7. Broaden scope of convo
She’s glad to be the focus of your attention again and the reason for your temporary absence has increased your worth in her eyes. Now ask her questions about herself, the better to tailor your own background story to her specific agenda. If she’s a single mother, you were raised by a single mother, who did an awesome job. If she’s worried about poverty, you volunteer at a local food bank. If she’s concerned with racial injustice, you were just talking that issue over with your black best friend…
‘Kea,’ said Strike, ‘told me that after Anomie mentioned the cat she said that she doesn’t like them, because of what they do to bird populations. When she said her mother breeds parrots, he immediately claimed to own a parrot too.’
Robin said nothing for a few seconds, then asked,
‘So you think Kea was telling you the truth about this interaction? She didn’t show it to you, right?’
‘No,’ said Strike. ‘She told me she’d blocked Anomie after he got nasty, so you couldn’t see it any more. What’s bothering you?’
‘Well – a bunch of men or teenage boys are clearly hanging around the Ink Black Heart fandom, trying to pick up liberal, left-wing women and girls, right? All using Kosh lines?’
‘Agreed.’
‘Well, Kea’s bound to have been hit on by one of them, surely? She’s very pretty and she’s been all over Twitter for the last couple of years.’
‘You think she made up the story about Anomie hitting on her? Just quoted an interaction she had with one of these other guys?’
‘Yes – without realising it’s all a blueprint and could be traced back to Kosh. Also, I don’t understand why she didn’t save that conversation with Anomie if it happened, because it makes Anomie look a bit of an idiot, doesn’t it? Especially the parrot bit. And it also supports her claim not to be Anomie. “Look, he’s harassed me too.”’
‘Fair points,’ said Strike. ‘So you’re inclining to Rachel’s theory that Anomie’s female?’
Robin thought for a while. Finally she said,
‘I just don’t know. Until I spoke to Rachel, I thought the closest we’ve got to the real Anomie are those direct messages they sent Josh – very arrogant, apparently educated and clearly feeling they should take over Edie’s creative role. But the conversation Rachel’s just described to me, which happened back when it all began, is odd, isn’t it? “Edie and I are basically the same person.” Rachel said that isn’t how the average boy or man speaks, and I agree. I’m certain Rachel was telling me the truth about that conversation: she’s clearly torturing herself with regret about ever having joined the game. I can’t see why she’d lie.
‘I told you, right back at the start of the investigation, I thought there was something up with Anomie and sex. No flirting, no trying to meet or date any of these girls trying to get their attention. In the game, yes, they’re different, they can be crude and aggressive, but as I said to you, it sometimes feels a bit contrived – what’s expected of them as a man online.’
‘Well, I always liked your Kea-as-Anomie theory,’ said Strike. ‘But for the sake of argument, let’s say Anomie did try and hit on Kea, using Kosh lines. There’s no reason Anomie couldn’t also be masquerading as one of these Maxes and Zoltans who’re out there trying to pick up girls, is there?’
‘No, I suppose not,’ said Robin, ‘but why bother with other accounts to try and pick up girls, when all the Ink Black Heart girls are fascinated by Anomie?’
‘To keep Anomie clean and anonymous?’
‘That’s possible,’ said Robin doubtfully, ‘but my God, if Anomie’s running the game, tweeting all the time and trying to pick up as many girls as possible using Kosh’s system, when would they ever sleep?’
‘Certainly wouldn’t leave much time for anything else,’ agreed Strike. ‘And we’ve got another mystery now, haven’t we? What the hell is Vikas Bhardwaj, astrophysicist at one of the world’s most prestigious universities, doing chumming around with Anomie?’
‘“She’s my sister”,’ quoted Robin. ‘You know, I wondered—’
Strike’s mobile rang and went immediately to Bluetooth. He answered the call and Midge’s voice came out of the speaker.
‘Strike?’
‘Yeah, I’m here, and so’s Robin.’
‘I’ve got news… on Ross…’
Midge sounded out of breath. Strike and Robin glanced at each other.
‘Everything all right?’ said Strike.
‘Yeah… fine… I just had to run… about half a mile… just getting my breath back…’
‘You’ve been at Ross’s place in the country, right?’
‘Yeah… I’ve been trespassing… Don’t go apeshit, I had to… it was the only way I could get what we needed…
‘OK,’ said Midge, after drawing a deep breath. ‘So I’ve been sitting up on a hill overlooking the place, watching the grounds through binoculars.’
‘This is a hill belonging to Ross, I take it?’
‘Yeah, but it was the only vantage point where I could see properly. I was behind trees. Anyway, about an hour ago two of the older girls appeared, leading ponies out into a – what d’you call a place where you ride that’s not a field?’
‘Outdoor school?’ suggested Robin.
‘OK, that, if that’s what it is,’ said Midge. ‘Strike, I think you’re going to be pissed off about some of this, but I’d fookin’ do it again.’
‘Unless you took the kids out with a sniper rifle, I can’t afford to sack you when we’re this shorthanded,’ said Strike. ‘Get on with it.’
‘All right, well, they were jumping little jumps and stuff, and then Ross came out to watch them, so I started filming.’
‘OK, filming on private property’s illegal, but letting that go…’
‘And the younger girl went to pieces with her dad watching. The pony kept refusing. So the fooker went into the school and put the bar on the jump up higher and told her to do it again. She got the pony over, but it knocked the top bar off. So he put the bar up higher.
‘I knew what were going to happen,’ said Midge. ‘I could feel it coming. Knew he was going to get violent. So I went down the hill, still filming—’
‘He saw you?’ said Strike, glaring at the speaker from which Midge’s voice was issuing.
‘Not then, he didn’t,’ said Midge. ‘I got down behind one of those bushes with all the flowers on, whatever they’re—’
‘Forget the fucking horticulture, what happened?’
‘She was telling him she couldn’t do it. Crying and shaking – so then the eldest girl starts telling her father to leave her sister alone. Ross walks right over to the elder girl, drags her off her pony, slaps her round the face and sends her inside. She tried to stay and he hit her again, so she went.
‘I should’ve gone for him then,’ said Midge, ‘because the other bit wouldn’t have happened, but I stayed hidden, filming, and then he turned to the littler kid and told her to jump the fucking jump, and whack the pony with the whip until it managed it. The top bar was taller than the pony. It was fookin’ ridiculous.
‘The kid was terrified, but Ross was yelling at her, so she just charged straight at the jump, whacking the pony with the whip like he was telling her to, and the pony just smashed through the poles and went down. It rolled over and I heard her scream. The pony couldn’t get up because it had got a leg caught and she was trapped beneath the pony.
‘And that’s when I went running out of the bush,’ said Midge. ‘I know first aid. I couldn’t leave the kid there like that—’