“Someone else, then,” Lynley said. “It’s only just come to you. I do need the information, Mr. Phinney. This is merely a clearing of the books.” Which wasn’t strictly true. But it was inclined to encourage admissions.
Phinney said, “My brother borrowed it, now I think of it. His wife—Pietra—had taken theirs to meet up with a mate of hers. He needed a car so he asked could he borrow mine and would I stay with Lily till he returned.”
“On July thirty-first,” Lynley clarified.
Paul Phinney shook his head. “I couldn’t say exactly. I wasn’t paying attention. It was a simple enough request.”
“Was he gone long?”
“That I wouldn’t know,” Phinney said. “Pete got back before Mark, so I left. The car wasn’t there when Eileen and I tucked up the kids and . . . well, did a little personal business in the bedroom. But it was back there in its usual spot in the morning.”
“Did he tell you why he wanted to borrow it?”
Phinney shook his head slowly. “He may have done, but I’ve no memory of that. You’ll have to have a chat with him.”
Lynley’s intention was to do that, at once.
He knew Paul Phinney would ring his brother the moment he himself was out of sight, however, giving the DCS time to prepare mentally for what was coming. There was no help for that aside from tying and gagging the man. It was also pointless to ask him not to notify his brother, for the fact that they were brothers made an enormous difference to how they cooperated with the coppers.
PEMBURY ESTATE
HACKNEY
NORTH-EAST LONDON
Tani knew what the real danger was, and this knowledge took him to Hackney. All three of the white people tried to talk him out of it, but he held up his mobile phone and reminded them that Joseph Cotter had made certain that Tani had the number of his own mobile. Tani set it up so that it was ready to send a message to the man with one tap of his finger, and if he sent that message, it would mean he was in danger. Joseph Cotter would ring the police.
Tani said to them, “It’s the passports. We got to get them. They got to go with the protection order. ’F we don’t snatch them away from him, no one’s safe.”
“But you’re not safe if you go back there,” Deborah St. James had said. “At least let Dad go with you.”
“That’s a good idea, Tani,” Deborah’s husband said. He gestured to his leg. Tani had already seen the metal bar that went through the heel of his shoe. It was obviously connected to a leg brace of some kind that made him walk unevenly, and the poor bloke probably couldn’t run at all. Simon went on with, “Obviously, I wouldn’t be much help if you ran into your father again. But Joseph would be.”
Simi watched them all from the lowest step on the stairs. They were in the entry of the house, and Tani had his hand on the doorknob. She said, “Please don’t go, Tani. I’m scared something bad’ll happen.”
The three white people looked at him meaningfully. Tani turned to his sister and he felt himself weakening. But this one last action had to be taken. All of them knew it at one level or another, even Simi. If someone didn’t put hands on the passports, their father’s power over them would never end. Tani said to his sister but also for the benefit of the white people, “By the time I get there, he’ll be in the market, Squeak. You know that. He lef’ the shops alone yesterday, but no way he’s doing that two days in a row.”
“Oh, please, please.” Simi clutched her hands prayerfully at her chest. From where Tani stood, he could see that her eyes were brimming.
“I got to, Squeak. An’ I’ll have my mobile. See?” He held it up for her. “I c’n get help easier ’n anything if I need it. But I’m not going to need it. He got what was due from me yesterday anyway. He won’t try again.”
Simi looked to the white people beseechingly. Joseph Cotter said, “Best idea’s for me to fetch you there and back. You got to know that, lad.”
He did and he didn’t. He understood better than any of them that his mission could turn tits-up in a very bad way. But he also understood that having a white person with him was the perfect match to set fire to the box of tinder.
They finally reached a minor compromise. Deborah would drive Tani to the underground at Victoria Station. If he took the tube north from there, he would have to change only once for the overground rail to take him to Hackney Central. The trip would be quicker.
Aside from having to cope with the hordes at Victoria Station, the journey was easy and uneventful. Tani disembarked at Hackney Central. Up The Narrow Way a few minutes from the station and he was looking at Pembury Estate.