1 The Cuckoo's Calling

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“Yeah, we have.” “Stick!” “It’s fine, Luce. I’m fine.” But her good humor had been obliterated in a great gush of fury and disappointment. Strike waited patiently, exhausted and sore, while she raged: she had known all along, known that Charlotte would do it all over again; she had lured him away from Tracey, and from his fantastic army career, rendered him as insecure as possible, persuaded him to move in, only to dump him— “I ended it, Luce,” he said, “and Tracey and I were over before…” but he might as well have commanded lava to flow backwards: why hadn’t he realized that Charlotte would never change, that she had only returned to him for the drama of the situation, attracted by his injury and his medal? <strong>The</strong> bitch had played the ministering angel and then got bored; she was dangerous and wicked; measuring her own worth in the havoc she caused, glorying in the pain she inflicted… “I left her, it was my choice…” “Where have you been living? When did this happen? That absolute bloody bitch—no, I’m sorry, Stick, I’m not going to pretend anymore—all the years and years of shit she’s put you through—oh God, Stick, why didn’t you marry Tracey?” “Luce, let’s not do this, please.” He moved aside some of her John Lewis bags, full, he saw, of small pants and socks for her sons, and sat down heavily on the sofa. He knew he looked grubby and scruffy. Lucy seemed on the verge of tears; her day out in town was ruined. “I suppose you haven’t told me because you knew I’d do this?” she said at last, gulping. “It might’ve been a consideration.” “All right, I’m sorry,” she said furiously, her eyes shining with tears. “But that bitch, Stick. Oh God, tell me you’re never going to go back to her. Please just tell me that.” “I’m not going back to her.” “Where are you staying—Nick and Ilsa’s?” “No. I’ve got a little place in Hammersmith” (the first place that occurred to him, associated, now, with homelessness). “Bedsit.” “Oh Stick…come and stay with us!”
He had a fleeting vision of the all-blue spare room, and Greg’s forced smile. “Luce, I’m happy where I am. I just want to get on with work and be on my own for a bit.” It took him another half-hour to shift her out of his office. She felt guilty that she had lost her temper; apologized, then attempted to justify herself, which triggered another diatribe about Charlotte. When she finally decided to leave, he helped her downstairs with her bags, successfully distracting her from the boxes full of his possessions that still stood on the landing, and finally depositing her into a black cab at the end of Denmark Street. Her round, mascara-streaked face looked back at him out of the rear window. He forced a grin and a wave before lighting another cigarette, and reflecting that Lucy’s idea of sympathy compared unfavorably with some of the interrogation techniques they had used at Guantanamo.
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A 1 E=mc 2 This eBook is downloaded
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Contents Cover Title Page Welcome D
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Prologue Is demum miser est, cuius
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The story forced news of politics,
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of happiness at the thought that sh
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2 STRIKE ABSORBED THE IMPACT, HEARD
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madness when he had plunged after h
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3 FIVE MINUTES LATER THERE WAS a kn
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“It’s—um—actually, I wonder
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watching my father carrying her up
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He unfolded the note against his kn
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“John…I’m going to be honest
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Matthew, who was staying for the we
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“Understand what?” “Well…an
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“Yes, exactly. So—so Lula arriv
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5 STRIKE TURNED TO ROBIN, WHO had s
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the street at the foot of Center Po
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Strike tweaked a tourist leaflet fr
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6 ROBIN HAD WAITED TEN MINUTES, to
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7 STRIKE HAD SPENT THE EARLY aftern
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walking in the direction of Landry
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“Don’t you dare fucking investi
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“Get on with it,” said Strike.
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learned that he was a newly qualifi
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“Here’s a bit of film on YouTub
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2 THE CAMERAS LOOKED LIKE MALEVOLEN
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“The balcony she fell from was on
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she run downstairs and tell the sec
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Robin felt as though her own worth
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the empty flat under the eyes of he
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“I’m temporary,” said Robin.
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Rokeby has been married three times
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And yet he was close to feeling abo
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mirrored walls reflecting tables of
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“How did you get on with Lula Lan
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“Suicidal pissed off?” “No,
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“The police came,” Strike said,
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“He’s told you that, has he?”
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“How long were you away from the
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7 A MAN IN HIS MID-TWENTIES was edg
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“Why not?” “ ’Cause she lik
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“Nothing came of it?” “They d
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“I’m gonna be late.” Wilson r
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Weighed down, young, by a mortgage,
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would be able to persuade her to ta
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Strike followed the speculative tra
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9 ON SUNDAY MORNING, WHICH WAS fine
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“Lula made this girl travel all t
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“Rochelle, have you seen her?”
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10 ROBIN STOOD SWAYING WITH THE RES
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“Fire away,” said Strike, as he
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peroxide hair, in their tiny, tight
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camera at the end of Bellamy Road a
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“But while we were proving she wa
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Wardle snorted. “Heard about that
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“You got forensics to check out h
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statement agreeing that Duffield ha
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11 “EVAN DUFFIELD’S AGENT SAYS
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Strike had never moved in the kinds
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He guessed that it would needle her
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“Isn’t he a quarter Malay?” a
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“What were you saying?” she ask
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The thought of Alison’s doomed in
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“He must have moved quickly.”
