Page 120 of The Running Grave

‘What community service was Allie given?’ asked Strike.

‘Well, that’s where she got her claws into him, y’see,’ said Colonel Graves heavily. ‘Community project fifty minutes up the road, in Aylmerton. Cleanin’ up litter and so on. There were a couple of people there from Chapman Farm, and she was one of ’em. Mazu.’

The name changed the atmosphere in the room. Though the sunshine continued to flood in through the leaded windows, it seemed, somehow, to darken.

‘He didn’t tell us he’d met a gel at first,’ said the colonel.

‘But he was spending longer than he needed to in Aylmerton,’ said Mrs Graves. ‘Coming home very late. We could smell alcohol on his breath again, and we knew he wasn’t supposed to be drinking on his medication.’

‘So there was another row,’ said Colonel Graves, ‘and he blurted out that he’d met someone, but he said he knew we wouldn’t like her, and that’s why he took her to the pub instead of comin’ hyar. And I said, “Watcha talkin’ about, we wouldn’t like her? How d’yeh know? Bring her over to meet us. Bring her for tea!” Tryin’ to make him happy, y’know. So he did. He brought her hyar…

‘He’d made it sound as though Mazu was a farmer’s daughter, before he brought her t’meet us. Nothin’ wrong with that. But I could tell she wasn’t a farmer’s daughter, moment I laid eyes on her.’

‘We’d never met any of his gelfriends before,’ said Mrs Graves. ‘Bit of a shock.’

‘Why was that?’ asked Strike.

‘Well,’ said Mrs Graves, ‘she was very young and—’

‘Filthy,’ said Phillipa.

‘—bit grubby,’ said Mrs Graves. ‘Long black hair. Skinny, with dirty jeans and a sort of smock.’

‘Didn’t talk,’ said Colonel Graves.

‘Not a word,’ said Mrs Graves. ‘Just sat next to Allie, where Nick and Pips are sitting now, clinging to his arm. We tried to be nice, didn’t we?’ she said plaintively to her husband, ‘But she just stared at us through her hair. And Allie could tell we didn’t like her.’

‘Nobody could’ve bloody liked her,’ said Nicholas.

‘You met her too?’ asked Strike.

‘Met her later,’ said Nicholas. ‘Made my bloody flesh crawl.’

‘It wasn’t shyness,’ said Mrs Graves. ‘I could’ve understood shyness, but that’s not why she didn’t say anything. One had a sense, of real… badness. And Allie got defensive – didn’t he, Archie? – “You think I like her because I’m mental.” Well, of course we didn’t think that, but we could tell she was encouraging the – the unstable part of him.’

‘It was obvious she was the stronger personality,’ said Colonel Graves, nodding.

‘She can’t have been more than sixteen, and Allie was twenty-three when he met her,’ said Mrs Graves. ‘It’s very hard to explain. From the outside, it looked… I mean, we thought she was too young for him, but Allie was…’

Her voice trailed away.

‘Bloody hell, Gunga,’ said Nicholas angrily.

The stench of the old dog’s fart had just reached Strike’s nostrils.

‘The hell are you feeding him?’ Phillipa demanded of her parents.

‘He had some of our rabbit last night,’ said Mrs Graves apologetically.

‘You spoil him, Mummy,’ snapped Phillipa. ‘You’re too soft on him.’

Strike had the feeling this disproportionate anger wasn’t really about the dog.

‘When did Allie move to the farm?’ he asked.

‘Quite soon after we had them over for tea,’ said Mrs Graves.

‘And he was still on the dole at this point?’