Farhan could only see one solution. ‘You’ve got to leave,’ he said.
She protested. ‘My career, it’s so important to me.’
‘And your family, what about them?’
They had met at a small café in Regent Street, not far from her office. They had been pleased to see each other, although neither had made a move to embrace the other. Farhan could see she was upset.
‘If they find out, it will kill them.’
‘I suppose you should have thought about that before you started selling yourself.’ He wasn’t sure if his comment had been overcritical.
‘You’re right of course, but I needed to survive, ensure I passed my studies with honours. It all costs money, and my parents don’t have that sort of money.’
‘It’s history now. Anyway, we would not have met if you had been working in a café.’
‘At least there has been one good thing to come out of it.’
Farhan felt like leaning over the table and giving her a kiss. He decided that it was best if he did not. The future for them as a couple looked bleak. It was up to him to think clearly for both of them. She was obviously the better educated, but she was about to be outed as a prostitute. All that she had strived for, lost in an instance.
They had ordered coffees. Farhan drank his; Aisha barely sipped at hers. He could see in her face the sign of worry. She said it was due to the pressure of work, a particularly challenging case, involving a man accused of insider trading on the stock market.
She had tried to explain the intricacies of the case, as a diversion from the reason they were meeting. Something to do with the man’s position as the financial officer for a major insurance company in the city, subject to a takeover from a larger, more aggressive company.
It was Aisha’s first major case, although she was acting as a junior. It was a great compliment for her to be entrusted with the responsibility, but now it looked as if it was falling apart.
Farhan had ordered two more coffees. ‘Aisha, the only chance is if you disappear. Caroline’s being hassled now.’
‘Is that Olivia’s real name?’
‘Yes, but it’s best if you forget it.’
‘I will.’
‘We should be meeting at the police station.’ Farhan had run it past Isaac first, told him the approach he was going to take. Isaac had advised him to take great care, and not to go rushing off to a hotel room with her. Farhan had said that he would be careful, but sitting with Aisha now, he wanted to forget his promise. He had to keep reminding himself that he was a serving policeman on duty, and she was a witness.
‘Is there no hope?’ she asked.
‘If they can find Olivia, they can find you.’
‘But how? You said that Marion Robertson had given Olivia’s phone number to the two men who had visited her, but she didn’t have mine.’
‘That’s true. Are you certain they are looking for you?’
‘I’m pretty certain, but how?’
‘Who would know where you work, where you live?’
‘Only you.’
‘I’ve kept it to myself. I received a severe dressing down from my boss for keeping you and Olivia secret.’
‘If there’s a court case, will I be required to be a witness?’
‘You’re the lawyer, what do you reckon?’
‘It will depend on whether he pleads guilty or not.’
‘Or she,’ Farhan reminded her.
‘Could it be a she?’ she asked.
‘Why not? The man was found naked. From what we know, he was certainly heterosexual.’
‘Perversely so,’ she replied. On a personal basis, Farhan did not want to know the details. On a professional basis, he had to ask.
‘I must ask what you mean by that comment. Officially, unfortunately.’
‘Can’t you forget what I just said. I don’t want to think back to that night.’
‘Give me a generalisation, then.’ He realised that maybe it was not relevant. If it became so, he would persevere with the question at a later time.
‘He wanted us to put on a show first, toys, that sort of thing.’ She kept her head low, avoided eye contact.
‘We’ll leave it at that.’ He didn’t want to hear more.
‘What must I do?’ she asked.
‘Ideally, you should leave immediately.’
‘The country?’
‘Yes.’
‘I can’t do that.’
‘You’d better let me know who’s on to you. Every time you’re contacted, every time there’s a silent voice on the end of a phone line, let me know. We’ll decide as it occurs. If I tell you the situation is impossible, then you must leave immediately. Is that clear?’
Aisha finally drank her coffee and left. She could not resist the opportunity to kiss him before she walked out the door. Farhan hoped she would be safe.
Chapter 31
Late afternoon the next day, and all three were in the office. Wendy had finally got the message not to keep moving Farhan’s desk; not the other one about exhaling the smell of stale cigarettes over the other two.
She should have taken the hint with the window behind Isaac being open, even though it was cold outside. She preferred a room to be warm and cosy, just like Station Manager Broughton’s office at Paddington Station.
A good-looking man, plenty of women, she thought. Twenty years ago, I would have made a play for him myself.
Isaac brought their meeting to order. ‘Wendy, can you update us, please.’
Before she replied, Isaac leant over and closed the window.
‘The person she met is almost certainly a friend.’
‘You’ve had some luck?’ Farhan said. Wendy noticed the look of the man had taken a turn for the worse since she had last seen him. He
