The Disappeared

witnesses.'

'Anwar Ali?'

'Sounds familiar. But I don't get the impression they're making any ground.' He shrugged and looked expectantly to her for a contribution.

'I suppose they're assuming that whoever contaminated her had something to do with her son - a terrorist cell perhaps.'

'I'm sure that's the thrust of it.'

'Do they think it was murder?'

'It's being considered.'

'All I know is that she had become convinced she was being watched. She reported it to the police. And around the time she died the caretaker's wife saw a suspicious man in the lobby of the building who pushed past her. My officer spoke to her; she'll have given a statement to the police too.'

'Yes, I had a bit of a briefing yesterday, got the general gist.' He tapped the arms of his chair with his fingers, a sign that he was being forced unwillingly to the point. 'Look, I know all about the sanctity of a coroner's inquest, but they are rather hoping that any evidence you might have would be shared.'

'I don't have any.'

'I understand you adjourned your inquest to pursue further lines of inquiry.'

McAvoy's parting words echoed back to her. She could mention Sarah Levin, Anna Rose, Madog and Tathum, but where would that leave her inquiry? They'd get to her witnesses first and contaminate them like they had Mrs Jamal. Christ, she was thinking like McAvoy now. Why not tell just tell him everything, hand over responsibility?

'Well?' Moreton said gingerly. 'Did they yield anything?'

'No.' Her denial emerged without conscious thought.

Moreton was disappointed. 'That's not exactly right, is it, Jenny? You've been sniffing after a car. Your officer's taken a statement from a witness.'

'You've been interrogating my officer? You've no right to do that. My inquiries are carried out in the strictest confidence.'

He spread his hands in a gesture of innocence. 'I'm afraid in a situation like this the rules have to bend a little - surely you of all people understand that.'

Defiantly, Jenny said, 'If you've been sent to mine me for information ahead of my inquest, you can forget it. Gillian Golder and her people can sit in the public gallery like anyone else.'

'In any normal case I could see your point, but there's someone running about out there with radioactive material. Who knows what they might be doing? Certainly not waiting to be caught out by your inquest.'

'I have no information to offer on Amira Jamal's death other than what I've told you. Anyway, it's a police matter.

All I'm concerned with is finding out what happened to her son.'

'I must say, I'm very disappointed, Jenny. In this of all cases, I was hoping for a rather more cooperative attitude. We are all in this struggle together.'

'I know it's frustrating for your friends to have to accept there are some doors they can't simply kick down when they choose, but this is one of them. I don't just have the right, Simon; I have a legal duty to carry out a thorough and independent inquiry. I don't even know what you're thinking of coming here like this. You should be fighting my corner, not theirs.'

Moreton nodded patiently as if her outburst had gone some way to persuading him. 'I'll level with you, Jenny. MI5 think there's an argument for seeking a warrant to search these premises under the Terrorism Act. They'd have done it yesterday, but I persuaded them you'd voluntarily offer up anything that could possibly be of use.'

'They'd do the same for me, would they? They won't even release their files from 2002.'

'I could suggest they go some way to accommodating that request.'

Jenny could have picked up the telephone and hurled it into his gutless poor-me smile, but she held tight and suppressed her fury. It wasn't just that the Security Services, a branch of the executive, was trying make a coroner into a puppet; a man whose job it was to defend the principle of judicial independence was doing his utmost to destroy it. All the fashionable talk of friendly cooperation across the branches of state meant only one thing: all power to the most powerful. Tyranny.

Looking into Moreton's weak face with its superficial charm, any lingering doubts were dispelled.

'If I don't do my job as it's meant to be done, Simon, there is no rule of law. All that's left is what's convenient, which is fine until you're branded the inconvenient one. Mrs Jamal wasn't convenient, nor was properly investigating her son's death. I'm certainly not convenient, but if you were in a tight spot, I bet you'd rather have me on your side.'

With a note of regret, Moreton said, 'If only all aspects of your character inspired such confidence.'

'I'm resuming my inquest on Wednesday. And it's not going to end until I've found out what happened to Nazim Jamal.'

To his credit, Moreton knew when he was beaten. He offered no threats or inducements, no warnings of retribution: Jenny had faced him down and won. With a limp handshake and a polite goodbye to Alison he left with nothing more than the name and occupation of Frank Madog.

Emboldened by her victory, Jenny stepped out into reception and followed the sounds of clinking crockery to the kitchenette. Alison glanced up guiltily from her ritual tea- making.

'Can I get you anything, Mrs Cooper?'

'You told Moreton about Madog.'

'He didn't give me any choice. He said I had to.'

'Had to what?'

'Tell him what more we'd found.'

'Did he say what would happen if you didn't?'

'I'm sorry, Mrs Cooper, but who am I to contradict him?'

'You could have waited for me.'

'He wouldn't let me. He insisted. He said there would be implications.'

'He threatened you?'

'Not exactly.'

'Did he say why he wanted this information?'

'No . . .'

'You just gave it up without a struggle.'

'It wasn't like that. He said that the Security Services had spoken to him. They'd told him Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan were involved with terrorists. They think the same ones might even have killed Mrs Jamal.'

'Did he offer any evidence for this?'

'Maybe if you'd been here —?’

'What else did you tell him?' Jenny snapped, cutting her off.

'Nothing. I didn't even mention Dr Levin's medical records.'

'So you didn't trust him that much?'

'I'm not a lawyer. I didn't know what to think.'

'Who else have you been speaking to - Dave Pironi?'

'Of course not.'

'It's a reasonable question. You pray with him.'

Alison's defensiveness hardened to anger. 'With respect, Mrs Cooper, that's my private business and nothing to do with you.'

'It is if it affects my investigation. Have you ever stopped to think that he might be using you? For all I know he was personally involved in whatever happened to Nazim Jamal. Isn't it a coincidence that when it comes back to light he casts himself as your spiritual mentor?'

'You don't know what you're talking about.'

'I know about your daughter.'

Alison froze and stared at her. 'Really? And what exactly do you think you know about my daughter, Mrs Cooper?'