‘I remember she was blonde, an’ a bit older than me, but I couldn’ pick ’er out of a line-up now. You didn’ ’ave friends, you weren’ s’posed to get close to people. They used to call it material possession or somefing. Sometimes I’d get people tryna smarm up to me because I was my farver’s daughter, but they soon realised that didn’ count for nuffin. If I’d put in a good word for anyone, Mazu’d prob’ly make sure they were punished.’
‘So you’ve got no idea where Cherie Gittins is now?’
‘That was ’er name, was it? I fort it was Cheryl. No, I dunno where any of ’em are.’
‘I’ve heard,’ said Strike, ‘that Cherie drove the truck out of Chapman Farm past you and two other people, on the morning Daiyu drowned.’
‘The ’ell d’you know that?’ said Abigail, seeming more unnerved than impressed.
‘My partner interviewed Sheila Kennett.’
‘Bloody ’ell, is old Sheila still alive? I’d’ve fort she was long gone. Yeah, me an’ this lad called Paul an’ Sheila’s ’usband was all on early duty – you ’ad to feed the livestock an’ collect eggs an’ start breakfast. That girl Cherie an’ Daiyu come past us in the van, off to do the vegetable run. Daiyu waved at us. We was surprised, but we fort she ’ad permission to go. She got to do a ton of stuff the rest of the kids didn’.’
‘And when did you find out she’d drowned?’
‘Near lunchtime. Mazu ’ad already gone fuckin’ berserk, findin’ out Daiyu ’ad gone off wiv Cherie, an’ we was in the shit, the ones ’oo’d seen ’em go by an’ not stopped ’em.’
‘Was your father upset?’
‘Oh, yeah. I remember ’im cryin’. ’Uggin’ Mazu.’
‘Cried, did he?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ said Abigail dourly. ‘’E can turn on the waterworks like no man you ever met… but I don’t fink ’e liked Daiyu much, really. She wasn’ ’is, an’ men don’ never feel the same abou’ kids that aren’ theirs, do they? We’ve got a guy at work, the way ’e talks abou’ ’is stepson…’
‘I’ve heard you were all punished – Cherie, and the three of you who saw the truck go past?’
‘Yeah,’ said Abigail. ‘We were.’
‘Sheila’s still very upset about her husband being punished. She thinks whatever was done to him contributed to his poor health.’
‘It won’t ’ave bloody ’elped,’ said Abigail in a clipped voice. ‘Sheila told your partner what ’appened to us, did she?’
‘No,’ said Strike, who judged it better not to lie.
‘Well, if Sheila’s not talkin’, I’m not,’ said Abigail. ‘That’s the sorta fing that Pirbright bloke wanted off me. Find out all the sala – salaysh – all the dirty fuckin’ details. I’m not diggin’ it all up again, so people can picture me on my fuckin’ – forget that.’
Abigail’s voice was very slightly slurred now. Strike, who wasn’t entirely without hope that he might yet get details of the punishment she’d suffered, turned a fresh page in his notebook and said,
‘I’ve heard Cherie spent a lot of time with Daiyu.’
‘Mazu palmed Daiyu off on older girls a lot, yeah.’
‘Did you attend the inquest into Daiyu’s death?’
‘Yeah. Brian ’ad died by then, poor bastard, but me an’ Paul ’ad to give evidence, because of seeing ’em pass in the van. I ’eard Cheryl did a runner after it was over – don’t blame ’er. Mazu o’ny let ’er stay alive that long ’cause of the inquest. Once that was over, she was on borrowed time.’
‘D’you mean that as a figure of speech?’
‘No, I mean it for real. Mazu would’ve killed ’er. Or made ’er kill ’erself.’
‘How would she do that?’
‘You’d understand if you’d met ’er,’ muttered Abigail.
‘Did she make you do things? I mean, things to hurt yourself?’
‘All the fuckin’ time.’
‘Didn’t your father intervene?’
‘I stopped goin’ to ’im or talkin’ to ’im abou’ any of it. No point. There was one time, in Revelation—’
‘What’s that?’
‘You ’ad to say things you were ashamed of an’ get purified. So, this one girl said she masturbated an’ I laughed. I was prob’ly twelve or somethin’. Mazu made me smack my head off the temple wall until I was near enough concussed.’
‘What would have happened if you’d refused?’
‘Somefing worse,’ said Abigail. ‘It was always best to take the first offer.’
She looked at Strike with an odd mixture of defiance and defensiveness.
‘Thass the sorta fing Patrick wants me to put in my book. Tell the ’ole world I was treated like shit, so people like fuckin’ Baz can throw it back in my face.’
‘I’m not going to publicise any of this,’ Strike reassured her. ‘I’m just looking for confirmation – or not – of things Pirbright told my client.’
‘Go on, then. What else did ’e say?’
‘He claimed there was a night when all the children were given drugged drinks. He was younger than you, but I wondered whether you ever heard of anyone being drugged?’
Abigail snorted, twirling her empty glass between her fingers.
‘You weren’ allowed coffee, or sugar, or booze – nuffin’. You weren’ even given paracetamol. ’E was babbling to me on the phone abou’ people flyin’. ’E’d probably rather fink it was drugs they slipped ’im, than ’e was tricked by some of Mazu’s bullshit magic tricks, or ’e was crackin’ up.’
Strike made a note.
