The Lost

Chapter 28

She wore a long, smoke-coloured coat in what looked like cashmere. Her black hair was taken back, exposing the slender throat and accentuating the high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. The last time Jonah had seen that face it had been swaddled in filthy plastic, reddened and blistered from the quicklime powder.

Now the skin was unblemished.

‘You can let him go, Stefan,’ she told the giant. ‘Sergeant Colley isn’t going to cause any trouble.’

The giant released Jonah’s wrist and stepped back. Rubbing it, Jonah flexed his fingers. Christ, the man was strong.

‘What is this?’ Jonah asked.

‘I’ll explain in the car. Please,’ she added when he didn’t move. ‘I don’t have long. I’m taking a risk just being here.’

Jonah hesitated. He began to stoop for the Maglite but the giant stepped forward and picked it up. Keeping hold of it, he moved back again, the small eyes watching Jonah with an utter lack of interest.

‘Please,’ the woman repeated, gesturing to the SUV.

No one objected when he went to the front and climbed into the driver’s seat. Now he couldn’t just be driven off, and the small act of defiance made his ego feel a little better. The woman slid gracefully into the front passenger seat as the giant held the door open for her. Jonah was relieved when he closed it behind her and went to stand guard on the corner.

‘Thank you for agreeing to talk,’ the woman said, turning to him.

Her perfume was a spiced musk, heady rather than overpowering. In the muted cabin light, her face was smooth and flawless, the olive skin only lightly touched with make-up. But the hair was straight rather than curled, while the features themselves were subtly altered. And although the young victim who’d called herself Nadine couldn’t have been long out of her teens, the person in front of him was older, though perhaps not by much.

As she settled back in her seat her face was momentarily thrown into shadow. It deepened her eye sockets and cheekbones, so that the skull seemed to press through the skin. Then she settled back into her seat and the illusion was gone.

Now she was the one who seemed nervous.

‘Do you know who I am?’

He hesitated, but the resemblance was too strong to be accidental. And she was too young to be Nadine’s mother.

‘You look a lot like your sister,’ he said.

She inclined her head in acknowledgement. ‘Thank you, but that isn’t what I meant. Do you know who I am?’

She was looking at him as though she expected him to, with an intentness that was discomfiting. He felt something start to shift in his subconscious, the first inkling of a bigger picture he hadn’t even realised existed.

‘My name’s Eliana Salim.’ She gave a small gesture with her hand. ‘Or rather it was.’

It wasn’t so much shock that silenced Jonah as a recalibration. Wilkes had told him Salim had a younger sister, but he’d also said Gavin’s informer had been murdered, her tongue cut out and her body dismembered. The ex-detective hadn’t been lying, Jonah was certain of that. Yet he felt no doubt that the woman sitting next to him was telling the truth. This was Gavin’s lover and one-time informer.

And Nadine’s older sister.

‘I was told you were dead.’

‘Eliana Salim died. I didn’t.’

‘So what do you call yourself now?’

‘That’s unimportant. You were with Nadine when she died. I’d like you to tell me about it.’

Jonah was beginning to recover. ‘If you wanted to talk, why didn’t you say something when I saw you a few nights ago?’

‘I was startled.’ Salim looked down at where her hands lay entwined on her lap, elegant and perfectly manicured. She wore only one ring, an opal set in a plain gold band that looked like trapped moonlight. ‘I come here sometimes, to be where my sister died. But I didn’t expect to see you.’

The surprise was mutual, Jonah thought. ‘Your sister hasn’t been identified. How did you know she was one of the victims?’

Salim smoothed her coat over her lap, outwardly calm and composed. ‘The news reports said the female victim was called Nadine, and that she matched my sister’s description and was believed to be Middle Eastern. That wouldn’t have been enough in itself, but I knew it had to be her when I saw that McKinney was involved.’

Jonah gave her a sharp look at that. ‘Why?’

‘It would have been too much of a coincidence for anything else.’ The dark eyes were solemn and flecked with gold, like a cat’s. ‘Nadine was fifteen when I left Syria. She was living with our aunt and uncle in Aleppo but I hoped to earn enough money to bring her here. Legally, not like me. Unfortunately, because of my... circumstances, by the time I could try to contact her again our aunt and uncle had been killed in a bombing. I learned that Nadine had survived, but she was one refugee out of millions and I had no way of tracing her. I’d been trying to find her ever since. I’d no idea she was even in the country until I saw her name with McKinney’s in the news reports. I couldn’t believe he might know another Nadine, of the same age and description, so I knew then it was her. She must have come here to try and find me and somehow made contact with him, hoping he could help. What I don’t understand is how she found him, or why she came to die in that place.’

