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‘You warn’t there whan that happened,’ said Shelley. ‘You wus phoning.’
‘You didn’t think she was genuinely upset Daiyu had drowned, Mrs Heaton?’ Strike asked.
‘Well, she wus crying a bit, but if it’d been me—’
‘You took agin har,’ Leonard told Shelley.
‘She bent down to Betty and fussed har,’ said Shelley. ‘Whass she doing playing with a dog whan there’s a little gal drowning?’
‘Shock,’ said Leonard staunchly.
‘How long were you away, Mr Heaton?’ asked Strike.
‘Twenny minutes? Haaf hour?’
‘And how quickly did the coastguard get out?’
‘They wus out there not long ahter I got back to the beach,’ said Leonard. ‘We seen the boat going out, seen the lights, and the police wus on the beach not long ahter that.’
‘She was bloody scared whan the police got there,’ said Shelley.
‘Natural,’ said Leonard.
‘She run awff,’ said Shelley.
‘She navver,’ scoffed Leonard.
‘She did,’ said Shelley. ‘“Whass that over there?” She went tanking off to see something along the beach. Pebbles or weed or something. Sun wus just coming up by then. It wus an excuse,’ said Shelley. ‘She wanted to look busy whan they arrived, poking around in the weed.’
‘Thass not running awff,’ said Leonard.
‘Lump of seaweed, a seven-year-old gal? She wus playing up fur the police. “Look at me trying averything t’find har.” No, I din’t like har,’ Shelley told Strike unnecessarily. ‘Irresponsible, warn’t she? It wus har fault.’
‘What happened when the police arrived, can you remember?’ asked Strike.
‘They asked how she and the little gal got there, ’cause she warn’t local,’ said Shelley.
‘She took us up to the scrappy owd truck with dirt and straw all over it, in the car park,’ said Leonard. ‘Said they wus from that farm, that church place full of weirdos, up Aylmerton way.’
‘You already knew about the Universal Humanitarian Church, did you?’ asked Strike.
‘Friends of aars in Felbrigg, they’d towd us about the place,’ said Shelley.
‘Weirdos,’ repeated Leonard. ‘So we’re standing in the car park and the police wants us all to go t’station, to make statements. I says, “We’ve got a funeral to git to.” The gal was crying. Then owd Muriel come out the café, to see whass going on.’
‘This is Muriel Carter, who saw Cherie take Daiyu down to the beach?’
‘Know your stuff, don’tchew?’ said Shelley, as impressed by Strike’s thoroughness as Jordan Reaney had been disconcerted. ‘Ah, thass her. Used to own a café down by that bit of beach.’
‘Did you know her?’
‘We’d navver spoken to har before all this happened,’ said Shelley, ‘but we knew her ahter that. She told the police she’d seen Cherie carrying the little gal out the truck and off down the beach. She thowt it was stupid, that time in the morning, seeing Cherie with towels and that.’
‘Muriel was in her café very early,’ commented Strike. ‘This must have all been – what, five in the morning?’
‘Coffee machine wus on the blink,’ said Leonard. ‘She’n har husband wus in there tryina fix it before opening time.’
‘Ah, right,’ said Strike, making a note.
