Page 69 of Grave Danger

“I can think of one thing.”

“Share it with us, please.”

She swallowed hard, then continued. “In Iran, a wife cannot get a passport or other legal documents to travel to another country without her husband’s consent. When Farid’s Entrepreneur visa was approved by the United Kingdom, Ava assumed she would be going with him. He told her that he would consent only if she improved her domestic skills.”

“Did Farid, in fact, withhold his consent and travel to the UK without Ava?”

“For a time.”

“How long?”

“He went to London by himself and gave Ava one month to improve. He told her if she did not improve by the time he came back, he would divorce her. But if things were to his satisfaction in one month, he would grant his consent and allow her to come with him to London.”

“What happened?”

“He returned, as promised. He literally walked around the apartment with a white glove to test for cleanliness. Ava prepared a meal and served it to him.”

“Were things to his liking?”

“Apparently. He granted his consent.”

Jack was pleased; she seemed to have regained her confidence. It was worth a shot at eliciting some of the other things she’d shared about Farid in their prep.

“Can you tell us any other ways in which Farid berated or abused Ava?”

She paused, seeming to consider his question. “No, not at this time.”

Jack could have backed away, but he tried again. “Can you recall any other examples of psychological or emotional abuse? Any at all?”

“Not at this time.”

Jack had hit a wall, but he needed one more thing.

“You mentioned earlier that Farid berated Ava as a homemaker. Did any of these instances of verbal abuse occur in front of Yasmin?”

Farid’s lawyer rose. “Objection to counsel’s characterization of these instances of constructive criticism as ‘abuse,’ Your Honor.”

“That one is definitely overruled, Ms. Beech. The witness may answer.”

“Yes,” said Zahra. “It happened in front of Yasmin.”

It was the most important point, and Jack was tempted to inquire further. But he couldn’t risk the possibility that Zahra would back away from her answer. He shifted to a line of questioning that had proven to be within Zahra’s comfort zone.

“Let’s talk a bit more about Ava’s arrest and incarceration,” said Jack. “You’re aware, of course, that your sister Ava was one of many women swept up by the morality police during the demonstrations on Keshavarz Boulevard.”

“Yes.”

“Are you aware of any protesters who were released from prison, unharmed?”

“Yes. Dozens.”

“Did you ever discuss this with Farid?”

“Yes, in a way we did.”

“Tell me about that,” said Jack.

“Every day we got news of more prisoners being released, only to find out Ava was not among them. It was a very worrisome time. We were alone in the apartment one night. I said something like, ‘Why Ava? With everyone else released and gone home, why was she kept locked up in prison?’”

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