Page 10 of Grave Danger

“So they started dating.”

“They fell in love and were married.”

“When did Yasmin come along?”

“About a year after they married. She was just a few months old when they moved to London.”

As Jack recalled, the UK connection was how Farid’s lawyer had filed the case under the Hague Convention. “Tell me about that.”

“Farid wanted to expand his hotel business to London. He got what’s called a UK Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa, which allows foreigners from outside Europe to invest in and run a business. After five years, the visa holder and his family can apply for British citizenship.”

“Was that their plan? To become British citizens?”

“I don’t know. Whatever the plan was, it failed. Covid killed the hotel business.”

“Is that why the family returned to Iran?”

“Yes. And everything changed.”

“What do you mean by ‘everything’?”

“Ava, for one. She liked the freedom she had as a woman in the UK. She didn’t want to go back to Iran.”

“Did Farid change as well?”

“From what I saw, yes. He was bitter and said the family would never go back to the UK. He never wanted to leave Iran again.”

“Did he change toward Ava?”

“Again, I can only tell you what I saw, and I didn’t like what I was seeing. He was verbally abusive to Ava, much like the way he treated me when we dated as teenagers.”

Jack flipped the page on his notepad. Zahra was doing just fine with the chronological recital of events, but it was already late, and he hadn’t seen his wife and daughter in two days. He skipped ahead in the story.

“How did Farid react to Ava’s arrest by the morality police?”

“He was ready to divorce her before hearing her side of the story,” said Zahra.

“What story did he hear that made him want to divorce her?”

“The government’s story. They said she escaped from police custody, abandoned her husband and daughter, and returned to London to practice her wanton Western ways.”

“You don’t accept that story?”

“I don’t, and I never will. It’s a lie.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know my sister.”

“Anything more specific than that?”

“Ava’s dream was to return to Londonwithher daughter. She would never have left Yasmin behind.”

Jack tried to imagine Andie fleeing Miami, never to see Righley again. It was inconceivable. “So, it’s your position that the government concocted the story that Ava escaped and fled the country.”

“Yes. To cover up the fact that she was tortured and murdered in custody by the morality police. Like so many others who took to the streets in the hijab protests.”

“But you can’t prove that.”