1 The Cuckoo's Calling

“Tony’s never liked me much. He preferred Charlie. People said that Charlie
looked like Tony did, when he was a boy.”
“I can’t say he spoke about Charlie with much fondness before you arrived,
and he doesn’t seem to have had much time for Lula, either.”
“Didn’t he give you his views on heredity?”
“By implication.”
“No, well, he’s not usually shy about them. It made an extra bond between
Lula and me, the fact that Uncle Tony considered us a pair of sow’s ears. It was
worse for Lula; at least my biological parents must have been white. Tony’s not
what you’d call unprejudiced. We had a Pakistani trainee last year; she was one
of the best we’ve ever had, but Tony drove her out.”
“What made you go and work with him?”
“They made me a good offer. It’s the family firm; my grandfather started it,
not that that was an inducement. No one wants to be accused of nepotism. But
it’s one of the top family law firms in London, and it made my mother happy to
think I was following in her father’s footsteps. Did he have a go at my father?”
“Not really. He hinted that Sir Alec might have greased some palms to get
Lula.”
“Really?” Bristow sounded surprised. “I don’t think that’s true. Lula was in
care. I’m sure the usual procedures were followed.”
There was a short silence, after which Bristow said, a little timidly:
“You, ah, don’t look very much like your father.”
It was the first time that he had acknowledged openly that he might have been
sidetracked on to Wikipedia while researching private detectives.
“No,” agreed Strike. “I’m the spitting image of my Uncle Ted.”
“I gather that you and your father aren’t—ah—I mean, you don’t use his
name?”
Strike did not resent the curiosity from a man whose family background was
almost as unconventional and casualty-strewn as his own.
“I’ve never used it,” he said. “I’m the extramarital accident that cost Jonny a
wife and several million pounds in alimony. We’re not close.”
“I admire you,” said Bristow, “for making your own way. For not relying on
him.” And when Strike did not answer, he added anxiously, “I hope you didn’t