Chapter 21
Nadeeka’s first thought is that someone has died. Lauren looks so serious, and although she flashes a smile at Kath, who came over to put the girls to bed, it’s gone in an instant, leaving behind the sombre expression of someone about to impart terrible news.
‘This is Detective Inspector Jules Stratman.’ Lauren introduces the grave-faced man accompanying her. ‘He’s from the counter-terrorism unit.’
Nadeeka feels more resigned than afraid. The worst has already happened, after all. The girls are asleep upstairs and Kath – despite Nadeeka’s protestations – is ironing school uniform. The people who matter are within these four walls, safe and sound.
‘Can we sit down?’ Lauren asks.
In the living room, samples of carpet make mismatched stepping-stones between the door and the sofa.
Nadeeka can’t decide which one to order.
Just pick one, Kath had said. There’s hardly any difference between them.
But the simplest decisions have become monumental.
At work, her colleagues are quietly picking up the slack while Nadeeka takes an hour to figure out if they should have stickers or name tags for the upcoming job fair.
And all the time, in the back of her mind, she’s thinking about Jamie.
About how much she misses him. About whether there’s another explanation for why he took home the photo of her; why he hadn’t told his colleagues her real name.
‘There’s been a development,’ Lauren says.
A hiss of steam from the iron fills the pause that follows.
‘Intelligence suggests Jamie was involved with an organization called New Dawn.’ She stops again, perhaps for Nadeeka to say something, but the name means nothing to her.
Lauren carries on. ‘They’re a far-right extremist movement gaining ground in the UK. ’
Nadeeka laughs. She doesn’t mean to – it isn’t funny – but it erupts from her before she can stop it. ‘That’s ridiculous. Jamie wouldn’t have gone near something like—’ New Dawn, she thinks. ND. Surely not?
‘There are chapters in most major towns and cities in the UK,’ DI Stratman says. ‘They meet in various locations – village halls, pubs – and often make out they’re from more reputable organizations, such as the Freemasons.’
‘Did Jamie ever mention joining the masons, Nadeeka?’ Lauren asks.
‘No, I—’ Nadeeka suddenly remembers how Lauren introduced DI Stratman. From the counter-terrorism unit. Terrorism! Nadeeka laughs again, but it’s tighter this time. Bordering on hysterical. ‘This doesn’t make sense. Jamie wasn’t a terrorist!’
‘My ex-husband was a mason.’ Kath presses the tip of the iron into the corner of a sleeve. ‘They do a lot of good work for charity.’
‘Did Jamie ever mention any of these places to you?’ -Lauren’s looking at her phone, her eyes flicking to Nadeeka as she rattles off a list. ‘The Lord Admiral, the King’s Arms, the British Legion? How about Neaton village hall?’
‘No. None of them. You’ve got this wrong – Jamie wouldn’t have gone near anything like that.
Maybe he was in the masons. People are always talking rubbish about Freemasons, aren’t they?
’ Nadeeka looks to Kath for confirmation.
‘Satanic rituals, the Illuminati, the occult . . .’ She turns to Lauren.
‘Could this supposed far-right group be another conspiracy theory?’
Pity briefly shows on Lauren’s face. ‘The counter-terrorism unit has been monitoring New Dawn for some time.’ Her voice is calm but firm. ‘They’re very real, Nadeeka, and we’re very certain that Jamie was involved.’
Nadeeka shakes her head. ‘If Jamie was involved, they can’t be as bad as you—’
‘They instruct all their members to read Mein Kampf.’ DI Stratman cuts in. ‘They’ve claimed responsibility for several low-level attacks, and we have reason to believe their level of violence is escalating. With respect, Ms Prasanna, this is not a Dan Brown novel.’
‘So . . . what?’ Nadeeka gives a harsh laugh. ‘Last week he was a murder victim and now he’s a terrorist?’
