Page 93 of 36 Hours

‘Where’s to follow? She gets in the car and goes to work. She gets in the car and comes home.’

‘Not much socialising then?’ Kim asked, taking that as a no. She wondered if there was any way she could find out why Nazeera had been targeted in particular. Had she somehow been in contact with their sicko?

Mrs Khan sighed. ‘I wish, but since the divorce, she just works and comes home. Divorce hit her hard, especially coming so soon after the terrible news.’

Kim waited.

‘Nazzy was told that she would never bear children. End of the something.’

‘Endometriosis?’ Kim asked.

Mrs Khan nodded. ‘Amir couldn’t bear the thought of not having children, so he left.’

Kim couldn’t help but wonder what that had done for the woman’s confidence and sense of self-worth. She was a top-class paediatric heart surgeon to some and a baby-making machine to someone else.

Like the woman hadn’t suffered enough, she was now in the hands of a sick bastard who wanted to play a game.

Now that she had a clearer picture of the kind of woman they were looking for, it was up to Kim to help Mrs Khan lift her head out of the sand.

‘Mrs Khan, I need to explain?—’

Kim was interrupted as Bryant stepped into the room with an armful of fur and a couple of scratches on his right hand.

‘Hiding under the bed,’ he said, passing them into Mrs Khan’s outstretched arms.

‘Come here, lovelies. Mummy will be back soon. It’s okay,’ she soothed as they both purred.

Bryant’s expression said they hadn’t been quite so accommodating with him.

‘Nazzy would be devastated if anything happened to her babies.’

Most people wouldn’t be able to understand such a word used in relation to pets, but Kim did.

‘Not nice man across the street died. Family didn’t want them. Were going to have them put to sleep. Nazzy couldn’t stand the thought and took them. Skin and bone and full of worms they were, but she nursed them back to health.’

Obviously Nazeera’s caring trait wasn’t something she only used at work.

‘Mrs Khan, I’m sorry to say that Nazeera has been abducted.’

The woman’s hands stilled on the heads of the cats. ‘Abducted?’

Kim nodded.

‘By who?’ she asked.

‘Someone involved in a case we’re working,’ Kim said.

‘You know who has her?’ Mrs Khan asked, confused.

‘I can’t give you any more details,’ Kim said. ‘But you need to know that she isn’t out taking a long walk.’

‘But why?’ she asked as tears formed in her eyes. ‘Nazzy wouldn’t hurt anyone, and we have no ransom money.’

‘She hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s not even personal. Her captor wants to make a point, and we’re going to stop him,’ Kim said with more confidence than she felt, but Nazeera’s mother appeared to have shrunk before her very eyes.

‘Wherever she is, she’ll be okay. Sh-She is strong,’ Mrs Khan said, fighting back the tears.

Kim reached over and squeezed her hand before standing.