Necessary as Blood

added, ‘I cheat when it‘s cold. I open the back window.‘
    ‘You‘re not fooling anyone, Lou,‘ Michael called from the balcony, but his tone was affectionate. ‘We can smell it on the dogs‘ coats.‘
    ‘Nazis,‘ Louise called back, but she smiled. ‘How Tkm survives taking the bands to rock clubs, I don‘t know. But now even those have been taken over by the no-smoking brigade.‘
    The flat was cluttered, apparently furnished with cast-off odds and ends, and most surfaces were covered with books and papers. The small kitchen at the back, however, was relatively neat, and Gemma suspected it was because Lou Phillips didn‘t cook.
    There was a lime on the cutting board, beside a tall glass and a bottle of Bombay gin and another of tonic. ‘Easy on the G for me,‘ said Gemma. And heavy on the T. Have to drive.‘ She watched as Louise got another glass and filled both with ice, gin and tonic, adding only a splash of gin to Gemma‘s.
    ‘Have you been here long?‘ Gemma asked. ‘It‘s an interesting flat.‘ She accepted the drink Louise handed her. lasting it, she found it delicious, the tartness of the lime and the bitterness of the tonic the perfect antidote to the heat.
    ‘Ten — no, eleven years.‘ Louise was already pulling the cigarette packet from her shorts as they walked back through the flat. ‘I found it just a few months after Naz and I bought the practice.‘
    When they reached the patio, Louise sank into one chair, her cigarette already lit, while Gemma took the other. She saw that the ashtray was indeed clean.
    Michael had gone inside the other flat, but the dogs remained, stretched out on the cool concrete, panting gently.
    ‘Are you the one with green fingers?‘ Gemma asked, admiring the profusion of flowers and plants, only a few of which she recognized.
    ‘Lord, no. That‘s all Michael‘s doing. He‘s a floral designer, and living so close to Columbia Road is a mecca for him. I kill everything I touch, and Turn‘s not much better.‘
    ‘Did Michael know Sandra, then? From when she used to work the market with Roy Blakely?‘
    ‘Oh, Michael knew Sandra. But then it seems that everyone knew Sandra.‘ Louise exhaled a long stream of smoke and ground out her half-finished cigarette. ‘Sandra had a way of insinuating herself into people‘s lives.‘
    ‘Insinuating?‘ Gemma asked, a bit puzzled by the word choice.
    ‘I don‘t mean that in a negative way. It was just that Sandra was interested in everything and everyone, and she made connections, and the connections made connections...‘
    Gemma thought about the unlikely-seeming thread between Sandra, and Azad, and Lucas Ritchie, and Pippa... and imagined those tendrils multiplied, exponentially. ‘How could someone who knew so much about everyone else reveal so little about herself?‘ she asked, as much to herself as to Louise. ‘No one I‘ve talked to seems to know anything about Sandra‘s background, or her relationship with her family — except maybe Roy Blakely, and that‘s only because he‘s known her family for years.‘
    ‘Naz knew enough,‘ Louise said flatly. Lighting another cigarette, she dropped the cheap plastic lighter. It rolled off the table to clatter onto the concrete, but Louise didn‘t reach for it.
    ‘What do you mean?‘ Gemma tried to keep the quickening of interest from her voice.
    ‘And why does it matter to you?‘ The gaze that Louise Phillips fixed on Gemma was sharp, a reminder that Phillips was, after all, a lawyer, and that, regardless of the gin and tonic, not much slipped past her.
    ‘Because I care what happens to Charlotte,‘ Gemma said simply. ‘And I don‘t believe that Sandra‘s mother will provide a good — or safe — environment for her,‘ she added, thinking that such an understatement only touched the tip of the iceberg.
    ‘Naz would have agreed with you.‘ Draining her gin and tonic, Louise placed her glass on the table with great deliberation. ‘And I let him down.‘

    Ahmed Azad didn‘t blink. ‘Why should I be able to tell you anything about this Mr Ritchie?‘
    ‘Because you belong to his club,‘ Kincaid answered.
    ‘Ah.‘ Azad drew out the word, and his small smile conveyed no humour. ‘I see someone has been indiscreet. But no matter. It is no great secret, although some of my more — should we say — observant brothers might be less than approving.‘
    ‘Was it Sandra Gilles who introduced you to Lucas Ritchie?‘
    ‘As a matter