That was the second time she’d referred to Gavin by his surname. There was a coldness to the way she said it, and Jonah hadn’t missed how indifferent she seemed to her former lover’s death. That didn’t seem like the love affair Wilkes had made out. But then the fact that Salim was there in the car, alive and well, was proof the detective didn’t know everything.

‘I’m sorry,’ Jonah said. ‘I don’t know that I can tell you much more than you’ll already know.’

‘You were with her.’ The dark eyes were searching as she looked at him. ‘Nadine was the only family I had. I know her death was slow and cruel, but I need to hear what happened. Please.’

She put her hand on his wrist, and suddenly Jonah was acutely conscious of her physical presence. He knew he was being manipulated, but Salim could hardly present herself to the police as next of kin when she was supposedly dead herself. And he could understand why she’d want to know how her sister had died.

So he told her. He limited his account to the basic facts, not dwelling on the more gruesome details but not shying away from them either. When he’d finished, she studied the opal ring, turning it slowly on her finger.

‘Was she suffering very much when you found her?’

‘She was very weak by then. But she still tried to warn me before I was attacked.’

‘Do you think she could have survived at that point?’

‘I don’t know,’ Jonah hedged, then felt that was dishonest. ‘Perhaps.’

Salim brushed at her cheeks with the back of a long finger. ‘Thank you. For telling me, and for trying to save her.’

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.’

‘So am I.’

It was said in sadness rather than reproach. Jonah hesitated, wondering how much he should say. But he had to ask.

‘Does the name Daniel Kimani mean anything to you?’

‘No.’ Oddly, she didn’t seem curious, but her next question drove it from his mind. ‘Tell me about Owen Stokes.’

Jonah froze at the name. Details of her sister’s death was one thing, but he’d been careful to avoid any mention of Stokes.

‘Who told you about him?’

‘I have... friends.’ The gold-flecked eyes regarded him dispassionately. There was no trace of vulnerability about her now. ‘They also told me this same man was a suspect in your son’s disappearance.’

Jesus Christ, Jonah thought. Suddenly the whole atmosphere in the car had changed.

‘What is this?’ he demanded.

‘What I said. I want to know how my sister came to be murdered. I know that this Stokes is believed to have killed her and McKinney as well as the other victims. I also know that you had good cause to suspect him even before this. That makes me question whether you’re as innocent as you claim.’

The only way Salim could know about any of this was through someone with connections deep into the investigation. Or access to police records. Either way, she might know about the rest of it as well. The money from the bedsit, even Corinne Daly’s murder.

‘If you know about that, then you’ll know I’ve already been questioned,’ he said. ‘And if you’re thinking your sister died because I was on some sort of vendetta against Stokes, you’re wrong. Until recently, I’d no reason to think my son hadn’t died accidentally. I didn’t know anything about any of this until I walked into that warehouse, and I’ve been trying to understand it ever since.’

‘And now?’ she asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You said you believed your son’s death was accidental “until recently”. Do you think now that Owen Stokes was responsible?’

‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘That’s what I’d like to find out.’

‘Then we have something in common.’ She looked at him, the cat’s eyes dark and contemplative. ‘I heard that you and McKinney were good friends.’

It sounded like an accusation.

‘We stopped being friends years ago, but I daresay you already know about that as well,’ Jonah told her. ‘And before you ask, I’ve no idea what Gavin was doing at the warehouse or what was going on between him and Owen Stokes. Until tonight I didn’t even know that Nadine had a sister. So, now I’ve answered your questions, how about answering mine?’

‘That depends what they are.’

‘Let’s start with you and Gavin McKinney. What was your relationship with him?’

Her face was cold as she turned away. ‘There was no relationship. The police wanted to use me as an informer. He was my handler.’

‘I heard it was more than that.’

‘Then you heard wrong.’ There was ice in her voice. ‘We had sex, but as I’m sure you’re aware, that hardly put him in an exclusive club. McKinney wanted to use me, the same as everyone else. I gave him what he wanted.’

‘Did he think it was more than that?’

‘You think I cared?’ she flashed. ‘I asked for help and instead I was sent back to men who would have killed me if they’d found out! “Be patient,” he’d say. Patient! Easy for him! When I saw all the stories about this “hero” after he’d died, I would have laughed if I hadn’t been sickened! Because of him I lived in fear every day. Every day! Treated like I was just some worthless foreign whore! What did he do to stop that? Nothing, except fuck me as well!’

Outside the car, the bodyguard had noticed her agitation. He turned towards them, staring at Jonah with the emotionless intent of an attack dog. But Salim was composed once more.

