Lady Longtree’s eyes were suddenly suspicious. “But did you know all along that she was alive and not tell me?”
Violet stared at her, appalled. “Good heavens, no. You mustn’t think that! I thought she could be alive, from evidence we had collected but I had no idea if I was right until I saw… Well, I saw that you knew who she was.”
Maria looked about to weep again but stopped herself quickly. Abruptly, she pulled off the chador and threw it on the floor with a disdainful gesture, revealing a mop of short dark curls and a heart-shaped face with an exceedingly determined chin. She made Laura think of a very young Lady Longtree.
Then she noticed the jagged scar on one cheek. Lady Longtree saw it too and gasped. “Who did that to you?” she demanded, sounding ready to tackle the guilty person without delay.
“My father in law’s second wife,” Maria said blandly. “That is, I suspect she talked one of her sister’s sons into doing it. An accident of course.
“Not Hassan, if that’s what you are thinking.”
Lady Longtree shook her head. “No. I never thought that of him. Now, tell us where you have been and what has happened.”
“Yes. We must be sensible and talk.” Maria gestured toward the front of the van. “The men know very little about me except what I am in this country to do. It is best if they don’t know who my relatives are. We never know when one of them might be taken by someone who wants to do us harm.”
Lady Longtree nodded. “But does that mean you will leave again?” Her face was suddenly agonized.
“No, Maman, it does not,” Maria stated firmly. “I have no plans to leave. There is too much work to be done here, to help the women, the girl babies. I must tell you all about it but first, I need to know if everyone is all right. How is Grandmere?”
Lady Longtree sighed with relief. “Grandmere is fine,” she replied. “Mais je suis Grandmere maintenant,” she added with an unexpected chuckle. “C’est une jolie disguise, n’est-ce-pas? J’aime beaucoup les chapeaus magnifique! Aussi le parasol.” She brandished that object discreetly, while pointing to her hat, this one a less flamboyant affair in deep blue.
Maria burst into laughter. “Superb,” she exclaimed. “How like you to think of that, Maman. Better than this ghastly thing,” she added, pointing to the discarded chador. “Still, it’s a great way to avoid being seen.
“Some women I know wear it by choice when they go out,” she added. “They say it protects them, but what I want to fix is the fact that they have to be protected in the first place. There’s a long way to go.” She shrugged philosophically.
“Now, on to business. We don’t have much time.”
She turned to Laura. “You have been a great help to us, and all of us wish to extend our thanks.”
Laura stared at her in surprise. “I have? But what did I do?”
“You rescued two of our babies,” Maria explained. “From our competitors, if I can dignify the people involved with that name. We are very grateful.
“In addition, we are aware of your research, and that has been an enormous help. We give your articles to potential contributors to bring them up to date on what is really happening to women and girls in Muslim countries. Every voice we can use on behalf of our cause makes a difference. Money is important, too, and your articles often convince people to help us financially.”
“I am grateful to you, too,” she said, addressing Violet this time. “I have heard about why you are here and I believe we must exchange information. I will tell you what I am here to do first and why, beginning with a brief history of my time in Saudi Arabia. Then I would like to hear your part in this effort.”
Laura was impressed. Maria sounded as efficient and organized as Lady Longtree at her best, not at her vaguest.
“I left for Saudi Arabia with my husband, Hassan, four years ago,” Maria began. “We were very happy at first, but then I began to realize that his relatives were plotting against me. They are conservative people who live by the old traditions. They don’t countenance women’s participation in political affairs, and as you know, Maman, I was always political. They tried to enforce their ways on me, telling me I must not go outside without a male escort and all the rest of it, but I resisted. Hassan supported me so there was little they could do, overtly at any rate.
“Then I became pregnant. I thought at first they would be pleased but instead they were more threatened. They didn’t want a woman like me to bear Hassan’s son, the man who would one day take his place and the place of his father. And so they went on a campaign to discredit me and even to make me ugly.” She pointed to the scar. “The baby was a girl - yes, Maman, little Olivia is alive and well, and I hope you will see her soon. I thought the fact that she wasn’t a boy would relieve their minds. It didn’t. What they saw was that Hassan still…”
Her voice broke but she went on quickly with a determined thrust of her chin. “They saw that Hassan still loved me and that I would probably have more of his children. They had another wife picked out for Hassan from the beginning, and were angry because he defied them by marrying me. They pressed him to take this woman as his second wife, perhaps hoping she would be the first to bear a son. He refused, which cost them a lot of face. Then, and this was what drove me away, they began to try to influence my daughter, to instruct her on the proper role for a woman. They even planned for her to be…”
Maria’s composure broke again and she looked down at the floor until she had controlled her voice. “They were going to circumcise her,” she whispered, “to do it when Hassan and I were away on a trip together. I only learned of it because my maid spoke of it to one of the other maids and I overheard. It was just chance that I found out, that it wasn’t done…”
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again Laura saw that they were as hard and unforgiving as Lady Longtree’s eyes could be. “I knew then that I had to leave, and take my daughter with me,” Maria said flatly. “Hassan agreed, and he helped me to plan it. So did two of his brothers. The others are loyal to – or afraid of - their father, who is an obsessive tyrant.
