Only Akbar Khan saw Elyas standing alone in the distance. He had lost his son and he would not give up his daughter. He put his arm around her, and like the old-fashioned wooden toy, the kind that stands and collapses, collapses and stands, she clutched her father. She could not watch them take her brother away. Through the sea of people, Akbar Khan led his family – what remained of it – home. The doors of the ambulance slammed shut as they left, and the gates to the house swung closed after them. Elyas knew then that his marriage to Jia Khan was over.

CHAPTER 18

Sanam Khan knocked on the bedroom door and waited. The house was dark, the only light coming from the living room, where she’d left the men waiting.

She blamed herself for their presence. She chided herself for not having given more alms to the poor; she should have offered more of herself, of her time and her money, and now it was too late: the evil eye had them and there was nothing to do but pray. She spoke her daughter’s name into the darkness. She was glad she was here.

Jia sat up. Her mother’s voice was soft, but Jia was a light sleeper. She had been since Zan’s arrest, her senses always on alert. She climbed out of bed and opened the door. ‘Your father’s brother is here,’ Sanam Khan said. ‘I don’t understand what he’s saying.’

‘Where is Baba?’ said Jia.

‘Come, wash your face quickly, they’re waiting.’ Her mother was always practical at times of difficulty, and Jia had come to see the value in her ways. Tasbeeh in hand, the old woman waited, counting prayer bead to prayer bead, as Jia made her way to the bathroom.

She washed the tired out of her eyes before looking at her reflection. Cleansed of the day’s make-up, she ran her hands over her cheeks and neck. Her face was free of lines and yet to wrinkle – the benefits of brown skin – but tiny age spots had begun appearing on her cheeks. Her eyes were worn, her skin not as taut as it once was – she was definitely older, and a lot wiser. She checked her phone for messages, hoping for something from Benyamin, but there was nothing. She wondered if he was home yet, and made a mental note to spend some time with him away from here. She wanted to make things right between them and knew that her mother’s shadow wouldn’t allow the frank conversation they needed to have.