38
HUNTER RETURNED WITH a jacketless and flushed DC Milne. He took Hunter’s seat, she leant against the back wall.
‘Tell me about Amal Hussain,’ he said, wiping his face with a handkerchief.
Sophie placed her hands in her lap. ‘Well,’ she began, ‘there’s not much to say really. I only met him when I was at Seth’s flat. He usually didn’t stay long after I arrived. We’d exchange a few words – just general greetings, you know – then he’d be gone.’
Milne and Hunter waited for more.
‘That’s about it,’ she said.
‘How did he seem, Ms Arnold?’ said Milne. ‘When you were there. How was he?’
Sophie shrugged. ‘Quiet. Cagey.’
‘Nervous?’ suggested Milne.
Sophie nodded. ‘Possibly, yes.’
‘And how was Seth when you were all there together? The three of you.’
‘A bit tense maybe. When Amal left, he seemed happy to see the back of him, I think. He relaxed a bit anyway.’
‘Did he talk about him when he’d gone?’
‘No, never.’
Milne swivelled. ‘And you, Ms Madden, you say you never met Amal, that he was never round when you were there.’
Famie nodded.
‘And, forgive me, this was before Ms Arnold here began her relationship with Seth Hussain?’
I know it’s just a question, thought Famie, but you know you made it sound like we’re sluts. She bit her lip, nodded again.
‘I see. Ms Arnold, did Seth ever discuss politics with you?’ said Milne.
‘Yes, of course,’ said Sophie. ‘All the time. He was always campaigning. Human rights and civil liberties in Egypt were his passion. He kept up with a lot of contacts there.’
‘Hmm,’ said Milne. ‘Odd, isn’t it. That one brother is a peacenik, the other a terrorist?’
Sophie recoiled. ‘Peacenik? What kind of a shitty thing to say is that? Campaigning for democracy in a country like Egypt is not being a “peacenik”. It’s not some weak hippy crap. It’s not peaceful in any way. It’s dangerous work that could get you jailed. Or shot.’
‘Or stabbed?’ said Hunter.
‘It had occurred to me, yes,’ said Sophie. ‘He embarrassed the Egyptian government many times. I’m sure they won’t be mourning his death.’
‘Might they have actively sought it?’ asked Milne.
‘They may well have,’ said Sophie.
Milne shifted his weight on the seat, mopped his face again. ‘Excuse the question, Ms Arnold, but what was the status of your relationship?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘When he was killed,’ clarified Milne. ‘Were you still seeing each other?’
Sophie nodded.
‘I’m sorry, you must be devastated,’ said Milne.
‘Of course,’ said Sophie.
A moment of silence.
‘Forgive me,’ said Milne, ‘but you really don’t sound it.’
Sophie glared at him. ‘We don’t all break down in tears, Detective. Even under tactless questioning.’
‘Of course, of course.’ Milne waved his hands. Moving on. ‘Did he ever borrow money from you?’
Sophie nodded. ‘He did.’
‘Do you know what he spent it on?’
She shook her head. ‘I honestly have no idea.’
‘Maybe he gave it to his brother?’
‘Maybe. Maybe he spent it on pizza. Like I said …’
‘Might his support for human rights have been a sham, Ms Arnold? A front?’
‘OK, I’ve had enough,’ said Sophie, standing. Her right hand held the table, her left hand protected her stomach. Famie noticed, and she saw Hunter notice it too.
Milne tried again. ‘I’m sorry, Ms Arnold, I realize this is all upsetting for you but one more question, if I may.’
Sophie sat down again.
‘Was there anyone else at IPS that Seth had been … “seeing”?’ The quote marks were audible. ‘It would be natural of course. And we do desperately need to find out more about Amal.’
Famie felt the ground shifting again. The sense that everything was about to get worse. It was a fair question. It needed a fair answer. In the ensuing silence, she was aware that Sophie and Sam were both deferring to her on this one. Hunter and Milne were waiting for her too.
‘As it turns out, yes,’ she said. ‘We think he had been in a relationship with Mary. Mary Lawson.’
It electrified the room the way Famie thought it would.
‘Mary Lawson?’ said Milne, not hiding his surprise. ‘Happily married, mother of two beautiful children – that Mary Lawson?’
‘Fuck off,’ said Famie. ‘Spare us your moralizing. It’s a weakness of yours, in case no one has told you before. Which I doubt.’
Milne reddened.
‘But yes,’ she continued, ‘that Mary Lawson.’
Hunter pushed off the wall. ‘You think they had a relationship?’
‘They had a relationship,’ said Famie.
‘How do you know?’ Hunter asked. ‘Did she tell you? Did Seth tell you?’
Famie knew the laptop was a few centimetres from her right foot. She knew it was evidence, she knew she should tell them. If it had been just the Hunter woman there then maybe she would have said something but the thought of this creep leering over the photos of her and Sophie was too much. She glanced at Sophie, who shrugged, then looked to the floor.
‘We just know.’
‘You just know,’ repeated Milne. ‘I see. So when we interview her widower and ask him about this relationship and he asks for evidence, we’ll say that Ms Madden and Ms Arnold just know. Would that be right?’
Famie avoided looking at Sam. She knew what he would be thinking because most of her was thinking it too: that they knew Mary had been ‘seeing’ Seth because he had naked pictures of her, that Seth was a serial womanizer and pervert, and that it was quite possible Mary had met EIJ-supporting Amal Hussain. But the photos added nothing and took away everything. One more indignity. One final embarrassment.
‘That would be right,’ she said.
Hunter stood next to Milne. ‘Ms Madden …’
‘Ms Hunter.’
The DC looked exasperated. ‘You wanted me to take you seriously,’ she said, ‘to take action on the suggestion that a terror attack is imminent. I did that. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. But you have to take us seriously. If your colleague Mary Lawson was in or had been in a relationship with one of the victims, we need to know. And as that victim was the brother of an Islamist extremist, we really need to know.’
‘I’m sure you do,’ Sophie said, ‘and how long before the press get to hear of it? How long before one of your esteemed colleagues sells the information to the papers? I’d give it a couple of days. Probably less.’
Milne, redder than ever, was about to object when Hunter cut across him.
‘Ms Arnold.’ She fixed Sophie with a wide-eyed stare, her eyebrows raised. ‘You might be feeling particularly … emotional at the moment. Vulnerable even.’ Her words were delivered with a knowing sensitivity.