Princess Play by Barbara Ismail Page B

That’s why he has so much and other people all lose when they invest with him! My father did, and look what happened! And he would even take it on his boat, and that’s where Rahim saw it. It brought the fish to his nets and left other boats with no catch at all.’
    â€˜What has this got to do with my mother?’
    â€˜This Pak Cik Murad, he spoke to Rahim the other day, and he told him that he’d be found guilty of killing my mother, which he didn’t do, wouldn’t ever do. Rahim knows Pak Cik Murad is setting the spirit to catch him, to have him be accused while Murad walks free.’
    â€˜Then Pak Cik Murad killed your mother?’
    â€˜Or the pelesit!’ she whispered.
    â€˜Can we leave the pelesit out of this for now? There are enough people running around who could have done it without inviting in jinn .’
    â€˜But don’t you see? My mother was killed when we were all here, my father sleeping next to her. How could a person, a full-grown person, have come in without waking anyone, kill her without a sound, and leave? Think about it.’
    â€˜And you’re telling me this pelesit hit my mother over her head? And where was Rahim?’
    â€˜Well, I was afraid he might, might have lost his mind! Yes, the worry, the fear! He would try to stop your mother from going on with this investigation!’
    â€˜Zaiton,’Ashikin said angrily. ‘You aren’t making any sense. Why did you think Rahim was with my mother?’
    â€˜He said he might talk to her. The day before, he said he might have to talk to her to tell her what Murad was going to do. So she would know and not believe him.’
    â€˜And you thought he then might have hit her over the head?’
    â€˜Maybe she didn’t believe him.’
    â€˜No one spoke to her before she was hit. She was leaving the house to come and see me,’ Rubiah added.
    â€˜Are you sure? No one spoke to her on the road?’
    â€˜So you’re telling me it was Rahim who hit her.’
    â€˜No,’ she wailed, ‘You don’t understand.’
    â€˜Did you do it?’
    â€˜Me?’
    â€˜Did you want my mother to stop so you could marry Rahim without worrying about Murad any further? But why grab Aliza?’
    Looking exceptionally miserable, Zaiton mumbled, ‘If Rahim did do it, I thought maybe I would have Aliza, and then they would let him go.’
    â€˜Have Aliza? You mean, kidnap her?’
    â€˜I guess.’
    Ashikin was amused. ‘And keep her where?’
    â€˜Here.’ She looked around the room.
    â€˜And your father wouldn’t say a word.’
    â€˜Well …’
    â€˜You didn’t think this through, did you?’
    â€˜Maybe not.’
    â€˜No. But you’ve gotten yourself into a lot of trouble. And where is Rahim now?’
    â€˜I don’t know.’ She hung her head.
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    â€˜I know he isn’t at home, in Semut Api. Maybe he’s gone to Thailand?’
    â€˜That looks pretty guilty to me.’
    â€˜Oh, but he isn’t! He didn’t want my mother dead!’
    â€˜Did he want mine?’
    Zaiton gaped at her, for all the world like a hooked mackerel, Ashikin thought. And though she moved her mouth, no words came out: how could they? What more was there to say.

Chapter XII
    Mak Su Rubiah, tell me what you think!’
    On the porch, the two sat smoking cigarettes. Ashikin felt Aliza’s absence keenly; ordinarily she would have been making coffee, listening to the conversation, sitting by the door. And now she was lying in a hospital bed.
    â€˜I’m ignoring the whole pelesit thing,’ Rubiah said briskly, ‘although it’s strange someone could get into a full house and kill Jamillah without anyone hearing a thing.’
    â€˜Unless it was someone in the house to begin with.’
    â€˜Exactly,’ Rubiah said approvingly. ‘But, back to your mother and