Page 387 of The Running Grave

He who remains persevering in danger

Is without blame.

Do not complain about this truth;

Enjoy the good fortune you still possess.

The I Ching or Book of Changes

134

Evil can indeed be held in check but not permanently abolished. It always returns. This conviction might induce melancholy, but it should not; it ought only to keep us from falling into illusion when good fortune comes to us.

The I Ching or Book of Changes

The long lawn sloping down to the Thames behind Sir Colin Edensor’s house had gained a number of brightly coloured objects since the last time Strike and Robin had seen it. There was a red and yellow car large enough for a small child to sit in and propel themselves along with their feet, a miniature goalpost, a blow-up paddling pool decorated with tropical fish and a quantity of smaller objects, one of which was a battery-powered bubble machine. It was this that was attracting the delighted attention of the white-haired toddler who was now answering to the name Sally rather than Qing, and two dark-haired little boys of around the same age. Their shrieks, shouts and laughter carried into the kitchen as they attempted to catch and pop the stream of bubbles issuing from the purple box on the grass.

Four adults were supervising the toddlers, to make sure they didn’t stray too close to the river at the foot of the garden: James and Will Edensor, James’ wife Kate and Lin Doherty. Inside the kitchen, watching the group on the lawn, sat Sir Colin Edensor, Strike, Robin, Pat and her husband Dennis.

‘I can never,’ said Sir Colin, for the third time, ‘thank you enough. Any of you,’ he added, including the Chaunceys in his glance around the table.

‘Nice to see them getting on,’ said Pat in her baritone, watching the re-christened Qing chasing bubbles.

‘What happened when James and Will met for the first time?’ asked Robin, who didn’t want to seem too nosy, but was very interested in the answer.

‘Well, James shouted a lot,’ said Sir Colin, smiling. ‘Told Will what he thought of him, in about fifteen different ways. Funnily enough, I think Will actually welcomed it.’

Robin wasn’t surprised. Will Edensor had wanted to atone for his sins, and with immunity from prosecution guaranteed, and the Drowned Prophet proven to be a mirage, where else was he to get the punishment he craved, but from his older brother?

‘He agreed with every word James said. He cried about his mother, said he knew nothing could ever make right what he’d done, said James was justified in hating him, that he understood if James never wanted to have anything to do with him again. That rather took the wind out of James’s sails,’ said Sir Colin.

‘And they’re going to live here with you?’ asked Strike.

‘Yes, at least until we can sort out proper accommodation for Lin and little Sally. With the press milling around and so on, I think it’s best they’re here.’

‘She’ll need support,’ croaked Pat. ‘She’s never been in charge of the kid all by herself. Never run her own house. Sixteen, it’s a lot of responsibility. If you found her something round my way, I could keep an eye on ’em. My daughter and granddaughters would muck in. She needs other mothers round her, teach her the ropes. Get together and moan about the kids. That’s what she needs.’

‘You’ve done so much already, Mrs Chauncey,’ said Sir Colin.

‘I was her age, near enough, when I had my first,’ said Pat unemotionally. ‘I know what it takes. Anyway,’ she took a drag on her e-cigarette, ‘I like ’em. You brought Will up very well. Good manners.’

‘Yeah, he’s a nice lad,’ said Dennis. ‘We all did stupid things when we were young, didn’t we?’

Sir Colin now took his eyes off the group on the lawn to turn to Robin.

‘I see they’ve found more bodies at Chapman Farm.’

‘I think they’re going to be finding them for weeks to come,’ said Robin.

‘And none of the deaths were registered?’

‘None except the prophets’.’

‘You don’t want coroners involved, if you’ve been refusing people medical help,’ said Strike. ‘Our police contact says they’ve got three skeletons of babies, presumably stillbirths, out of the field so far. There’ll probably be more. They’ve been on that land since the eighties.’

‘I doubt they’ll be able to identify all the remains,’ said Robin. ‘They were recruiting runaways and the homeless as well as wealthy people. It’s going to be a big job tracing all the babies who were sold, as well.’

‘It beggars belief that they got away with it for so long,’ said Sir Colin.