sit through a boring kitty part, and deal with Lillian Moore, my more or less arch nemesis from work.

However, that Wednesday, I was jumping for joy. As soon as Isaac and I had finished our breakfast, at around 8am, a call from reception had informed us that Asha and Afrah were there. Perplexed, we went to meet them, only to find an enthusiastic Afrah who had ran towards Isaac as soon as she saw him and a scowling Asha.

Isaac engulfed the young girl in a hug. Afrah started whispering things to him then the two giggled. I stared at Asha and raised an eyebrow.

Asha rolled her eyes, "I'm bringing Maha later this afternoon but your husband has done something to my daughter. She was crying this whole morning, wanting to come here because he promised he would take her to some park."