“Doesn’t everything feel personal when you get to our age, Mr. Lelouche?” The other man’s smile suggested that he couldn’t help but agree. Bish took the photo of Khateb from his pocket. “Do you recognize this man? His name’s Ahmed Khateb.” Briefly he explained the connection to Violette.
Lelouche studied the photograph. “He does not seem familiar. I’m sorry I can’t help you.”
Bish pocketed the photo and removed his wallet to pay.
“You haven’t tasted our date and honey pastries, Chief Inspector Ortley.”
Bish looked at him. Bilal Lelouche had a story to tell, and these days Bish couldn’t resist one.
A waiter was beckoned and instructions given.
“How is it you know the Sarrafs?” Bish asked when they were alone again.
“The LeBracs,” Lelouche corrected. “Etienne came across my food at the souk close to where he lived. They had moved in with his wife’s family when she took up her studies again. The next week he brought Noor to my stall and told her it was the way he wanted her to cook.”
Lelouche couldn’t help being amused at the idea of anyone telling Noor how to do anything.
“It was an ongoing joke between them. Etienne would say his wife could do everything in the world better than everyone else. Except cooking. That was his job. He was always with a smile. A laugh. I knew I could trust him, so I told him about my past, why it was impossible for me to ever return to my country, and about my Amina, who was pregnant with our second child, and about Amina’s parents, who lived with us. Mine had died in Algiers. We had been lucky to get a temporary visa. When it expired we stayed, scared all the time that we would be found out. But better to take that chance than return.”
The coffee and pastries arrived. When the waiter had gone, Lelouche continued. “One day, Etienne and Noor came to my stall to tell me she was going to work on making things right for my family. Noor…she was difficult to understand. Not her language, but in here.” He pointed to his heart. “How do you say it? Aloof. But she told me she had filled out immigration and government papers for the Sarrafs all her life. She would be convincing with ours. So she and Etienne spent the next month interviewing us, writing down everything about our life in Algiers and our life in London. At first we were frightened to reveal so much that would place our entire family in danger, or trouble, both here and in Algeria. But it didn’t take long to trust the LeBracs.”
He smiled sadly. “Months later, when they came to arrest Noor, she wouldn’t let them in without a warrant. The police believed she used that time to burn evidence of buying material for the explosives, but what she actually burnt were the notes she took about us. Evidence that could have been used to tear my family apart. You see, regardless of how strong our chances were of staying here, we were planning to break the law. Noor had put in an application for Amina and me, but she believed Amina’s parents’ application would fail. So we decided that if we succeeded, my wife’s parents would live here with us illegally and no one would ever discover it.”
Bish put up a hand. “Be careful what you tell me here, Mr. Lelouche.”
“Amina’s parents are both dead now, so they can’t be taken from us. My five children got to be held in their grandparents’ arms. That has meant everything to my wife. To me. My own mother and father never had that chance.” Bilal fell silent a moment, and then said, “Noor owed us nothing, yet what she did for us has counted for everything in our lives. So every year after Ramadan I take my children to see her in jail. I tell them that this life we live would not have been possible without Noor and Etienne LeBrac.”
Bilal looked around the room. “They even worked on the papers that made this restaurant happen. It’s a good life, Chief Inspector. All because of two generous people.” Bish saw a resolute look in the other man’s eyes. “So when Etienne and Noor’s children come to me for help, who am I to turn them away?”
“So you know about Eddie?”
“Eddie has the coloring of his mother and the rest is from Etienne. To see that boy breaks the heart of anyone who knew Etienne, but fills it also with joy. Etienne came to this restaurant, sat right here, just days before he died. He was determined and optimistic about Noor and her family being released. He knew the evidence would not stand up in a court of law. I did not break bread with a man who would lose hope days later.”
Bish was about to get into his car when he remembered that Layla Bayat lived on the next block. If Jamal had stayed with her and had been in contact with Violette and Eddie, she would have met them as well. He knew it was late but he rang the doorbell all the same.
“It’s Bish Ortley,” he said, and surprisingly, she buzzed him in without a word.
Upstairs at her door she didn’t quite let him in.
“Violette and Eddie aren’t here,” she said.
“Just looking for a clue, Layla. To keep them safe. I promise your involvement won’t get back to your employers.”
“I’m no longer employed by Silvey and Grayson,” she said.
“They asked you to leave?”