Private London (Private 4)

‘Holby? Like the TV show?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Kht Mn Qlby?’ said Del Rio, speaking for the first time in a long while.

Chapter 99

HANNAH

LOOKED OVER at Del Rio. ‘Say it again.’

‘Kht Mn Qlby,’ he repeated and Hannah nodded.

‘That’s it. That’s what they both said.’

‘What does it mean?’ I asked Del Rio.

He shrugged. ‘“Sister of My Heart”. Something like that.’

‘Sounds like lovers to me,’ said Sam.

Del Rio grunted. I looked at Hannah. She was clearly conflicted: she had been in love with Annabelle Weston and now she was finding out that she had been betrayed in the worst possible way.

‘She said we’d be together when all this was over. She said she had to tie me up because things had changed. But she also said that she loved me, that she’d come for me.’

‘Believing someone loves you is not the worst crime in the world, Hannah,’ I said.

If Hannah heard me, then she didn’t register it. ‘And all the time there was someone else.’

‘Maybe not.’

I moved to the telephone console and requested a video conference with Sci. After a few moments of blank screen, the dull grey disappeared in a flurry of pixelation to be replaced with the image of Doctor Science sitting in his office.

‘What can I do for you, Dan?’ he asked.

‘Annabelle Weston had a relationship with Jesus Ferdinand …’

‘That’s correct.’

‘Can you check your records and see if he has any surviving relatives?’

‘Sure.’

His hands flashed over his computer keyboards with expert speed.

After a few moments the Doctor turned back to us. ‘His father died some years back and …’ He turned his monitor so we could see it and pressed some keys. A woman’s face filled the screen.

She was in her thirties and had almond-shaped eyes made enormous with kohl in a heart-shaped face. Her skin was the colour of caramel. She wore a scarf that draped loosely around her neck and framed her face.

She was beautiful.

‘His sister – Mary Angela Al-Massri.’

The Doctor clicked on some more keys and the picture was replaced with biographical data. ‘She’s living in England and she’s married to a member of the Palestinian General Delegation to the UK.’

Chapter 100

SCI’S HANDS FLEW over his keyboard once more. ‘I just mailed you the data.’