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‘Was this a punishment?’ Strike asked.
Carrie’s head jerked again.
‘Is that a yes? Somebody forced you to do this?’
She nodded.
‘Carrie,’ said Robin, ‘was the person taking the pictures masked too?’
Carrie raised her head to stare at Robin. It looked as though the woman had vacated her body: Robin had never seen anybody who so resembled a somnambulist, every muscle in her face slack, her eyes blank.
Then, making both Carrie and Robin jump, a song began to play from inside the shopper at Carrie’s feet.
I like to party, mm-mm, everybody does
Make love and listen to the music
You’ve got to let yourself go-go, go-go, oh-oh…
Carrie bent down automatically, rummaged in the shopper, pulled out her mobile and answered it, cutting the song off.
‘Hi Nate,’ she whispered. ‘Yeah… no, I took them over to your mum’s… yeah… no, I’m fine. Can I call you back?… no, I’m fine. I’m fine. I’ll call you back.’
Having hung up, Carrie looked from Robin to Strike, then said, in a flat voice,
‘You need to go now. You need to go.’
‘All right,’ said Strike, who could tell there was no point trying to press her further. He pulled one of his business cards out of his wallet. ‘If there’s anything else you’d like to tell us, Mrs Woods—’
‘You need to go.’
‘If you wanted to tell us anything else about Daiyu’s death—’
‘You need to go,’ Carrie said, yet again.
‘I realise this is very difficult,’ said Strike, ‘but if you were made to do anything you now regret—’
‘GO!’ shouted Carrie Curtis Woods.
98
K’an means something deeply mysterious…
The I Ching or Book of Changes
Strike and Robin returned to the Land Rover in silence.
‘Want some lunch?’ said Strike, as he put on his seat belt.
‘Seriously, that’s your first—?’
‘I’m hungry.’
‘OK, but let’s not go back to the Malthouse. It’ll be crowded by now.’
‘You don’t want to discuss Mrs Woods’ dark past somewhere her neighbours might hear?’
‘No,’ said Robin, ‘not really. This is a small place.’
