Hushed Confessions | ✔

{26} Dead Ends

Malik Idris

"Try his phone?"

"No point," sighed Ridwan. "The GPS signal must be off. I can't track him."

I paced back and forth around Ridwan's room, wondering what key components I was missing. A killer was on the loose, my police department was incompetent, a family's life was on the line, and I had no idea where Nathan ran off to. My life was in shambles. Hamza had disappeared and there seemed to be nothing that lead to him. 

"Wait," interrupted Sajdaa, "how and where did he disappear from?"

Officer Cole pulled out the file he was holding in the air. "It seems that he was visiting the police department according to witnesses. The student said a white van showed up, blocking her view of him, and then when it drove away, Hamza vanished from sight," he said. 

Sajdaa scrunched her eyebrows. "Who was the witness?" she asked. 

"Your friend."

"Alisha?"

He nodded. 

Immediately, Sajdaa dived for her phone, falling off the bed in the process, and started punching in numbers onto her screen. I tilted my head at her. She was sprawled out on the floor, calling someone without realizing that she was probably going to bruise from the dive. 

"You know, most normal people just walk over to their phone," I mused. 

She put the phone to her ear, scoffing at me. "Mathematically speaking, if I were to walk instead of diving I would have wasted .2 seconds in the process. Time is key here, Malik."

".5 doesn't make much of a difference."

".2," she said, slowly. 

I shrugged. "Even better. Thanks for proving my point about how it makes no difference."

She ignored me as a feminine voice answered her on the other line. "Alisha? Yes! It's me. Wait-" she was cut off by yelling from the phone, pulling the phone away from her ear. 

Cole and I stifled our laughs. 

"Uh... Alisha, I don't think now is the time," she started, but once again was cut off by her friend. Whatever Alisha said had made Sajdaa go completely red in embarrassment. 

I was curious. "I don't think Bengalis turn that red that easily unless it's really embarrassing," I grinned. 

Sajdaa glowered at me, listening to Alisha yell at her on the other line. Standing up, she made her out the room, most likely from the comments I was making about her conversation. I shook my head with a smile. She was too cute at times that I couldn't help but poke fun at her. Cole nudged me in the side, and I gave him a questioning look. 

"Her brother," he whispered, pulling me close. "Do you really think it's wise to be goofing around with his little sister when he's in the room?"

I cringed. "You're right."

Ridwan seemed oblivious to our conversation, his typing becoming even more rapid. The screen was bright, reflecting from his eyes that greedily scanned every line of letters that popped up. 

I leaned over his desk, watching multiple numbers and letters jumbled together, thus creating a blur of black and white. The numbers moved so rapidly and the clicking from the computer grew louder, more aggressive. Ridwan wasn't taking any chances. 

"You know coding?" I asked, suddenly intrigued at the speed his fingers were moving through each blurred line. 

He nodded, absentmindedly. "Learned it in high school."