‘Did you have to load vegetables onto the truck?’ asked Strike.
‘No. Everythin’ was already in it. From the night before.’
‘So you and Daiyu got in, taking towels for your swim?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Can I ask something?’ said Robin. ‘Why was Daiyu wearing a dress, instead of a tracksuit, Carrie? Or didn’t church members wear tracksuits, in the nineties?’
‘No, we wore ’em… but she wan’ed to wear her dress.’
‘Were the other children allowed normal clothes?’ asked Strike.
‘No.’
‘Did Daiyu got special treatment, because she was the Waces’ child?’
‘I s’pose – a bit,’ said Carrie.
‘So you drove out of the farm. Did you pass anyone?’
‘Yeah,’ said Carrie. ‘The people on early duty.’
‘Can you remember who they were?’
‘Yeah… what’s-his-name Kennett. And a bloke called Paul, and a girl called Abigail.’
‘Where did you go, after you’d left the farm?’
‘To the two grocers.’
‘What grocers?’
‘There wuz one in Aylmerton and one in Cromer we used to sell to.’
‘Did Daiyu get out of the van at either of the grocers?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Well – why would she?’ said Carrie, and for the very first time, Strike heard a trace of defiance. ‘People came out from the shops to unload the boxes. I on’y got out to make sure they took what they’d ordered. She stayed in the van.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘We wen’ to the beach,’ said Carrie, her voice noticeably stronger now.
‘How did you get down to the beach?’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘Did you walk, run—?’
‘We walked. I carried Daiyu.’
‘Why?’
‘She wan’ed me to.’
‘Did anyone see this?’
‘Yeah… an old woman in the café.’
‘Did you see her watching you at the time?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Were you parked very near her café?’
‘No. We wuz a bit along.’
Strangely, Strike thought, she seemed more confident now they were discussing the events that were presumably among the most traumatic of her memories than she’d seemed talking about Chapman Farm.
‘What happened when you got to the beach?’
‘We got undressed.’
‘So you were intending to swim, rather than to paddle?’
‘No, jus’ to paddle.’
‘So why take off all your outer clothing?’
‘I didn’ want Daiyu gettin’ her dress soakin’ wet. I told her she’d be uncomfortable on the way back. Daiyu said she wouldn’ take off her dress if I didn’ take off my tracksuit, so I did.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘We wen’ into the sea,’ said Carrie. ‘We paddled a bit and she wanted to go deeper. I knew she would. She wuz like that.’
‘Like what?’
‘Brave,’ said Carrie. ‘Adventurous.’
These were exactly the words she’d used at the inquest, Strike remembered.
‘So she went in deeper?’
‘Yeah. An’ I wen’ after her. An’ then she sort of – launched herself forwards, like she wuz goin’ to swim, but I knew she couldn’. I called to her to come back. She wuz laughin’. Her feet could still touch the bottom. She wuz wadin’ out, tryin’ to get me to chase her. And then – she wuz gone. She just went under.’
‘And what did you do?’
‘Swam out to try an’ get her, obviously,’ said Carrie.
‘You’re a strong swimmer, right?’ said Strike. ‘You give lessons, don’t you?’
‘Yeah,’ said Carrie.
‘Did you hit the rip current as well?’
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I got pulled into it, but I knew what to do. I got out, but I couldn’ get to Daiyu, an’ I couldn’ see ’er any more, so I wen’ back to the beach, to get the coastguard.’
‘Which is when you met the Heatons, walking their dog?’
‘Yeah, exactly,’ said Carrie.
‘And the coastguard went out, and the police came?’
‘Yeah,’ said Carrie. Robin had the sense she relaxed slightly as she said it, as though she’d come to the end of an ordeal. Strike turned a page in the notebook in which he’d been writing.
‘Mrs Heaton says you ran off up the beach when the police came, and started poking at some seaweed.’
‘No, I didn’,’ said Carrie quickly.
‘She remembered that quite clearly.’
‘It didn’ happen,’ said Carrie, the defiance now pronounced.
‘So the police arrived,’ said Strike, ‘and walked you back up to the van, right?’
‘Yeah,’ said Carrie.
‘Then what happened?’
‘I can’ remember exactly,’ said Carrie, but she immediately contradicted herself. ‘They took me to the station and I told them what had happened and then they took me back to the farm.’
‘And informed Daiyu’s parents what had happened?’
‘On’y Mazu, because Papa J wuzn’ – no, he
‘Jonathan Wace wasn’t supposed to be at the farm that morning?’ said Strike.
‘No. I mean, yeah, he wuz. I can’ remember. I thought he wuz goin’ away that mornin’, but he didn’ go. And I didn’ see him the moment I got back, so I thought he’d gone, but he wuz there. It’s a long time ago, now,’ she said. ‘It all gets jumbled up.’
‘Where was Wace supposed to be that morning?’
‘I don’ know, I can’ remember,’ said Carrie, a little desperately. ‘I made a mistake: he wuz there when I got back, I just didn’ see him. He wuz there,’ she repeated.
‘Were you punished, for taking Daiyu to the beach without permission?’ said Robin.
‘Yeah,’ said Carrie.
‘What punishment were you given?’ asked Robin.
