1 The Cuckoo's Calling

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3 “AND YOU’RE SURE HE’S A detective, are you? Because anyone can do that. Anyone can google people.” Matthew was irritable after a long day, a disgruntled client and an unsatisfactory encounter with his new boss. He did not appreciate what struck him as naive and misplaced admiration for another man on the part of his fiancée. “He wasn’t googling people,” said Robin. “I was the one doing the googling, while he was working on another case.” “Well I don’t like the sound of the set-up. He’s sleeping in his office, