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‘How did you meet this –’ Strike checked his notes ‘– Kevin Pirbright?’
‘I contacted him through his blog about the UHC,’ said Sir Colin.
‘Would he be amenable to talking to us?’
‘I’m sure he would have been,’ said Sir Colin quietly, ‘but he’s dead. He was shot in August of last year.’
‘Shot?’ repeated Strike and Robin simultaneously.
‘Yes. A single bullet to the head at home in his flat in Canning Town. It wasn’t suicide,’ said Sir Colin, forestalling Strike’s question. ‘There was no gun found at the scene. Patterson spoke to a police contact: they believe it was a drug-related killing. Apparently Kevin was dealing.’
‘Were you aware of that?’
‘No, but I wouldn’t have been… I think the poor chap wanted to impress me,’ said Sir Colin sadly. ‘Wanted to seem more well balanced than he really was. He didn’t have anyone else, because the rest of his family are still in the UHC. I never visited his flat and it was only towards the end that he admitted how much of a toll it was taking on him, writing about everything that had happened to him, trying to piece together his memories for his book about the UHC. I should’ve realised, I ought to have got him some kind of counselling. Should’ve remembered he was a damaged human being, instead of treating him as a kind of weapon to be used against the church.
‘I didn’t hear from him at all in the month before he was shot. Sally’s illness had been declared terminal, and I’d ticked Kevin off for behaving erratically and unhelpfully: I mean, in ways that were damaging to himself, quite apart from my wish to get Will out of the UHC. He made a scene at Giles Harmon’s book signing, swearing and shouting. I was constantly trying to impress upon him that those kinds of tactics could only backfire, but he was very angry, very bitter.’
‘Do you think it was a drug-related hit?’
Ed glanced sideways at his father, who hesitated before saying,
‘I was in rather an overwrought state when I heard he’d been shot and… if I’m honest, my thoughts certainly went straight to the UHC.’
‘But you’ve changed your mind?’
‘I have, yes. They don’t need guns; they’ve got expensive lawyers. They’re expert at shutting down criticism: articles by sympathetic journalists, celebrities doing PR… Kevin was very small fry, really, even if he’d managed to finish his book. They’d already forced him to take down every serious allegation he made on his blog, and they’d also made accusations of abuse against him.’
‘What kind of abuse?’
‘Sexual,’ said Sir Colin. ‘They claimed he’d abused his sisters. According to a letter Kevin received from the Council of Principals, both girls had made fairly detailed allegations against him. Now, I know as well as anyone that sexual abuse is endemic. One of the charities I work with helps survivors, so I’m only too familiar with the statistics and I’m not deluded: plenty of apparently charming people do terrible things behind closed doors. Obviously, I can’t discount the possibility that Kevin did abuse those girls, but one would have thought, if the church truly believed him guilty, they’d have informed the police, not written Kevin a threatening letter. On balance, I think it was just one more attempt to frighten him, and given what Kevin told me about the internal workings of the church, I think it likely his sisters were intimidated into signing those statements… I wanted to attend Kevin’s funeral,’ Sir Colin said sadly, ‘but it wasn’t possible. I made enquiries: his mother, who’s still inside the church, chose to bury him at Chapman Farm. I must admit, I found that very upsetting… Kevin had fought so hard to leave…’
Their food now arrived. Strike, who’d ordered seabass rather than the steak he really fancied, asked,
‘Can anything be done legally, with regards to Will?’
‘Believe me, I’ve tried,’ said Sir Colin, picking up his knife and fork. ‘Will’s got a trust fund, which was left to him by Sally’s father. He’s now taken out half the money in there and given it to the UHC. I wanted to have him assessed by a psychiatrist, but when the church got wind of that they arranged for him to see one of their own, who gave Will a completely clean bill of health. He’s of age and he’s been declared mentally competent. It’s a total impasse.
‘I’ve tried to interest political contacts in the church and the way it’s operating, but everyone seems afraid of taking it on, given the celebrity followers and its much-vaunted charitable work. There’s one MP I strongly suspect of being a member. He agitates for them in Parliament and becomes very aggressive towards anyone who criticises them. I’ve tried to interest some of my press contacts in an in-depth exposé, but they’re shy of being sued as well. Nobody wants to touch it.
‘Kevin was keen to take the UHC to court on the grounds of their abuse of him and his family. Sally and I were more than happy to fund the case, but my lawyers felt the chances of Kevin succeeding were very slim. It wasn’t just that he’d already been forced to admit to mistakes on his blog; he had some very odd beliefs.’
‘Such as?’
‘He was convinced the spirit world was real. As a matter of fact, he thought the UHC could conjure the dead. Patterson tried to find other people who might testify and drew a complete blank.’
‘Have you ever considered taking Will back by force? Grabbing him off Wardour Street?’
‘Sally and I discussed doing so, as a last resort,’ Sir Colin admitted, ‘but we were scared out of the idea when we found out what happened to a young man whose family did exactly that, back in 1993. His name was Alexander Graves. He came from a wealthy family, too. His father literally kidnapped him off the street when he was out collecting money. Graves was in a very poor mental state when they got him out, and a couple of days later hanged himself at the family home.
‘I’ve read extensively about mind control in the last few years,’ Sir Colin continued, his food growing cold as he talked. ‘I know far more than I did in the beginning about the techniques the UHC are using, and how effective they are. Kevin told me a lot of what goes on in there and it’s classic cult manipulation: restriction of information, control of thoughts and emotions and so on. I understand now why Will changed so rapidly. He’s literally not in his right mind.’
‘He can’t be,’ agreed Ed. ‘Not to come when Mum was dying, not to attend her funeral. James and his wife had twin boys last year, and he’s never even met them.’
‘So what exactly are you looking to achieve in hiring us?’ asked Strike.
Sir Colin set down his knife and fork to reach under his chair for an old black briefcase, from which he extracted a slim folder.
‘Before the UHC’s lawyers made Kevin bowdlerise his blog, I printed out copies. There are also two long emails from Kevin in here, which explain his family’s involvement in the church and some incidents he witnessed or was involved in. He mentions people and places, and makes at least one criminal allegation about Jonathan Wace, the UHC’s founder. If any of the other people Kevin mentions in these documents could be persuaded to talk, or even to testify, especially about coercion or mind control, I might be able to do something, legally. At a bare minimum, I’d like to persuade the UHC to let me see Will again.’
