We watch the clip a couple more times and I’d have to agree.
“Trouble in paradise, maybe?” Woodley asks. “There usually is.”
The DC queries that with a look.
“They’re supposed to be best of friends, these two.”
“I must have looked at it twenty times and I can’t tell if it’s an accidental gesture or not. The rest is obscured by fog. It’s extremely annoying.”
He gets a third clip up for us.
“Next time we see them is here,” he says. “About a quarter of a mile beyond the bridge.”
Noah Sadler’s crossing a road alone. He’s walking more quickly than before, hands in pockets, head down, backpack still on. From what we can see of his expression and his gait, he’s fatigued. He disappears out of frame.
“Wait for it,” the DC says. We stare at the empty crossing, and just a few seconds later, Abdi Mahad appears, following in his friend’s footsteps. His hood’s up, he’s walking more easily than Noah, but he doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to catch up. We can’t see his face.
“Anything else?” I say once Abdi has disappeared out of the frame.
The DC shakes his head.
“I’m still working on getting hold of the CCTV around the scene,” Woodley says. “The scrapyard doesn’t have any and it’s a bit of a nightmare tracking down the owners of the other units.”
“We need it ASAP.”
I turn back to the screen.
“So what happened on the bridge,” I say, “to separate the boys, and make Abdi start following Noah?”
We watch the clips over and over again, scouring them for clues—a bit of body language, anything that can tell us more—but we come up short. All we can say for sure is that Noah Sadler’s clearly struggling physically by the last clip, and Abdi Mahad’s following him as they head toward the station. Whether that’s to help or harm him, and whether Noah’s aware he’s there, is impossible to gauge.
I run into Fraser in the cafeteria. She’s holding a packet of wasabi peas and examining it with suspicion.
“Ever tried one of these, Jim?”
“They’re good.”
“I’m skeptical.” She drops the packet back onto the rack, selects a bag of crisps instead, and moves on.
I follow her to the drinks station, where she gets a coffee from the machine and puts two packets of sugar into it. I get a fizzy water and she raises her eyebrows.
“Doctor’s orders,” I say. “Because of my insomnia. I’m supposed to limit my caffeine intake.”
“And that is precisely why I avoid doctors. Sit with me a moment, Jim.”
We take a seat by the window. The sound of good-natured chatter and the smell of hot food being prepared come from the kitchen.
“Emma Zhang,” Fraser says, and coming out of the blue like that, the name almost makes me shudder. Fraser gazes at me, but her eyes are an unreadable slate gray. She knew that Emma and I were involved during the Ben Finch case, and she didn’t get on my back about it, even after things fell apart. I have no idea what her agenda is now.
“Yes” is the safest answer I can think to give her. I’m wary because I don’t know where she’s going to go with this. I ease the cap off my water and wish I’d got a coffee.
“Have you had any contact with her since the Ben Finch case?”
“No, boss.”
“None at all?”
“None.” It’s the bare-naked truth. I haven’t even googled her, though I’ve thought about her more than once probably every single day since we parted ways. It’s pride that’s stopped me from trying to track her down.
Fraser nods. She slurps her coffee noisily.
“You need to know that she’s popped her head back above the parapet.”
“What?”
She sighs. “Look, I wouldn’t have assigned you this case if I’d known this was going to happen, but we are where we are. Have you got your phone on you?”
I hold it up.
“Google your case: ‘Feeder Canal teenager’ or whatever.”
I feel my foot start to twitch as I wait for the results to come up. I move it away from Fraser’s leg.
“See the article on TwentyFour7 News?”
I nod.
“That. Scroll down to the bottom of it.”
There it is: a photograph of my ex, and beside it the words “Emma Zhang, Crime Reporter.”
I look at Fraser and she nods. “She’s reporting on your case. First we’ve heard of her getting into journalism, and it’s bad luck for you, it really is. I’m not inclined to move you off the case, though, so long as you think it’s not going to disturb you unduly.”
I stare at Emma’s picture. It’s been more than a year since I last saw her so this feels like a gut punch.
“Jim?”
“Yes, of course it’ll be fine. You don’t need to take me off the case.”
“You’re not filling me with confidence just now.”
“Sorry, boss. I do mean it: I’ll be fine.”
“This makes her absolutely toxic. You understand that, I hope. Look at me, Jim.”
I place the phone on the table facedown and give her my full attention, even though I think I can hear the blood rushing between my ears.
“An ex–police officer reporting on crime is out of bounds in every way for a personal relationship. Are your feelings for her resolved?”
“Yes, boss.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“I could turn a blind eye before, but I won’t be able to again. Not now. I need to make that crystal clear.”
I stand up. “I am absolutely past my feelings for Emma Zhang, and there is no possibility of entering a relationship with her again.”
I know I sound stupidly formal, as if I’m translating the sentence from another language, but it’s the best I can do.
“Okay then.” She doesn’t look one hundred percent reassured.
I wait until I’m alone before I google Emma again.
That face. That hair. Those eyes.
My guilt.
Sofia wakes up late the following morning, overtired from being up all night and stressing about the papers in Ed Sadler’s office and the recording, trying to work out if it means anything at all, and if so, what.
She has no time to try to discuss it with her parents or Abdi, because she has to run for the bus to college, but she hands the iPad over to her mother and tells her that she needs to listen to the recording. She shows her mother which button to press.
Before she leaves, she takes a moment to whisper Abdi’s name from the doorway of his bedroom. He shifts a little in his bed, and hope surges in her for a second, but he falls motionless again. Frustrated with him, she enters the room and pokes at his shoulder. He shocks her by flinging his arm back toward her, almost striking her. It’s sudden and violent. She backs out of the room.
At the same time as Sofia takes her seat in the lecture hall at the university and wonders how she’s going to be able to concentrate on a talk about neonatal care, Nur arrives home from driving the night shift. It was a slow night, so he stayed out to catch the early morning train station arrivals to make the shift worthwhile, and he’s weary and worried as he arrives back at the estate.
Maryam’s expression tells him everything when he enters the flat. He knows even before he peers into Abdi’s room that there’s been no change.