1 The Cuckoo's Calling

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“And I slipped,” said Wilson. He sounded shocked. “I forgot that. I slipped. Here. Backwards. Sat down hard. There was water. Here. Drops. Here.” He was pointing at the stairs. “Drops of water,” repeated Strike. “Yeah.” “Not snow.” “No.” “Not wet footprints.” “Drops. Big drops. Here. Mi foot skidded and I slipped. And I just got up and kept running.” “Did you tell the police about the drops of water?” “No. I forgot. Till now. I forgot.” Something that had bothered Strike all along had at last been made clear. He let out a great satisfied sigh and grinned. The other two stared.
4 THE WEEKEND STRETCHED AHEAD, WARM and empty. Strike sat at his open window again, smoking and watching the hordes of shoppers passing along Denmark Street, the case report open on his lap, the police file on the desk, making a list for himself of points still to be clarified, and sifting the morass of information he had collected. For a while he contemplated a photograph of the front of number 18 as it had been on the morning after Lula died. There was a small, but to Strike significant, difference between the frontage as it had been then, and as it was now. From time to time he moved to the computer; once to find out the agent who represented Deeby Macc; then to look at the share price for Albris. His notebook lay open beside him at a page full of truncated sentences and questions, all in his dense, spiky handwriting. When his mobile rang, he raised it to his ear without checking who was on the other end. “Ah, Mr. Strike,” said Peter Gillespie’s voice. “How nice of you to pick up.” “Oh, hello, Peter,” said Strike. “Got you working weekends now, has he?” “Some of us have no option but to work at weekends. You haven’t returned any of my weekday phone calls.” “I’ve been busy. Working.” “I see. Does that mean we can expect a repayment soon?” “I expect so.” “You expect so?” “Yeah,” said Strike. “I should be in a position to give you something in the next few weeks.” “Mr. Strike, your attitude astounds me. You undertook to repay Mr. Rokeby monthly, and you are now in arrears to the tune of—” “I can’t pay you what I haven’t got. If you hold tight, I should be able to give you all of it back. Maybe even in a oner.” “I’m afraid that simply isn’t good enough. Unless you bring these repayments up to date—” “Gillespie,” said Strike, his eyes on the bright sky beyond the window, “we both know old Jonny isn’t going to sue his one-legged war-hero son for repayment of a loan that wouldn’t keep his butler in fucking bath salts. I’ll give him back his money, with interest, within the next couple of months, and he can stick it up his arse and set fire to it, if he likes. Tell him that, from me, and now get off my fucking back.”
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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
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Their pale reflections were swaying
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She recalled the excitement she had
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“Not that much, by your standards
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“You’d think Lula Landry would
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5 STRIKE AND ROBIN PARTED AT New Bo
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“For many reasons, all of them go
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“Feel free.” “…your collusi
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there,” said Landry, stonily. “
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6 “JOHN,” SAID STRIKE, AS HIS c
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“She was—sometimes—a bit like
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mind me telling Tansy who your fath
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“Why?” “Because we’d had so
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“Has your mother made a will?”
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unrolled the gel liner from the stu
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“Bummer,” said Spanner, and the
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e the first to make deep, dark hole
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8 WHEN ROBIN ARRIVED NEXT MORNING,
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“Robin, I need you to check somet
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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 and 202: “Robin says you’ve been out det
Page 203 and 204: He had a fleeting vision of the all
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: “I—I’ll try.” Bristow sound
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
Page 253 and 254: Jago Ross had been married once alr
Page 255 and 256: “You need to go outside to do tha
Page 257 and 258: Robin felt equally inclined to laug
Page 259 and 260: He sat quite still on his camp bed
Page 261 and 262: aiment suitable for her fiancé; he
Page 263 and 264: fireplace. The displaced onlookers,
Page 265 and 266: James—is it James?—had had him
Page 267 and 268: “In what way?” “Just one of t
Page 269 and 270: “Oh, it was, like—you know that
Page 271 and 272: ottles on top of everything he’d
Page 273 and 274: joke. And she said, like, really se
Page 275 and 276: 8 STRIKE, FOREWARNED, WAS NOWHERE N
Page 277 and 278: yelping with excitement; and then t
Page 279 and 280: “I’m not joking, Ciara. You’l
Page 281 and 282: with Ciara, whom Kolovas-Jones had
Page 283 and 284: “Yeah?” said Strike, sitting do
Page 285 and 286: without leaving me a note. I keep w
Page 287 and 288: “ ‘Bitch you ain’t all that
Page 289 and 290: “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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