1 The Cuckoo's Calling

“Royal Engineers,” said Strike. “I can check up on all that.”
He stopped beside Robin’s desk, and stared again at the face of Professor
Josiah Agyeman.
“He was from Ghana originally,” she said. “But the family lived in
Clerkenwell until he died.”
Strike handed her back the picture.
“Don’t lose that. You’ve done bloody well, Robin.”
“That’s not all,” she said, flushed, excited and trying to keep from smiling. “I
took the train out to Oxford in the afternoon, to the Malmaison. Do you know,
they’ve made a hotel out of an old prison?”
“Really?” said Strike, sinking back on to the sofa.
“Yes. It’s quite nice, actually. Well, anyway, I thought I’d pretend to be Alison
and check whether Tony Landry had left something there or something…”
Strike sipped his tea, thinking that it was highly implausible that a secretary
would be dispatched in person for such an inquiry three months after the event.
“Anyway, that was a mistake.”
“Really?” he said, his tone carefully neutral.
“Yes, because Alison actually did go to the Malmaison on the seventh, to try
and find Tony Landry. It was incredibly embarrassing, because one of the girls
on reception had been there that day, and she remembered her.”
Strike lowered his mug.
“Now that,” he said, “is very interesting indeed.”
“I know,” said Robin excitedly. “So then I had to think really fast.”
“Did you tell them your name was Annabel?”
“No,” she said, on a half-laugh. “I said, well, OK then, I’ll tell the truth, I’m
his girlfriend. And I cried a bit.”
“You cried?”
“It wasn’t actually that hard,” said Robin, with an air of surprise. “I got right
into character. I said I thought he was having an affair.”
“Not with Alison? If they’ve seen her, they wouldn’t believe that…”