“And so I left. I think Hassan will follow but I cannot tell. He is the oldest son and he is torn. He believes that his family and all the families who still live by the old ways - the subservience of woman, the unthinking loyalty to corrupt politicians and the terrible treatment of the poor - must change, and that he must lead the way. Many people in the country support his ideas, so perhaps Hassan can help to bring about change if he stays. I don’t know. I will wait. He knows, though, that I won’t come back.”
Maria stopped. Her eyes were tragic again, but she didn’t allow herself to sink into self-pity. “He knows, too, how much of the mutilation still goes on in these old families. Some of them still believe that a woman’s character will be destroyed if she experiences sensual pleasure.”
She shook her head in exasperation. “I thought the Adam and Eve story was bad enough, but what some of those so-called aristocrats have to say about women’s inherently evil nature puts Eve to shame.”
Maria laughed shakily. “So you see, Maman, I haven’t changed very much. “She leads with her chin,” Grandmere always used to say. “When she sticks it too far out, she gets in trouble.”
Lady Longtree regarded her fondly. “No, you haven’t changed. But your life certainly has.”
“In some ways,” Maria agreed. “In others, it is the same. I always did want to right the wrongs I saw around me, and I still do. That is the reason I am here now. I can provide information about the organization I believe Violet is investigating. You must know its purpose and its origins if you are to fight it. Briefly, my father-in-law and his friends created this appalling plan, and they started it because of me. That is why I must stop them.”
Violet sat up straight. “Thank you,” she said fervently. “That is information I badly needed. But why do you say they started it because of you?”
”My husband’s family was mortified by my rejection of the
ir ways, and by my disappearance,” Maria explained. “It was like a slap in the face. The family honor had been sullied, and action had to be taken to prevent such betrayals in the future. So my father-in-law and a few other wealthy and powerful men – I cannot emphasize too much how rich and powerful they are - decided to make sure that a suitable pool of women was available for their other sons and the sons of those sons.
Her voice hardened. “And so they decided to buy girl babies of Muslim origin in the U.K. and elsewhere, have them circumcised, and then raise them in their own households to become proper wives for their sons in the future. There would be no contaminating outside influences, no reason for rejection of the old ways.”
“That explains all the money flowing in to the organization,” Lady Longtree said with satisfaction. “Thank you, my dear.”
“There is no shortage of cash,” Maria agreed grimly. “These wealthy men don’t do the hard work themselves, of course, but they know who to hire. To lead their organization they selected an individual who has successfully run a number of illegal businesses for many years without getting caught. To this day, no one but them knows who the person is. He or she hired agents to seek out immigrant Muslim parents and convince them that their daughters will have glorious lives as the wives of important men if they are sold to the rich families who wish to adopt them. Young women who become pregnant out of wedlock are favorite targets. Their gratitude when they find someone willing to help with no questions asked, and a good life for the child, too, is pathetic.”
Her mouth twisted into a grimace. “What they don’t know is that the girls become virtual slaves to their husbands and prisoners in his household. Should they object to their role they are cruelly punished or even killed by a member of the family or a servant. Most are married and subjected to intercourse at seven or eight years of age, a practice which is thought to make them more pliable. They are there to produce sons; if they do not, they are discarded.”
“What happens to them?” Laura asked.
“If they are lucky they become unpaid servants, if they are not they are put out into the street. You can imagine what happens after that.”
“A horrible fate either way,” Laura said soberly. “You’d think word would get around among the parents that it’s not such a good deal.”
Maria shook her head. “The trouble is that word doesn’t get around. The agents make it clear that parents better not talk. A few who did have disappeared. Besides, for some of these families, it is a good deal. Money for them – though it is only a pittance compared to what the agents take - and what sounds like a life of luxury for daughters who would otherwise have a bleak future. As an added incentive, the parents get a free holiday until questions die down, so inquisitive souls like you three can’t get at them.”
Laura almost laughed. When the girl on the bicycle had told them that, she had dismissed the assertion as wishful thinking. Now it seemed the child was correct.
Maria looked at her watch. “Time is short. To sum up, it is extremely difficult to penetrate the organization. These people don’t hesitate to kill - even each other. The agents are well-paid, but they know that disloyalty or betrayal brings death. They dare not name their leader if they are caught, as you may have discovered.”
“We have,” Violet agreed.
Maria nodded, and a fiery gleam came into her blue eyes. “To fight them is also dangerous,” she said. “Very dangerous. We do it anyway.”
“How?” Violet asked bluntly.
“We talk to families we believe have been contacted because of pregnancy or a new daughter, and give them another option, one that involves not money but choice. We explain what the organization will really do to their daughter; if they agree, we help them to raise her, or even raise her ourselves. I have opened a safe house for the children where they will be well cared for, and grow up to be self-sufficient. We also take women who want to get away from abusive husbands and teach them job skills so they don’t have to rely on anyone else unless they choose to.”
