Blood of the Innocents (14 page)

‘Could be just a random pick-up,’ offered Knox. ‘Someone offering her a lift home from the station.’

‘But we keep being told that she’s a bright, sensible kid,’ countered Millie. ‘She wouldn’t have gone off with a complete stranger.’

‘And why would she need a lift? It’s a short walk to her house from there, and it’s a warm sunny evening. What reason would she have to get into a car with just anyone?’

‘Might not have been a stranger. Yasmin would know the Sheron family. We haven’t ruled them out yet and Hasan drives a minicab. It would be the most natural thing in the world for him to offer her a lift.’

‘It’s risky, though, in broad daylight. Chances are that someone would remember seeing him.’

‘Except that it’s exactly the kind of commonplace occurrence that most people don’t notice. The alternative leaves us looking at a total unknown, perhaps connected to the earlier attacks on the university campus, which would be even more noticeable.’

‘There are no reports of anyone in the area seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary on Tuesday afternoon, implying that Yasmin did nothing to draw attention. Even though term has ended there are still quite a few students around.’

In the silence that followed, Mariner held an internal mental debate about whether he should voice his thoughts. Eventually, he had to come out with it. ‘What we haven’t yet given any thought to is the possibility that Yasmin could have stayed on the train and got off at a different stop.’ No one had thought about it because they didn’t want to and because Fiske had effectively put them off that particular scent.

‘Jesus,’ said Knox. ‘If Yasmin had stayed on the train she could have gone into the city. That would open up a whole new set of possibilities.’

‘But we saw her on the CCTV,’ Millie reminded them. ‘We watched her get off the train at the university.’

‘I’m not so sure about that,’ confessed Mariner. ‘I’d like to see it again.’

To humour him they loaded the video and watched once more, comparing the two clips.

‘See, to me it doesn’t look like the same person. The gait is different.’

‘How can you tell? She’s running on the first, walking on the second.’

‘I know, but it still doesn’t look right to me. The second one has a slightly bigger build.’

‘There’s not much in it.’

‘No, that’s true.’

‘So it could just be camera angle.’

Mariner was getting the distinct impression that he was alone on this. Everyone else wanted, understandably, to believe that Yasmin had alighted from the train as usual at the university. It would make their lives so very much simpler.

‘If she went into the city she could have gone anywhere.’ Knox put their thoughts into words. It opened up the possibilities of London, Glasgow, anywhere in Britain, in fact. And it didn’t bear thinking about that Birmingham International Airport could have been on the agenda.

‘But she had no money and as far as we know wasn’t planning to meet anyone.’

‘As far as we know.’ But Mariner was increasingly beginning to feel that where Yasmin Akram was concerned they’d barely even scratched the surface.

‘It still brings us back to the
likelihood
of it being someone she knew,’ said Knox. Making for safer ground.

‘Sure, statistically we have to consider the immediate family,’ conceded Mariner. ‘Mum and Dad were cagey about the row they’d had. In fact, they’ve been less than forthcoming all the way along, which makes me wonder what else they haven’t told us. But it’s a long way off any kind of motive. We need to do some more digging, folks.’

Mariner’s phone rang and Millie picked it up. Her face broke into a smile. ‘I think we might have something,’ she said.

The call nearly hadn’t made it past the incident room, due to the perceived reticence of the caller, who’d had a change of heart halfway through. One of the less experienced civilian staff had fielded it, and almost logged it as a time-waster. It was only the quick thinking of a more experienced girl named Tanya that recognised its importance. She played back the recording of the initial contact.

‘Hello, is that the police?’ It was the voice of a young woman, timid and hesitant. It didn’t sound to Mariner like any of Yasmin’s schoolfriends. His heart rate quickened. Was it Yasmin?

‘You’re through to the incident room, yes.’ A pause. ‘How can I help? Do you have some information?’

‘Yes. No. I don’t know.’

‘Who’s speaking please?’

‘I can’t tell you that.’

‘That’s OK. Is it about Yasmin Akram?’

‘There’s something you should know.’ Another long pause, broken only by the uneven rasp of shallow breathing; someone poised on the brink of a decision.

