‘We’ve found out your father was supposed to be taking Rosie Fernsby up to Birmingham the morning Daiyu disappeared, but he changed his plans.’
‘Rosie ’oo?’
She wasn’t at the farm long,’ said Strike. ‘Pretty girl. Dark, curvy – she was there with her father and twin brother.’
‘Oh, yeah… twins. Yeah, I remember them,’ said Abigail. ‘I’d never met twins before. I didn’t know you could have boy and girl ones… no fuckin’ education,’ she added bitterly. ‘Like I told you before.’
‘When we interviewed Cherie Gittins, she tied herself up in knots a bit about your father’s whereabouts.’
‘Found Cherie, didja? Bloody ’ell.’
‘Yeah, she was married and living in the West Country. Anyway, she seemed to attach a lot of significance to the question of whether or not your father was at the farm when Daiyu disappeared.’
‘Well, I dunno why she was confused. ’E was definitely there when the police come to say Daiyu ’ad drowned. I remember Mazu screaming and collapsin’ and ’im ’olding ’er up.’
‘When were you sent up to Birmingham, exactly?’ asked Strike.
‘Exactly? Dunno. After Daiyu’s inquest.’
‘Had there been any question of you going to Birmingham before Daiyu disappeared?’
‘They prob’lly discussed it when I wasn’ around,’ said Abigail, with a slight shrug. ‘Mazu wanted shot of me for years, and Daiyu dyin’ gave ’er an excuse to do it. I din’t give a shit, personally. I fort it’d probably be easier to escape from one of the other places, din’t fink eiver of ’em would be as ’ard to get in an’ out of as Chapman Farm, an’ I was right.’
‘Yeah, one of my operatives got into Birmingham without too much difficulty, on an out-of-date police ID.’
‘Find anyfing interesting?’
‘A lot of babies,’ said Strike.
‘’Spect there is a lot, now,’ said Abigail. ‘No birf control.’
‘How long were you at the farm, between Daiyu’s disappearance and leaving for Birmingham?’
‘Dunno. Week or two. Somefing like that.’
‘And when you were transferred to Birmingham, did anyone from Chapman Farm go with you?’
‘Yeah, bloke called Joe. ’E was older’n me an’ ’e was one of my farver and Mazu’s favourites. ’E wasn’ going up there ’cos ’e was being punished, though, ’e was gonna be second in command in the Birmingham Centre.’
‘And it was just you and Joe who were transferred that day, was it?’
‘Yeah, ’s far as I can remember.’
Strike turned a page in his notebook.
‘You remember Alex Graves’ family? Father, mother and sister?’
‘Yeah, I told you I did,’ said Abigail, frowning.
‘Well, Graves’ father thinks your father ordered Cherie Gittins to kill Daiyu.’
Abigail chewed her gum for a few seconds in silence, then said,
‘Well, that’s the sort of stupid fing people say, innit? When they’re angry. Why’s my farver s’posed to ’ave killed ’er?’
‘To get his hands on the quarter of a million pounds Graves left Daiyu in his will.’
‘You’re shittin’ me. She ’ad a qua’er of a million?’
‘If she’d lived, she’d also have inherited the Graves family home, which is probably worth ten times that.’
‘Jesus!’
‘You didn’t know she had that much money?’
‘No! Graves looked like a tramp, I never knew ’e ’ad any money of ’is own!’
‘Do you think a quarter of a million would be a sufficient motive for your father to want Daiyu dead?’
Abigail chewed her gum vigorously, still frowning, before saying,
‘Well… ’e’d’ve liked the money. ’Oo wouldn’t? But of course ’e didn’ fuckin’ tell Cherie to do it. ’E wouldn’t’ve wanted to upset Mazu.’
‘Your father sent you a message, when I met him.’
‘You’ve met ’im?’
‘Yeah. He invited me backstage after his Olympia rally.’
‘An’ ’e sent me a message?’ she said incredulously.
‘Yeah. “Popsicle misses you.”’
Abigail’s lip curled.
‘Bastard.’
‘Him, or me?’
‘’Im, obviously. Still tryna…’
‘To…?’
‘Tug the ’eartstrings. It’s been twenny fuckin’ years an’ not a fuckin’ word, an’ ’e finks I’ll fuckin’ melt if ’e says fuckin’ “Popsicle”.’
But he could tell she was disturbed by the thought of her father sending her a message, even if it was difficult to tell whether anger or pain predominated.
‘I can understand why you don’t like the idea of your father drowning people,’ he said. ‘Not even Daiyu.’
‘What d’you mean, “not even Daiyu”? Yeah, she was spoiled, but she was still a fuckin’ kid, wasn’ she? An’ what d’you mean “people”? ’E didn’t drown my muvver, I toldja that last time!’
‘You wouldn’t be the first person who found it hard to believe their own flesh and blood could do terrible things.’
‘I’ve got no fuckin’ problem believin’ my farver does terrible fuckin’ fings, fanks very much!’ said Abigail angrily. ‘I was there, I saw what was fuckin’ goin’ on, I know what they do to people inside that fuckin’ church! They did it to me, too,’ she said, thumping herself in the chest. ‘So don’ tell me I don’ know what my farver is, because I fuckin’ do, but ’e wouldn’t kill members of ’is own—’
‘You were family, and as you’ve just said, he did terrible things to you, too.’
‘’E didn’t – or not… ’e let bad stuff ’appen to me, yeah, but that was all Mazu, an’ it was mostly when ’e was away. If that’s all about Birmingham—’
She made to stand up.
‘Just a couple more points, if you don’t mind,’ said Strike, ‘and this first one’s important. I want to ask you about Becca Pirbright.’
128
Through repetition of danger we grow accustomed to it. Water sets the example for the right conduct under such circumstances… it does not shrink from any dangerous spot nor from any plunge, and nothing can make it lose its own essential nature. It remains true to itself under all conditions…
The I Ching or Book of Changes
Robin had now stood waiting in Wardour Street for nearly an hour. Midge had texted ten minutes previously that she was waiting for Becca to emerge from a chemist’s. Wardour Street was still full of people entering and leaving Chinese restaurants and supermarkets. The red and gold lanterns swung gently overhead in the breeze as the sun sank slowly behind the buildings.
Robin was banking on Midge giving her due warning that Becca was on her way back to the temple, so she could find a less obvious place to watch, but the longer Robin waited, the more the little battery life in her phone was leaking away.
She was afraid that if Becca spotted her, she’d turn tail and run. It might be better, she thought, to be waiting in the temple when Becca returned. That, after all, was Becca’s place of safety and her final destination; it would be far harder for her to refuse to talk there than in the street. After a few more moments of indecision, Robin texted her intention to Midge, then headed into Rupert Court.
None of the people walking up and down the narrow passage paid her the slightest attention as she removed the skeleton keys from her pocket. This, after all, was London: each to their own business, unless it became so noisy, violent or otherwise bothersome that passers-by felt duty bound to intervene. It took Robin five goes to find a key that would unlock the temple doors, but finally she managed it. Having slipped inside, she closed the doors quietly behind her and locked them again.