Princess Play by Barbara Ismail Page A

would Rahim attack my mother? I thought she liked him.’ Now Osman shrugged. ‘If he did, which we don’t know, maybe he wanted to stop her from investigating.’
    Ashikin seemed to relent slightly once he’d begun to talk. He reflected that she would make an excellent interrogator. She was small, but very intimidating.
    â€˜Zaiton knows more than she’s saying,’ she announced, more to her brother than to Osman. ‘No one is that confused. She might think she can get away with it talking to a group of men who don’t want to make her cry, but I’m sure I can get the truth out of her.’
    Osman agreed wholeheartedly. If he were Zaiton, he’d start talking as soon as Ashikin entered the room. Though it was possible Zaiton herself had more steel in her than he had imagined.
    â€˜I can go over with Mak Su Rubiah,’ she decided. ‘Mi, can you watch Aliza?’ He nodded. She turned to Osman: ‘Can you drive me home?’ He also nodded, and did as he was told.
    *  *  *
    Ashikin and Rubiah arrived at Aziz’s home as they were; there had been no consideration of what to wear or with how much jewellery. Rubiah carried a small packet of cakes which she pressed into Aziz’s hands when they arrived, but small talk was kept to a minimum.
    â€˜I think you know why we’re here, Abang ,’ Rubiah greeted him. ‘We must speak with Zaiton.’
    He nodded and waved them into the house. ‘You’d better answer them, and no fooling around,’ he told her sternly, and then retreated to the porch, where he could hear the conversation but did not appear to be part of it. He lit a cigarette, his head cocked towards the door.
    â€˜Coffee?’ Zaiton asked, trying for a social tone. Ashikin agreed, but hardly unbent. Rubiah took her cigarettes from the fold of her sarong and passed one to Ashikin. She did not offer any to Zaiton, who was not yet married.
    â€˜Zaiton,’ Ashikin cooed when she’d sat down, ‘you know Aliza is in the hospital now. Just avoided being killed! Alhamdulillah .’ The others echoed her.
    â€˜But I’m still not sure what happened. Oh, I heard from the police,’ she waved her arm as though scattering useless information, ‘but let’s be frank, they didn’t really know what you were talking about. And maybe they were too polite to push you too hard, you know, as you were crying.’ Here both Rubiah and Ashikin tightened their lips and looked hard at her.
    â€˜But we’re all women here, we know truth from lies, right?’ Zaiton looked from one to the other. ‘And I’d like some answers,’ Ashikin finished, taking a small sip from her coffee and tapping her cigarette on the saucer. They waited in silence for Zaiton to respond.
    At her first sniff, Ashikin immediately rebuked her. ‘No crying now. We aren’t impressed by it, and I’ve got to get back to the hospital to watch Aliza. You can cry later if you want, but not on my time. Come on!’
    Zaiton twisted her hands for a few moments, but as soon as Ashikin reached for the younger woman, no doubt to administer a sharp slap to still her, she stopped. ‘Oh, I don’t know what to say!’
    â€˜Tell the truth!’ Ashikin ordered her in her flintiest voice.
    She sighed. ‘You know I’m going to marry Rahim. Well, that is to say, it isn’t completely set, but I think it’s definitely happening. He’s a good man, and he works hard.’
    â€˜And?’
    â€˜And, well, Pak Cik Murad’s been horrible to him!’ she burst out. ‘He’s horrible to everyone! He has a pelesit,’ she lowered her voice, ‘and it does whatever he tells it. It drinks his blood. Rahim’s seen it.’
    â€˜So?’
    â€˜So? He’s a frightening and evil man! You know what a spirit like that can do. It takes money from everyone else and brings it to him!