City of Sinners by A.A. Dhand

Author:A.A. Dhand
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780593080498
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2018-06-27T23:00:00+00:00

FORTY-FOUR

HARRY GOT HOME at six a.m.

The house was quiet, cold, the heating hadn’t yet cranked into action.

Harry sat down in the dark of the living room.

Another night without sleep.

Was this the plan; to wear him down so he missed something vital?

Usma and Jaspreet had white boyfriends. Something told Harry that they’d soon discover that Leila and Aisha did too.

In the city with the largest ethnic population outside of London, there must have been thousands of girls involved in mixed-race relationships. Was that really what this was all about? It felt so much more than that.

The morning briefing would be intense, all eyes on Harry, wondering the same thing he was.

Why me?

More importantly, how would they save Aisha Islam?

Harry was used to being in control in this city. It was his city, one he knew every corner of.

Yet suddenly he was faced with an invasion, power-players from Whitehall and MI5 would descend on Bradford.

For the first time in a long time, Harry felt uncertain.

He heard Aaron’s voice from upstairs, loud and delighted to be awake.

‘Mamma! Mamma!’

After a minute or so of irritable yelling, Aaron changed his pleas to, ‘Daddy! Daddy!’

Upstairs, Harry entered Aaron’s room. He heard Saima’s voice, speaking to Aaron through the baby monitor.

‘Hello, little man,’ said Harry, picking Aaron up from his cot.

‘Here go,’ said Aaron removing his dummy.

‘Good boy. Too big for a dummy now.’

‘Want get down.’

Harry kissed him, held him close a while and let him go, watching as he ran out of his room, calling for Saima.

Harry sat on the bed and stared at the cot.

Three dead girls.

Three families in a pit they might never recover from.

Aisha Islam, no ordinary victim, missing.

They might get an embargo on press-reporting for twenty-four hours, but ultimately Bradford was about to suffer a hateful trial by media.

Harry saw Saima standing in the hallway, in her pyjamas, Aaron in her arms, looking at him in a way he was used to seeing.

‘Another girl?’ she asked, walking towards him.

He nodded and told her who.

She sat on the bed beside him and let Aaron wander back into their room.

‘At least everyone will be looking for her. Hunting down this … creep.’

Saima placed her hand on Harry’s and squeezed it. ‘Why don’t you try and sleep an hour?’

‘It’ll make me feel worse.’

‘What can I do?’

‘Nothing,’ he said, shaking his head, staring at the cuddly toys in Aaron’s bed.

‘Don’t see you like this often,’ said Saima.

‘No.’

‘Want to share a burden?’

Harry shrugged. ‘Always back myself to bring a case home. But this guy? Stuff he’s doing? Doesn’t care that I’m going to catch him. He wants that. Only question is, how much damage is he going to do before that happens? To the girl. To me.’

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