Evanly Bodies - By Rhys Bowen Page 0,73

on the turns. Winter was definitely on the way. One day soon they'd wake to find the peaks opposite dusted with snow. As he parked and got out of the car, he saw a portly figure in an overcoat running toward him. It was Mr. Khan.

"Any news yet?" he shouted. "Any news at all?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Khan, but I'm not assigned to work on Jamila's case."

"My daughter's disappearance is not important enough that you drop what you're doing and look for her?" Mr. Khan shouted. "Because we're Asian, right? Because Pakistani people don't matter?"

"Hold on a minute," Evan shouted back over the wind. "I really wanted to look for Jamila, but I'm assigned to the Major Crimes Unit, which is investigating three murders within the past week. But I can assure you that my old boss, Inspector Watkins of Western Division, is doing everything he possibly can to find your daughter."

"But she's not anywhere," Khan said quietly now. "It's as if she's vanished from the face of the earth. Where could she have gone? She hasn't been here long. She doesn't know many people."

"There is one thing," Evan said after a moment's hesitation. "Your son, Rashid. I went to the house where he's now living, and his house mates were decidedly nervous about talking to me. So I'm asking you now, is it possible that Rashid has done something to her?"

"Done something? What do you mean?"

"Kidnapped her or even . . ." He couldn't say the words.

"You mean killed her? Killed his own sister? What do you take us for-monsters?" He was screaming now. "We should never have come to this country. I bring up my children to be good British citizens. I tell them about British justice and fair play, and what happens when I need justice and fair play? You tell me that. All we meet is prejudice."

"Mr. Khan, everybody feels very sorry for you and, believe me, we're doing everything we possibly can. Bronwen took her lunch hour to go and speak to Jamila's friends. She thought they might be more inclined to tell the truth to someone who wasn't officially with the police."

"And?"

"One of them said that Rashid had threatened to kill his sister if she stained the family honor."

"No. I don't believe this. That was just Rashid talking big," Mr. Khan said. "He says silly things sometimes. He doesn't mean them. He would never hurt Jamila. He would never-" He collected himself. "I must go back to my wife. She is almost out of her mind with worry."

"And I must go to my wife too," Evan said. "She feels almost as bad as you do."

He left the older man trudging wearily back down the road.

Bronwen looked up expectantly as he came in. "You've been working late? Any news?"

"Nothing," Evan said. "A completely frustrating day."

"She must be somewhere," Bronwen called over her shoulder, as she went into the kitchen to take out his dinner plate. "If she'd left the area, she'd have had to be on a bus or a train."

"Unless she hitchhiked. They're going to display her picture on the missing children Web site. But they can hardly show it to every long-distance lorry driver, can they?"

"Where would she go? Surely not back to Leeds. She hated it there, she told me. She hated living in a ghetto, being surrounded by only Asian families. She said she had no one to talk to. The other girls weren't interested in English or physics or any of the subjects she liked."

"I wish I knew, Bronwen," he said. "Just the same as I wish I could figure out why three very different men were shot with the same gun and apparently still no connection between them."

"What you need is one piece of luck," she said. "Now come and eat your dinner. You must be starving."

Chapter 24

During the night the wind grew in intensity. It howled down the cottage chimney. Evan held his breath, expecting to hear the crash of slates falling from the roof. But the cottage stood firm against the gale. His mind raced through all the events of the past few days. The answer had to be somewhere. Jamila had to be somewhere. Would Watkins have dared to search Rashid's house? Was her body in that heavy trunk? Where else could he have dumped it? He pictured Mr. Khan's angry face. "All we get is prejudice." And all at once he heard Megan Owens's voice. "Terry and his mates used to say terrible things about other