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‘I think you do,’ said Wace gently.
There was a minute’s silence. At last, Robin said,
‘I’ve been thinking… of leaving.’
‘But that wouldn’t make Daiyu angry,’ said Wace, with a little laugh. ‘Church members are free to leave. We compel nobody. You know that, surely?’
Robin thought he was playing to the camera in the corner, which presumably also picked up sound.
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I suppose so.’
‘All we ask is that church members don’t try and manipulate others, or act cruelly towards them,’ said Wace.
‘I don’t think I’ve done that,’ said Robin.
‘No?’ said Wace. ‘What about Will Edensor?’
‘I don’t understand what you mean,’ lied Robin.
‘After his trip to the Retreat Room with you,’ said Wace, ‘he asked for writing materials, to contact the person he used to call his mother.’
It took everything Robin had to feign perplexity.
‘Why?’ she said.
‘That’s what we want you to—’ began Taio harshly, but his father raised a hand to silence him.
‘Taio… let her answer.’
‘Oh,’ said Robin slowly, as though she’d just remembered something. ‘I did tell him… oh God,’ she said, playing for time. ‘I told him I thought… you’re going to be angry,’ she said, allowing herself to cry again.
‘I’m only angered by injustice, Rowena,’ said Wace quietly. ‘If you’ve been unjust – to us, or to Will – there will be a sanction, but it will fit the transgression. As the I Ching tells us, penalties must not be imposed unfairly. They should be restricted to an objective guarding against unjustified excesses.’
‘I told Will,’ said Robin, ‘that I wondered whether all our letters were being passed on.’
Mazu let out a soft hiss. Becca was shaking her head.
‘Were you aware that Will has signed a non-contact declaration regarding his family?’ asked Wace.
‘No,’ said Robin.
‘Some church members, like Will, voluntarily sign a declaration that they no longer wish to receive letters from former flesh objects. Step five: renunciation. In such cases, the church carefully preserves the correspondence, which can be viewed at any time, should the member ever wish to see it. Will has never made such a request, and so his letters are kept safely filed away.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ said Robin.
‘So why should he suddenly wish to write to his mother, after almost four years without contact?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Robin.
She was shivering, very aware of the wet robe’s transparency. Was it possible that Will had kept most of their conversation secret? He’d certainly had reason to suppress Robin’s possession of a torch, because of potential punishment for not having revealed it sooner. Perhaps he’d also omitted mention of her testing of his faith?
‘Are you sure you didn’t say anything to Will in the Retreat Room that would make him anxious about the woman he used to call mother?’
‘Why would I talk about his mother?’ asked Robin desperately. ‘I – I told him I didn’t think the letter from my sister had been passed on as soon as it arrived. I’m sorry,’ said Robin, allowing herself to cry again, ‘I didn’t know about non-contact declarations. That explains why there were so many letters in Mazu’s cabinet. I’m sorry, I really am.’
‘That injury to your face,’ said Wace. ‘How did it really happen?’
‘Will pushed past me,’ said Robin. ‘And I fell over.’
