Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil(63)

“Don’t worry,” Violette says, seeing Bee’s reaction. “They won’t come near us dressed like this.”

She seems to have it all worked out, but there’s sadness in her eyes.

“You sort of look like shit,” Violette says.

Bee shrugs. “Haven’t been sleeping.”

“I wanted to say thanks,” Violette says. “You didn’t have to help us get out of France.”

Bee doesn’t know what to say.

“Do you ever think of them?” she asks after a moment.

“Always,” Violette says. “About ten times a day.”

“Same.”

“Eddie wants to talk about them all the time. He reckons Michael Stanley gave him his email address and told Eddie to send a playlist. Eddie says he’ll do it, regardless.”

“Did you see anything?” Bee asks.

“Manoshi. And that Reggie kid from Brighton. He had blood all over his face, but I read online that he only needed two stitches. What about you?”

Bee nods. “Michael. I think Charlie saw some bad stuff and he’s screwed in the head now.”

“Crombie was screwed in the head to begin with.”

“Did you hear he’s locked up in Strood?”

“Yep. Eddie and I have rewritten the NATO phonetic alphabet in honor of him. Arsehole. Bastard. Charlie. Dickhead. Excrement. Fuckwit…”

Bee can’t help laughing.

“Have you heard from your girlfriend?” Violette asks with a nudge.

“She’s not my girlfriend. It was just snogging.”

Violette rolls her eyes. “Seriously, Bee, don’t tell me you’re still sitting around waiting for her to make the next move?”

Bee has forgotten about the lisp thing. It disappears sometimes and then it’s there, reminding her that Violette can’t control everything.

“My mother saw the photos from that last night in Calais,” Bee says. “She said you and I are probably descendants of two sisters who lived in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago.”

Violette gives this some thought. “Yeah, that sounds right.”

Eddie reappears from the tube station and his face makes Bee ache. Anyone who reminds her of her brother makes her ache, but she can’t say so to her mum or dad. All those mornings her mother wouldn’t get out of bed. She doesn’t want that happening now that the baby is coming.

“You need to take him home, Violette,” she says.

“I can’t force him to go. Something happened there.”

“Like, domestic stuff?”

“Like, stuff here,” she says, pointing to her heart.

“So where are you heading?”

When Violette is silent, Bee feels anger rising again. “You won’t tell me because you’re scared I’ll tell my dad! But it’s okay to trust Cosette, the poser.”

“Georgette,” Violette corrects, and then she laughs and Bee can’t help laughing herself.

“I won’t tell you because I know you’ll keep it from your dad, and I think that will hurt him. I would never keep anything from my dad if he was alive.”

Bee wants to say that’s because Violette’s father didn’t live long enough to disappoint her. Although throwing himself off a rock and leaving Violette there alone was a pretty shit thing to do. Bee would never forgive her dad if he did something like that.

“Is he someone we should be worried about?” Violette asks. “I only met him for a moment but he looked like he was good at his job.”

Bee sighs. “He’s been drinking up a storm this year and I think the Met suspended him a couple of weeks ago. Now he’s got nothing better to do but visit blown-up kids in hospital and search for terrorists.”

They watch Eddie as he waits to cross the road. Bee can sense Violette looking at her, and turns.

“He’s my brother,” Violette says softly.

“Who, Eddie?”

Violette nods. “And that’s the biggest secret I’ve ever told anyone outside the people who already knew, so don’t accuse me of not trusting you again.”

Bee can’t help thinking what an idiot she is. Idiot. Eddie crosses the road and a cab misses him by an inch. How bloody obvious is it that he and Violette are related? She reaches out and takes Violette’s hand.

“I’ve just got two more things to do, okay?” Violette says. “And then I’ll take him home.” After a moment she asks, “Does your dad think I did it?”

“No. I told him that if you were going to put a bomb on the bus, you’d have chosen Charlie Crombie’s seat up the back. My dad’s beginning to understand why.”

Eddie arrives and offers them a stick of chewing gum.

“I’m going to bash Crombie when I see him,” Eddie says. “I’ve learnt some moves.” He does a bit of shadowboxing for Bee and it makes her laugh.

“Can I trust him?” Violette asks. “Your father, I mean. He’s everywhere. Who’s he working for?”

“I think he’s working for you, Violette. I think my dad wants to save every kid in England because he couldn’t save his own.”





29



There wasn’t much talk on the preboarding lane at the port of Calais. Absolutely none at French border patrol. And only an intake of breath by Sarraf once they reached the UK Border Force. Bish handed over his passport and watched the officer process the information in his computer. A moment later the man looked up, not quite suspicious, but whatever he had read seemed to demand a silent stare. First at Bish and then at Sarraf. Wordlessly the officer held out a hand for Sarraf’s passport.