He said, “We’ll need to know where you want her body taken. To prepare her for . . . whatever you’re considering. You c’n ring me to let me know or you can ring the morgue.” He’d written down both numbers on a page from his notebook and he handed this over to them. Solange took it, folding it neatly in half.
She said, “Ross. What does he know?”
“My colleague’s informing him of ever’thing jus’ like I’m informing you.”
Rosie said, “I should ring him, then. He’ll be quite upset.”
“Af’er I have a word with you,” Nkata told her.
“With me? Why?”
“Toss it round your head and I ’xpect you’ll work that out,” he told her.
STREATHAM
SOUTH LONDON
Barbara Havers had rung him on the previous evening, so she knew that Ross Carver had completed his move back into his former home. Over the phone she’d told him that they’d made an arrest and they had a confession. Any more than that, she said, she would prefer to tell him in person. So after leaving her Mini in front of Maxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, she crossed the road and used the buzzer next to the name Bontempi on the building, giving thought to when he would change it from Bontempi to Carver once again.
He said, “Sergeant Havers?” through the intercom.
“With bells on,” she replied, and he buzzed her in.
She found him dressed for work but having a final cup of coffee. He offered her one from what looked like a new espresso-and-everything-else maker, but she shook her head. She said, “It was the surgeon, I’m sorry to say. The woman who was on board to repair her.”
He’d been lifting his coffee to his mouth, but he lowered it. He gestured her to the table where they’d sat before. She noted that the tenth edition of Standing Warrior had not been returned yet. So that was where she began.
“We found Standing Warrior. Teo’s edition of it, I mean. It had been given to a woman who was one of the surgeon’s patients. We saw it in a photo, went to check it out, and there it was. That took us straight to the surgeon. It’s with forensics now.”
“Why?” he said. “Why the hell did she club her?”
“Teo discovered she had two clinics, not just one: a clinic where she performed repairs and another where she practised FGM.”
“What the . . . ? What was she doing? Lining up future patients for repairs?”
Barbara shook her head. She said, “Mind if I open . . .” and gestured to the balcony and its door, to which he said, “Have at it,” so she did. Despite the fact that it was still early morning, the sunlight streaming through the balcony doors and the dining-room window had already transformed the flat into a sauna. She returned to the table, saying, “It’s called medicalised FGM in some countries. FGM performed with all the mod cons of an operating theatre—like general anaesthetic—and post-surgery care. In some countries, it’s actually legal. Here, no. Teo had been watching a clinic in Dalston. When she’d seen enough, she had the local coppers shut the place down. She was there when it happened.”
“So she saw the surgeon there?”
“More or less, that. This’s a woman called Philippa Weatherall. She—the surgeon—wasn’t in the clinic when the local cops arrived, so that was why she didn’t get arrested. But she came along directly and Teo saw her. She put it together, and she let the surgeon know she put it together. Once Teo turned her in, that was going to mark the end of her career—Dr. Weatherall’s, I mean—and she couldn’t let that happen. She rang several times to try to speak to Teo about it.”
He dropped his gaze to the coffee cup. He swirled the coffee within it, but didn’t look like a man who wanted to swill it down. He said, “Why the hell did Teo let her into the building? At that point, she must have known the risk. She wasn’t a fool.”
“She didn’t let her in,” Barbara said. “We’re fairly sure Dr. Weatherhall managed to get inside the place with a group who were entering. I’ll be taking her picture round when I leave here. Someone is going to recognise her.”
“But even the flat . . . I don’t understand why Teo let her in?”
“She might’ve been surprised to see her, but obviously, she didn’t think Dr. Weatherall was dangerous. And according to the surgeon, she came only to talk to her again. But she got desperate when Teo refused to give in. She whacked her with the bronze piece before she had a chance to think it through.”