“Does that mean that theft was the motive?”

“I think so.”

“He could have stolen without killing.”

“Probably Mr. Khalil woke up and saw him, so he had to kill him.”

“He was kind to the point of idiocy almost.”

“As you said, man is an enigma.”

“He’s more than that,” said Saber.

“Did you know that the poor beggar we hear singing every day was once the tough guy around here?”

“That decrepit old man?”

“He lost everything, money, health, his sight. He had no other recourse but to beg.”

“But Aly Seriakous showed great honesty when he returned my wallet, which I had misplaced.”

“He’s smarter than we think.”

Do such things happen so easily? Or is it purely our imagining based on emptiness? Nothing, nothing at all.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier for him to escape?”

“Escape would be tantamount to confession.”

“How could he have hidden the stolen articles in his room?”

“Maybe they found them at his home.”

“Taking them there would have been foolish.”

The old man sighed. “Such is the will of the Almighty.”

“When I saw him the morning of the crime—before it was discovered, that is—he appeared calm and pleasant as usual.” Saber’s heart was pounding.

“Some people kill and attend their victim’s funeral!”

Be careful. Don’t let your hidden fears surface. The telephone might throw some light on matters.

The old man continued, still in a sad, tired voice: “I was the first to be questioned by the police.”

“You?”

“Yes, of course. I was the last to see him alive last night and the first to enter his apartment this morning.”

“But who could think…?”

“I was bombarded with questions. I had closed the door myself. The windows were shut, but I found a window ajar.”

“Maybe he forgot to close it.”

“No. She insisted that all the windows were closed.”

“Did Seriakous break in?”

“No, that’s impossible. The noise would have woken everybody up, certainly Mr. Khalil.”

“Maybe he knocked on the door and Mr. Khalil opened it.”

“But why open the window? And also it was established that he was killed in his sleep.”

Saber stared in silence. Then he said somewhat hopefully, “Maybe he hid in the bedroom?”

“No. He left the apartment before me. I locked up myself.”

“Well, maybe…” The sentence died abruptly. It was stifled by a sudden fear. He was about to say that maybe Seriakous pretended that he was closing the windows. He is not supposed to know that Seriakous closed the windows. That was a close shave! It left him ice cold with fear.

“Maybe what?” the man asked.

“Maybe he used another key to open the door.”

“Possibly. But why open the window?”

“It is most probable that they were left open. Forgotten.”

“God knows.”

“It must have been hard on you,” Saber said sympathetically.

“I don’t understand how they let me go. But they know their job.”