They both turned around to find a large white man, sporting a Philadelphia Eagles jersey, waving at them. He was standing near the front door of the house which stood opposite to Sania’s house.
Arya exchanged a quick glance with Edgar before replying, “Yes, we are.”
“She is not at home,” the man yelled from across the street as he walked towards the road.
Arya and Edgar walked towards the man and met him near the edge of the street.
“Hi, I am Tom Halladay. I live across the street,” he said as he extended his hand.
“I am Detective James, and this is Detective Martins, from the Germantown PD. Do you know where Ms. Tariq went?” Edgar said evenly, without shaking Tom’s extended hand.
Tom, taking the cue from Edgar, lowered his extended hand. “Yes,” he nodded.
“My wife took her to the hospital.”
“Why? What happened?” Arya jumped in.
“My wife, Kate, went over to Sania’s house this evening to check up on her husband’s case, and, when they were talking, Sania started to experience severe cramps – contractions.”
Hearing the news, Arya was flooded with a rush of happiness, and a smile dawned on her face.
“She is having a baby,” Arya grinned as she tilted her head towards Edgar.
Edgar reacted with a smile, knowing how close Arya was with Sania in the past. “That is good news.”
“Sania mentioned that you are her friend from college.” Tom held his gaze on Arya and addressed her, “She had asked me to reach out to you tomorrow and let you know about her whereabouts.”
“Where did they go?” Arya asked eagerly.
“Kindred Hospital. They left just over an hour back,” Tom said, looking at his watch.
Arya and Edgar thanked Tom for the information he shared before walking towards their car.
As Arya reached the door, she paused. A thought rushed to her head. If Sania had shared about their friendship in college with Tom and Kate Halladay, they might be close. Their insight might be useful in Samir’s case.
“Are you guys close with Samir and Sania?” Arya asked, walking towards Tom.
“We are friendly with each other, but I am not sure if I would call that as close,” Tom explained.
“What do you think about them?” Arya asked, holding her gaze on him.
“What do you mean?” Tom’s eyes narrowed.
“How long were you neighbors with them?”
“Little over three years.”
“Three years – you should have some opinion about them.” Arya leaned in.
In the meantime, Edgar walked back from his car and stood next to Arya.
“I mean, they don’t cause any problems around the neighborhood.” Tom searched for words. “To be honest, I really haven’t spent that much time with Samir. You should talk to my wife, Kate; she is friendly with Sania.”
Arya’s eyes were fixed on Tom, and she could tell that Tom was holding back something.
“Thanks, we will. Does your wife have a mobile that we could reach?” Edgar asked.
“Yeah, she has one of the fancy ones. Blackberry.” Tom grinned and went on to share Kate Halladay’s contact number.
“Thanks. I heard they are pretty good.” Edgar gave a half-smile and noted down her number in his pocketbook.
“I hope you find Samir soon. Poor Sania, she is devastated.” Tom shook his head, gesturing his concern for Sania. “Such a good person; she doesn’t deserve to go through her first pregnancy under these circumstances.”
Hearing Tom, Arya realized his words showed concern for Sania’s feelings and did not reflect the same towards Samir’s safety. Tom was definitely holding something back.
“Good person?” Arya gazed squarely at Tom as she stressed a phrase from Tom’s earlier response.
Tom expressed his lack of understanding of Arya’s question, “Sorry, I don’t follow.”
“You referred to Sania as a good person in the singular. Is there a reason why you didn’t say the same about Samir?”
“I mean… Samir is a nice fellow,” Tom said with a hesitation in his voice.
“Tom, if you know something, you should say it.” Edgar leaned in.
“You know, I saw something. I don’t know if that is even relevant here.” Tom hesitated. “You know, I don’t want to get Sam in trouble.”
“Tom, Sam is already in trouble. He is missing. What you know might help us find him,” Arya pushed him to look at it from a different angle.