“The mother of the first baby I found is abused by her husband,” Laura inserted quickly. “Maybe you could contact her.”
Maria smiled mischievously. “We already have. I imagine her husband is livid.”
“What if the parents you contact have already agreed to sell their daughter to one of the agents?” Violet asked.
“Then we try to intercept the baby before it is taken overseas,” Maria answered. “We also spread the word that the agent is double-dealing by stealing the baby back to get extra money, and hope he gets caught.”
“Clever!” Lady Longtree said appreciatively.
Maria looked pleased. “We think it will work because we believe one agent here really has been double dealing. He re-steals the child himself and tries to get money from his employers for her return. Blackmailing them is an even more dangerous business, I should say. I imagine he won’t last long.”
“No wonder the picture seems so confusing,” Laura lamented.
“It is,” Maria agreed. “I intend to change that and put them all out of business except for us,” she added defiantly. “The difficulty is that there is never enough money, not nearly enough. Hassan helps as much as he can. That family is rich enough, heaven knows. If only I could find a way to tap it…”
She broke off, frowning, and Laura had the distinct impression that if such a thing was possible, Maria would find a way to do it – if she lived long enough. With such a powerful group trying to silence her, that couldn’t be assured.
She would be a great deal safer, Laura mused, if they could put this organization out of business, but that couldn’t happen until they knew the identity of the person who ran it for Maria’s wealthy relatives.
“The icy woman,” she murmured, and Maria looked up sharply.
“A woman I overheard when I was locked in a cellar,” Laura explained. “She sounded like the sort of woman who could run an operation like that - as cold as ice and as hard as steel.”
“Laura has a lot of adventures,” Violet said dryly. “She is actually an innocent tourist who came on the tour to see the sights, but the criminals clearly don’t believe that. Four attacks on her so far I believe, or is it five?”
“I didn’t mean to get involved,” Laura protested. “But I’m glad I am, now that I know what it’s about. The point is: what are we going to do next? We have to know who runs their organization if we’re going to put it out of business. The powerful men in Saudi Arabia probably can’t be prosecuted, but the man or woman in charge of it can. That’s where we’ve got to start.”
Violet regarded her skeptically. “I agree, but I’m damned if I know how we are going to tease that individual out of the background, and as Maria says, the criminals we’ve caught aren’t talking.”
“Set a trap for the person, using me as bait,” Laura suggested. “If we let them take me, I have a good chance of finding out for myself who is in charge.”
Maria looked at her admiringly. “Brave, but simple, too. Let’s see, we could…”
“Just a minute,” Violet interrupted firmly. “Laura is under my protection and she is not going to be paraded like a tethered goat for sacrifice.”
“It needn’t be that bad, Violet,” Laura objected. “You could have all your people watching nearby and they could grab the person before any harm is done.”
“I appreciate your faith in us,” Violet said wryly, “but no. Besides, there is no reason I can’t be the bait instead.”
“Or me.” Lady Longtree’s voice was eager. “I can’t think they like me very well either, and I would love to get a crack at them.”
Maria smiled at her. “That sounds like you. But from what you say about the attacks on Laura, someone has a specific grudge against her. That’s not unusual for these people, especially if it is a woman who has threatened them. I also suspect that they think she knows something the rest of you don’t know – maybe the identity of the leader, or something else incriminating
about the organization - and is therefore more dangerous. After all, they don’t seem to be attacking either of you.”
“You have a point,” Violet conceded, “but I still can’t let Laura be bait.”
“Let’s think about it,” Maria said diplomatically. She glanced at her watch again. “Time is almost up and I need to know what you have done.”
Violet nodded. “All right. Briefly, I am a special investigator who takes cases involving children. I was employed to find out why and by whom babies were being taken from hospitals and prams, and left in tourist attractions to be picked up by couriers – unless Laura gets there first,” she inserted with a grin.
“We discovered that one of these groups was operating in this area. An associate who has worked in the travel business agreed to help by running a tour. We recruited people who wanted to work with us, including Olivia and a colleague who is head of a children’s relief agency in Zurich, and sent out tempting brochures that offered special prices for people we thought might be involved. These included Amy, the nurse who was killed; her friend Margaret and a psychiatrist who prescribed medications for the babies - both being held for questioning, and the psychiatrist’s wife, who may be associated with another suspect, Roger Brown, now in custody. We also got Laura, an extra so to speak, who turned out to be quite valuable but difficult to guard. Impossible, in fact.
“Most accepted, some innocently I imagine, others we hope because the tour provided excellent cover for their need to be in the area anyway, to make contact with their agents. We hope to get more information from the ones now in custody.”
“So that’s how everyone got here!” Laura was astonished, but Violet gave her no time to think about it. She went on to explain what they had accomplished, and what they still needed to know. By the time she had finished it was almost dark outside.
“Ah. I understand a great deal more now,” Maria said. “But we are almost back and the men are anxious. They have taken a great risk to bring me here.”
Wading Into Murder Page 23
