CHAPTER 5

“BEFORE I ORDER,” Anika, wearing a striped red shirt and pink capri pants and white sneakers, said as she scanned the menu at their table, “let’s be clear on who’s gonna foot the bill. And that it’s you.” Anika only wore formal attire when she was hosting her TV show. She was six years older than her. She was smart, graduated cum laude, and had a doctorate. She came from a well-off family, her father a rich engineer, and her mother, a journalist, who also came from a wealthy family.

Ambert laughed. “I will never let a woman, whoever and whatever she is, no matter how rich she is, pay for my food and her food while she’s with me. I won’t even go Dutch with Bill Gates.”

“I’m not rich but it’s nice,” Anika grinned. “That is why women like you.”

He grinned, but didn’t say anything.

“It’s a fact,” she grinned back at him. “All women like you. And now,” she looked back at the menu. “What’s the most expensive food here?”

It was just a joke as Anika only ordered lasagna and iced tea.

“So, Layla doesn’t believe that the incident was intentional?” Ambert said as he began to eat his Fettuccine Alfredo.

“That’s what she told us, including Edmond.”

“What did Edmond say?”

“Edmond was incredulous,” Anika said. “He’s convinced that it was intentional.  He said he saw the car swerving right into where Layla was. There were no vehicles in front of the culprit’s car, nothing to avoid, Edmond’s car was at its left so there was no reason for it to change lane. After hitting Layla, it ran straight again, no swerving anymore, to get away from her. Unfortunately, Edmond didn’t get the car’s plate number.  But it’s a red Camry.”

“Does Layla know someone who owns a Camry? Especially, one that hates her.”

Anika shook her head. “She said she doesn’t.”

“And you don’t believe her?”

“She seemed evasive while we’re questioning her, like she really hates that we’re interrogating her.”

“You’re only concerned about her.”

“She really should know that.”

“But why would she lie?” Ambert asked. “Is she a masochist? Did the incident, the fact that somebody tried to inflict injuries on her made her so happy that looking for the culprit and making him pay would dampen that happiness?”

Anika smiled wryly. “She just got lucky that she was already on the sidewalk when the car reached her. Yeah, it’s really weird that Layla doesn’t want to pursue the case. She said it was an accident and she’s safe and unhurt, except from some minor bruises on her legs and scratches on her arm.”

“What’s wrong with her?” he said with a knotted forehead.

“It was no big deal, she said, it’s like she just tripped on her own while walking and fell to the ground, hence the tiny bruises and the scratches,” Anika said. “Like she still would trip even without the presence of the car.”

“The problem is, if we are to believe Edmond, someone was trying to kill her.”

“Actually, that is what I was telling her,” Anika said. “Instead of being alarmed, which should be the reaction of every normal human being, especially a vulnerable lady like her, her reaction was just to shrug and say that no one is trying to kill her, that it’s just an accident, that we’re being unfair to the driver of the car, that we should feel guilty and flog ourselves one hundred times,” Anika answered. “Okay, I just improvised that last bit. But the point is, she’s really fully convinced that it was just an accident, short of saying that Edmond was just making up a story. Edmond, incidentally, is an accountant and not a writer. He’s not prone to telling fiction. “

“And he doesn’t know Layla,” Ambert said. “He doesn’t have any motivation to lie.”

“Yes,” Anika agreed. “I told her mother that.”

“And what did she say?”

“The woman’s confused,” Anika said. “Two cops arrived at the hospital, Edmond called them, and Layla told them that it was nothing but an accident and she doesn’t want it investigated.”

“And her family agreed?”

“It was Layla who was there, so she should know better.”

“Edmond was there, too,” Ambert said.

 “Yeah, Edmond was there but Layla was the one hit,” Anika shrugged. “Layla’s contention was, if it’s intentional, then her injuries could have been worse. She wasn’t injured because the diver tried their might to avoid her. In short, the driver was a hero.”

“According to Edmond, she wasn’t injured because of the sidewalk.”

            “We think we all, and I am including Layla’s family here, we all tend to believe Edmond more,” Anika said. “Unfortunately, Edmond couldn’t file a case. He could only testify. And he was more than willing, by the way. A brother of him was once a victim of a hit and run. Luckily, the brother survived and is well now. But they didn’t find the culprit.”

Ambert wiped an imaginary dirt on his forehead. “I thought she was weird when she refused my lunch invitation,” he said. “It’s turning she’s capable of weirder things.”

Anika chuckled. “All we can do now is give her the benefit of the doubt,” Anika said. “Convince ourselves that she is telling the truth. Anyway, it’s really not that implausible, that she’s really convinced that it was just an accident, and running after the driver of the car would give that driver some kind of injustice. Also, Layla probably doesn’t want unnecessary trouble for her and her family.” She paused and sighed. “If only someone could corroborate Edmond’s statement.”

“We could look for one,” he suggested.

Anika shrugged again. “A hundred corroborators will probably not change Layla’s mind.”

 “One lucky criminal, that driver,” Ambert said, his lips distorting into an awkward grin.

“But I’m really hoping that she’s right,” Anika said.

Ambert could only wince.

That night, as he was watching TV in his living room, at around ten, he received a text message from an unknown number.

Hi, good evening, I got ur number from Ma’am Anika, said the message.

He immediately instantly knew who it was and he felt an urge to laugh when he felt his heart beating a little faster. Who’s this? Still, he asked in his reply.

Layla, came the prompt reply.

I just want to thank u for visiting me at the hospital, came another message from the same number.

You are welcome. How are you feelin now?

I’m good. Thank u.

What time you got home? he asked.

No reply in ten minutes.

Fifteen minutes.

He multi-tasked: he continued watching TV while he waited for her answer.

Forty minutes.

He dropped the cell phone on the sofa beside him.

It was just another confirmation that the lady didn’t want him.

Calm down, my heart, he told himself. You’ve been scammed tonight.