‘Then you’ll know that, according to my noble heritage, when someone is insulted custom requires them to take revenge,’ said Sabira.
She felt her hand going towards her full water glass. She intended to take a sip of brandy to steady her frayed nerves.
‘The girl has some spirit, Ana. I think Oskar’s done rather well for himself.’ Emma Hereward laughed.
‘I think you should stop picking on her,’ said Cathy Almon, who knew what it was like to be constantly bullied.
‘If you think I’m beneath him, you should say so to my face,’ said Sabira. ‘Hypocrisy is the English disease, isn’t it?’
‘I imagine dear Oskar probably woke up on an Albanian fact-finding mission and found you beneath him,’ said Ana Lang, chuckling softly with the others.
Sabira’s grip on the brandy-filled glass tightened.
8
SABIRA
‘YOU’VE GOT TO admit it’s a great photo.’ Detective Sergeant Janice Longbright threw the newspaper at Jack Renfield. ‘Look at her, she’s a real wildcat.’
‘Blimey, that’ll sell a few copies.’ Sergeant Renfield grinned approvingly. ‘I wonder why they stuck a blurry box over the top of her thighs.’
‘According to the Daily Mail she didn’t have any knickers on,’ said Longbright. ‘She said she took them off before the dinner began because it was too hot in the room. It looks like a very tight dress. She probably didn’t want a VPL.’
‘Typical of a woman to think it was about fashion. Perhaps she was just feeling horny.’
‘She was attending a dinner to welcome heads of state at the Guildhall, not hitting on guys in a Nottingham nightclub, Jack. It says there that she threw a glass of brandy in some old bag’s face.’
‘That “old bag” is Lady Anastasia Lang,’ said John May, snatching up the paper as he entered on Tuesday morning. ‘“Sabira Kasavian was arrested for being drunk and disorderly last night, and was taken to Wood Street Police Station.” The arresting officer told me that Oskar tried to get her off the hook, but they had no choice but to run her in. Ana Lang was ready to press charges.’
‘Wait a minute,’ said Longbright, ‘it’s “Oskar” now? Since when did you switch to first-name terms?’
‘Since he hired us to investigate his wife,’ said May. Everyone in the common room turned to look at him. ‘What can I say? I know. He’s always been the enemy, and now he’s the client.’
‘After all the terrible things he’s done in the past, I’m amazed he would trust us with something so personal.’
‘Kasavian didn’t have anyone else he could turn to. He managed to get his wife released from Wood Street a short while later, but by that time the damage had been done.’
‘I wonder what upset her so much?’ Longbright asked. ‘It says here the Finnish Minister for Finance was forced to stop his speech.’
‘This is a big deal,’ said May. ‘Three months ago our Deputy PM made a speech in Finland that was halted by hecklers halfway through, so now everyone’s saying this was payback. But Sabira Kasavian says it wasn’t planned; she’d been insulted all evening and finally had enough of it.’
‘OK, she was drunk, but she must have known it would reflect badly on her husband. Kasavian’s in line for one of Europe’s top security posts, isn’t he?’
‘He may not be after this. Check the rest of the online press; see if there are any more details. I bet they’re having a field day. Then fix up an appointment with the wife this morning. If she refuses to meet with us, I’ll get Oskar to call her.’
‘He’s on the line right now,’ said their detective constable, Meera Mangeshkar, covering the phone. May took the call with a certain amount of trepidation.
‘I suppose you’ve seen the news this morning,’ said Kasavian.
‘I could hardly have missed it.’
‘My wife was carried from the Guildhall kicking and screaming last night. The Guildhall. She smashed a tray of glasses and threw a shoe at one of my colleagues’ wives, then swore at the arresting officer and tried to run off down the street.’ He sounded exhausted.
‘But you got the charges dropped.’
‘Yes, but I can’t keep her locked up at home. I’m not putting her under house arrest: I’m her husband, not her jailer. I don’t know what to do. In an ideal world I’d take her away for a holiday, but this border-control thing is taking up all my time. And I can’t send her home to Albania. Imagine how that would look just ahead of the talks.’