Tom took a deep breath and said, “I hear you. I will tell you what I know, but please don’t share this with Sania until it is substantiated. Poor girl, she has enough to worry already, and I don’t want to cause an unnecessary rift in her family life.”
Arya nodded. “You have my word; we won’t share it unless it is warranted.”
“Like a month back, I went to this sports bar with my friends from work to celebrate a lucrative deal.”
Arya and Edgar gazed at Tom attentively as Tom continued with his account. “I don’t smoke generally, but I get this urge to smoke whenever I drink. As I was drinking that day, I stepped out for a smoke. That was when I spotted Sam going into this place late at night.” Tom paused briefly and said the following with an added emphasis in his voice. “He was with a girl.”
“Okay. Is it wrong to be with a girl?” Edgar asked, trying to understand the reason behind Tom’s concern.
“It is wrong if you happened to spend a night with that girl.” Tom arched one of his brows.
“You mean Samir was cheating on Sania?” Edgar asked rhetorically.
“How do you know that he spent the night and what was this place?” Arya followed up.
“The place was a low-end motel, and a couple of Benjamins did the trick with the desk clerk. He was happy to spill all the dirty details about Sam. It seemed Sam has been checking into this motel for over a week with that girl. I also learned that he was spending a solid four to five hours with her in that room. What else do you think was going on?”
Arya nodded, agreeing with Tom’s inference. “Did you find out about the girl?”
“Nah, I told my wife, as she is better equipped to handle these situations.”
“Your wife?” Edgar looked baffled about why he characterized his wife in that manner.
“I forgot to mention that my wife and I run a security firm, Dark Shadow. I manage the business side, and Kate is the brain behind the operational wing of the firm. The firm typically handles corporate background work and not cases of this nature. But spying is spying, right?” Tom grinned, feeling satisfied with his comment.
“Do you know if she was able to find out about the girl?”
Tom nodded. “Yeah, she mentioned her name was Nafisa….” He looked upwards, trying hard to remember her last name. “Sorry, I couldn’t recollect her last name. It was one of those Middle Eastern names, tough to remember.” He sighed.
“I understand,” Edgar chimed in. “Do you recollect anything else about her? Was she working? Where she lived?”
“You know, Kate is very good at what she does. If she sets her mind on finding something, there’s no stopping her. She is the best.” Tom’s face glowed as he complimented his wife.
This is so refreshing, Arya thought to herself. How many men take pride in their wives’ work? And, among them, how many of them go around boasting about their wife? Very few, and Tom seemed to be one of them.
“I presume your wife was able to find about her,” Edgar brought the focus back to his original question.
“Yes, she did. I remember Kate mentioning that Nafisa, whatever, worked out-of-state. Out of all places, she worked in New York City – the Big Apple.”
“Anything else? Where she lived? Where she worked in New York?” Arya jumped in.
“I remember Kate mentioning that she lived somewhere close by. Sorry, I can’t remember off the top of my head.” Tom shrugged, expressing his inability to help further. “If you talk to Kate,
I am sure she would be able to answer all your questions.”
“Thanks, we will talk to her.” Arya turned towards Edgar and gestured to find out if Edgar has any more questions for Tom. Edgar motioned back to express that he has something more to ask Tom.
Edgar closed his pocketbook and took a step towards Tom. “From where I stand, it feels like you and your wife have gone over and above for a neighbor. Do you guys act and care the same about the other families in this neighborhood?” Edgar swirled his forefinger to gesture the families in the neighborhood.
“Can you imagine if we did that? We would be considered extremely kind by some people and seriously creepy by others at the same time,” Tom laughed at his own joke. “Of course not; we both really like Sania.”