‘Jamie is still a victim,’ Lauren says, ‘and we’re working hard to identify his killers, but we’re also keen to find out as much as we can about New Dawn’s activities, so if there’s anything you can remember—’
Nadeeka’s face is wet, and she realizes she’s crying. She had so short a time with Jamie from which to form memories, and the police are slowly destroying it, twisting everything she thought she knew about their relationship.
‘Did your partner have a lock-up?’ DI Stratman asks. ‘Somewhere he kept his belongings, perhaps?’
‘No, I told you, he didn’t have much stuff.’
‘We’ve been able to build up a picture of Jamie’s movements based on where he used his debit card,’ Lauren says, ‘but it would be helpful to have more detail. We wondered if he had a smartwatch, a Fitbit – anything like that?’
Nadeeka has lost everything of Jamie’s. First to DI Burton and then to Lauren.
The few possessions he had have been bagged and tagged and taken away in police cars.
When she walks around her house now, it is as though he never existed.
‘No,’ she says shortly, and she pulls her sleeve over Jamie’s watch.
‘Nadeeka . . .’ Lauren hesitates. ‘We don’t know to what extent New Dawn were aware of Jamie’s relationship with you. We’ve not found anything that suggests there’s a risk to you, but—’
‘A risk?’ There’s a sharp burst of steam from the iron. Kath sets it down. ‘You think Nadeeka could be targeted by these people?’
‘We’d like to fit a panic alarm, if that’s okay with you,’ Lauren says.
A tight knot forms in Nadeeka’s chest. They really believe this, she thinks. She nods. ‘Okay.’
‘And then what?’ Kath scoffs. ‘You lot rock up three days later? That’s what happened that time I had my shed broken into.’
‘Calls from the alarms go straight through to control room.’ Lauren addresses her answer to Nadeeka. ‘They’re treated as emergencies – you’ll have a car here within minutes.’
‘Can’t you put Nadeeka and the girls in a safe house?’ Kath says. ‘That’s what they do on telly.’
‘Unfortunately, this isn’t television.’ DI Stratman doesn’t bother to hide his irritation. ‘As it stands, we consider the risk to you and your family to be low. The alarm is a precaution, although if you notice anything at all suspicious it’s imperative you tell us.’
Kath abandons the ironing and comes to sit on the arm of the sofa next to Nadeeka. ‘Love, I know how you feel about Scott moving in, but—’
‘I don’t need—’ Nadeeka tries, but when Kath gets going there’s no stopping her.
‘Those girls are the only grandkids I have.’ She strokes Nadeeka’s hair, and her tone softens. ‘And you’re the only daughter I have. I’d feel happier if Scott was here, just for a few days.’
Nadeeka exhales. Kath won’t stop until she gets her way. ‘Fine.’
‘Good girl.’
‘Only for a few days, though.’
‘I’ll ring him now.’ Kath stands and starts patting her pockets for her phone. ‘It’s good timing, really – he and Gabriela have had a bust-up, so he was at mine last night.’
‘The alarm will be fitted tomorrow morning,’ Lauren says. She lets out a small sigh and her eyes crinkle in concern. ‘I’m sorry, Nadeeka. I know this wasn’t what you wanted to hear.’
‘Not exactly,’ Nadeeka says tightly.
When she shows them out, she can hear Kath on the phone to Scott, and she stands for a moment with her back to the locked front door, going over what Lauren and DI Stratman said, trying to make it fit.
But it doesn’t.
Maybe it fits with the facts, but there has to be a place for instinct, surely, even in the face of whatever this ‘intelligence’ is that the police have.
Intelligence isn’t evidence, is it? Taking a photograph home from the office isn’t evidence.
Jamie’s colleagues calling her Nadia isn’t evidence.
Jamie going to New Dawn meetings isn’t evidence.
It is, Nadeeka thinks (thanks to the many crime dramas she has watched at Kath’s behest), what might be considered by a court as circumstantial.
Nadeeka knew Jamie. She knew their relationship – she felt it in her heart, in her soul – and she knows the police are wrong.
She just has to prove it.