"Fancy a game of croquet?" asked Jeremy, sipping Krug.
"Ooh yes Daddy," cooed Lara, Caitlin and Ben.
"When will Mia be here?" asked Jenny.
"She said she'll be along later. She's working late with Miles."
"Hello everyone," said Mia. "Sorry I've got to leave immediately. I'm very busy."
"Never mind old thing," Ben brayed. "Now, who's going to race me to my dangerously trendy flat in the East End."
As she drove to the airport Mia reflected on the warmth and smugness of her family. Nothing bad could ever happen to them, she thought.
* * * * *
"Wotcha Chels."
"Hi Sylv." It had been four years since her family was tragically wiped out in the bombing. Mia was happy now as Chels, the deputy manager at the Echinacea centre in the heart of London's vibrant, multicultural East End.
"What do you think of our new assistant Robert?"
"He's far too ugly," she said, thereby signifying she was bound to end up in bed with him later in the book.
* * * * *
"Hi, I'm Beatrice. I was your father's mistress for 20 years."
Mia kept quiet, reflecting on how little we sometimes know about those we love most.
* * * * *
"You've been dashed difficult to track down all these years," said Claude. "Come with me to the Bracknell Ball."
At the ball, Mia reflected on how far she felt from her roots, being now part of the vibrant, multicultural East End.
"I feel very guilty," Claude slurred. "Ben made his fortune laundering cash for criminals I introduced him to. That's why he was killed."
On the way home, Mia reflected on how little we often know about those we love most. She rang Rob. "I've got to have you," she whispered.
* * * * *
"You must be Micky Hazel, the car dealer and criminal," said Mia. "What happened to my brother?"
"Girls like you get hurt asking questions like that," he menaced. "And I'm no crook."
* * * * *
Mia called Miles. "Now you're a top bod in the Home Office, tell me who the top gangster is."
"Try Freddy Ellis."
A bomb went off outside the Echinacea centre, killing Aasim's brother, Ali.
"It's all my fault," Mia wailed. "I shouldn't have asked questions about Freddy Ellis."
"Freddy Ellis has been dead for years," snapped Aasim. "The bombers were Asian."
Mia reflected on how easy it was to misread situations in London's vibrant, multicultural East End.
* * * * *
Mia went to visit Jean, Miles's mother. "Hello, did you know Miles's diary was stolen by Dr Muhammed's Islamist terrorists the week before your family was killed?"
Mia gave Muhammed's details to Aasim and moved to Brighton.
The digested read ... digested
The gospel according to St Matthew.
