Robin stood up and had taken a couple of steps towards the door when something strange happened.
She suddenly knew – didn’t guess, or hope, but
‘Who are Jacob’s parents?’
‘I don’t – we don’t… you shouldn’t ask stuff like that.’
‘Tell me,’ said Robin.
Robin could just make out the whites of Emily’s eyes by the fading light from the window. After a few seconds Emily whispered,
‘Louise and Jiang.’
‘Lou—seriously?’
‘Yeah… Jiang isn’t allowed to go with the younger women. He’s an NIM.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Non-Increasing Male. Some of the men aren’t allowed to go with fertile women. I don’t think anyone thought Louise could still get pregnant, but… then Jacob came.’
‘What did you mean, when you told me Daiyu did forbidden things at the farm?’
‘Nothing,’ whispered Emily, now sounding panicky. ‘Forget I—’
‘Listen,’ said Robin (she knew Strike was there, she was certain of it), ‘
After a couple of seconds’ silence, Emily whispered,
‘Daiyu used to sneak off instead of doing lessons, that’s all.’
‘What was she doing, when she sneaked off?’
‘She went into the woods, and into barns. I asked her and she said she was doing magic with other people who were pure spirit. Sometimes she had sweets and little toys. She wouldn’t tell us where she’d got them, but she’d show us. She wasn’t what they say she was. She was spoiled. Mean. Becca saw it all, too. She pretends she didn’t—’
‘Why did you tell me Daiyu didn’t drown?
‘I can’t—’
‘You’ve got to go,’ whispered Emily frantically. ‘Jiang’s waiting for you.’
‘Then talk quickly,’ said Robin.
‘Because… it was just… Daiyu told me she was going to go away with this older girl and live with her.’ Emily’s voice was full of a strange longing.
‘D’you mean Cherie Gittins?’
‘How—?’
‘Yes… I was so jealous. We all really loved Cherie, she was like… like a real… like what they’d call a mother.’
‘Where does invisibility come in?’
‘How did you—?’
‘It was the night before they went to the beach. Cherie gave us all special drinks, but I didn’t like the taste. I poured mine down the sink. When everyone else was asleep, I saw Cherie helping Daiyu out of the dormitory window. I knew she didn’t want anyone to see what she’d done, so I pretended to be asleep, and she went back to bed.’
‘She pushed Daiyu out of the window and then went back to bed herself?’
‘Yes, but she’ll just have been helping Daiyu do whatever she wanted to do. Daiyu could get people in trouble with Papa J and Mazu, if they didn’t do what she wanted.’
From downstairs came a shout:
‘Rowena?’
‘I’m in the bathroom,’ Robin shouted. Turning back to Emily, whom she could no longer see in the dark, she said,
‘Quickly – did you ever tell Kevin what you saw? Tell me,
‘Yes,’ said Emily. ‘Later. Ages later. When I told Becca I’d seen Cherie helping Daiyu out of the window, she said, “You didn’t see that, you can’t have done. If you couldn’t see Daiyu in her bed, it was because she can turn invisible.” Becca loved Cherie too. Becca would’ve done anything for her. When Cherie left, I cried for days. It was like losing – oh God,’ said Emily, panicked.
Footsteps were coming along the corridor. The door opened and the light was slapped on. Jiang stood revealed in the doorway, wearing a blue tracksuit. Jacob’s eyes opened and he began to whimper. Scowling, Jiang averted his gaze from his son.
‘Sorry,’ Robin said to Jiang. ‘I needed the loo and then I had to tell Emily when I last gave him a drink and changed his—’
‘I don’t need the details,’ snapped Jiang. ‘Come on.’
As Jiang and Robin walked together down the stairs he said,
‘Stinks, that room.’
His eye was flickering worse than ever.
Robin said nothing. Perhaps it was her advanced state of exhaustion, but she seemed to have become a mass of nerves and hypersensitivities: just as surely as she’d known Strike had arrived at the perimeter, she had a sense that the longer she remained in the farmhouse, the worse it would be for her.
As they walked down the last flight of scarlet-carpeted stairs into the hall, Robin heard a gust of laughter, and Wace appeared from a side room, holding a glass of what looked like wine. He was now wearing a silk version of the blue tracksuit worn by ordinary members, his expensive leather slides on his feet.
