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‘Have you had any contact with your father since?’
‘None,’ said Abigail, ‘which is jus’ the way I like it.’
‘He never tried to find you or contact you?’
‘No. I was a Deviate, wasn’ I? Thass what they call people that leave. He couldn’ ’ave a daughter ’oo was a Deviate, not the ’Ead of the Church. ’E was probably as ’appy to see the back of me as I was of ’im.’
Abigail drank more wine. Her pale cheeks were becoming pink.
‘Y’know,’ she said abruptly, ‘before the church, I liked ’im. Prob’ly loved ’im. I always liked being one of the lads, an’ ’e’d mess around wiv me, an’ chuck a ball around and whatever. ’E was cool wiv me being a tomboy and everyfing, but after Mazu, ’e changed. She’s a fuckin’ sociopath,’ said Abigail viciously, ‘an’ she changed ’im.’
Strike chose not to respond to this comment. He knew, of course, that alchemical changes of personality were possible under a strong influence, especially in those whose characters weren’t fully formed. However, by Abigail’s own account, Wace had been a charismatic, amoral chancer even when married to his first wife; his second, by the sounds of it, had merely been the ideal accomplice in his ascent to the status of Messiah.
‘’E started telling me off for all the stuff Mazu didn’ like about me,’ Abigail went on. ‘She told ’im I was boy mad. I was on’y eight. I just liked playing football… and then ’e told me I couldn’t call ’im “Dad” any more, I ’ad to say Papa J, like everyone else.
‘It’s a man’s world,’ said Abigail Glover, throwing back her head, ‘an’ women like Mazu, they know where the power is, an’ they play the game, they wanna make sure the men are ’appy, an’ then the men’ll let ’em ’ave a bit of power themselves. She made all the girls do… stuff she didn’t ’ave to do. She didn’ do it. She was up there’ Abigail raised one hand horizontally, as high as it would go, ‘an’ we were down there,’ she said, pointing at the floor. ‘She trod on all of us so she could be the fuckin’ queen.’
‘She felt differently about her own daughter, though?’ said Strike.
‘Oh, yeah,’ said Abigail, taking another glug of wine. ‘Daiyu was a spoiled brat – but that don’ mean… what ’appened to ’er… it was bloody terrible. She was annoyin’, but – I was upset, too. Mazu didn’ fink I cared, but I did. It brought it all back, what ’appened to Mum, an’ all. I fuckin’ ’ate the sea,’ Abigail muttered. ‘Can’t even watch Pirates of the fuckin’ Caribbean.’
‘Would it be OK to go back over what happened to Daiyu?’ asked Strike. ‘I’ll understand if you’d rather not.’
‘We can, if you wan’,’ said Abigail, ‘but I was at the farm when it ’appened, so I can’ tell you much.’
Her tongue was much looser now. Strike guessed she hadn’t eaten anything between gym and pub: the wine was having a definite effect, large framed though she was.
‘Do you remember the girl who took Daiyu to the beach that morning?’
‘I remember she was blonde, an’ a bit older than me, but I couldn’ pick ’er out of a line-up now. You didn’ ’ave friends, you weren’ s’posed to get close to people. They used to call it material possession or somefing. Sometimes I’d get people tryna smarm up to me because I was my farver’s daughter, but they soon realised that didn’ count for nuffin. If I’d put in a good word for anyone, Mazu’d prob’ly make sure they were punished.’
‘So you’ve got no idea where Cherie Gittins is now?’
‘That was ’er name, was it? I fort it was Cheryl. No, I dunno where any of ’em are.’
‘I’ve heard,’ said Strike, ‘that Cherie drove the truck out of Chapman Farm past you and two other people, on the morning Daiyu drowned.’
‘The ’ell d’you know that?’ said Abigail, seeming more unnerved than impressed.
‘My partner interviewed Sheila Kennett.’
‘Bloody ’ell, is old Sheila still alive? I’d’ve fort she was long gone. Yeah, me an’ this lad called Paul an’ Sheila’s ’usband was all on early duty – you ’ad to feed the livestock an’ collect eggs an’ start breakfast. That girl Cherie an’ Daiyu come past us in the van, off to do the vegetable run. Daiyu waved at us. We was surprised, but we fort she ’ad permission to go. She got to do a ton of stuff the rest of the kids didn’.’
‘And when did you find out she’d drowned?’
‘Near lunchtime. Mazu ’ad already gone fuckin’ berserk, findin’ out Daiyu ’ad gone off wiv Cherie, an’ we was in the shit, the ones ’oo’d seen ’em go by an’ not stopped ’em.’
‘Was your father upset?’
‘Oh, yeah. I remember ’im cryin’. ’Uggin’ Mazu.’
‘Cried, did he?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ said Abigail dourly. ‘’E can turn on the waterworks like no man you ever met… but I don’t fink ’e liked Daiyu much, really. She wasn’ ’is, an’ men don’ never feel the same abou’ kids that aren’ theirs, do they? We’ve got a guy at work, the way ’e talks abou’ ’is stepson…’
‘I’ve heard you were all punished – Cherie, and the three of you who saw the truck go past?’
‘Yeah,’ said Abigail. ‘We were.’