‘Do you have any more questions?’ she asked, a sardonic lift to her mouth.

‘Did he know you were still alive?’

‘Of course not.’

‘What about your sister?’

‘Nadine knew nothing about any of it.’

‘Then how could she have known about Gavin?’

A sigh escaped her. ‘I told her.’

She looked down at her hands again, rotating the opal ring on her finger.

‘I wrote her letters,’ she said. ‘Fantasies, about how wonderful my new life was. What else was I going to say to a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl? I used to keep them hidden until there was an opportunity to post them. Sometimes that could take weeks, so I didn’t dare risk saying anything revealing in them in case they were found. It was easier once my... employers started trusting me enough to allow me out on my own. That’s how I was able to meet with McKinney. He let me try phoning and emailing Nadine, but there was never any response. So I continued with the letters, sending them to my aunt and uncle’s address in the hope at least one would reach her and she’d know I was still alive. One of them must have.’

‘You told her his name?’

‘Of course not, I wasn’t as stupid as that. I didn’t even tell her his rank or where he worked. I just said I’d met someone. A police detective, tall and handsome. Another lie to make her happy. Like my lovely flat and job, and all my new friends.’

Her voice was heavy with bitterness and self-reproach.

‘She’d need more to trace him than that,’ Jonah said.

‘That’s all I told her. And she couldn’t have gone to the police for help. There’s no official documentation of her entering the country, so she can’t have been here legally.’

Jonah didn’t bother to ask how she knew. ‘You think she was smuggled in?’

‘Or somehow made her own way. Nadine was resourceful but also impatient. Official immigration channels would have been too slow. All I know is that, however she came here, it wasn’t the same people who brought me. Thank God.’

‘How can you be sure?’

Her eyes seemed to darken even more at whatever thoughts were behind them. ‘I’d know.’

A muted vibration sounded, like a trapped bee in the car’s quiet. Salim took a phone from her pocket. The light from its screen gave her face a cold, blue cast. She read whatever was on it without expression, then put it away.

‘I have to go.’

‘One more question,’ Jonah said quickly. ‘Everyone thought you’d been killed. How did you manage to get away?’

‘Who says I did?’

‘Then at least tell me whose body they found in the flat?’

A shadow seemed to cross her face. It was as though all the life and animation had drained out of her. She looked down at her lap, smoothing her coat over it.

‘Someone who couldn’t be saved.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘What does it matter now?’ The atmosphere in the car crackled again as she turned on him. ‘I had to survive for my sister. If it had been your son, what would you have done?’

Jonah was saved from answering by another buzz from her phone. This time Salim didn’t check it, and after a few seconds it fell silent.

‘I have to go,’ she said again, signalling to the bodyguard.

‘How can I get in touch with you?’ Jonah asked, frustrated the conversation was over.

‘Look in the glove compartment.’ She gave a wry smile when he hesitated. ‘Don’t worry, it’s not a trick.’

He had to reach across her. The glove compartment was empty except for a mobile phone.

‘There’s a number on it to contact me if you have information about Owen Stokes,’ she told him as he took it out. ‘You can only use it once. And I’m sure I needn’t ask you not to tell anyone about this.’

Jonah slipped the phone into his jacket pocket. ‘What would happen if I did?’

‘You mustn’t!’ There was a new note in Salim’s voice. She went on, calmer. ‘It’s better for everyone that you don’t. Believe me.’

‘Why? Who are you afraid of? If it’s the gang who was holding you, I know people who can help.’

Her smile was coldly amused. ‘I’ve been told that before. Don’t worry, they aren’t a threat anymore. But there are others who wouldn’t be happy I’m here. And now you need to go.’

Jonah wanted to ask more, but cold air spilled into the car as the door beside him was opened. The bodyguard stood framed in the doorway, small eyes gazing down incuriously. Jonah had turned to get out when Salim spoke again.

‘Anna Donari.’

He looked back, bewildered. ‘What?’

‘Just remember the name. Anna Donari.’

‘Why, who is she?’

But a huge hand had clamped his arm as the bodyguard took hold of him. Jonah shrugged free but gave in to the inevitable and got out of the car. By the time he’d arranged himself on his crutches, Salim had already got into the back. She was invisible behind the tinted glass as the powerful engine grumbled to life. The glare from the headlights prevented him from seeing the number plate as the big Mercedes swiftly reversed out of the narrow lane and onto the waste ground. It executed a neat turn, headlights illuminating the weeds and rubble as they scythed across the blackness.

Then its rear lights were receding into the night, leaving Jonah alone in the darkness.