Eiserly’s mobile gave a little beep. He pressed an app and listened. “Ah, here we are. The imam has arrived in time to visit his sister.”
The imam’s deep voice came through clear, rough with anger. “MI5 told me everything you’ve done and all but accused me of ordering you to kill this woman I don’t even know. Why in the world did you do this, Adara? Try to murder an English aristocrat and an American FBI agent? They said even Ammar Aboud is involved? And Yusuf is dead! He’s dead! Who are these people to you? What is this all about?” His voice grew fainter, then stronger as he paced back toward her bed.
Adara said, “It has nothing to do with you, Ali. If that’s all you have to say to me, go away.”
He said, his voice louder, his anger clear, “Ah, I see. My sister on trial for attempting cold-blooded murder has nothing to dowith me. Our family’s reputation will soon be destroyed, I will be destroyed, and it has nothing to do with me? If I strangled you right here, right now, few would blame me, least of all our parents.” His breathing became harsher as his anger grew at her silence. “What is wrong with you, Adara? You’re smart, you took a first at Oxford, you had everything a woman could want! Why would you do something as insane as this to me, to our family?”
Adara breathed slowly, in and out. She said only, “I was betrayed.”
“Women who live like you, doing just as you please, are easily betrayed! Allah help me, I didn’t think you were such a fool.”
“You were betrayed too, brother.”
That drew him up. “By whom? Who betrayed me, except you?”
“Khaled Aziz. Didn’t the MI5 officers tell you? I trusted him because you’d vetted him. He’s an undercover agent with MI5 at your precious mosque. And you trusted him. If I’m a fool, you’re a greater one. He was there to bring you down.”
There was harsh breathing and shocked silence. The imam said finally, his voice defensive, “The officers who questioned me didn’t mention Khaled. Very well, so Aziz betrayed both of us. I did come to trust him, but only because Rehan praised him. But how could he have hurt us? There was little for him to find, except for you, it seems. Rehan never would have allowed him near the second set of books he’d kept for years.”
Adara laughed. “Your conceit has always amused me, Ali. Of course you would have given him all the responsibility. You know it, I know it. He was that good, I admit it. I’m pleased you’re going to lose it, along with everything else.”
His voice was bitter, disdainful. “And you? You will be an old woman with no teeth before you are ever released from prison. You will have no family, no friends.” His voice was quiet now, as if he was whispering in her ear. “At least tell me whyyou wanted to kill Elizabeth Palmer. Why should it matter to you if I know? The officers told me she’d only returned to England because of the attempted kidnapping of her mother.” He paused. “Wait, you were responsible for that, too, weren’t you? The countess, the wife of Sebastian, Lord Camden, a bloody earl! Have you gone completely insane? Embroiled yourself in some sort of twisted jihad? What?”
Adara remained silent.
The imam spoke to her in Arabic, harsh words that sounded like curses, before he switched back to English. “Our father can’t save you from this. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t. I imagine he will bow his head and say you are only a woman, too easily swayed to betray her family. He will secure you the best team of barristers in England because he must, but they will not be able to save you. Do you think our parents will come and visit you in prison? That I will come?
“The media will crucify you, crucify our parents and the mosque, call into question the loyalty of every Muslim in England. You have plunged us into a nightmare, Adara, an endless, bloody nightmare.”
When Adara finally spoke, her voice was thick with pain, but still defiant. “Unlike you, Ali, I acted. You were too busy enjoying your wealth and position, pontificating about the plight of our people, but too much of a coward to act yourself. You should have been urging the faithful in your precious mosque to join us to create havoc in this benighted country. Unlike you, I’m not a coward.”
The imam was silent for a moment, and then his voice was more measured. “You know as well as I do this has nothing to do with jihad. Why Elizabeth Palmer? What is she to you?”
Adara’s voice held only indifference. “I have no reason to tell you anything.”
He sighed, said in a quiet voice, “I must know what this is about, so our father and I can know how best to proceed.”
Contempt was thick in her voice. “I’m not telling you anything. Can you not figure it all out yourself, since you, Ali, are such an intelligent man, so committed to your faith, so honorable, so holy? You were given everything, our father and mother worshipped you, bragged about you incessantly. I’ve heard them recite that drivel so many times over the years I wanted to throw up. I always knew I was smarter than you, but nothing was given to me, I had to make my own way.” She gave an ugly laugh. “Yes, I failed, but at least I tried. There’s nothing more to say, brother mine. You want to know what this is all about? If you’re so smart, Ali, why don’t you figure it out?”
They heard the imam’s breathing, deep and angry, but he said nothing more. They heard his footsteps retreating toward the door, heard him open it and close it behind him.
John Eiserly closed the app on his mobile. He sighed. “Amazing, this hatred for her brother. It’s a pity she said hardly anything else.”
Rome said, “John, there is another matter that concerns me. Revenge. Do you fear for Khaled Aziz’s life?”
“Khaled will soon be on his way to Scotland to join a local mosque in Edinburgh. He’ll be safe.” He took Elizabeth’s hands in his. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth. It seems clear the imam wasn’t involved in the attempts on your life. We still don’t know who brought Adara into this. As for either of these two, I doubt they’ll speak to us again.”
Elizabeth squeezed Eiserly’s hand. “Thank you, John, for having Khaled in place. Rome and I have been talking, and now we must go.”
John said, “You know something. Where are you going?”
Rome and Elizabeth walked out of the conference room without answering him.
Chapter Sixty-Six
London
Wednesday afternoon
