Kaseke’s message stayed on Amina’s phone until they reached home. The final line was short, but it opened another door: someone outside the four siblings had brought Rashid into the sale process without their shared approval.
Juma refused to sit in the sitting room. He went to the shop, saying he needed to count the day’s stock. Halima wanted to follow him at once, but Amina stopped her.
“Let’s not rush at the first person who makes us angry,” Amina said. “We need to know who appointed Rashid.”
“The message says a relative,” Halima replied. “Juma already mentioned people from the shop.”
Neema opened the agreement file.
“Rashid’s number is here. There is also the name of someone who signed as a witness.”
Amina bent over the page.
“Faraji Mhando.”
Mama Rehema, who had been arranging cups in the kitchen, stopped.
“Faraji is the son of your father’s younger brother.”
“Where is he?” Halima asked.
“He sells building supplies on the Kihonda side. But don’t go there as if you are taking him to court.”
Halima frowned.
“He helped Juma start selling the plot.”
“You still don’t know what he did,” Amina said.
“Then let’s go find out.”
They called Faraji. He said he could meet them at his shop in an hour. Juma did not want to go.
“Faraji has nothing to do with the debt,” he said when he returned from the shop.
“He has something to do with Rashid,” Amina replied.
“He only introduced us.”
“Why didn’t he introduce all of us?”
Juma said nothing.
Neema said, “Juma, we are going to ask questions. We won’t attack him.”
“Faraji is family. If you call him a liar, he will turn this into a disgrace.”
“And when you sold the plot in secret, did you think the disgrace disappeared?” Halima asked.
Amina intervened. “We are finding out what happened with the agreement, not going to fight.”
Faraji’s shop had bags of cement stacked on one side and roofing sheets bundled with wire on the other. He was a thin man with a short beard and a quick voice. When he saw all of them, he knew why they had come.
“I knew you would come,” he said.
“Did someone tell you?” Amina asked.
“Rashid sent me a message.”
“Why was Rashid telling you?”
Faraji opened the door to a small office behind the shop.
“Because I was the one who told Juma to contact him.”
Juma stepped closer.
“You promised you wouldn’t bring others into this.”
“I promised to help you find a buyer, not to hide every step.”
Amina opened her phone.
“Did you sign as a witness on the agreement?”
“Yes.”
“Did you read the price?”
“I saw the amount written.”
“Did you know the value of the plot?”
“I knew people were interested in land there. I wasn’t asked to make a valuation.”
Halima said, “Why did you push for speed?”
Faraji rested his hands on the table.
“Juma told me there wasn’t much time. He said if the debt was late, the security could be taken.”
“Did he tell you the debt was Father’s?” Neema asked.
“He said it was a shop debt Father had left behind.”
“Did he say the plot belonged to all the children?”
Faraji looked at Juma first.
“He said the plot was under Father’s documents. I assumed the children would be involved before the final signing.”
Amina opened a photograph of the first page of the agreement.
“But Kaseke was told the transfer would be completed in seven days.”
“Rashid wrote that message. Juma told him to reassure Kaseke.”
Juma shook his head.
“I told him we would try.”
“Your words became a promise,” Amina said.
Faraji went to a cabinet, took out an envelope tied with ribbon and placed it on the table.
“Rashid left me copies of the messages because he wanted me as a witness. These show the dates they met.”
Amina opened the envelope. There were printed messages with dates beneath each one. Faraji had sent Rashid a message:
**THE BUYER WANTS TO KNOW IF THE FAMILY HAS AGREED. DON’T TELL HIM WE HAVEN’T MET THE SISTERS.**
Rashid had replied:
**JUMA SAYS HE WILL HANDLE IT. WE NEED TO CLOSE BEFORE THE CREDITOR CHANGES THE TERMS.**
Halima raised her eyes.
“This is a conspiracy.”
Faraji shook his head.
“It was a rush and carelessness. No one ever told me anyone wanted to forge a signature.”
“But you knew the sisters had not met the buyer,” Amina said.
“Yes.”
“And you still signed.”
“I signed to say I witnessed the preliminary agreement. I did not certify that Juma was the sole owner.”
“Other people will not read that distinction,” Neema said.
