1 The Cuckoo's Calling

James—is it James?—had had him right all along. She always knew he had her
interests at heart, even if he was a bit bossy sometimes. This is a really, really
exploitative business, you know. Everyone’s got an agenda.”
“Who do you think had an agenda for Lula?”
“Oh my God, everyone,” said Bryony, making a wide sweeping gesture with
her cigarette-holding hand, which encompassed all of the inhabited rooms
outside. “She was the hottest model out there, everyone wanted a piece of her. I
mean, Guy—” But Bryony broke off. “Well, Guy’s a businessman, but he did
adore her; he wanted her to go and live with him after that stalker business. He’s
still not right about her dying. I heard he tried to contact her through some
spiritualist. Margo Leiter told me. He’s still devastated, he can barely hear her
name without crying. Anyway,” said Bryony, “that’s all I know. I never dreamed
that afternoon would be the last time I saw her. I mean, my God.”
“Did she talk about Duffield at all, while you were—er—threading her
eyebrows?”
“No,” said Bryony, “but she wouldn’t, would she, if he was really hacking her
off?”
“So as far as you can remember, she mainly spoke about Deeby Macc?”
“Well…it was more Ciara and me talking about him.”
“But you think she was excited to meet him?”
“God, yeah, of course.”
“Tell me, did you see a blue piece of paper with Lula’s handwriting on it when
you were in the flat?”
Bryony shook her hair over her face again, and combed it with her fingers.
“What? No. No, I didn’t see anything like that. Why, what was it?”
“I don’t know,” said Strike. “That’s what I’d like to find out.”
“No, I didn’t see it. Blue, did you say? No.”
“Did you see any paper at all with her writing on it?”
“No, I can’t remember any papers. No.” She shook her hair out of her face. “I
mean, something like that could’ve been lying around, but I wouldn’t have
necessarily noticed it.”
The room was dingy. Perhaps he only imagined that she had changed color,
but he had not invented the way she twisted her right foot up on to her knee and
examined the sole of the leather ballet slipper for something that was not there.