CHAPTER EIGHT

Another Case Solved

Since it was so late Ibrahim and Zayn decided to spend the rest of the night at Yusuf’s house while Mr. Ali walked Omar and Mariam home. After Fajr prayer the boys began to dismantle and pack up their equipment.

“You’re really not going to tell anyone how you figured it out?” Zayn asked Ibrahim as they unhooked the flood lights.

“You know you’re my partner Zayn,” Ibrahim answered. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, I still don’t know exactly when you realized you were catching a couple of kids and not a wild animal,” said Zayn.

“Do you remember the first time we came to Yusuf’s house?” Ibrahim asked. “I had sent you in the yard so I could discuss the case with Yusuf in peace.”

“How could I forget?” Zayn said a little sheepishly.

“Well,” Ibrahim continued, “when you burst out laughing you were very close to Yusuf’s bedroom window. I knew it was you laughing, but it got me thinking. If someone, not quite so loud and a little further away were laughing in the back yard, it could quite easily be mistaken for the sounds a hyena makes.”

Zayn nodded in understanding.

“So when we were adding the weights to the net, you knew we’d be catching kids?” he asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wasn’t totally sure until I played the tape from two nights ago again at home. We were too busy talking in your lab and we missed something.”

“I thought there was nothing but the sound of wind blowing and that annoying dog next door on that tape,” said Zayn.

“So did I, at first.” Ibrahim explained. “But when I was listening to it at home I’m sure I heard a conversation. A whispered one, and it was kind of far from where the mike was set up, but definitely a human conversation.”

Once the boys were inside they heard Yusuf call them from the kitchen.

“Up for some pancakes guys?” he asked.

“If it’s with some of your homemade syrup, definitely!” Zayn replied. “Ibrahim told me all about your maple trees.”

As Ibrahim filled his glass with cold milk he noticed Yusuf looked a little anxious.

“You okay Yusuf?” he asked.

“Yeah,” said Yusuf. “I was just thinking about what you said, you know, about the class coming here for a field trip. Do you really think Mrs. Morris would let us?”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Ibrahim answered. “I can talk to her on Monday if you’d like.”

“That’s okay, I’ll talk to her myself.”

Yusuf chuckled at the Khan boys’ surprised faces. “I’m trying to make some changes, and the first thing on the list is ‘talk to people’,” Yusuf declared.

Ibrahim, Zayn and Yusuf spent the next hour eating pancakes dripping with sweet golden maple syrup, laughing and chatting like old friends.

As the boys headed home, Yusuf paid them $2.50 each. Once he got home Ibrahim put his earnings straight into his tomato-soup can, which he used to save up for a new bike. He had a long way to go before he could get the new ZX50, but every case got him a little closer. It was one model up from Zayn’s bike the ZX45 and had a few new features that would come in handy when he’d need to get somewhere in a hurry.

“Then I’ll be faster than Zayn again,” Ibrahim thought to himself as he took out his homework. Opening his maths text book, he wondered when he’d get his next case. “I hope I don’t have to wait too long,” he thought, as he began working on his fractions.