Dogstar Rising

Chapter Twenty-Seven




Makana found Faragalla on his feet behind the desk in his office. He was busy going through the drawers, dumping things into the briefcase that lay open before him. He seemed agitated and jumped when Makana appeared in the doorway.

‘Oh, it’s you. I was wondering when you would show up.’

‘Are you going somewhere?’

The tall man straightened up awkwardly, one hand going to the small of his back. He regarded Makana with the usual expression of disdain.

‘Well, I’m not staying here. It’s madness. One minute people are being shot right on your doorstep and now this journalist. He was nailed to the floor. Can you imagine?’

‘I was there.’

‘Yes, of course you were.’ Faragalla gave the matter a moment’s pause. ‘Well, I’m off anyway. I shall spend a couple of weeks in Beirut until things settle down.’

‘What about the business?’

‘The business can take care of itself.’

‘I suppose it’s done so for centuries. A couple of weeks won’t make a difference, right?’

Faragalla’s face tightened. ‘I don’t like you, Makana. Right from the moment I set eyes on you, I said to myself there is something bad about that man. I suppose I owe you some money.’ He moved to the filing cabinet and opened one of the drawers using a key from a ring that was attached to his belt by a chain. ‘Did you find out about the letters?’

‘They were intended as a warning.’

‘A warning? To me?’

‘To Meera. An old friend of hers thought she was in danger and sent her a rather obscure message.’

‘Obscure is right.’ Faragalla placed a small petty-cash box on the desk and spent a moment selecting another key to unlock it. He stopped. ‘But there’s more to it than that. I mean, why kill her, and why here?’

‘Well, that’s where you come into it.’

‘Me?’ Faragalla sank down into the chair behind the desk. ‘So it has got something to do with me?’ The money forgotten, he reached absently for the pipe which lay in the ashtray before him.

‘Do you remember when you hired Meera? Do you remember why?’

Faragalla frowned. ‘She was smart, smarter than most people in here. Not unpleasant to look at. I thought she would be a great asset, and I was right. She cleared up the administrative system, did remarkable things.’

‘She was friendly with your nephew Ramy.’

‘And what of it?’ Faragalla peered at Makana over the rim of his spectacles as he reached out a crabbed hand for his lighter. It clicked like an angry insect.

‘Meera was here to conduct her own little investigation into your financial transactions. Ramy helped her.’

‘He’s an ungrateful little whelp.’

‘You didn’t send him to Luxor, did you?’

‘What?’ The flame trembled over the bowl of Faragalla’s pipe.

‘Ramy went all by himself. He did what you are doing now, running away. It must be a family trait.’

Makana moved about the room, his eye falling on a poster hanging on the wall – a picture of the gigantic pillars of the temple at Karnak. Faragalla set down his pipe and lighter with a sigh.

‘He just vanished, with no warning. There was an incident with a woman, one of our guests.’

‘This happened just before he vanished?’

‘Around that time. I didn’t want to punish the boy but he disappeared all by himself. I’d been trying to get him to go to Luxor for some time. I wanted someone to keep an eye on operations down there. One day I got a call from him saying he was already there. I assumed he felt ashamed by what had happened. He’s not a bad kid but he’s a real loser. This is the thanks I get for trying to help family.’

‘You just let it be known that you had sent him there, as punishment for the business with that woman.’

‘One has to maintain authority, everyone knows that.’ Faragalla fiddled with his lighter.

‘How much trouble are you actually in?’

‘I’m sorry?’ The clicking stopped.

‘I mean financially,’ Makana said. ‘Yousef goes around the hotels bribing the managers to give you special rates. Most of the people employed out there can barely bring themselves to turn up for work. The number of tourists passing through your books is hardly enough to sustain a company this size.’

‘You see, this is what I was talking about. Your insolence! What gives you the right to start asking me questions? I’m the one who hired you, remember?’ He reached for the steel box and took out a bundle of notes which he tossed across the desk. ‘Here you are. This is what you came for isn’t it?’

‘Are you paying me to go away?’

‘You and that stupid kid.’ Faragalla’s jowls shook with fury. ‘How I ever got involved with you, I’ll never understand. And do me a favour, tell him to stay away from my daughter.’

‘Talal has nothing to do with this. You asked me to find out if there was a threat against you or your business. It turns out the threat was aimed at one of your employees, who might have been killed because of something she uncovered here.’

‘That is ridiculous nonsense and I have a good mind to throw you out on your ear.’

‘Did you know Yousef is running a little sideline in forged passports? One phone call from me and you will not only be out of business, you will probably find yourself in prison.’

Faragalla licked his lips, then he reached into the petty-cash box and tossed another bundle of cash onto the pile.

‘I don’t want any trouble. Take that and get out. Consider our arrangement terminated.’

‘It’s not as easy as that.’ Makana left the money where it was.

‘I hired you to look into the threats, nothing else. What business of yours is any of this?’

‘Who exactly is running this company, you or Yousef?’

‘Okay, fine. I’ll tell you, but then you have to promise to leave me alone. All this is in confidence. I’m your client remember?’

‘I thought you just terminated our contract?’

A weariness came over Faragalla’s slack face, causing it to look even more shapeless. His eyes dropped until they were fixed on the bowl of his pipe.

‘About ten years ago I was in a spot of trouble. Business was slow. You remember what the country was like then? Maybe you don’t. Anyway, after Saddam invaded Kuwait the foreign workers fled and our economy sank. No more dutiful husbands sending money home. And the war scared the tourists away. Then we had the crazy fanatics. Remember the killings in Luxor? Well, that pretty much destroyed us.’ Faragalla gazed into the bowl of his pipe. ‘Anyway, one day I get a visit. Old army types. You can spot them a mile away. They are dressed in civilian clothes but their spines are as straight as spears. They said they had a financial proposition for me. They were interested in the tourist business. Marhaba, I said, you’re welcome. You could probably buy up the whole country for a song. These people have no sense of humour. They told me they represented a private fund that wanted to invest in the company. It was the answer to my prayers.’

‘Where does Yousef come into it?’

‘Well, all was fine for a time and then they started to get nervous and insisted they put their own man into the office, just to keep an eye on their interests. I wasn’t too keen on the idea. On the other hand, what choice did I have?’

‘So he came to work for you.’

‘Exactly. And if you let him know I told you this, I’ll be the next dead person you see.’

‘Your grandfather would have been proud of you.’

‘You can sneer if you like, but I had no choice.’ Faragalla set his pipe down. ‘They promised me that they would increase their investment, that in time I would see the company grow. But they don’t care about the company. They are just using me.’

‘And Yousef takes care of business for them.’

‘Money flows right past my door, but none of it stops here.’

As Makana got to his feet Faragalla reached over and slid the pile of cash towards him.

‘I’m not going to forget what I know.’

‘It’s not a bribe,’ said Faragalla quietly. ‘You earned it. Not many people have the nerve to tell me the truth. You told me a few things I would rather not hear.’ The dull eyes lifted from the desk as Makana picked up the bundle of money. ‘You still haven’t asked me the name of this investment company. Aren’t you curious to know?’

‘I think I already do,’ said Makana. ‘The Eastern Star Investment Bank.’