It took her nearly half an hour to find the small clearing Barclay had cut just inside the perimeter wall, with its heavy reinforcement of barbed wire. Crouching down, she groped around on the ground and at long last her fingers felt something unnaturally warm and smooth. She lifted the plastic rock out of the patch of weeds where it had lain and pulled the two halves apart with shaking hands.
Turning on the pencil torch, she saw the pen, paper and a note in Strike’s familiar handwriting, and her heart leapt as though she’d seen him in person. She’d just removed his message when she heard voices in the wood behind her.
Terrified, Robin turned off the torch and flung herself flat to the ground in the nearest patch of nettles, shielding her face as best she could with her arms, certain the pounding of her heart would be audible to whoever had followed her. Expecting a shout or a demand to show herself, she heard nothing at all except footsteps. Then a girl spoke.
‘I th-th-thought I saw a light just then.’
Robin lay very still and closed her eyes, as though that would somehow make her less visible.
‘Moonlight on the wire, probably,’ said a male voice. ‘Go on. What did you want to—?’
‘I n-n-need you to m-m-make me increase again.’
‘Lin… I can’t.’
‘You’ve g-g-got to,’ said the girl, who sounded on the verge of tears. ‘Or I-I-I’ll have t-t-t-t-to go with him again. I c-c-can’t, Will. I c-c-c-c—’
She started to cry.
‘Shh!’ said Will frantically.
Robin heard a rustle of fabric and murmuring. She guessed that Will had put his arms around Lin, whose sobs now sounded muffled.
‘Why c-c-c—’
‘You know why,’ he whispered.
‘They’re g-g-g-going to send me t-t-to Birmingham if I d-d-don’t go with him and I c-c-can’t leave Qing, I w-w-won’t—’
‘Who says you’re going to Birmingham?’ said Will.
‘M-M-M-M-Mazu, if I d-d-d-don’t go with h-h-h—’
‘When did she tell you that?’
‘Y-y-y-yesterday, but if I’m increasing m-m-maybe she w-w-won’t m-m-m—’
‘Oh God,’ said Will, and Robin had never heard the two syllables more freighted with despair.
There was more silence and faint sounds of movement.
Please don’t be having sex, Robin thought, eyes tightly closed as she lay among the nettles. Please, please don’t.
‘Or c-c-c-could d-d-do w-w-what Kevin d-d-did,’ said Lin, her voice thick with tears.
‘Are you insane?’ said Will harshly. ‘Be damned forever, annihilate our spirits?’
‘I w-w-won’t leave Qing!’ wailed Lin. Again Will frantically hushed her. There was another lull, in which Robin thought she could hear kissing of a comforting rather than passionate nature.
She should have foreseen that somebody other than the Strike and Ellacott Detective Agency might be aware of the blind spot on the cameras and the useful cover of the woods. She was now dependent for her own safe return to the dormitory on whatever the couple decided to do next. Petrified that one of them might stray closer to the spot where she lay, because another passing car would undoubtedly reveal her bright orange tracksuit, she had no choice but to remain curled up among the nettles. How she was going to explain the mud and grass stains on her clean tracksuit was a problem she’d worry about if she ever got safely out of the woods.
‘Can’t you tell Mazu you’ve got something – what’s that thing you had?’
‘Cystitis,’ sobbed Lin. ‘She w-w-won’t believe m-m-me.’
‘OK,’ said Will, ‘then – then – you’ll have to pretend to be ill with something else. Ask to see Dr Zhou.’
‘B-b-but I’ll have to g–g-get better in the end – I can’t leave Qing!’ wailed the girl again, and Will, now clearly scared out of his wits, said,
‘For God’s sake don’t shout!’
‘Why won’t you just m-m-make me increase again?’
‘I can’t, you don’t understand, I can’t—’
‘You’re sc-sc-scared!’
Robin heard rapidly receding footsteps and was certain the girl was running away, Will in pursuit, because his voice sounded further away when he spoke again.
‘Lin—’
‘If you’re not g-g-going to make m-m-me increase—’
The voices became indistinguishable. Robin continued to lie still in her hiding place, heart thumping, ears straining to hear what was going on. The couple were still arguing, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying any more. How long she lay and listened, she didn’t know. Another car swished past. At last, the voices and footsteps died away.
Robin lay where she was for a further five minutes, scared the couple was going to return, then gingerly sat back up again.
Strike’s note was still crumpled up in her hand. She took a few deep breaths, then turned the torch back on, smoothed out the letter and read it.
Thursday 14th April
Hope all’s going well in there. Dev’s going to drop this off and he’ll be in the vicinity until Saturday, checking on the rock until you’ve put a note in. If nothing arrives, we’ll see you Sunday.
I’ve met Abigail Glover, Jonathan Wace’s daughter. Some very interesting stuff. She claims Daiyu wasn’t Wace’s daughter, but Alexander Graves’. Apparently when she died, there was a custody battle for her going on between the Waces and Graves’ parents. Abigail witnessed and suffered plenty of violence in there, and was personally shut in the pigsty, naked, for three nights after Daiyu drowned, but isn’t keen on testifying, unfortunately.
On Tuesday I’m meeting Alexander Graves’ parents. Will let you know how that goes.
Still trying to trace Cherie Gittins, the girl who took Daiyu swimming. I’ve been looking into Daiyu’s death and I’ve got questions. Anything you can find out in there would be helpful.
Might also have found a way of persuading Jordan Reaney to talk to me – Shanker’s got mates inside with him.
Littlejohn is worrying me. He didn’t tell me he worked for Patterson for 3 months before coming to us. Trying to find a replacement.
The Franks remain freaks and might be planning a kidnapping.
Look after yourself. Any time you want to come out, say the word. We’ll batter down the door if necessary.
Sx
Robin wasn’t sure why the note had made her cry, but a tear now dropped down onto the paper. The connection with her outside life had affected her like medicine, fortifying her, and the offer to batter down the door and the single kiss beside Strike’s initial felt like a hug.
Now she took out the pen, propped the small pile of paper on her knee and began to write, clumsily, with the torch held in her left hand.
All going well. Tonight I joined the church. Total submersion in the pool in the temple.
Will Edensor’s here and I’ve just overheard a conversation between him and Lin, Deirdre Doherty’s daughter. She was begging him to make her ‘increase’ again, to stave off having to sleep with ‘him’. No idea who ‘him’ is. Lin even suggested leaving but Will sounds completely indoctrinated, says it would mean damnation. I can’t be certain, but if she’s already had a child in here it might be Will’s. If so, I’m sure she’ll have been underage when she gave birth, because she doesn’t look very old now.
No violence witnessed as yet but the sleep deprivation and underfeeding is real.
Tonight I saw the spirit of Daiyu materialise out of thin air, moving and waving at us all. Jonathan W conjured her. No idea how it was done but I have to say it was effective and I think it convinced nearly everyone.
Robin paused, trying to remember anything else Strike might think significant. She was now shivering with cold and so tired she could barely think.