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“Here,” he said, pushing across the table a piece of torn paper, on which he had scribbled several six-figure nu warrant”

He pushed the will across the table to Wardle and slid off the high bar stool The walk froony Thethe pain became

Robin had been calling Strike every tenagain as he was cli, with enormous difficulty, up thehitone echoing up the stairwell, and hurried out on to the top landing

“There you are! I’ve been calling and calling, there’s been loads…What’s the ht?”

“I’m fine,” he lied

“No you’re…What’s happened to you?”

She hastened down the stairs towards him He hite, and sweaty, and looked, in Robin’s opinion, as though he ht be sick

“Have you been drinking?”

“No I haven’t been bloody drinking!” he snapped “I’ve—sorry, Robin In a bit of pain here I just need to sit down”

“What’s happened? Let me…”

“I’ve got it No problee”

Slowly he pulled hi and liht into it, Robin thought she heard so deep in the structure crack, and noted, We’ll need a new one, and then, But I’

“What happened?” she asked

“I fell down so his coat “Like a complete tit”

“What stairs? What happened?”

Frorinned at her expression, which was part horrified, part excited

“I wasn’t wrestling anyone, Robin I just slipped”

“Oh, I see You’re a bit—you look a bit pale You don’t think you could have done soet a cab—maybe you should see a doctor”

“No need for that Have we still got any of those painkillers lying around?”

She brought him water and paracetas, flinched and asked:

“What’s been going on here? Did Graham Hardacre send you a picture?”

“Yes,” she said, hurrying to her computer monitor “Here”

With a shunt of her yeman filled the monitor

In silence, they conte man whose irrefutable handsoe ears he had inherited froold uniforhtly lopsided, his cheekbones high, his jaw square and his skin dark with an undertone of red, like freshly brewed tea He conveyed the careless charm that Lula Landry had had too; the indefinable quality that e

“He looks like her,” said Robin in a hushed voice

“Yeah, he does Anything else been going on?”

Robin seemed to snap back to attention

“Oh God, yes…John Bristow called half an hour ago, to say he couldn’t get hold of you, and Tony Landry’s called three times”

“I thought he ht What did he say?”

“He was absolutely—well, the first time, he asked to speak to you, and when I said you weren’t here, he hung up before I could give him your mobile nuhtaway, but slammed down the phone before I could tell him you still weren’t back But the third ti at me”

“He’d better not have been offensive,” said Strike, scowling

“He wasn’t really Well, not to me—it was all about you”

“What did he say?”

“He didn’t make a lot of sense, but he called John Bristow a ‘stupid prick,’ and then he was bawling so out, which he see to do with you, because he was yelling about suing you, and defas”

“Alison’s left her job?”

“Yes”

“Did he say where she—no, of course he didn’t, ould he know?” he finished, more to himself than to Robin

He looked down at his wrist His cheap watch see when he had fallen downstairs, because it had stopped at a quarter to one

“What’s the time?”

“Ten to five”

“Already?”

“Yes Do you need anything? I can hang around a bit”

“No, I want you out of here”

His tone was such that instead of going to fetch her coat and handbag, Robin remained exactly where she was

“What are you expecting to happen?”

Strike was busy fiddling with his leg, just below the knee

“Nothing You’ve just worked a lot of overtilad to see you back early for once”

There was no adjusting the prosthesis through his trouser leg

“Please, Robin, go,” he said, looking up

She hesitated, then went to fetch her trench coat and bag

“Thanks,” he said “See you tomorrow”

She left He waited for the sound of her footsteps on the stairs before rolling up his trouser leg, but heard nothing The glass door opened, and she reappeared

“You’re expecting soe of the door “Aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” said Strike, “but it doesn’t matter”

He ht, anxious expression

“Don’t worry about e, he added: “I boxed a bit, in the army, you know”

Robin half laughed

“Yes, you mentioned that”

“Did I?”

“Repeatedly That night you…you know”

“Oh Right Well, it’s true”

“But who are you…?”

“Mattheouldn’t thankyou Go home, Robin, I’ll see you tomorrow”

And this time, albeit reluctantly, she left He waited until he heard the door on to Den, detached the prosthesis and exa, which was inflamed and bruised He wondered exactly what he had done to himself, but there was no tiht

He half wished, now, that he had asked Robin to fetch hi fro cabinet and the ared toin Robin’s chair, and ate half a packet of digestives, spending ye

When he had finished all the biscuits, he checked his mobile There were many missed calls from Robin, and two from John Bristow