Dishonour

by Helen Black

  A mixture of conflicting emotions raced across his face, confusion and fear among them.

  ‘I don’t think I know the name,’ he said.

  Taslima didn’t let her smile slip. ‘Sure you do. Can I step inside?’

  When he closed the door behind her and she knew Lilly and Jack could no longer see her, she felt a stab of panic. When he turned briefly to lead her into the kitchen she rechecked her phone for reassurance.

  ‘Aasha’s family sent me,’ she said.

  ‘Why?’

  This was the crux of it. Everything depended on whether she could carry off the lie.

  ‘Malik’s locked up and they’re very nervous,’ she said.

  The look on Jalil’s face told Taslima that he was equally concerned.

  ‘They think it will be better for everyone if Aasha is removed from the situation,’ she said.

  ‘Removed how?’

  ‘Taken out of the country,’ Taslima continued, ‘for a long holiday.’

  The relief poured from Jalil’s eyes to his mouth and a crooked smile spread across his face.

  ‘Back to Pakistan?’

  Taslima nodded. ‘They have someone interested in marriage.’

  The man exhaled as if he had been holding his breath for an interminably long time and finally Taslima’s heart began to slow.

  Whatever the holes in her story, Jack had pointed out that Jalil would want to believe her. He was right.

  ‘You know what’s happened to Malik,’ she said, ‘and the police are round at my cousins’ right now. If we move quickly then they won’t be able to make the link.’

  ‘You want to take the girl now?’

  Taslima rolled her eyes dramatically. ‘We fly out tonight.’

  ‘Tonight?’ Jalil repeated.

  Come on, thought Taslima, you know you want rid of her. What could she say that would tip him into her direction? She remembered Jack mentioning that one of Aasha’s brothers had been distressed and vomiting at the very mention of Malik’s name.

  ‘If they arrest Aasha’s brothers I’m not convinced they’ll keep it buttoned.’

  ‘Imran’s sound,’ said Jalil.

  ‘It’s not him I’m worried about.’ Aasha gave him what she hoped was a knowing look.

  Jalil frowned. She’d hit the nail on the head.

  ‘I told Malik we didn’t need to meet up with them,’ he said.

  Taslima had him. ‘Look, it doesn’t matter what he tells the police if Aasha’s not around to make a statement.’

  Jalil gave one short nod. He had clearly made up his mind.

  ‘Right then, let’s go.’

  Lilly put her hand over the Bluetooth sensor and smiled at Jack.

  ‘You were right,’ she whispered. ‘She’s bloody good.’

  They’d patched Lilly’s phone through Bluetooth so that they could hear Taslima on speaker phone. The sound was muffled and crackled wildly in her bag.

  ‘Does she keep a bag of crisps in there?’ asked Jack.

  Lilly pictured Taslima’s bag. The slimline diary, the leather-bound copy of the Koran and the second phone for emergencies. There was certainly no food or rubbish.

  They’d sat, rapt, at Taslima’s attempts to get Jilal to divulge Aasha’s whereabouts. Lilly cringed at the idea that sending Aasha away would be the end of all their problems. Surely anyone with half a brain would realise that there was Ryan in the equation?

  But Taslima had banked on Jalil being desperate, and a desperate man asks few questions.

  When they emerged through the door, Lilly couldn’t quite believe it. The plan had worked. Taslima was a genius.

  Jalil led Taslima to a battered Ford Focus and they got inside. Like a complete professional Taslima’s eyes didn’t so much as flicker towards Jack’s car.

  ‘Bloody fantastic,’ Jack whispered, and started up the engine.

  Was it really going to be this easy? Would Jalil simply take them to Aasha? It hardly seemed possible.

  The Ford raced out of Bury Park.

  Jalil’s voice came through the speaker but the words were unclear as they fought with the car’s engine and the noise of the road outside.

  ‘What’s he saying?’ Lilly whispered.

  Jack shrugged.

  Taslima’s voice in response was louder, unnaturally so, no doubt to compensate for the background noise. Lilly prayed it wasn’t obvious to Jalil.

  ‘The plane leaves around seven,’ she said. ‘Will there be enough time?’

