Page 94 of Kiwi Gold

“Really? From everything I’ve heard and everything I’ve seen, Laila’s exactly like her mum. Beautiful. Loyal. Tender. Brave.” I could’ve listed adjectives all night.

“If you hurt her,” he said. “If you break her heart, I’ll—”

“If I break her heart,” I said, “you won’t need to do anything to me, because I’ll do it to myself.” That was all we had time for, because Laila came back. Still in the dressing gown, and still with her hair down her back. She’d probably thought about putting it up again, and had chosen not to. Declaration of independence, possibly, flying her hair like a flag.

You only wore it loose at home, she’d told me. For your husband.

I was getting a bit dizzy here.

She didn’t sit down directly beside her dad this time. Instead, she sat at the other end of the couch, next to me where I sat in the armchair, and said, “I have one question. If neither of you said anything about the other one to the client … who did? I could see a careless comment, or a malicious one, about Lachlan’s financial status, maybe, but dementia? That took some thought.” Exactly what I’d been thinking. “And—what did they say, exactly, Baba? Just about the dementia, or something else?”

He frowned, thinking, then said, “That it was the reason for the fall. Something about Parkinson’s Disease as well.”

“Ah,” I said. “From Abdulaziz? Silky question, then? Delicately stated?”

“Yeh,” Drake said.

“Try to remember exactly, Dad,” Laila said.

“Why?” he asked, which I was wondering as well.

“It’s a hunch I have,” she said. “What did he say, exactly?”

Drake scowled. “That he’d heard about my accident, and he was sorry. That his uncle suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and needs a walker for balance now.”

“And what did you say to that?” Laila asked.

“Told him, get back to me when his uncle falls off the treadmill because he’s running so fast, that was what. That was when he said, ‘An error of judgment, in fact.’”

“So he didn’t actually say ‘dementia’?” I asked. “Because he definitely used the word ‘insolvency’ to me.”

“Yeh,” Drake said. “He did. Said, ‘So you’ve not been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, or any other type of dementia? And if somebody was saying that, they would be …’ And I said, ‘They’d be a liar, that’s what. And did not the Prophet (peace be upon him) say, ‘Beware of telling lies, for lying leads to immorality and immorality leads to Hellfire’?”

“Oh, excellent answer,” Laila said.

“Tell me that when I get the contract,” he said. “Which I won’t.”

“Better answer than I gave,” I said. “I couldn’t think what to say. How do you prove you’re not insolvent?”

“Or that you don’t have dementia,” Laila said.

“Well, there’s the autopsy,” I said. “Joke,” I added hastily.

“Not funny,” Drake growled.

Laila said, as if she hadn’t heard that, “So the person who talked about you, Dad, definitely said itafteryou fell. This wasn’t something dropped casually a week ago, or a month ago. But …”

“This doesn’t matter,” Drake said.

“It does matter,” I said. “Go on, Laila.”

She said slowly, “I realize I’m not in your field, but surely it would be frowned upon to disparage your competitors to the client, especially at your presentation. And it’s Saudi Arabia. The Prophet also said, ‘If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest you harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what you have done.’ Even if somebodydidcome to them with a story like that, wasn’t there a committee? Isn’t there always a committee?”

“Yes,” I said. “There is. And you’re right that you don’t disparage your competitors. You don’tacknowledgeyour competitors. You put forward your proposal, and that’s all. Anything else would be unprofessional.”

“Right,” she said. “And every man on the committee would be ashamed to let the others know he believed gossip, too, without checking it out, at least in Saudi Arabia. So … did they seem like theydidbelieve it? That theyhadchecked it out? Both of you are respected, though. Both of you areknown,especially Dad.”

“It almost has to be in general circulation,” I said. “If it isn’t something one of the others said to the committee.” Drake and I looked at each other, the weight of that sinking in, and I said, “The question is—what do we do about it?”