“When she was found in her flat, you mean?”
“Yes. You did not know her, of course,” Solange said with a small sad smile, “but Teo was the daughter any parent would want.”
“An’ did you?” Nkata asked.
“What?”
“Did you want her?”
Solange drew back, and her expression was clearly confused. “I am not sure what you mean,” she said. “Of course we wanted her.”
“But th’way I un’erstan’ things, you wanted a baby to adopt but you ended up with more ’n’ that. So I’m wond’ring if tha’s something you could’ve done without. An older girl.”
“Oh no,” Solange replied. “No, no. We wanted a baby, of course, and we learned the baby we’d arranged to adopt had an older sister. We were hesitant about that at first. But then we met her—Adaku, as she was called then—and really, to meet her was to be immediately enchanted, and even if that hadn’t been the case, we wouldn’t have separated the girls. They’d already lost so much: their mother, their father, their aunt, their cousins. It would have been cruel to take from either one of them the last blood tie they had.”
“Di’ she know that?” he asked.
There was a door to the outside at the far end of the kitchen and it had opened as Nkata was speaking. In came a young woman whom Solange greeted with, “Here is Katie at last,” to which Katie responded, “I am so sorry, Madame. Please. Let me take over.”
“We are lucky he’s not roaring by now.” Solange took a smallish china coffee pot and into this she poured a viscous brew that resembled long-exhausted motor oil. This she put onto the tray, which Katie then took and, with a friendly nod at Nkata, left the kitchen.
“Your question again?” Solange said to Nkata.
“If Teo knew she was wanted.”
Solange placed a cube of sugar into a cup and poured another espresso. She offered it to Nkata, but he had no intention of downing any more caffeine. She stirred the espresso and said, “We told her often. I am certain she knew. And she was the very heart of Cesare. They were . . . that expression . . . thieves in the night? No, no. That is not it.”
“Thick as thieves?”
“Yes, this is the one. But I have never understood what it means.”
He smiled. “Nothin’ far as I know. But I get your meaning.”
“Yes, they were very—”
“Maman!” Rosie burst into the room. She said something to her mother in rapid French as she more firmly belted the yellow dressing gown she was wearing. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Apparently understanding the implication, Solange said, “I did not wake you because the detective asked to speak with me.”
“Wanted to bring your mum into the picture of where we are in the ’vestigation,” Nkata said. “I been asked to keep you in the picture. The family, I mean.”
Rosie said, narrowing her eyes, “And where are you, then?”
“Your mum’s been telling me how you and Teo got adopted. And I got to say: Seems like you been interpreting things a bit wrong.”
Nkata saw a pulse beating in her temple. He decided she was trying to test the wind: like which direction was it blowing and how strongly and was there anything she ought to be doing before it turned into a gale. Finally, she said, “Have I? How odd.”
“We c’n agree on that. So I’m wondering why you tol’ me that your parents were forced to take Teo when all’s they wanted was you. How’d that get all mixed up in your mind?”
“Heavens, Rosie,” this from her mother. “How could you ever have thought that? Did Teo think that? Did she say something to you?”
“We can talk later,” Rosie said. “I have to get ready for work just now.”
“Can’t let you do that till we’ve talked, you ’n’ me,” Nkata told her. He handed her the stack of photos he’d brought. “Anyone here familiar to you?”
She looked at the first and the second and frowned. “I don’t see how anyone could be identified from these.” She squinted at them, as if that would make the photos sharper. After she’d gone through them all, she shook her head and passed them back to Nkata with a “sorry,” to which he said, “Tha’s fine, innit. We’re working on making the images better. Takes time, that. You can give another look when we get better ones.” He took note that she didn’t appear excited by the prospect. He said, “I need to know bit more ’bout your thing with your sister.”