Page 122 of The Running Grave

‘Every time we visited the farm, Allie was worse,’ said Mrs Graves, ‘and we could tell there was something between Mazu and Jonathan.’

‘Only time she ever cracked a smile was when Wace was around,’ said Colonel Graves.

‘And she’d started treating Allie awf’ly,’ said Mrs Graves. ‘Spiteful, y’know. “Stop babbling.” “Stop making a fool of yourself.”’ And Allie was chanting and fasting and whatever else Jonathan was making him do.’

‘We wanted Allie to see another doctor, but he said medicines were poison, and he’d be fine as long as kept his spirit pure,’ said Colonel Graves. ‘Then, one day, Baba visited – you two were with her, werencha?’

‘Yes,’ said Phillipa stiffly. ‘We’d just got back from our honeymoon. We took photos of the wedding with us. I don’t know why. It’s not as though Allie was interested. And there was a row.

‘They claimed to be offended we hadn’t asked Daiyu to be a flower girl,’ she said, with a little laugh. ‘Such nonsense. We’d sent Allie and Mazu invitations, but we knew they wouldn’t come. Jonathan wouldn’t let Allie leave the farm by then, except to collect money on the street. The flower girl thing was just an excuse to wind Allie up and make him think we all hated him and his child.’

‘Not that we wanted her as a flower girl,’ said Nicholas. ‘She was—’

His wife shot him a look and he fell silent.

‘Allie was making no sense at all that day,’ said Mrs Graves desperately. ‘I said to Mazu, “He’s got to see someone. He’s got to see a doctor.”’

‘Wace told us Allie just needed to clear his ego, and balls like that,’ said Nicholas. ‘And I bloody well let him have it. Told him, if he wanted to live like a pig that was his business, and if he wanted to spout crap at credulous morons who’d pay for the pleasure, fine, but the family had bloody well had enough of it. And I said to Allie, “If you can’t see this for the bollocks it is, then you’re even more of a fool than I thought you were, you need your head sorted out, now get in the bloody car—”’

‘But he wouldn’t come,’ said Mrs Graves, ‘and then Mazu said she was going to take out a restraining order against us. She was pleased there’d been a row. It’s what she wanted.’

‘That’s when we decided somethin’ had to be done,’ said Colonel Graves. ‘I hired O’Connor, the detective chappie I told you about on th’phone. Brief was to dig inter Mazu and Wace’s backgrounds, get somethin’ we could use against them.’

‘Did he get anything?’ asked Strike, his pen poised.

‘Got a bit on the gel. Found out she was born at Chapman Farm. He thought she was one of the Crowthers’ children – yeh know about that business? Mother was dead. She’d left the gel at the farm and gawn orf to work as a prostitute in London. Drug overdose. Pauper’s grave.

‘Wace was clearly a wastrel, but no criminal convictions. Parents were in South Africa. His first wife’s death seemed to have been a pure accident. So we thought: desperate times call for desperate measures. We had O’Connor watchin’ the farm. We knew Allie sometimes went inter Norwich to collect money.

‘We grabbed him orf the street, me, m’brother-in-law and Nick,’ Colonel Graves continued. ‘Bundled him into the back of the car and drove him back hyar. He was goin’ berserk. We dragged him inside, into this room, and kept him here all afternoon and most of the night, tryin’ to talk some sense into him.’

‘He just kept chanting and telling us he had to go back to temple,’ said Mrs Graves hopelessly.

‘We called the local GP,’ said the colonel. ‘He didn’t come until late the next day. Young fella, new at the practice. Moment he walked in, Allie pulled himself together enough to say we’d kidnapped him and were forcin’ him to stay here. Said he wanted to go back to Chapman Farm and begged the chap to get the police.

‘Moment the doctor left, Allie started screamin’ and throwing around furniture – if that bloody GP could’ve seen him like that – and while he was chucking things around, his shirt came untucked and we saw marks on his back. Bruising and welts.’

‘I said to him, “What have they done to you, Allie?”’ said Mrs Graves tearfully, ‘But he wouldn’t answer.’

‘We got him upstairs again, into his old room,’ said Colonel Graves, ‘and he locked the door on us. I was worried he was goin’ to climb out of the window so I went out onto the lawn to keep watch. Worried he’d jump, y’see, tryin’ to get back to Chapman Farm. I was there all night.

‘Early next mornin’, two police officers came round. Tipped orf by the GP we were holdin’ a man against his will. We explained what was goin’ on. We wanted emergency services out to see him. The police said they needed to meet him first, so I went upstairs to get him. Knocked. No answer. Got worried. Nick and I broke down the door.’

Colonel Graves swallowed, then said quietly,

‘He was dead. Hanged himself with a belt, orf a hook on the back of the door.’

There was a brief silence, broken only by the fat Labrador’s snores.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Strike. ‘Appalling for you all.’

Mrs Graves, who was now wiping her eyes with a lace handkerchief, whispered,

‘Excuse me.’

She got to her feet and shuffled out of the room. Looking cross, Phillipa followed.

‘One looks back,’ said the old man quietly, once his daughter had closed the door behind her, ‘and thinks “What could we’ve done diff’rently?” If I had to do it all again, I think I’d still’ve forced him into that car, but driven him straight to a hospital. Got him sectioned. But he was terrified of being locked up. I thought he’d never forgive us.’