Out of the Ashes: A DI Maya Rahman novel. Vicky Newham

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СКАЧАТЬ ‘You have a go.’ Her giggle rings out in the enclosed space of the shop. She stuffs the packet at my face. ‘It’s like breathing in luuuurve.’ She makes her voice go all dreamy and breathy as she says the last word, and pulls a silly face.

      ‘Urgh. They’re too sickly.’ I push her hand away, grabbing several Cough Candies instead.

      ‘Come on, you two.’ Sabbir’s frustrated plea falls on deaf ears as usual. He’s at the door, flicking through a magazine which he’s already paid for. ‘Dad’s waiting.’

      ‘I wouldn’t worry,’ Mrs Feldman whispers to Jasmina and I conspiratorially, and it sends me into giggles because she’s deliberately made her voice loud enough for Sabbir to catch. ‘If I know them, your father will be having a good chinwag with my husband.’

      Sabbir’s demeanour relaxes and he returns his attention to his magazine.

      Jaz peers at the contents of my paper bag. ‘I don’t like Cough Candy. They cut the roof of my mouth. You always get Parma Violets. How can you say that Love Hearts are too sweet and like them?’ She chuckles.

      Coming to Mrs Feldman’s shop is such a treat. Dad came home in a good mood and announced that he was taking us out.

      ‘The wholesaler delivered some new sweets this morning,’ Mrs Feldman says. ‘My son put the order through and only told me when they arrived. Shall I get him to bring them out for you?’

      Jasmina and I beam at her.

      ‘Thanks, Mrs F,’ says Jaz.

      ‘Knowing him, he’s probably putting through a few more orders while his father’s not looking.’ She chuckles, as though she’s secretly proud of Tomasz’s interest in the shop. She disappears out the back and begins calling. ‘Tomasz? Tomasz, love, could you bring the new sweets through for the Rahman girls?’

      A few moments later, she arrives back with a mousey-haired boy in tow. He’s about Sabbir’s age but taller. I’ve seen him in the shop before. He’s carrying two boxes with an air of cool about him.

      ‘Here you go, girls,’ Tomasz says. ‘Lemon Sherbets and Black Jacks.’ He places the two boxes on the glass counter and his smile warms the room. ‘Bet you haven’t had them before.’ He gives a friendly chuckle. Rips open a black and white packet and offers us a wrapped cube.

      ‘My Agnieszka loves the Black Jacks. Soft and chewy, she says, but they make your tongue go black.’ Mrs Feldman looks a little worried.

      ‘Chill, Mum. They’re only sweets. No-one’s going to die.’

      ‘Cheeky wretch.’

      Sabbir’s face softens and he joins us at the counter. ‘Alright, mate,’ he says to Tomasz.

      ‘Thanks, Thomas,’ Jasmina says, and it makes me giggle, because she’s said his name wrong. I catch the way she avoids eye contact with him, and blushes when he speaks.

      ‘Thank you,’ I say and don’t even try to say his name. ‘What else shall I have?’ I wonder aloud. ‘I need to add up what it comes to. We could get some Aniseed Balls and share them?’

      Jasmina isn’t listening. She’s pretending to count her sweets but I can see her, watching Tomasz Feldman out of the corner of her eye.

      ‘What about Gob Stoppers? Shall we get some of them?’ I elbow her. ‘Or some rhubarbrhubarbrhubarbrhu . . . ?’

      She hasn’t realised I’ve stopped talking.

      ‘You’re dribbling,’ I whisper.

      ‘Am not.’ She elbows me, recovers her poise and smooths her hair.

      ‘I’m off now, Mum.’ Tomasz glides towards the door of the shop. ‘I said I’d pick Agnieszka up from Brownies.’ He sees us watching him. ‘Definitely the Aniseed Balls,’ he says and gives us a huge wink, and I honestly think I’m about to burst.

SATURDAY

Maya, 7 a.m.

      First thing the next morning, I grabbed a shower and steeled myself to check the media coverage of the arson. I hoped it would be reported responsibly but experience told me it was too good a click-bait opportunity to pass up.

      From the lounge, I heard the soft burble of the television news. Dougie had stayed over, so I made a fresh cafetière of coffee and took it in with a couple of mugs. ‘On a scale of one to ten, with ten as perfectly hideous, where are we?’ I slid the tray onto the coffee table and sank onto the sofa next to him.

      ‘Eleven.’ He picked up the cafetière and began pouring.

      ‘Shit.’

      ‘I’ve screenshot them for you.’ He passed me his iPad.

      The City Eye headline said: LOCALS FEAR COPY-CAT ARSON ATTACKS.

      ‘Tony couldn’t resist, could he?’ I swiped at the images on the screen. The broadsheets were benign. The Messenger had taken ethnicity as their angle: IMMIGRANTS’ SHOP BURNT TO THE GROUND IN RACIST ATTACK.

      ‘Scumbags.’ I took a swig of coffee. ‘What about the news channels?’

      ‘BBC News seems to be sticking to the facts.’

      ‘That’s a relief.’ I continued to scroll through Dougie’s screenshots. ‘WHO IS THE MYSTERY WOMAN IN THE FIRE? Blimey. I hadn’t expected that from Sky. Who’s told the press there was a woman in the fire? Media Liaison haven’t released the information yet and I didn’t mention it.’

      ‘Someone must’ve been blabbing.’ Dougie didn’t sound surprised and continued checking his emails.

      ‘Anything from Suzie?’ She’d be hard pressed to come up with anything worse than the City Eye or The Messenger, but milking national concerns wasn’t Suzie’s style. Her penchant was to go for people, personally, and her favourite target was me.

      ‘Nothing on their website yet.’

       *

      Dan was joining me at the hospital. Hopefully, as well as asking Indra some questions, we could persuade Rosa to stay on the ward or go home with her daughter and spend a few days in East Ham.

      When I walked in through the entrance doors, I was greeted in the lobby by a solemn-faced Shen.

      ‘Bad news, Ma’am, I’m afraid,’ she said. ‘Indra Ulbiene was ten weeks pregnant and she’s had a miscarriage.’

      Shit. The poor woman. ‘So, her husband is dead and it looks like he might have been having an affair. And now she’s lost her baby?’ I kicked at the linoleum. Occasionally, the news we had to convey was good but most of the time it wasn’t. ‘Where’s the silver lining in this situation?’

      ‘I know, Ma’am.’

      ‘Is СКАЧАТЬ