The Running Grave полностью

We’re now in the middle of a lot of lectures on how you become pure spirit. There are nine steps and the third is when you start committing a lot of money to the church, to divest yourself of materialism. I’m a bit worried about what’s going to happen when they expect me to start setting up bank transfers, given that they think I can afford £1k handbags.

I don’t want to come out yet –

Robin paused here, listening to the rustling leaves, her back sore from leaning against the knobbly bark of the tree, her backside and thighs damp from the wet grass. What she’d written was a lie: she very much wanted to leave. The thought of her flat, her comfortable bed and a return to the office were incredibly tempting, but she was certain staying would provide opportunities to find something incriminating against the church that would be impossible from the outside.

– because I haven’t really got anything Colin Edensor can use. Hopefully I’ll get something this week. I swear I’m trying.

Still haven’t had to do Revelation. I’ll feel happier once I’ve got that out of the way.

R x

PS Please keep the chocolate coming.

Nine at the beginning means:

When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it.

The I Ching or Book of Changes

Strike waited to read Robin’s most recent dispatch from Chapman Farm before finishing an interim report for Sir Colin Edensor. The question that was vexing him most was whether or not to reveal the possibility that Will had fathered a child with an underage girl at Chapman Farm. The overheard conversation Robin had mentioned didn’t, in Strike’s view, rise to the standard of proof, and he was wary of increasing Sir Colin’s anxiety without being certain of his facts. He therefore omitted mention of Will’s alleged paternity, and concluded:

Proposed Next Steps

We now have RE’s eyewitness account of physical coercion and injuries, plus her first-hand experience of underfeeding, enforced lack of sleep and a ‘therapeutic’ technique I think legitimate psychologists would agree is abusive. RE believes she may yet uncover evidence of more serious/criminal activity at Chapman Farm. Given that none of the church members RE and I have interviewed so far are willing to testify against the church, or likely to be credible witnesses given the length of time they’ve been out, I recommend RE staying undercover for the present.

I’ll be interviewing another ex-member of the UHC on the twenty-eighth of May and am actively searching for more. Identifying the subjects of the photographs RE found is a priority, as they suggest sexual abuse has been used as a form of discipline.

If you have any questions, please get in touch.

Having emailed the password-protected report to Sir Colin, Strike drank the last of his mug of tea, then sat for a few moments staring out of the window of his attic kitchen, contemplating several of his current dilemmas.

As he’d foreseen, the Private Eye article had led to phone calls from three different journalists, all of whose publications had tangled with Andrew Honbold QC in court and were consequently eager to wring as much newsprint as possible out of his extra-marital affair. On Strike’s instructions, Pat had responded with a one-line statement denying any involvement with Honbold or anyone associated with him. Honbold himself had issued a statement vehemently denying the Eye story and threatening legal action. Bijou’s name hadn’t appeared in the press, but Strike had a nasty feeling that there might yet be further repercussions from his ill-advised dalliance, and was keeping a weather-eye out for any opportunistic journalist who might be watching the office.

Meanwhile he still hadn’t managed to track down any of the former church members he was most eager to talk to, remained saddled with Littlejohn and was plagued by worries about his Uncle Ted, whom he’d called the previous evening and who appeared to have forgotten that he’d seen his nephew recently.