Bitter Paradise by Ross Pennie

Author:Ross Pennie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2020-05-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Hosam fixed his gaze on the beautiful girl lying helpless on the bed half a world away from her home in the shattered city of Hama. He watched her chest rise and fall to the rhythm of the mechanical ventilator that dominated the room like a fierce beast. Was the nightmare ever going to end for any of his people? In Syria, the war had brought rampaging thugs to their homes at midnight and bombs from the air at any time of day. But here, in this gold-plated sanctuary provided by the earnest people of Canada, the threats were less predictable, more difficult to evade, and just as deadly.

“Please, Miss Sharma. You must tell me what terrible thing my son he was exposed to on that school trip.”

Her warm smile was long gone. Her lips tightened. “As I said, we are in the early stages of our investigation. All I can say is we are following a new and important lead in the case.”

“‘Investigation’ . . . ‘Important lead in the case’ . . . You are using the language of the police. Jamila and my son, are they victims of a crime the details of which you do not choose to share?”

She looked surprised and affronted at his conclusion. “No, we don’t expect any criminal activity.”

“Then why will you not tell me what you and your colleagues suspect happened on that excursion?” In Aleppo, it was often helpful to point out the connections you had with those in power. Perhaps it worked the same way here. “I know Dr. Zoltan Szabo personally. I am certain he would want me to be in complete awareness of any threats to the life of my son.”

Miss Sharma looked down at her obviously expensive shoes and said nothing. The refined design of her footwear reminded him of the days when Leila could afford to similarly adorn her feet so gracefully.

“Can you at least tell me,” he pressed, “what you suspect has bitten my son? Was it a tick? A poisonous spider? Some sort of nasty Canadian beetle?”

She looked up from her shoes but avoided his face. “I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen your son. And I’m not a doctor. I’m not in a position to say what might have bitten him.”

Struggling to suppress his anger, he pointed to the child in the bed. “Jamila, then. What caused those lesions on her wrists and ankles? At least tell me that so that I can explain it to her parents. You do not need an interpreter to see how upset her mother is. She is convinced her daughter sustained the bites of some sort of poisonous insect.”

Miss Sharma stood for a long time fingering an earring and gazing at Rima, who was sobbing over her helpless daughter. Miss Sharma seemed to be debating with herself. Finally, she looked straight into Hosam’s face and said, “Perhaps you’ve heard of the Aedes mosquito? Specifically Aedes albopictus?”

“Yes, of course,” he told her in as confident a tone as possible, colleague to colleague.

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