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“God knows what Lula was doing wi
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Strike had met countless liars; he
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“Thought you might like to know y
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weekend with Dickie, who is a conte
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ecovery. Perhaps the blunt, unnuanc
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Geegee, will you pleeeeeze make Roc
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that gorgeous Charlotte? Not split
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companion, and although its name wa
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3 STRIKE WAS WOKEN EARLY ON Sunday
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4 You think i wont fucking hurt you
Page 151 and 152: Their pale reflections were swaying
Page 153 and 154: She recalled the excitement she had
Page 155 and 156: “Not that much, by your standards
Page 157 and 158: “You’d think Lula Landry would
Page 159 and 160: 5 STRIKE AND ROBIN PARTED AT New Bo
Page 161 and 162: “For many reasons, all of them go
Page 163 and 164: “Feel free.” “…your collusi
Page 165 and 166: there,” said Landry, stonily. “
Page 167 and 168: 6 “JOHN,” SAID STRIKE, AS HIS c
Page 169 and 170: “She was—sometimes—a bit like
Page 171 and 172: mind me telling Tansy who your fath
Page 173 and 174: “Why?” “Because we’d had so
Page 175 and 176: “Has your mother made a will?”
Page 177 and 178: unrolled the gel liner from the stu
Page 179 and 180: “Bummer,” said Spanner, and the
Page 181 and 182: e the first to make deep, dark hole
Page 183 and 184: 8 WHEN ROBIN ARRIVED NEXT MORNING,
Page 185 and 186: “Robin, I need you to check somet
Page 187 and 188: So that was where they went. Strike
Page 189 and 190: “Di’n’t her brother tell ya?
Page 191 and 192: “Did she tell you why?” “Ther
Page 193 and 194: “One of the shop assistants overh
Page 195 and 196: “We usedta listen to Deeby Macc i
Page 197 and 198: He thought that she was going to te
Page 199 and 200: “That all?” she asked aggressiv
Page 201: “Robin says you’ve been out det
Page 205 and 206: Robin selected two bags of salt and
Page 207 and 208: “I called the Law Society about t
Page 209 and 210: Lycra. Somé’s snug gray jeans bo
Page 211 and 212: a life. Get out of the closet. Have
Page 213 and 214: “They said that a neighbor had ov
Page 215 and 216: knew what she was going to say, and
Page 217 and 218: “Freebies, dear,” drawled Somé
Page 219 and 220: was all getting too much. She wante
Page 221 and 222: “Big fucking deal,” said Somé,
Page 223 and 224: “No,” said Somé, with a ghost
Page 225 and 226: her work, which involved a small cl
Page 227 and 228: “Seventeenth of March,” said St
Page 229 and 230: 3 THE HEAVY BLACK-PAINTED FRONT doo
Page 231 and 232: then ascended the stairs, her bucke
Page 233 and 234: “Were Bestigui’s roses on somet
Page 235 and 236: “You heard her say,” he repeate
Page 237 and 238: and stepped outside. Robin did not
Page 239 and 240: “I—I’ll try.” Bristow sound
Page 241 and 242: 4 THE WEEKEND STRETCHED AHEAD, WARM
Page 243 and 244: ecause it had once been home to the
Page 245 and 246: “Met him, did you?” “No, but
Page 247 and 248: “Could it have been Agyeman?”
Page 249 and 250: Marlene for two months before she d
Page 251 and 252: “Yes, that would be good.” “J
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Jago Ross had been married once alr
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“You need to go outside to do tha
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Robin felt equally inclined to laug
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He sat quite still on his camp bed
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aiment suitable for her fiancé; he
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fireplace. The displaced onlookers,
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James—is it James?—had had him
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“In what way?” “Just one of t
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“Oh, it was, like—you know that
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ottles on top of everything he’d
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joke. And she said, like, really se
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8 STRIKE, FOREWARNED, WAS NOWHERE N
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yelping with excitement; and then t
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“I’m not joking, Ciara. You’l
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with Ciara, whom Kolovas-Jones had
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“Yeah?” said Strike, sitting do
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without leaving me a note. I keep w
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“ ‘Bitch you ain’t all that
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“Restrain her?” “You grabbed
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“I’m out of fags. Can I have an
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“And who knew that was going to h
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Duffield puffed and jiggled. “I d
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“We’ll go to mine, then, shall
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She might well be the only person w
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“Yeah, there is. I can’t rememb
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“Royal Engineers,” said Strike.
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miles, stay overnight in this plush
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“You mean…in general?” she sa
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10 IT WAS THE FIRST TAXI that Strik
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“It was stuck in with her Oyster
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Carver’s blunt, wide face was cle
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“She didn’t want to let the gir
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“You’re telling me Deeby Macc k
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“I’m going to be on my way to P
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sole support of Uncle Ted, he had v
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He was inside Bestigui’s office b
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weren’t you? But you can’t go b
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show of conscience might keep her o
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“He wasn’t angry, then, when he
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Bestigui did not answer. Strike cou
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“She had an aunt, remember?” sa
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Strike thought might turn out to be
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“Yet romance blossomed across sec
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She did not answer. “Did you call
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When he saw Robin and Alison come t
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“And the man who came in, when di
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“He’s Lieutenant Jonah Francis
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Her voice was thin and cracked, her
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There was a pause, in which Strike
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“No, of course not. He was a most
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“What other man was that?” “T
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lifted up the board and saw, beneat
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Part Five Felix qui potuit rerum co
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From the depths of his agony he gri
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“Don’t worry about me.” When
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Bristow threw himself into the seat
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“Coming from a virtual down-and-o
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your mother’s room in the small h
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“Alison isn’t very bright,” s
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He saw the pale teeth, bared as Bri
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ut pretty well—and you carried th
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A rustle, the blur of a pale hand,
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Ten Days Later THE BRITISH ARMY REQ
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problems, and I remembered how upse
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“Three prospective clients phoned
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Robin drew herself up a little, ble
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About the Author ROBERT GALBRAITH s
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The characters and events in this b
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