After a boisterous moment, Tom’s expression turned serious. “Sania was like an angel to us; she saved our son’s life.” Tom went on to explain about the moment that could have devasted their life, if not for Sania. Tom and Kate’s only son, William Halladay, who was only seven years old at that time, was playing with a couple of his friends in their front yard. It was late in the evening, and the sun had just gone down. They were playing catch, and, when one of his friends kicked the ball, it bounced on the road and rolled towards the intersection. When William went to fetch the ball, a car from nowhere almost hit him, if not for Sania pushing William away from the vehicle. The driver of the car was probably distracted by his phone. He didn’t even stop when Sania jumped in front of the car to push William away.
“Now you know why we are willing to go over and above for her. We owe her our happiness,” Tom said, almost welling up as he replayed that near-tragic moment of their life.
Hearing that story brought a smile on Arya’s face, and she felt proud of her friend.
“Thanks, Tom, for your time. We will head to Kindred to meet with….” Edgar’s words came to an abrupt halt as they heard the sound of an approaching car.
“Kate is here,” Tom announced, seeing a white Lexus coming to a stop in front of Sania’s home.
Arya and Edgar turned around to find a blonde, dressed in a chic blue skirt and a matching top, get down from the Lexus. Kate Halladay looked very different from her husband, Tom. For one, Kate looked slim, fit, and attractive. She looked like someone who regularly worked out. Tom, on the other hand, looked like a person who never stepped into the gym. He was built like an offensive lineman with his big belly but without the muscular upper body. Kate reached the back door of her Lexus and gently helped Sania get down from the SUV.
Upon seeing Arya approaching her, Sania smiled and took a couple of gingerly steps towards her.
“False contractions,” Sania said, embracing Arya.
“I was just about to come over to Kindred,” Arya explained that Tom had just told them about her going into labor and Kate rushing her to Kindred Hospital.
“I guess I troubled Kate for no reason.” Sania flashed a brief smile and shrugged her shoulders.
“Come on, Sania, you could not trouble me even if you try.” Kate reached out and hugged Sania.
“Oh! I should have introduced you guys first. Kate, this is Arya, my best friend from school, and …”
“She is Kate Halladay, your neighbor who you couldn’t trouble even if you tried your best,” Arya said with a smile, extending her hand towards Kate.
“That was funny for a cop.” Kate took Arya’s hand and smiled.
Arya then proceeded to introduce Edgar to Sania and Kate.
After a brief moment of pleasantries, Sania turned the attention towards her missing husband. “Arya, any news on Sam?”
Arya exchanged glances with Edgar before saying, “Yes, we are here to further discuss the case. Maybe we should take the discussion inside.”
Kate interjected, “Good idea. It looks like it is going to rain any minute, and I don’t want you to get drenched,” she remarked, turning towards Sania. “I will prepare dinner and get it to you in an hour or so.”
“You are a lifesaver, Kate,” Sania said, embracing Kate.
Kate waved her byes and walked towards her residence with her husband.
As Sania unlocked the front door, Edgar stopped and made a gesture to express that he forgot something.
“I almost forgot; I have to make a call to LT to update about a different case. Arya, why don’t you start without me, and I will catch up with you in a few minutes.” Edgar excused himself and walked towards the curb.
As Arya followed Sania inside, she knew what Edgar was planning to do now. He was not going to call LT Cooper; instead, he was going to catch up with Kate and find out what she knows.
26
“So?” Sania’s eyes were filled with curiosity as she searched for answers in Arya’s eyes.
“We haven’t found Sam yet, but we have made progress towards it,” Arya opened with an optimistic note.
“What does it mean? Are you close?”
Arya didn’t want to address her question with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ response. “Typically, in a missing person investigation, we start with the events leading up to the disappearance…”
Sania interrupted, “I thought I already told you about it – drive to the airport, flight to LA.”
Arya nodded and answered in an even tone. “You are right. You provided us with excellent information that helped us kickstart the investigation.”
“And? What did you find? Did you talk to Aries Financials?”
Arya nodded. “Yes.”
Sania shifted her weight on the couch and leaned forward. “Arya, I have known you for a long time. I can tell when you are hesitating. Can you please give it to me straight?” Sania’s eyes pleaded.