‘What did you want to tell me?’

‘Nothing. No, it’s nothing—’ A click and then the empty line hummed.

Mariner exhaled, suddenly aware that he’d been holding his breath throughout the exchange.

‘You said you’d traced it?’ he asked Tanya.

‘It’s a doctor’s surgery in Edgbaston.’ She gave them the address. So probably not Yasmin.

‘It’s a couple of streets away from the Akrams,’ remarked Millie. ‘The family GP?’

‘I bet the doctor didn’t make that call. The voice was young, lacking in confidence.’

Praising Tanya for her vigilance, Mariner verified the number and checked the surgery’s opening hours. He didn’t want to scare anyone off so he’d do this alone. By ten-thirty he had parked outside the converted bungalow and was watching the last of the patients leave. When he’d seen no one enter or exit for ten minutes, he locked the car and walked up the footpath. The waiting room was empty and behind the desk only a receptionist remained, her faced creased with concentration as she entered data into a computer. She was young and of mixed race, with a smooth complexion the colour of milky coffee.

Taking a gamble, Mariner walked up to the desk and showed her his warrant card along with what he hoped was a friendly smile. ‘Hi. Did you make a telephone call at eight fifty-four this morning?’

Wide brown eyes looked up into his and her lower lip began to twitch and tremble. ‘How did you . . . ?’ Her voice was just a whisper but Mariner recognised it at once. He heard a door open behind him.

‘Is everything all right, Nadine?’ The woman who spoke was in her mid-forties with dark, penetrating eyes; she barely reached Mariner’s shoulder. More Middle Eastern than Asian continent, her short, greying hair was swept back off her forehead. She was casually but immaculately dressed in slacks and a sleeveless blouse. ‘I’m Dr Shah. This is my practice,’ she said.

‘DI Mariner. I’m the senior officer investigating the disappearance of Yasmin Akram,’ Mariner explained. ‘I have reason to think Nadine contacted our incident room this morning with some information, but, unfortunately, the call was terminated before she was able to pass it on.’

‘Nadine?’

The girl’s eyes flicked from one to the other of them until her face crumpled and she finally succumbed to tears.

‘Come into the consulting room,’ said Dr Shah. ‘I’ll make some tea.’ She turned to Mariner. ‘I don’t know what’s going on here but I’d like to talk to Nadine alone first. Yasmin is a patient here, so I have to ensure that anything Nadine has to tell you is not likely to be a breach of confidentiality.’

Mariner fought down his frustration. ‘If Yasmin is in some kind of danger then patient confidentiality may be an irrelevance,’ he said. ‘It’s important that we have access to any information that will help us to find her.’

‘I appreciate that, Inspector, but I would ask you to respect my professional judgement. Yasmin is my patient and needs to know that she can trust me. Any decision about what to tell you is mine and mine alone. I will listen to what Nadine has to say. If I consider that there is anything that will help in your investigation without compromising my relationship with Yasmin Akram, then I will allow her to pass it on.’

Mariner had no option other than to wait and hope. While the two women were closeted in the doctor’s consulting room, he placed the waiting room outside like an expectant father. He was flicking through a leaflet on heart disease when the door abruptly opened. Dr Shah appeared, looking grim-faced. ‘Inspector, I think you need to come in.’

In the tiny room Mariner pulled up a chair, so that his knees were almost touching Dr Shah’s.

‘It is with reluctance that I tell you this,’ said Dr Shah. ‘But if it does, as you say, put Yasmin in danger then I would be unable to forgive myself for not passing on this information. I would just ask that you use it judiciously.’

‘You have my word.’

‘I’ve been the GP for Yasmin and her family for nearly ten years, so I know Yasmin very well. Just over a month ago Yasmin came to see me because she wanted to begin taking the contraceptive pill.’

‘The pill?’ Mariner could bearly contain his surprise. It flew in the face of everything they’d been told so far about the girl.

‘You understand that, ordinarily, I would not be telling you this.’ It was obvious that the doctor was still wrestling with the dilemma.

‘Of course. You’re doing the right thing.’