  Jalil’s answer was monosyllabic—Lilly guessed at a solitary ‘yes’. She did a quick calculation in her head. Wherever Aasha was being kept couldn’t be more than an hour’s drive. With any luck this would all be over very soon.

  The car bore left onto the dual carriageway and quickly picked up speed. Clearly Jalil wanted to put an end to all this too.

  The traffic was heavy, lorries and vans all steaming their way out of Luton to the motorway. Jalil’s car began weaving impatiently, overtaking a juggernaut on the inside lane.

  Jack followed behind, narrowly avoiding being forced off the road.

  ‘Christ,’ he muttered, and Lilly put her finger to her lips.

  As they approached a line of traffic cones—a flimsy barrier between the cars and half a mile of waterlogged ditches housing uncovered pipes—everyone jockeyed for position as the road narrowed to one lane. A taxi and a stretch limo tried to force their way in front of Jack. Jack kept his foot on the pedal, not giving an inch.

  The electric windows of the limo came down and a gang of women dressed for a hen party began waving and shouting at them. By the look of them, they’d already started drinking at breakfast.

  Lilly gesticulated to her watch to show that they were in a hurry.

  A plump woman in a pair of bunny girl ears leaned out. She held a bottle of Lambrini in one hand, a cigarette in the other. A learner plate hung round her neck on a string and flapped in the wind.

  ‘Got a light?’ she squealed.

  Another woman in a white cowboy hat trimmed with marabou roared with laughter.

  Jack ignored them and kept his eyes ahead. The limo signalled to be let in. Jack ignored that too.

  ‘Let us in, you miserable fuckers,’ the bunny girl slurred.

  ‘You tell ’em, Jade!’ the cowgirl shrieked.

  The bunny girl leaned out even further so that her breasts hung over the side, barely covered by a crop top emblazoned with the words ‘Porn Star’.

  ‘You need your leg over, mate, then you might not be so uptight.’

  Lilly glanced at Jack, saw the muscles of his jaw working up and down. He couldn’t let the limo come between Jalil and him, but the limo was now close enough for them to reach out and touch. If he didn’t ease back they would collide.

  ‘Jack?’ Lilly whispered.

  ‘Yes, mate,’ called the cowgirl. ‘Come in here and we’ll release your tensions.’

  Jack gritted his teeth but kept his foot flat.

  ‘How about a quickie before I get married?’ Bunny Girl hiccuped. She threw both her arms wide as if to embrace Jack. ‘Shit.’ She let go of the bottle and it arced into the air, spraying cheap wine over Jack’s side window. It landed with a thud, then a crack, on his windscreen.

  Lilly instinctively covered her face with her hands and Jack slammed on the brake. His car slid to a halt, batting traffic cones aside in its wake. As the car behind screeched to a stop, its horn blaring, the limo accelerated away, as did Jalil’s Ford.

  ‘Are you OK?’ Jack panted.

  Lilly waved wildly at the phone sensor. Jack grabbed it, turned it off and shoved the handset up his jumper.

  ‘Are you hurt?’

  She was shaking uncontrollably and her neck felt strained, but no, she wasn’t hurt.

  ‘We’ve lost them,’ she said.

  Jack nodded and slapped the steering wheel with his palms.

  Taslima scrabbled into her bag and turned down the volume on her phone. Although faint there were a
ll sorts of noises coming from it and she was terrified Jalil would hear.

  ‘What was that?’ he asked.

  Taslima shrugged. Behind them a group of women were leaning out of the windows of one of those stupid stretch limos, screaming and singing.

  ‘I think it’s that lot,’ she said.

  Jalil checked in his rear-view mirror. ‘Slags,’ he declared.

  She couldn’t see Lilly and Jack but assumed they were behind the limo. She had no idea where they were and searched the horizon for something familiar. How long had they been driving? Forty minutes? An hour? How many miles from Luton were they?

  ‘Is it far?’ she asked.

  He looked at her sideways. Perhaps she was asking too many questions, making him suspicious.

  ‘I’m just anxious about the flight,’ she added.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘We’ll be there soon.’

  DI Bell cracked his knuckles, something the old man had told him to stop throughout his childhood. Admittedly, it didn’t fit in with his image as a smooth operator, but somehow it released tension.

  And he was feeling the tension.

