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Strike drank the last of his lager and contemplated the final four words of this sentence He had never been able to understand the assumption of intimacy fans felt with those they had never met People had sometimes referred to his father as “Old Jonny” in his presence, bea orn press stories and anecdotes as though they had been personally involved A man in a pub in Trescothick had once said to Strike: “Fuck, I know your old man better than you do!” because he was able to naest album, and whose tooth Rokeby had faer
It was one in theStrike had becouitar from two floors below, and to the occasional creaks and hisses froer enjoyed luxuries like showers and home-cooked food Tired, but not yet ready to clied to discover Guy Somé’s approximate address by further perusal of the internet, and noted the close proxiern Gardens Then he typed in the web address arrsecouk, like ashift at work
He had not visited the Army Rumor Service site since Charlotte had found hi it on his coht had they found their partners viewing online porn There had been a row, generated by what she took to be his hankering for his old life and his dissatisfaction with the new
Here was the are he too could speak fluently Here were the acronyms he had known by heart; the jokes impenetrable to outsiders; every concern of service life, fro bullied at his school in Cyprus, to retrospective abuse of the Prime Minister’s performance at the Chilcot Inquiry Strike wandered fro in a his resistance to the specter he could feel, now, breathing on the back of his neck
This had been his world and he had been happy there For all the inconveniences and hardships of ed froret a day of the ti And yet, he had not been of these people, even while a them He had been a monkey, and then a suit, feared and disliked about equally by the average squaddie
If ever the SIB talk to you, you should say “No comment, I want a lawyer” Alternatively, a si me” will suffice
Strike gave a final grunt of laughter, and then, abruptly, shut down the site and turned off the computer He was so tired that the removal of his prosthesis took twice the time it usually did
9
ON SUNDAY MORNING, WHICH WAS fine, Strike headed back to the ULU to shower Once again, by consciously filling out his own bulk and allowing his features to slide, as they did naturally, into a scowl, he es as heroo for a quiet moment so that he would not have to shower in full view of any of the changing students, for the sight of his false leg was a distinguishing feature he did not want to impress on anybody’s memory
Clean and shaven, he caught the Tube to Ha through the glass-covered shopping precinct through which he e Street were heaving with people; itand essentially soulless commercial center, and yet Strike knew it to be a bare ten minutes’ walk to a sleepy, countrified stretch of the Thames embankment
While he walked, traffic ru past him, he re closed down except the church and the beach Sunday had had a particular flavor in those days; an echoing, whispering quiet, the gentle chink of china and the sh street, and the relentless rush of the waves on the beach when he and Lucy had run down on to the shingle, forced back on to primitive resources
His ht, and I end up in hell, it’ll be eternal Sunday in bloody St Mawes”
Strike, as heading away from the commercial center towards the Thames, phoned his client as he walked
“John Bristow?”
“Yeah, sorry to disturb you at the weekend, John…”
“Cormoran?” said Bristow, immediately friendly “Not a probleo with Wilson?”
“Very good, very useful, thanks I wanted to knohether you can help irl shelike Rachel or Raquelle—and she was living at the St El any bells?”
There was a ain, the disappointed on annoyance
“What do you want to speak to her for? Tansy’s quite clear that the voice she heard from upstairs was male”
“I’irl as a suspect, but as a witness Lula had an appointht after she saw you at your mother’s flat”
“Yeah, I know; that came out at the inquest I mean—well, of course, you know your job, but—I don’t really see how she would know anything about what happened that night Listen—wait a moment, Cormoran…I’m at my mother’s and there are other people here…need to find a quieter spot…”
Strike heard the sounds of movement, a murmured “Excuse me,” and Bristow came back on the line
“Sorry, I didn’t want to say all this in front of the nurse Actually, I thought, when you rang, youup to talk toto tell me”
“Tell you what?”
“You obviously don’t read the News of the World It’s all there, complete with pictures: Duffield turned up to visit raphers outside the house; it caused a lot of inconvenience and upset with the neighbors I was out with Alison, or I’d never have let him in”
“What did he want?”
“Good question Tony, my uncle, thinks it was money—but Tony usually thinks people are after ot power of attorney, so there was nothing doing there God knohy he came The one small mercy is that Mum doesn’t see painkillers”
“How did the press find out he was co?”
“That,” said Bristow, “is an excellent question Tony thinks he phoned them himself”
“How is your mother?”
“Poorly, very poorly They say she could hang on for weeks, or—or it could happen at any moment”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Strike He raised his voice as he passed underneath a flyover, across which traffic wasnoisily “Well, if you do happen to remember the name of Lula’s Vashti friend…”
“I’m afraid I still don’t really understand why you’re so interested in her”
“LulaHill, spent fifteen minutes with her and then walked out Why didn’t she stay? Whyout of the ordinary that happens around a sudden death could be relevant”
“I see,” said Bristow hesitantly “But…well, that sort of behavior wasn’t really out of the ordinary for Lula I did tell you that she could be a bit…a bit selfish It would be like her to think that a token appearance would keep the girl happy She often had these brief enthusiasms for people, you know, and then dropped them”
His disappointment at Strike’s chosen line of inquiry was so evident that the detective felt it ht be politic to slip in a little covert justification of the immense fee hi
s client was paying
“The other reason I was calling was to let you know that to one of the CID officers who covered the case Eric Wardle I’et hold of the police file”
“Fantastic!” Bristow sounded impressed “That’s quick work!”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got good contacts in the Met”
“Then you’ll be able to get some answers about the Runner! You’ve read my notes?”
“Yeah, very useful,” said Strike
“And I’ui this week, so you canyour secretary, shall I?”
“Great”
There was this to be said for having an underworked secretary he could not afford, Strike thought, once he had rung off: it gave a professional impression
St Elht behind the noisy concrete flyover A plain, ill-proportioned and contemporaneous cousin of Lula’s Mayfair house, red brick with huarden, no elegant neighbors, but a chipped door opening directly on to the street, peeling paint on theledges and a forlorn air The utilitarian modern world had encroached until it sat huddled and s, the flyover a mere twenty yards away, so that the upper s looked directly out upon the concrete barriers and the endlessly passing cars An une silver buzzer and speaker beside the door, and the unapologetically ugly black ca froe
An eirl with a sore at the corner of hera dirty ainst the wall, staring blankly towards the commercial center barely five minutes’ walk away, and when Strike pressed the buzzer for adave hi his potentialities
A s lay just inside the door Two locked glass-paneled doors stood to left and right, affording hi side room with a table full of leaflets, an old dartboard and a wall liberally peppered with holes Straight ahead was a kiosk-like front desk, protected by another rille
A gu a newspaper She seemed suspicious and ill-disposed when Strike asked whether he could speak to a girl whose na like Rachel, and who had been a friend of Lula Landry’s
“You a journalist?”