“Where?”
“There’re homes spread across greater London. I don’t know them. It’s all kept secret. Families take the girls in and protect them till their parents can be dealt with.” She began to unhook each piece of equipment as she spoke.
Barbara focused on dealt with. She said, “What’s that mean, then? Who deals with the parents? And how?”
“Zawadi at first, usually with a social worker,” she said. “They visit the parents and try to reason with them; they warn them of the criminal nature of what they’re intending to do. It takes several visits, but if all goes well, the girl can return to her family, although she maintains her contact with Orchid House.”
“And if the family goes ahead with the plan anyway?”
“That’s the issue, isn’t it. It’s difficult to trust that a girl’s well-being has been absolutely secured. But the parents are put on a watch list. They agree to attend some meetings here. The girl attends activities as well and they agree to that.”
“Sounds like they lose control, eh?”
Narissa turned from her equipment box, where she’d just deposited the camera. Her assistants returned to the room, doing their part with the sound and lighting equipment. Narissa said, “You’re thinking this would give a parent a motive to kill, aren’t you?”
“What d’you think?”
“I think most people don’t want trouble with the police. The parents are caught, more or less. The rock and the hard place? If they harm their daughter, they go to prison. If they harm someone else, the result’s the same.”
RIDLEY ROAD MARKET
DALSTON
NORTH-EAST LONDON
Tani had the rucksack he’d packed for his sister ready. He now needed Simisola herself. He returned to Bronte House to fetch both. His mum was on her knees in the kitchen, yellow Marigolds on her hands, a pink bucket at her side. She was wielding a large sponge, scrubbing away at the lino.
She didn’t notice Tani enter the flat, nor did she hear him, and he took care not to reveal he’d come home. He slipped into the bedroom he shared with his sister, but she wasn’t there. That meant she was in the market. With her friend Lim gone, she had no place else to go. He fetched the rucksack into which he’d already stowed some of Simi’s things. He wasn’t sure that he had everything that she would need, but he reckoned Sophie or her sister would fill in the gaps as and where they could.
He didn’t want to risk being seen, so he went for the window. He tossed the rucksack outside and followed it. He set off in the direction of Ridley Road Market, and there, accosted by a thousand and one rank odours from various types of meat and fish, he scooted behind the stalls on the opposite side of the street from the butcher shop. He caught a glimpse of his father going at an enormous disemboweled pig inside the shop as one of the apprentice butchers watched and another did a typically bad job of keeping the flies off a pile of sheep’s legs and another of organ meats soaking up the sun.
Tani knew of Simisola’s various haunts, so he found her easily enough in a large room above the party shop Cake Decorating by Masha operated from this location. When Tani walked in, he saw that cleaning up after the most recent class was giving way to setting up for the evening class. Simi was at the washing-up sink. To her right, colourful mixing bowls joined a number of baking tins on a drying mat. Inside the bowls were measuring spoons and measuring cups in multiple sets. Beaters from the electric mixers still displayed the colours chosen for their concoctions by Masha’s eager students.
The centrepiece of the room was a long, chipped green table, its surface speckled with the remains of various doughs and icings. Masha was walking along the table, spraying it with some kind of cleaner. She wiped up as she went, after which she headed towards what appeared to be a storeroom. When she emerged, she had numerous spices and such held in the clasped, curved lap of her apron. She clocked Tani and said, “？’Fraid there’s not another class till half past seven and it’s filled. You have to wait till next week.”
“Come for Simisola,” he said.
Hearing his voice, Simi swung around. “Tani! Are you walking home with me?” She looked delighted.
“Yeah,” he said, because they would indeed be walking together, although their destination wasn’t going to be Bronte House.
“I got to finish up first,” she said. “But you’ll wait, won’t you? Won’t you wait till I’m done?”
He looked at the wall clock. He reckoned that she wouldn’t be missed for hours and neither would he. His father would know he hadn’t been at work, but that was of no matter since he—Tani—had been burning bridges in that regard as quickly as he came upon them. But, still, he and Simi needed to move with speed in order to get her to the Franklins’ house.