Emily picked up a small plastic bag that was lying on top of one of the room's computer terminals.
She untwisted its wire tie and dug out four carrot sticks. Seeing this, Barbara tried not to look guilty about her previously consumed whitebait and rock - not to mention her cigarettes - as the DCI began to munch virtuously.
"Which Asian comes to mind when you think of someone being driven to murder in order to revenge that sort of arrangement?"
"I know where you're heading," Barbara said.
"But I thought Muhannad was supposed to be a man of his people. If he isn't and if he offed Querashi, then why's he raising hell about the murder?"
"To paint himself in a saintly light. Jihad: the holy war against the infidels. He shouts for justice and directs the spotlight of guilt onto an English killer. And, coincidentally, off himself."
"But, Em, that's no different to what Arm380 strong may be doing with the tossed car. A different approach, but the same intent."
"Armstrong has an alibi."
"What about Muhannad's? Did you find this Rakin Khan in Colchester?"
"Oh, I found him all right. He was holding court in a private room of his father's restaurant, with half a dozen others of his ilk. In a suit by Armani, slip-ons by Bally, wrist watch by Rolex, and a diamond signet ring from Burlington Arcade.
He was an old friend of Malik's, he claimed, from their days at university."
"What did he say?"
"He confirmed everything, chapter and verse.
He said the two of them had dinner that evening.
They began at eight and went on till midnight."
"A four hour dinner? Where? A restaurant?
That restaurant?"
"Wouldn't that be lovely for our side? But no, this dinner took place, he said, at his own home. And he cooked the entire meal himself, which is what took so long. He likes to cook, loves to cook, cooked all the time for Muhannad at university, he said, because they neither of them have ever been able to abide English food. He even recited the menu for me."
"Can anyone confirm the story?"
"Oh yes. Because, conveniently, they weren't alone. Another foreign bloke - and intriguing, isn't it, that everyone's foreign? - was there as well. Also a mate from their university days. Khan said it was a little reunion."
"Well," Barbara said, "if they both confirm ..."
"Bullshit." Emily crossed her arms. "Muhanad Malik had plenty of time before I got to Colchester to phone Rakin Khan and tell him to corroborate his story."
"For that matter," Barbara said, "Ian Armstrong's had plenty of time to ask his in-laws to do the same. Have you spoken to them?"
Emily made no response.
Barbara went on. "He's got a solid motive, Ian Armstrong. What's Muhannad got that's holding your interest?"
"He protests too much," Emily said.
"P'rhaps he's got something to protest about,"
Barbara pointed out. "Look, I agree he comes off like a lag in the making. And this Rakin Khan may be just as bad. But you're leaving out some details that you can't tie to Muhannad. Think of just three of them: You said Querashi's car was tossed. His body was moved. His car keys were thrown into the brush. If Muhannad killed Querashi for the honour of his family, then why toss the car and why move the body? Why put neon lights round what otherwise might have been taken for an accident?"
"Because he didn't want it to be taken for an accident," Emily said. "Because he wanted just what he's got: an incident that he can rally his people round. He meets two ends at once this way: He evens the score with Querashi for blackening the family name and he cements his position in the Asian community."
"Okay. Perhaps," Barbara said. "But on the other hand, why should we believe Trevor Ruddock about this homosexuality thing in the first place? He's got a motive as well.
Okay, he didn't get his job back like Armstrong did, but he didn't seem the type to say no to a decent spot of revenge if he had the chance to get it."
"You said he has an alibi as well."
"Bloody hell! They all have flaming alibis, Em!
Someone's got to be lying somewhere."
"Which, Sergeant Havers, is exactly my point."
Emily's voice was quite even. But there was a steely quality to it that reminded Barbara once again of two facts: that not only was Emily her superior officer by reasons of talent, intelligence, intuition, and skill, but also that she herself had been admitted to work on this case on DCI