She smiled encouragingly. “He didn’t touch you.”
He grazed her knee with his fingers. “An hour gives you more time to prepare Doris.”
She nodded. “I have a feeling she’s going to need it.”
“Pass along a tip for me. Tell her to imagine Luchembe as a baboon.”
Zoe began to giggle. “Is that what you did?”
Joseph grinned wryly. “The surest way to defeat an interrogator is to mock him.
” When the trial resumed, Sarge called Doris to the stand. Zoe walked swiftly to the exit, ignoring Frederick Nyambo’s stare, and texted Maurice. Seconds later, the driver walked down the lamp-lit arcade with Doris. Dressed in an elegant chitenge dress, she could have passed for a politician’s wife. Her face, however, was haggard and lined with apprehension.
All eyes focused on them when they strolled into the courtroom. Darious, who had been slouching in the dock, sat up straighter and needled Doris with his eyes. The leopard is afraid of the genet because the genet also sees in the dark, Zoe thought, handing Doris off to Sarge.
“Please tell the Court your name,” he began after she sat in the witness stand.
Doris clasped her hands in her lap and spoke in a clear voice. “I was born Priscilla Kuwema, but people like Darious call me ‘Doris.’”
Sarge affected surprise. “You are familiar with the accused?”
“He was once a client,” she replied, giving the judge a nervous look. “I am a mahule. I do not like what I do, but I am poor and the men who gave me daughters refused to marry me.”
Whispers broke out among the defense team, but the judge silenced them with a glare.
“When did you first meet the accused?” Sarge asked.
“Years ago. He was not my client at first; he was a client of a woman who stayed with me. Her name was Charity, but the men called her Bella. Kuyeya is Charity’s daughter.”
“Objection,” said Benson Luchembe. “This case is not about the child’s mother.”
“Your Worship,” Sarge replied, a trace of irritation in his voice, “this case has everything to do with the child’s mother.”
The judge frowned at Sarge. “My tolerance has limits. Make the connection soon.”
Sarge regarded Doris. “Please tell the Court about Bella’s relationship with the accused.”
Doris closed her eyes and began to speak. She told Mubita about meeting Charity on the street; about her relationship with Darious and the abrupt manner in which it ended; about the name she called him—Siluwe, the leopard; and about her sickness and premature death.
“Did Bella keep any record of her relationship with the accused?”
Doris nodded. “She wrote in a journal. It was her most prized possession.”
Sarge handed her the third volume of Bella’s journal. “Is this the journal?”
“Yes,” Doris said. “I kept it after she died.”
Luchembe stood. “Your Worship, I haven’t had a chance to review the journal, but I’m sure it is full of hearsay.”
The judge gave Sarge a skeptical look. “Are you offering the book into evidence?”
“I am,” replied the prosecutor. “There is no reason to doubt the truthfulness of statements Bella made in her private diary.”
“Even if counsel is right,” Luchembe rejoined, “they are irrelevant to the case.”
Mubita confronted Sarge. “My patience with this line of inquiry is wearing thin. What does the journal have to do with the defilement?”
Sarge bristled. “It helps to establish the motive of the accused. We have evidence that this was not a random crime, that Darious knew Kuyeya and raped her for very clear reasons.”
Luchembe responded quickly. “Your Worship, defilement is a strict liability crime. Motive is irrelevant.”
The judge glared at Sarge. “I will not allow hearsay to undermine this trial; nor will I permit speculation about matters that do not concern the Court.” He paused. “However, on your certification, I’m going to take the objection under advisement and decide later.”
In the gallery, Zoe glanced at Joseph, her eyes forming an unspoken question. Mubita’s behavior on the bench made no sense. One moment, he lectured Sarge; the next moment, he gave him a gift. What are you up to? she thought, searching Mubita’s face and seeing nothing.
“Did you see the accused again after Bella died?” Sarge inquired.
“A few times,” Doris replied without elaboration.
“When was the last time?”
Doris cast a wary look at Darious. “A few weeks before Kuyeya was attacked. He was sitting in a truck not far from my flat.”
Sarge glanced at the judge. “Did he see you?”
“It is possible.”
“Had he been to your flat before?”
“Many times.”
“Was Kuyeya there when he came to visit?”
“Always.”
Sarge paused. “What happened on the night of the defilement?”