  The Khan case was going to be the making of him, the platform from which he would rise to the upper echelons of the Force. It would give him a level of credibility that he could use to his advantage. In a couple of months he would apply for a transfer to the Honour Attacks and Forced Marriages Unit. Their profile and allocated resources was growing and Bell could make a real name for himself. Comments on Radio Four, interviews in The Times, he could see it all now.

  He had it all planned out.

  Then Jack fecking McNally swanned in with this case of a missing girl.

  Not only was it taking the wind right out of his sails, there was an outside chance that the body Jack had locked up for it might have had something to do with the Khan murder.

  He pulled on his jacket and smoothed down the fabric. He was destined for the highest ranks. It had been expected since the day he had joined and he had spent all his career mapping it out, working towards it. There was no way he was going to let it all collapse. He trotted downstairs to the custody suite and checked the white board.

  Cell Name Offence Time in

  10 Abdul Malik SAO Extension

  ‘How long’s left on the clock?’ he asked the custody sergeant.

  The sarge checked his watch. ‘Six hours.’

  DI Bell scowled. Jack’s time was running out. Had he managed to find anything?

  ‘Has McNally called in?’ he asked.

  ‘Nah,’ said the sarge. ‘But that’s Jack all over.’

  Typical. McNally was the worst sort of copper, all unfinished paperwork and bleeding heart. Certainly not the type to crack a serious case in six hours. A soft touch.

  And yet he’d heard all the stories. Only a few months earlier, Jack had been involved in a shooting and had taken out some kid at close range. So not that soft.

  ‘Give me the keys to ten,’ Bell said.

  The sergeant raised an eye.

  ‘I just want to check if he’s ready to talk,’ said Bell. ‘See if there’s anything that can help Jack.’

  The sarge reached for the phone. ‘Let me get his brief.’

  Bell placed his hand over the receiver. ‘Not an interview,’ he said. ‘Just a quiet chat in his cell.’

  ‘Absolutely not.’ The sarge shook his head. ‘You know me, everything done by the book.’

  Bell buried his hands in his pockets, fighting the urge to crack his knuckles.

  ‘In normal circumstances I’d agree, but there just isn’t the time.’ He could see the sarge wavering.

  ‘If I can get anything out of him that will help Jack nail this bastard then it’s got to be worth it.’

  ‘You won’t be able to use anything he says,’ said the sarge.

  ‘Not directly,’ Bell agreed, ‘but I might get something we can use another way.’

  The sarge touched the pocket where he kept his warrant card.

  Bell made a last-ditch attempt. ‘Will you be happy when we have to let that monster go?’

  The sergeant reached behind him and tossed a set of keys to Bell. ‘Ten minutes, and I didn’t see anything.’

  Bell peered through the hatch of cell ten. Malik was positioned on the floor doing push-ups, his shoulders like pistons. Christ, the man was strong.

  Bell unlocked the cell and stood in the doorway.

  Malik continued without looking up. The smell of his sweat filled the room.

  ‘Can we speak?’ Bell asked.

  Malik placed one hand behind his back, taking the weight of his entire body onto the other. He grimaced at the floor, but showed no signs of stopping.

  Bell closed the door behind him and moved to the bed. The enormity of the other man and the sheer animal energy of him was like an assault. Bell tried to hold back his fear.

  ‘Sergeant McNally is sure you attacked Ryan Sanders,’ he said. ‘He even thinks you might have killed Yasmeen Khan.’

  Sweat poured down the butcher’s face and pooled on the concrete below his chin. He panted with each move.

  ‘He’s out there now trying to find Aasha,’ said Bell.

  At last Malik stopped. He gripped the bottom of his T-shirt, pulled it up to his face and wiped it dry. When he let it drop, the wet stain turned Bell’s stomach.

  ‘I’d say finding Aasha was the key, wouldn’t you?’

  Malik didn’t look at him but lay down on his back and began a series of sit-ups, each lift punctuated by a sharp whistle of air.

  Bell watched him for a second, then left.

  ‘Anything?’ asked the custody sergeant.

  Bell passed back the keys. ‘Not a word.’

  When Jalil’s car pulled off the main road and down a dirt track, Taslima felt relief flood over her. Throughout the journey he had hardly spoken and she was terrified that he would change his mind.

