Free An Act of Kindness: A Hakim and Arnold Mystery (Hakim & Arnold Mystery 2) by Barbara Nadel Page A

skeleton existed which Vi knew about; however, whether it was directly related to the PlashetCemetery was not something she wanted to discuss. Lee knew that he couldn’t pursue it and she was on her guard now. He’d just salt that little bit of information away in his head in case he needed it sometime in the future.
    ‘So what you up to this afternoon?’ Vi asked. She was drinking diet Pepsi like he was, so she must be officially on duty.
    ‘Going back to work.’
    ‘Mmm. So how’s your parrot? Is he sick or just moody?’
    Chronus had been a gift from Vi, who knew full well he was a mynah bird. But she always called him a parrot and Lee had stopped correcting her years ago.
    ‘Moody,’ he said. The vet had been unable to find anything wrong with the bird and had concluded that he was just simply showing off in order to get more treats or different food. Lee spoiled him, but then Chronus had become what Vi had intended him to be – Lee’s surrogate child. When she’d brought the bird into his life, Lee had been mourning the loss of his wife who had divorced him and his daughter who had left with her, and he was battling addiction to booze and pain killers. He’d still been in the police then and Vi had wanted to help. She’d also fancied the pants off him. They’d slept together a few times over the years and Lee knew that by taking him for a drink she could either be angling to go back to his place, less than a minute down the road, for some afternoon delight or she was having a bit of fun watching his discomfort. Either way he wasn’t in the mood, and anyway Mumtaz was on her own in the office.
    He looked at Vi and she smiled. ‘How about we …’ she began.
    ‘I can’t,’ Lee said. ‘I’ve gotta get back to Green Street.’
    She shrugged. ‘Fair enough.’
    ‘And you’ve got to get back to your Plashet corpse – and that skeleton,’ Lee said.
    ‘I’ve told you it’s not “the”—’
    ‘Oh, methinks the lady doth protest too much,’ Lee said, as he rose to his feet. He began to walk away but then he stopped.
Ah what the hell?
Then he turned, winked at her and said, ‘You coming or what?’
    ‘With you?’
    ‘Who else you got on the go, Vi?’
    She gave him a killer glare and stood up. ‘I’m on duty, Arnold, sorry.’ Then she put a fag in her mouth, lit it and began to walk towards her car. ‘Shoulda said yes the first time, honey,’ she said to him over her shoulder. ‘No second chances here.’
    Lee Arnold laughed. She was such a fucking tease.
    *
    Nasreen had heard of a lady, a Muslim, who helped women with problems. Her mum had mentioned her, and she’d heard her name spoken in a local shop: Mrs Hakim. She was a private detective and it was said she could sniff out a bad husband or an errant daughter-in-law the way other people sniffed out dry rot in old houses. She worked with an Englishman who was very good looking. Mrs Hakim was a widow but she was young, and some thought beautiful. Nasreen felt anxious about going to see such a person. She couldn’t talk about Abdullah – she didn’t have the courage. Not yet. What if the woman contacted him and told him what she’d done?
    No, she’d have to find some other reason to go to the office on Green Street. She needed time to work out whether or not she could trust this Mrs Hakim. Maybe her reason for going to see her could be something to do with the house? She remembered the metal capsule that looked a bit like a lipstick she’d taken off the doorpost and the picture that she’d found underneath it.Nasreen rooted through her handbag to make sure that the photograph and the object were still there. They were. She left her parents’ house and made her way up the road to Green Street. She’d already decided not to breathe a word about John.
    *
    Naz Sheikh liked four things in life: women, flash clothes, cars and his job. The latter consisted of working for his father, Zahid, and his older brother Rizwan. They had a