As Nkata felt the sweat break out on his forehead, Tabby said something he couldn’t hear. Alice filled him in with, “Tabby thinks she got the phone call round half past twelve?” There was a pause and then—as if she’d looked at the wall clock or her watch—“Oh dear. She should have been back before now. I let you down. Jewel, I hope . . . If the husband did get to her, I’ll never forgive myself. I am so, so—”
“？’S’okay, Mum,” Nkata told her. “I ’spect he didn’t get to her.”
They rang off on that reassurance. It was, Nkata knew, absolute. Still, he proved this to himself by ringing the Belgravia station. Yes, he was told, Abeo Bankole was still in custody. If no charges were filed, he would be released at the end of the twenty-four hours they were allowed to hold him.
Nkata rang the St. Jameses next. He spoke briefly and as calmly as possible to Joseph Cotter. From him, he gathered the limited information that Monifa had come for Simisola. When he asked to speak with Tani, he learned the rest from the boy, and it was the same as he’d learned from his own mother. Monifa had been there, and she’d told them about Abeo’s release. Tani knew his father would never give up a single one of the plans he had for them, so he’d remained behind to face off with Abeo once he showed up, while Monifa hid Simisola away. But Abeo hadn’t returned to Cheyne Row, at least so far he hadn’t.
Did Tani know where Monifa had intended to take Simisola? Nkata asked him.
“To Brixton, was what she said. She tol’ me my dad wouldn’t know how to find her there.”
“An’ if she didn’t go to Brixton?”
“But she did. Tha’s what she told us, me an’ Mr. Cotter.” His voice altered then as he seemed to understand that something had gone wrong and perhaps badly so. “Wha’s . . . Did he get her?”
“Let me check on all that,” Nkata said.
“But did she go to Brixton like she said?”
“Lemme check on that ’s well, Tani. You stay with Mr. Cotter, yeah? Is Mrs. St. James back?”
“Yeah.”
“Mr. St. James?”
“No. But—”
“Okay, then.” Nkata cut in. “You all stay there in Chelsea. I got to make some phone calls. I’ll be in touch soon ’s I know something ’bout where your mum is. Just in case, any place else she might go?”
“We got cousins in Peckham.”
“You ring them and check for me, eh?”
Nkata rang off quickly before the boy could ask more questions that he couldn’t answer, with either truth or falsehood. He did have phone calls to make, though, and the first of these went to Zawadi in order to give her the news. She didn’t answer her mobile phone, which told him she was as good as her word: she was on her way to Brixton for the passports. He left her a message to ring him as soon as she could, and then he connected to Lynley. Before he could explain what had happened, Lynley told him that China Wharf was the location on the South Bank that the DCs had marked as having the highest potential for docking a motorboat. It was just east of Tower Bridge, with easy access from the river to its bank via steps at either end of the wharf. There was CCTV across the street on a building not far from a tunnel that gave access to the river. The tunnel itself was between China Wharf and Reeds Wharf, both of which were situated in Bermondsey Wall. As the warehouses in the location had long since been converted to flats, there was every chance that more CCTV cameras would be located there for the buildings’ security.
Nkata hoped the good news Lynley had imparted would outweigh the bad news about the missing passports. He shared the information and then went on to explain what had occurred at his mum’s café.
He ended with, “Tabby—tha’s mum’s helper in the caff—says there was a phone call that Monifa took, giving her the information that her husband’s been let go. Only that call wasn’t from the Belgravia cops, cos Abeo Bankole’s there till half past three if no one wants charges filed against him.”
Lynley said nothing. Nkata could hear voices in the background. After a few moments for thought, Lynley said, “So it could be she’s taken the girl back to . . . what was the name of the housing estate?”
“Mayville. But why tell Tani she was bringing the girl to Brixton, guv? And why’d she take those passports with her?”
“Does she have a credit card?” Lynley asked. “Access to cash? Enough to take the girl somewhere out of the country?”