Arya took a deep sigh. “Sania, I don’t know how to say it…. Aries Financials did not send Sam to LA.”
Sania raised her eyebrows in surprise. “What do you mean? I remember dropping him in the airport, and he had a ticket out to LA that night.”
“I know you dropped him at the airport. I don’t know how to say it….” Arya struggled with words on how to phrase the situation without leaving Sania shocked.
“Arya, whatever you have to say, say it. I want to hear it,” Sania said with a straight face.
“Okay. First, Aries Financials never sent Sam to LA on September 10th because Sam was not working for them at that time.”
“What, they fired him?” Sania gestured disbelief.
Arya shook her head. “No. He resigned from Aries Financials in May, almost four months back.”
“What do you mean? He was going to work every day. I packed lunches for him, and he left to work on the dot every day at 7:00 AM.” Sania paused momentarily as she tried to digest the hard news. “What about all the trips in the last three months?”
“That was true. There are indications that Sam made trips across the country and even went on international trips.”
“But for what?” Sania thought aloud.
“Do you know anything about Aether Solutions?”
Sania made a shrugging gesture. “Should I?”
“They are one of the big players in New York in the electrical systems market, and there is some indication that Sam might be working for them as a contractor.”
“Did you say electrical? What would Sam do for them? He is a finance guy; you must have heard it wrong,” Sania said with conviction.
Arya cringed, feeling the heavy burden of laying the hard truth on her friend. “Sorry to say, Sam lied to you about his position in Aries Financials. He was not in finance; instead, he worked as a service technician for them.”
Sania’s whole body shrunk upon hearing Sam’s deceit.
Seeing Sania’s sad expression, Arya crossed over to Sania’s side on the couch and gave her a hug. “I am sorry, Sania.”
“What does this mean?” Sania’s eyes began to well up. “Why did he have to lie to me about his job?”
Arya remained silent, not knowing the answer that would console Sania.
“What about Omar Raqqa,
his boss? Why did he lie? If Sam resigned four months back, why was he still meeting us?”
“Wait….” Hearing Omar was meeting with Sam till now surprised the heck out of Arya. “Did you say Omar met with Sam after the end of May?”
Sania nodded. “Of course, he was meeting him regularly even in August. Not just him, we even met as a family last month.”
“Oh…,” Arya gasped. “You met his wife?”
“Yeah. She was lovely; we enjoyed each other’s company. We even went out shopping in the Prussia mall last month.”
“So, let me get this straight. You met Omar and his wife after the end of May?”
“Didn’t you hear me? Not just once, we met multiple times,” Sania said in a raised voice. “Why are you asking? Did you talk to Omar? Did he say otherwise?”
“No, not that,” Arya shook her head. “I was not able to reach him; do you have his home address?” Arya asked, wanting to check if the address matched with the one they got from the Norristown detectives.
“I don’t remember off the top of my head, but I should be able to find out; Sam should have his information in his home phone book.”
For the next few minutes, Sania searched for Sam’s phone book in his study, which turned out to be futile. “Strange, I can’t find it now. He usually keeps it here; he must have taken it with him.”
Arya felt disappointed. “Do you know where Omar lives? Did you ever visit his place?”
Sania shook her head. “No, I did not. I know Sam did, but I never went to their place.”
“I thought you might have, given you spent time with his wife.”
Sania jumped as a new idea flooded her mind. “His wife. Why don’t we just call her? I know Nafisa’s number off the top of my head. She should be able to answer some of our questions.”
Arya’s whole body shuddered when she heard the name ‘Nafisa.’ Nafisa was the name of the woman who Tom saw with Sam in a motel, and he suspected Sam of having an affair with her.
“Did you say Omar’s wife’s name was Nafisa?” Arya asked, feeling shocked.
Sania stood baffled upon seeing Arya’s expression. She slowly answered, “Yes. Nafisa Raqqa is Omar’s wife.”
The Hunt for Truth Page 14
