1 The Cuckoo's Calling

Geegee, will you pleeeeeze make Rochelle something for her birthday,
please please? I’ll pay. Something nice (don’t be horrible). For Feb
21st? Pleezy please. Love ya. Cuckoo.
Strike remembered the assertion of LulaMyInspirationForeva that Lula had loved
Guy Somé “like a brother.” His statement to the police was the shortest in the
file. He had been in Japan for a week and had arrived home on the night of her
death. Strike knew that Somé lived within easy walking distance of Kentigern
Gardens, but the police appeared to have been satisfied with his assertion that,
once home, he had simply gone to bed. Strike had already noted the fact that
anyone walking from Charles Street would have approached Kentigern Gardens
from the opposite direction to the CCTV camera on Alderbrook Road.
Strike closed the file at last. As he moved laboriously through his office,
undressing, removing the prosthesis and unfolding the camp bed, he thought of
nothing but his own exhaustion. He fell asleep quickly, lulled by the sounds of
humming traffic, the pattering rain and the deathless breath of the city.