1 The Cuckoo's Calling

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“I suppose so. Kieran, will you turn on the radio? I fancy a bit of music,” she said. “Louder than that, sweetie. Oh, I love this.” “Telephone” by Lady Gaga filled the car. She turned to Strike as the orange glow of street lights swept across her extraordinary face. Her breath smelled of alcohol, her skin of that sweet, peppery perfume. “Don’t you want to ask me anything else?” “You know what?” said Strike. “I do. Why would you have a detachable lining in a handbag?” She stared at him for several seconds, then let out a great giggle, slumping sideways into his shoulder, nudging him. Lithe and slight, she continued to rest against him as she said: “You are funny.” “But why would you?” “Well, it just makes the bag more, like, individual; you can customize them, you see; you can buy a couple of linings and swap them over; you can pull them out and use them as scarves; they’re beautiful. Silk with gorgeous patterns. <strong>The</strong> zip edging is very rock-and-roll.” “Interesting,” said Strike, as her upper leg moved to rest lightly along his own, and she gave a second, deep-throated giggle. Call all you want, but there’s no one home, sang Lady Gaga. <strong>The</strong> music masked their conversation, but Kolovas-Jones’s eyes were moving with unnecessary regularity from road ahead to rear-view mirror. After another minute, Ciara said: “Guy’s right, I do like them big. You’re very butch. And, like, stern. It’s sexy.” A block later she whispered: “Where do you live?” while rubbing her silky cheek against his, like a cat. “I sleep on a camp bed in my office.” She giggled again. She was definitely a little drunk. “Are you serious?” “Yeah.”
“We’ll go to mine, then, shall we?” Her tongue was cool and sweet and tasted of Pernod. “Have you slept with my father?” he managed to say, between the pressings of her full lips on to his. “No…God, no…” A little giggle. “He dyes his hair…it’s, like, purple close up…I used to call him the rocking prune…” And then, ten minutes later, a lucid voice in his mind urging him not to let desire lead on to humiliation, he surfaced for air to mutter: “I’ve only got one leg.” “Don’t be silly…” “I’m not being silly…it got blown off in Afghanistan.” “Poor baby…” she whispered. “I’ll rub it better.” “Yeah—that’s not my leg…It’s helping, though…”
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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
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“Di’n’t her brother tell ya?
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“Did she tell you why?” “Ther
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“One of the shop assistants overh
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“We usedta listen to Deeby Macc i
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He thought that she was going to te
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“That all?” she asked aggressiv
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“Robin says you’ve been out det
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He had a fleeting vision of the all
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Robin selected two bags of salt and
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“I called the Law Society about t
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Lycra. Somé’s snug gray jeans bo
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a life. Get out of the closet. Have
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“They said that a neighbor had ov
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knew what she was going to say, and
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“Freebies, dear,” drawled Somé
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was all getting too much. She wante
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“Big fucking deal,” said Somé,
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“No,” said Somé, with a ghost
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her work, which involved a small cl
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“Seventeenth of March,” said St
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3 THE HEAVY BLACK-PAINTED FRONT doo
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then ascended the stairs, her bucke
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“Were Bestigui’s roses on somet
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“You heard her say,” he repeate
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and stepped outside. Robin did not
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“I—I’ll try.” Bristow sound
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4 THE WEEKEND STRETCHED AHEAD, WARM
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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
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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
Page 291 and 292: “I’m out of fags. Can I have an
Page 293 and 294: “And who knew that was going to h
Page 295: Duffield puffed and jiggled. “I d
Page 299 and 300: She might well be the only person w
Page 301 and 302: “Yeah, there is. I can’t rememb
Page 303 and 304: “Royal Engineers,” said Strike.
Page 305 and 306: miles, stay overnight in this plush
Page 307 and 308: “You mean…in general?” she sa
Page 309 and 310: 10 IT WAS THE FIRST TAXI that Strik
Page 311 and 312: “It was stuck in with her Oyster
Page 313 and 314: Carver’s blunt, wide face was cle
Page 315 and 316: “She didn’t want to let the gir
Page 317 and 318: “You’re telling me Deeby Macc k
Page 319 and 320: “I’m going to be on my way to P
Page 321 and 322: sole support of Uncle Ted, he had v
Page 323 and 324: He was inside Bestigui’s office b
Page 325 and 326: weren’t you? But you can’t go b
Page 327 and 328: show of conscience might keep her o
Page 329 and 330: “He wasn’t angry, then, when he
Page 331 and 332: Bestigui did not answer. Strike cou
Page 333 and 334: “She had an aunt, remember?” sa
Page 335 and 336: Strike thought might turn out to be
Page 337 and 338: “Yet romance blossomed across sec
Page 339 and 340: She did not answer. “Did you call
Page 341 and 342: When he saw Robin and Alison come t
Page 343 and 344: “And the man who came in, when di
Page 345 and 346: “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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