‘See what they did to her. Look,’ Joshua said to the reporter, his hands cradling Hagar tenderly. The tears ran down his face. Lomba was silent for a moment, staring mutely at the closed eyes, the heaving chest, the blood. His stare was so intense it seemed as if he wanted to remember every wound, every bloodstain.

‘I am sorry,’ he whispered.

‘Just look,’ Joshua repeated.

Lomba did not go all the way with us. He got out after about two blocks. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘You have my card, don’t hesitate to call me if you need me.’

I watched his slim, lithe figure dart into an alley, merging instantly with the shadows, and in a minute he was gone. He did it so quickly, so adeptly; it was as if he had been rehearsing how to disappear magically for a long time.

The taxi took us right up to the doorsteps of the emergency room.

‘No. Don’t come down,’ Joshua said to me as I began to open my door. ‘I want you to go with the driver and bring something for me from home. Here’s my key. It is a small bag.’ When the driver began to protest, he said, ‘Please, you’ll be paid. This is an emergency. God will bless you.’

He appeared to be in full possession of himself now. He described where the bag was in his room, then he got out. He lifted the still-unconscious Hagar after him. He shut the door with his leg and disappeared into the emergency room.

‘Let’s go,’ I said firmly to the grumbling driver.

Hagar did not recover consciousness. I knew she was dead when I came back and found Joshua seated alone on a bench outside the emergency room, his head bowed. When he lifted his face, his eyes were red and heavy with unshed tears. I sat down beside him silently. I felt tired and empty. Through tear-blurred eyes I watched the nurses in their clean, white uniforms pass and re-pass. A white ambulance with a big red cross on its side came to a stop before the emergency room; its bloody passenger was taken out on a stretcher and rushed inside. Far away to our right were the wards: relations of the sick and dying sat in silent groups beneath a row of nim trees in front of the wards. The sun beat down mercilessly. When Joshua spoke his voice was hoarse, almost inaudible.

‘Yesterday we quarrelled. She didn’t want me to lead the demonstration. She even agreed to go away with me if I stayed away. I guess she knew…’ His voice failed and he lowered his head again.