Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil(92)

“Amina’s parents are both dead now, so they can’t be taken from us. My five children got to be held in their grandparents’ arms. That has meant everything to my wife. To me. My own mother and father never had that chance.” Bilal fell silent a moment, and then said, “Noor owed us nothing, yet what she did for us has counted for everything in our lives. So every year after Ramadan I take my children to see her in jail. I tell them that this life we live would not have been possible without Noor and Etienne LeBrac.”

Bilal looked around the room. “They even worked on the papers that made this restaurant happen. It’s a good life, Chief Inspector. All because of two generous people.” Bish saw a resolute look in the other man’s eyes. “So when Etienne and Noor’s children come to me for help, who am I to turn them away?”

“So you know about Eddie?”

“Eddie has the coloring of his mother and the rest is from Etienne. To see that boy breaks the heart of anyone who knew Etienne, but fills it also with joy. Etienne came to this restaurant, sat right here, just days before he died. He was determined and optimistic about Noor and her family being released. He knew the evidence would not stand up in a court of law. I did not break bread with a man who would lose hope days later.”



Bish was about to get into his car when he remembered that Layla Bayat lived on the next block. If Jamal had stayed with her and had been in contact with Violette and Eddie, she would have met them as well. He knew it was late but he rang the doorbell all the same.

“It’s Bish Ortley,” he said, and surprisingly, she buzzed him in without a word.

Upstairs at her door she didn’t quite let him in.

“Violette and Eddie aren’t here,” she said.

“Just looking for a clue, Layla. To keep them safe. I promise your involvement won’t get back to your employers.”

“I’m no longer employed by Silvey and Grayson,” she said.

“They asked you to leave?”

“I’m not into euphemisms,” she said bluntly. “It’s called being sacked.”

“Well, I got sent home from work a month ago,” he said. “Do you think that’s a euphemism for the Met sacking me?”

After an internal war that played out in her expression, she stepped aside and let him in. He’d forgotten how small the place was, especially now that the entire living room floor was carpeted with files. He noticed a map of Yorkshire among them.

“How can I help?” he asked.

“I don’t need your help.”

“You have a Yorkshire map, Layla. Noor and Jamal believe Violette is heading that way. So that tells me I can help out here.”

“This isn’t about Violette and Eddie.”

He couldn’t hide his frustration. “We’re on the same side, Layla. What else can I say to convince you?”

She looked tired. Defeated. Perhaps that was due to spending two days living with her past in the form of Jimmy Sarraf.

“Ask me again what my theory about Brackenham is,” he said.

She shook her head. “Go home, Ortley.”

“Do it. Ask me.”

She sighed. “Okay, so what’s your theory about the Brackenham bombing?”

“That Louis Sarraf acted on his own.”

They were the magic words she seemed to want to hear. After a moment’s consideration she crouched on the floor by her layout.

“I got sacked because I sent an email to the Yorkshire police asking questions about Etienne’s death,” she said. “I used my company email signature so I’d be sure to get answers.”

“Why investigate Etienne’s death now?” he asked. “In the middle of everything that’s happening.”

“Because of you,” she said. “When you accused Etienne of not being there for his daughter. In all this, I’d forgotten him. He met Noor when Jimmy and I were five years old. They were twenty. We all adored him because he was such an idiot. So much fun.” She laughed for a moment. “Not ambitious. Not like Noor. And years later, when they had Violette, he was a fantastic father. Noor and Jimmy had done whatever they wanted all their lives, made up the rules along the way, but not Etienne. The LeBracs had a strong work ethic, and they were strict. It’s how they raised Etienne. Family and responsibility were everything. Etienne would never have left Violette up there on that cove alone. Never. What have I been f*cking doing all these years not challenging that? I was too busy making money for the firm, watching couples who used to call each other ‘poppet’ quibble over their Pomeranian. What kid says, ‘When I grow up I want to be a divorce lawyer’?”

She swallowed hard. “That pile is Etienne,” she said, pointing. “That pile is Noor. I’m trying to prioritize.”

“Why Noor?”

“Violette hasn’t come here just to take Eddie on a history tour of their lives. She’s here to continue what her father started all those years ago. Getting her mother out of jail.”

Rachel’s theory again.

“And she wants you to help her?” he asked.

Layla nodded. “She says it’s what Etienne would have wanted. But finding out what happened to him is probably a thousand times easier than working out a case for Noor.”