‘What the bloody hell have you done to yourself?’ he shouted, looking down at Lin, and Robin read panic in his face.
‘Nothing… nothing…’ wheezed Lin.
‘I think,’ said Robin, feeling terribly guilty about betraying Lin, but afraid of the consequences if she didn’t speak, ‘she might have eaten some plants.’
‘What plants?’ shouted Zhou, his voice echoing off the tiled walls.
‘Lin, tell him,’ said Robin, ‘please tell him. Think of Qing,’ she whispered.
‘M-m-mug… wort,’ said Lin, now gasping for breath.
‘Get up,’ snarled Zhou.
‘Are you mad?’ said Robin, looking up at him. ‘She can’t stand!’
‘Get two of the men in here!’ Zhou bellowed at the women who’d retreated back into the dormitory.
‘What are you going to do?’ Robin demanded.
‘You, move!’ Zhou barked at Robin, who remained exactly where she was, still gripping Lin’s hand.
Now Will and Taio appeared at the cubicle door. Taio looked disgusted, Will, simply horrified.
‘Wrap a towel around her,’ said Zhou, ‘we don’t want mess everywhere. Then carry her to the farmhouse.’
‘N-n-no,’ said Lin, starting feebly to resist as Taio began to roughly bundle a bath towel around her.
‘I’ll do it,’ said Robin, batting Taio’s hand away.
Lin was hoisted to her feet, the towel wrapped around her, then carried away by Will and Taio.
‘Clean that mess up,’ were Zhou’s parting words to Robin, and as he left the bathroom, she heard him bark at somebody else, ‘You, go and help her.’
Robin’s tracksuit bottoms were soaked in the warm red liquid. She got slowly to her feet, her nostrils full of the ferrous smell of Lin’s blood, as Penny came creeping back into the bathroom, her eyes wide.
‘What happened to her?’ she whispered.
‘I think she tried to give herself a miscarriage,’ said Robin, who felt nauseated.
‘
The ramifications of what had just happened were hitting Robin. She wondered whether Lin was going to die, whether Zhou was competent to deal with the emergency. She also knew she’d reacted to the crisis as Robin Ellacott, not as Rowena Ellis, shouting at Zhou and ignoring his orders, pushing Taio away, siding with the girl who’d tried to abort her baby. Then there was her admission she knew Lin had eaten plants…
‘Dr Zhou told me to help you clean up,’ said Penny timidly.
‘It’s fine,’ said Robin, who very much wanted to be left alone. ‘I can do it.’
‘No,’ said Penny, who looked queasy but determined, ‘he told me to… you really yelled at him,’ she added nervously.
‘I was just shocked,’ said Robin.
‘I know… but he
Robin said nothing, but went to get one of the stiff, rough towels the women used after showers, spread it over the blood and began to mop it up, all the while wondering how on earth she going to explain that she knew Lin had had those plants, without admitting she’d been in the woods where they grew, at night.
Imitating Robin, Penny too fetched a towel to soak up the blood. When most of it was mopped up, Robin dropped the stained towel into the laundry basket, went to get a fresh one and ran it under the cold water tap. As she did so, she glanced up at the high windows over the sinks again. Her heart hammered almost painfully as she imagined leaving immediately. She’d just heard the first indication that Will Edensor might be having doubts about the church, but she had no idea how to talk her way out of the trouble she’d now surely landed herself in. If only she could get rid of Penny, she might be able to climb out of one of those windows and drop down on the other side of the building, out of sight of the courtyard; then she could run for the woods while the higher-ups were distracted by Lin, raise the alarm and get an ambulance to the farm. That, surely, was the right thing to do. Her time was up.
She returned to the mess on the floor with her wet towel and began wiping up the last traces of blood.
‘Go to dinner,’ she told Penny. ‘I’ll finish up here, it’s nearly done.’
‘OK,’ said Penny, getting to her feet. ‘I hope you don’t get in trouble.’
‘Thanks,’ said Robin.
She waited until Penny’s footsteps had died away, then got up, threw the wet towel into the laundry basket too, and had taken two strides towards the sink when a white figure appeared in the doorway.
‘Papa J wants to see you,’ said Louise Pirbright.
‘I haven’t finished,’ said Robin stupidly, pointing at the floor, which was still faintly pink.
‘I’ll send someone else to do it,’ said Louise. She was holding her hands in front of her, nervously interlocking her swollen-jointed fingers. ‘You’d better come.’
