Necessary as Blood

desk, so that she was close to the girl, and on her level. Alia, you knew about Sandra‘s brothers and the drugs. What else did you know?‘
    The girl‘s reaction was immediate. Her eyes widened, pupils dilating, her mouth tightening. ‘Nuffink,‘ she said, her Estuary accent suddenly thicker. ‘Don‘t know what yer on about.‘
    Gemma pulled her chair a little nearer. ‘You can talk to me. I won‘t tell your parents.‘
    ‘If my dad even knew I was here, he‘d kill me.‘ Alia cast a furtive glance at the door. ‘Only reason the women who come in here don‘t tell is that they don‘t want nobody to know they was here, either.‘
    ‘There‘s a coffee shop down the street. Let me take you for something...‘
    ‘I can‘t leave. The regular girl‘s on lunch, and so‘s the doctor. There has to be someone here, ‘cause of the drugs and things.‘
    ‘Well, that‘s perfect, then. There‘s just the two of us. We can talk before anyone comes back. Don‘t the women mind seeing a doctor?‘
    ‘It‘s a lady doctor, miss. He don‘t come in to see the clients. He just oversees things, like.‘
    ‘He?‘
    ‘Mr Miles. But it‘s his own money that runs the place.‘ There was a note of hero-worship in her voice. ‘We give women advice about contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases and stuff, and what to do if they‘re pregnant.‘ She was back on more comfortable ground, the stress gone from her voice, although she pronounced the clinical terms with studied nonchalance, as if she‘d practised.
    ‘That‘s brilliant, Alia. I can see why Sandra cared about the clinic. But you were her special friend, weren‘t you? She told you things she didn‘t tell anyone else. You‘d have known if something was worrying her.‘
    Gemma could see from Alia‘s expression that she was wavering, and made herself keep quiet. The girl had wanted to talk before, in fact had defied her father to come after them and tell them about Sandra‘s brothers. Would she have said more that day, if her parents hadn‘t been hovering? Or if Gemma had been alone?
    ‘There was something,‘ Alia said at last, with a glance at the door. ‘One of the girls that came in... Well, afterwards Sandra was all quiet, like. Even at home the next couple of days, when I was looking after Char.‘
    When Alia stopped, Gemma said very quietly, ‘But Sandra told you, didn‘t she? About what was bothering her. She needed someone to confide in.‘
    ‘Yeah.‘ Alia kept her gaze on her hands. ‘One day when Charlotte was asleep. Sandra said the girl that came in here, she was Bangladeshi, like, and just a kid. Younger than me. She was all crying, and Sandra took her into the little conference room.
    ‘This girl, she told Sandra — she said that some man had married her in Sylhet, paid her father a lot of money. He got papers and he brought her here, but then he never let her out of the house. He...‘ Alia picked at her cuticle, her face suffused with red. ‘He did...‘ She met Gemma‘s eyes for a moment, then looked away. ‘If my dad knew I was repeating these things...‘ She swallowed. ‘This man, the girl said he did — did things to her. Then, when she — when she started her periods, like, he didn‘t want nothing more to do with her. He sent her to another man, who liked girls that little bit older, a man who didn‘t mind about... women‘s things. She wasn‘t supposed to go out of this house, either, but that day she did. She was scared of what would happen if she got caught.
    ‘Sandra asked her why she didn‘t tell no one, and she said because the man would do bad things to her. And even worse, she‘d be sent back to Sylhet, where her family wouldn‘t have nothing to do with her and she‘d be cast out on the street.‘ Alia looked up at Gemma. ‘It‘s true. It‘s what my father would do. She‘d be unclean, like, and it wouldn‘t matter that none of it was her fault.‘
    ‘So what did Sandra do?‘ Gemma asked, trying to keep the horror from her voice.
    ‘She told the girl to come back, that she‘d help her work out something. But the girl never did.‘
    Gemma took a breath. ‘This man, the one who brought the little girl in from Bangladesh. Was it Mr Azad?‘
    ‘Oh, no.‘ Alia looked shocked. ‘Mr Azad wouldn‘t do nothing like that. He and Sandra, they were friends. No, this bloke — the girl never told Sandra his name. Just that he was rich, and white.‘

    ‘And that‘s all you got out of her?‘