  ‘We’re here?’ she asked.

  Jalil nodded.

  Taslima glanced in the wing mirror but there was no sign of Jack’s car. To be fair, she expected Jack and Lilly to stay well back. They wouldn’t want to give away their presence until they were sure this was the right location.

  ‘Is Aasha on her own here?’ Taslima asked.

  ‘When I’m not here,’ said Jalil.

  ‘No other girls then?’

  Jalil frowned. ‘We’re not running a hotel.’

  Taslima blushed. ‘I just thought maybe you were helping other families like ours.’

  ‘Well, you thought wrong.’

  ‘What about Yasmeen Khan?’

  ‘Never heard of her.’

  Taslima watched his expression carefully. She was almost sure he was telling the truth.

  They turned left through iron gates and arrived outside an old farmhouse surrounded by fields and outbuildings. The sun was still shining and birds were singing. Under normal circumstances Taslima would have felt enchanted.

  ‘A farm?’ asked Taslima.

  Again the man just nodded and unlocked the large oak door. Taslima checked her phone was still switched on. An animal bleated nearby and she turned to the sound.

  ‘What’s that?’ she asked.

  Jalil sighed. ‘Let’s just get on with it.’

  He led her down a corridor, each door along it locked, until they came to the very end.

  ‘Aasha’s in there?’ Taslima asked.

  Jalil produced another key. ‘Well, it isn’t the Queen of Sheba.’

  In the gloom and airlessness of a room without windows a young girl was huddled in the corner. When she lifted her face to the open door and saw Taslima standing there she couldn’t hide her surprise.

  Taslima stepped into the room. ‘Hello, Aasha.’

  The girl pursed her brow and Taslima’s heart skipped a beat. Would Jalil suspect they didn’t know one another? Surely the look on Aasha’s face said it all.

  ‘Get up now,’ she blustered, ‘we’re leaving.’

  She
widened her eyes, trying to signal to Aasha that she needed to play along, but the girl didn’t budge.

  ‘Who—’

  ‘Come on,’ Taslima almost shouted. ‘We can’t waste time talking.’

  ‘Hang on a minute.’ Jalil held up his hand. ‘I thought you two knew each other?’

  Taslima turned to him and grinned. ‘Of course we do. I’m Aasha’s auntie.’

  Jalil screwed up his mouth. ‘I thought you said you were her cousin.’

  ‘Auntie, cousin,’ Taslima waved her hand at him, ‘it’s all the same, no?’

  Briskly, she walked across to where Aasha was still sitting. ‘Now get up, young lady. We have a plane to catch.’ She held out her hand to Aasha to pull her to her feet. With her back to Jalil she mouthed the words ‘Trust me’ and prayed that the girl would.

  Aasha seemed bewildered and her eyes glistened with tears as she looked at Taslima’s outstretched hand.

  Taslima stood in the same position for what seemed like for ever when at last Aasha held out her own hand and their fingers touched.

  ‘Good girl,’ said Taslima. ‘There’s nothing to worry about.’

  Aasha nodded but there were still tears in her eyes.

  ‘I need the toilet,’ she murmured.

  Taslima turned to Jalil and raised her eyebrow.

  Jalil’s left eye spun in circles. ‘This way.’

  Sweat made Malik blink. A salty trail of it ran down his face. He wiped his hands across his eyes but they were soaking too, as was his T-shirt.

  Working out in his cell wasn’t easy but he needed to stay focused. The police could place him at the Clayhill Estate by the blood from his nose, but he would come up with an explanation for that. Without any witnesses they couldn’t disprove it. The boy wouldn’t be saying anything for a long time, so there was only the girl to worry about.

  As long as Jalil held firm there was no way the police would find her. Then when Malik got out of here, he’d get rid of her himself.

  It hadn’t been part of the deal but it was the only way.

  No witnesses.

  He inhaled through his nose, sweat rattling in his nostrils. He wished it were anyone but Jalil with the girl. They’d met in prison, of course. Malik had been doing a lump for GBH and Jalil had been on remand for some road-rage thing.The brother wasn’t stable at the best of times, but under pressure he was a liability. Sometimes at night he would punch the wall till his knuckles bled.