The Running Grave полностью

‘Of course, James is right, up to a point. Will’s got a formidable intellect and he’s a devil in a debate. I’m simply trying to explain that there’s always been a – a worrying naivety allied to Will’s very powerful brain. He’s thoroughly well intentioned, he truly wants to make the world a better place, but he also likes certainty and rules to cleave to. Before he found the prophets of the UHC, it was socialism, and before that he was a very tiresome Cub Scout – tiresome for the Cub leaders, because he didn’t like noisy games, but equally tiresome for us, with his endless good turns, and wanting to debate whether it was a good turn if it was something he’d been asked to do, or whether he had to think up his own acts of benevolence for them to qualify.

‘But Will’s real problem,’ said Sir Colin, ‘is that he doesn’t see evil. It’s theoretical to him, a faceless world force to be eradicated. He’s utterly blind to it when he’s up close.’

‘And you think the UHC’s evil?’

‘Oh yes, Mr Strike,’ said Sir Colin quietly. ‘Yes, I’m afraid I do.’

‘Have you tried visiting him? Arranging another meeting?’

‘Yes, but he’s refused. Only church members are allowed at Chapman Farm and when Ed and I tried to attend a service at the Rupert Court Temple to talk to Will, we were refused entry. It’s a registered religious building, so they have a legal right to bar visitors. We deduced from the fact we weren’t allowed in that the church have pictures of Will’s family members and have instructed church officials to keep us out.

‘As I told you on the phone, that’s how Patterson Inc messed things up. They sent the same man who’d been staking out Chapman Farm to the temple. Chapman Farm has cameras all around the perimeter, so the church authorities already knew what the man looked like, and when he arrived in Rupert Court they told him they knew who he was and who he worked for, and that Will was aware I was having private detectives follow him. At that point I terminated my contract with Patterson Inc. They’d not only failed to find out any information that would help me extract Will, they’d reinforced the church’s narrative against our family.’

‘Will’s still at Chapman Farm then, is he?’

‘As far as we know, yes. He sometimes goes out collecting money in Norwich and London. He occasionally stays overnight at the Rupert Court Temple, but otherwise he’s at the farm. Kevin told me recruits who don’t progress to running seminars and prayer meetings usually remain in the indoctrination centres – or spiritual retreats, as the church calls them. Apparently there’s a lot of hard labour at Chapman Farm.’

‘How did you meet this –’ Strike checked his notes ‘– Kevin Pirbright?’

‘I contacted him through his blog about the UHC,’ said Sir Colin.

‘Would he be amenable to talking to us?’

‘I’m sure he would have been,’ said Sir Colin quietly, ‘but he’s dead. He was shot in August of last year.’

‘Shot?’ repeated Strike and Robin simultaneously.

‘Yes. A single bullet to the head at home in his flat in Canning Town. It wasn’t suicide,’ said Sir Colin, forestalling Strike’s question. ‘There was no gun found at the scene. Patterson spoke to a police contact: they believe it was a drug-related killing. Apparently Kevin was dealing.’

‘Were you aware of that?’

‘No, but I wouldn’t have been… I think the poor chap wanted to impress me,’ said Sir Colin sadly. ‘Wanted to seem more well balanced than he really was. He didn’t have anyone else, because the rest of his family are still in the UHC. I never visited his flat and it was only towards the end that he admitted how much of a toll it was taking on him, writing about everything that had happened to him, trying to piece together his memories for his book about the UHC. I should’ve realised, I ought to have got him some kind of counselling. Should’ve remembered he was a damaged human being, instead of treating him as a kind of weapon to be used against the church.

‘I didn’t hear from him at all in the month before he was shot. Sally’s illness had been declared terminal, and I’d ticked Kevin off for behaving erratically and unhelpfully: I mean, in ways that were damaging to himself, quite apart from my wish to get Will out of the UHC. He made a scene at Giles Harmon’s book signing, swearing and shouting. I was constantly trying to impress upon him that those kinds of tactics could only backfire, but he was very angry, very bitter.’

‘Do you think it was a drug-related hit?’

Ed glanced sideways at his father, who hesitated before saying,

‘I was in rather an overwrought state when I heard he’d been shot and… if I’m honest, my thoughts certainly went straight to the UHC.’

‘But you’ve changed your mind?’