You Don't Know Me

The next day she was a little more with it you could say but truth be told I think that was more to do with the fact that she was on the phone for most of it. She would step out into the corridor, the communal one on our landing and take these calls. They were proper weird calls too. I didn’t know who they were from but I did get that they were not normal calls. Mostly she just nodded with the handset held against her ear. Occasionally she said, ‘Yes. Yes. Okay,’ but that was about it. Really quick calls. No hellos no goodbyes. Like I say, weird. When I asked her about them she told me it was the bouncers at the club and how they were old friends of hers from time back. Or someone else that had something to do with how we could get in or get out. ‘It’s just details,’ she said, ‘leave it to me.’

I should have maybe guessed what was going on, but I swear down, my mind don’t work on them kind of levels. This kind of thing is just out of my radar. I feel stupid now, but that time, I swear I had no idea. When I think back I sometimes think I probably should have known something was going on. Because I followed her to the mosque again the next day. I mean actually followed her. This time I left within a minute of her leaving so I could see where she went. Actually see exactly where she went. I should have known then.

Long adjournment: 16:20

IN THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT  T2017229

Before: HIS HONOUR JUDGE SALMON QC

Closing Speeches:

Trial: Day 37

Friday 14^thJuly 2017

APPEARANCES

For the Prosecution:     Mr C. Salfred QC

For the Defendant:         In person

Transcribed from a digital audio recording by

T. J. Nazarene Limited

Official Court Reporters and Tape Transcribers

35

11:10

I followed her. That was the time when I should have known that everything weren’t on the level. I mean I knew it weren’t on the level but I should have seen more. I blame myself for that. But this was some mad sideways thing that I didn’t see coming at me. It was like when a car pulls out straight into you and you don’t know it’s happened until you hear the crunch. And you say to yourself over and over, I should have seen it man. I should have seen it.

So anyway like I said I followed her, the very next day. I wasn’t buying that whole Faisal crap. I wanted to see with my own eyes what I could. Maybe it would all check out no matter what I thought. Don’t get me wrong I was hoping it would check out. I thought maybe I could have a quiet scout around this time and see whether there were any guys hanging round who might be Face’s boys. Because if this shit Ki was telling me was actually happening then maybe what I thought was right, that she was being set up. So I justified it to myself like that. I ain’t following her following her. I’m following her, looking out for her.

I got to the ground floor of the block and quickly scanned the road to see where she was. I couldn’t see her at first, but that was because I was looking the wrong way. She was walking in the opposite direction from the mosque I had been going to. No wonder I never saw her there whenever I went. She was going to a different mosque. Anyway my ride was parked just there on the corner so I quickly jumped in even though I knew it was risky to be taking it out on the road. But truth be told this whole thing was really getting to me and I needed to find out if the place she was going to was safe. I pulled out of the road just in time to see her getting on a bus and then I followed it.

My mind was racing even then but really and truly I weren’t that surprised she was going to a different mosque, there’s more than one mosque in London. But what did surprise me was that she took the bus all the way to Elephant and Castle. That seemed a long way to go for one. And for two it didn’t really fit to me. Wasn’t it Curt who took her to the mosque that first time? Surely he would have said if he’d taken her all the way to Elephant? I kept meaning to check this with him but didn’t know how to do it without sounding like I didn’t trust her – or him.

I kept the bus in view but stayed a couple of cars behind. I just needed to be close enough to see when she got off. Just after the roundabout I saw her. There she was. All in her Darth Vader kit. Once she got off the bus I knew I had to be more careful because even if no one else recognized my ride, there was no way Ki would miss it if she saw it. So I decided to park up and follow on foot. In the end it wasn’t that hard to follow her because with her wearing that burkha thing she probably couldn’t hardly see anything but her own feet. She turned down into a side street and I followed.