Dr Shah seemed less convinced, but she continued. ‘At seventeen Yasmin is of course above the age of consent, but knowing her family’s traditional views I was more than a little surprised by her request. She openly told me that she had not discussed this with either of her parents and felt unable to do so. But, as we talked it over, it became clear that Yasmin was already seeing someone and intended to proceed with or without my help.’

‘I see,’ was all that Mariner could muster. So much for honesty and openness with her parents, he thought.

‘She seemed a little apprehensive,’ Dr Shah continued. ‘But made it clear that she was going ahead with the physical relationship and wanted to have some control over protecting herself. Yasmin is a bright girl and had clearly thought this through. The logical thing for me to do was at least prevent her from getting into trouble. I also agreed that I would respect her privacy in this matter.’

‘So her parents don’t know.’

‘That’s right.’

‘And you’re sure that Yasmin is in a relationship?’

‘Of course I can’t be absolutely certain, but that’s what she told me. I had no reason to disbelieve her.’

‘Did she mention any names?’

‘That side of it really isn’t my business, but no, she didn’t.’

‘Well, thank you, Dr Shah. That certainly adds a new dimension to our investigation.’

Dr Shah looked over at Nadine, who had dried her tears and sat silent throughout. ‘There’s more to it than that,’ she said. ‘Contraceptive pills affect women differently and I wanted to ensure that Yasmin would have no side effects with the one I prescribed, so initially, she had only a month’s course as a kind of trial. The plan was that if she was happy with it she would come back for a full six months’ prescription, which she did, at the beginning of last week.

‘On the day Yasmin came in for her repeat prescription our computer system was down so I wasn’t issuing any non-urgent prescriptions. I feel that those printed are preferable as there can be no query about the interpretation of handwriting. Yasmin didn’t need the pills immediately so we agreed that as soon as it was ready the prescription would be left at reception for Yasmin to collect when she could. The following day our computer was working again, so I prepared the prescription and it was put in the envelope marked with Yasmin’s name to await collection.’ She turned to the receptionist. ‘Tell the inspector what happened, Nadine.’

The girl cast Mariner an anxious look. ‘Mr Akram has also been having ongoing treatment for high blood pressure. ’ Somehow that didn’t come as any surprise to Mariner.

‘He came into the surgery to collect a repeat prescription and saw the envelope with Yasmin’s name alongside his. He asked if it was for his daughter. He gave me her address and date of birth and I checked and found that it was hers, so I gave it to him to pass on to her.’

‘Isn’t that against the rules?’

Nadine’s face told him that it was. Her tears had subsided, but weren’t far away. ‘I’m really sorry.’

‘She is new to the job,’ Dr Shah said. ‘We had talked about this, but clearly I didn’t place enough emphasis. I must take full responsibility.’

‘So you handed Mr Akram a prescription for his daughter for the contraceptive pill that he had no idea she was taking? Did he look at it?’

‘No, he left the surgery. But he must have opened it outside. He came back in and wanted to know why Yasmin had been to the doctor and what was wrong. I said I didn’t know and he started to get angry. He took out the prescription and demanded to know what it was.’

‘And you told him.’

‘I recognised it and I didn’t think. I said I thought it was for a contraceptive pill.’ The girl was dying inside and Mariner almost felt sorry for her.

The doctor rushed to her defence. ‘To be fair, that is almost irrelevant. Mr Akram could have walked into any pharmacy or accessed any Internet site to find out what the drug was for. The damage had already been done.’

‘What was Mr Akram’s reaction when you told him what the prescription was?’

‘He was furious. He didn’t say much but I could see from his face. I told him that the pills could be to help regulate Yasmin’s menstrual cycle and help with period pain. I had to do the same thing once. But he didn’t listen. He wanted to speak to Dr Shah, and when I said she was out on her rounds, he stormed out.’

‘Did he come back?’

‘No.’ Dr Shah provided the answer.

‘Who did you think he was angry with, Nadine?’

‘Me; Dr Shah; Yasmin maybe? I don’t know.’ Being forced to face the implications of what had happened for the first time, Nadine’s voice cracked and again she dissolved into tears. Dr Shah put a protective arm around her.