Faraji lowered his head.
“I thought the family would meet before completion.”
Juma moved beside the table.
“I told you the debt could not wait.”
“And you told me Rashid would make sure everything was done properly.”
Rashid was not there, but his name made the room feel heavier.
Amina opened a photograph of the fee message.
“Rashid has sent a claim for expenses to the family. Did you know he would charge a fee before the agreement was completed?”
Faraji shook his head.
“He said he would get his fee from Kaseke after the transfer. I didn’t know he was preparing another claim.”
“Did you receive any money?” Halima asked.
Faraji shook his head at once.
“Juma repaid me for travel on one day. That’s all.”
Juma said, “I reimbursed his fuel.”
Amina wrote it down.
“We will need the receipt.”
Faraji showed a phone message with the small amount and date.
“I sent this to Juma.”
Neema added, “This proves you helped connect people, but we haven’t seen evidence you planned to cheat anyone.”
Halima calmed down. Her anger did not disappear, but it shifted to a different target.
“If it wasn’t a plan to deceive Kaseke, then it was two people deciding for everyone.”
Faraji looked at her.
“That is what happened.”
Juma sat at the side of the table. His hands were clasped.
“I was trying to protect the security.”
“And you used a process that made three people believe you had all the authority,” Amina said.
“I only wanted more time.”
“You wanted time, but took away the family’s chance to choose.”
Faraji took another paper from the envelope.
“This came from your father. Juma gave it to me when I was looking for an old file.”
Amina took it carefully. It was a torn page from Mzee Mhando’s notebook. Only two lines were visible:
**THE HOUSE RENT MUST NOT BE USED TO PUT OUT THE DEBT FIRE EVERY DAY. SET A PAYMENT SCHEDULE SO THE SHOP CAN CONTINUE AND THE CHILDREN ARE NOT FORCED TO SELL IN FEAR.**
Neema read it aloud.
Juma stood up abruptly.
“I had never seen that page.”
“You took it out of your file,” Faraji said.
“I thought it was an old note from Father.”
“It is a plan,” Amina said.
Juma went silent. Their father had thought about the debt and the rent in the same sentence, but had never told them. It did not make Juma a thief, but it made the rushed sale look like he had ignored an option their father had written down.
Amina called Rashid in front of everyone. The phone rang twice, then was cut off.
A message arrived immediately:
**I’M IN A MEETING. JUMA WILL HANDLE THE FEE MATTERS.**
Halima gave a humorless laugh.
“He still leaves Juma out in front.”
Amina replied:
**NO FEE MATTERS WILL BE ANSWERED UNTIL THE FAMILY SEES THE SERVICE CONTRACT AND ALL RECEIPTS.**
Rashid did not respond.
Juma looked at Amina.
“What do you want to do now?”
“First, we revoke Rashid’s authority to represent us.”
“Does he have authority?”
“He acted as if he did. We will write to him that he cannot contact the buyer or the SACCO for the family without everyone’s consent.”
Faraji said, “I will also message him that I will not witness any more steps until all of you agree.”
Juma opened his phone.
“And Kaseke?”
“We will tell him completion is paused and that we are seeking new valuations,” Amina said. “We won’t force him to wait forever. We will give him clear information.”
Halima looked at Juma for a long moment.
“There is still one question. Why did Father write that rent should go toward a debt schedule, but you said the rent wasn’t enough and started selling the plot?”
Juma looked at the notebook page.
“Because I didn’t know whether a schedule was still possible.”
“Then you should have asked,” Neema said.
“I saw every passing day as a threat.”
Amina put the page in the folder.
“Tomorrow we will sit with the rent book, the SACCO balance and the plot estimates. We will not make a decision out of one person’s fear.”
Faraji walked them to the door. Before they left, he called Amina.
“That page has something on the other side.”
Amina turned the paper over. On the back was another line from her father, written in faded ink:
**ALL THE CHILDREN MUST SHOW THEIR WORK AND MONEY BEFORE DECIDING WHAT REMAINS.**
Amina looked at Juma.
He read the line and closed his phone.
This time he did not mention the debt deadline again.
He said, “Tomorrow I will bring you the full rent statement I have.”
---