Chapter 65
NADEEKA
There’s a line of police tape across the street. A uniformed officer is speaking to a brown-skinned woman wearing a red coat with a knotted belt. Beneath the woman’s turned-up collar, Nadeeka sees a lanyard the same colour as Lauren’s.
She runs up to them. ‘I’m looking for my daughter. She was at the rehearsal in the Civic Centre. I think she’s still in the building.’
Nadeeka recognizes the police officer, but it’s a second before she remembers why.
‘Everyone’s been evacuated,’ he tells her.
His name’s on his jacket pocket. PC Dan Harrington.
The guy who wanted to give her a ticket for running a red light.
Back when Nadeeka had thought the worst thing that could possibly happen to her was finding Jamie with another woman. It feels like a lifetime ago.
‘Please . . . I think she’s still there.’ Nadeeka turns to the woman. ‘I’m so scared. If a bomb goes off and Maya’s—’
‘The building’s been made safe.’ The woman pulls on her lanyard and dangles a plastic ID card in front of her.
‘I’m Bahnaz. I work with DCI Caldwell. You’re Nadeeka, right?
’ She lifts the police tape. ‘I’ll take you to Lauren.
If Maya’s in the building, we’ll find her.
’ Bahnaz glances at Scott, Nish still riding high on his shoulders. ‘Are you Dad?’
Scott nods.
‘Okay to wait here?’
Nadeeka gives Nish what she hopes is a reassuring smile. ‘I won’t be long.’ She accompanies Bahnaz down the high street, Nadeeka slightly ahead, trying to hasten the detective’s measured strides.
As they approach the Civic Centre, the atmosphere shifts.
There’s a quiet hum of tension, as if the very air knows something is wrong.
There are hi-vis jackets everywhere – police, fire, ambulance – and positioned with what feels like intent.
A uniformed officer with red epaulettes speaks into a radio, his eyes trained on the upper levels of the building.
Nadeeka slows. ‘What’s happening? I thought you said it was over.’ Her pulse races as she thinks of Maya. Why haven’t they found her yet?
‘Bomb disposal have neutralized a number of devices found on the ground floor,’ Bahnaz says. ‘They’ve confirmed the building is safe to enter.’ But her gaze flicks up to the roofline, stark against the sky, and Nadeeka strains to see what’s happening up there.
‘Then what—’
‘They’re about to arrest someone. It’s all going to be okay.’ Bahnaz’s tone is the one Nadeeka uses when she’s reassuring her girls.
‘Do you have children?’ she asks Bahnaz.
‘Two. Babies, really.’ She flashes Nadeeka a small smile. Mother to mother. ‘It’ll be quieter at the back,’ she says, steering them around the side of the building.
There are fewer police officers here, and Nadeeka feels the pressure in her chest ease a little. The building is safe. The police are about to arrest someone – the person who planted the explosives? Any minute now, Maya will be found safe and well.
‘Lauren should be around here somewhere,’ Bahnaz says.
A memory pierces Nadeeka’s thoughts: Maya fizzing with excitement about the nativity, her words tumbling over each other as she told Nadeeka and Jamie about her starring role.
‘I get to hide!’ Maya’s eyes had shone. ‘There’s a secret door at the back of the stage and when it’s my line I appear like magic! ’
‘I think my daughter’s hiding,’ Nadeeka tells Bahnaz, with a sudden clarity that cuts through her fear. She explains about the secret door. ‘I haven’t seen it, but Maya said it was at the back of the stage.’
‘I’ll go and look now.’ Bahnaz’s gaze falls on a community support officer waiting by a police car. ‘If you can stay with—’
‘I’m coming with you. I’m coming to find my daughter.’ Nadeeka repeats it because she will not be moved on this; will not wait outside while Maya is cowering inside, terrified of what’s happening around her.
‘It’s not safe.’
‘You said it was. You said they’d made it safe,’ Nadeeka insists. There’s a long pause. ‘She might not come out if it’s someone she doesn’t know,’ she adds quietly. ‘She’ll be scared. She’ll needs to hear a voice she trusts.’
Their eyes lock. Understanding passes between them.
Bahnaz gives a single, tight nod. ‘Okay,’ she says. ‘Come on, then. But stay close, and don’t touch anything.’
And, together, they slip inside.