Necessary as Blood

occurred to her that the idea of Toby and Kit in her own sister‘s care horrified her — although they wouldn‘t be mistreated, they wouldn‘t be cared for in the way she would look after them. And a blood relationship was certainly no guarantee of love, as Kit‘s experience with his grandmother had taught them all too painfully. ‘According to Tim, Naz and Sandra were adamant about not wanting Charlotte to have any contact with Sandra‘s family,‘ she continued. ‘And we don‘t know anything about this sister.‘
    ‘We?‘ Melody looked at her quizzically.
    ‘The police. Social services. You know what I mean, 1 she added, a little exasperated.
    Melody scrutinized her a bit longer, as if debating, then said, ‘Well, what it sounds like to me is that you don‘t want to let Charlotte Malik out of your sight.‘

Chapter Eleven

The British Bangladeshi population has therefore described itself in several different ways during the last sixty years: Indian, Pakistani, Bengali, Bangladeshi. Nowadays the last two terms are used interchangeably. In addition, many use the term ‘sylheti‘ to describe themselves, this being the part of Bangladesh from which most British Bangladeshis‘ families originate.

Geoff Dench, Kate Gavron, Michael Young,
The New East End

    Kincaid didn‘t like not having his own team on the ground from the beginning of an investigation, but as Bethnal Green had got in first, it made sense to run the incident room from Bethnal Green Police Station. And he wanted Weller, whether Weller wanted him or not, so once the DI was out of court he‘d have to put up with a new SIO on his patch.
    He‘d set up in a conference room with a computer terminal and a whiteboard, assigning an officer to man the public phone line and another to correlate the statements taken from witnesses in the park. Then he‘d had the very attractive DS Singh bring him every bit of information on file regarding Naz Malik and Sandra Gilles.
    He handed the Malik files to Cullen and started in on the disappearance of Sandra Gilles himself, reading with interest. People did simply vanish, of course; one only had to read the missing-persons files. But in most cases, enough digging would unearth a trigger — a row, depression, financial problems — or a witness would report some small thing that gave credence to a theory of violence. But Sandra Gilles, successful artist, devoted wife and adoring mother, just seemed to have been swallowed by the earth on that bright Sunday afternoon in May. There must have been something more.
    He read through the email Gemma had sent him, describing in detail the events of the weekend. Then he compared Gemma‘s notes with the brief report DI Weller had filed. There was no mention in Weller‘s report of Tim Cavendish‘s comments about Sandra Gilles‘s alleged affair with a man named Lucas Ritchie. Why?
    Tim had referred to Ritchie as a club owner, but if he had mentioned the club‘s name, Gemma hadn‘t caught it. Kincaid dialled Tim Cavendish on his mobile, heard the surprise in Tim‘s voice when he said he had questions about the case. ‘Yes, I‘ve got my fingers in the pie now,‘ he told Tim, but didn‘t elaborate. ‘Tim, about this Lucas Ritchie bloke — did Naz tell you anything else? The name of the club?‘
    ‘No. Look, I shouldn‘t have said—‘
    ‘Don‘t be daft, man,‘ Kincaid interrupted. ‘You should have told Gemma on Saturday. I‘ll ring you back.‘
    He called in Sergeant Singh. ‘Does the name Lucas Ritchie mean anything to you? Owns an exclusive private club in the area?‘
    She shook her head, but her brown eyes were alert, her expression interested. ‘No, sir. But I can run a search of local business records.‘
    He gave her a friendly smile. ‘Do that, why don‘t you, Sergeant. And get straight back to me with the results.‘ He was treading carefully here. It wasn‘t a good idea to openly criticize Weller to his staff, but he didn‘t want any failures of communication.
    ‘Yes, sir,‘ Singh answered, a slight frown creasing her smooth forehead. Pondering the implications, Kincaid thought. A bright girl. ‘Oh, but, sir,‘ she added, ‘I was just coming in to tell you. Dr Kaleem, the pathologist, rang. He wanted to speak to DI Weller, but since he‘s not available at the moment—‘
    ‘Sergeant,‘ Kincaid interrupted her again firmly. ‘I know it‘s a bit awkward for you, but I‘m in charge of the Malik investigation now, so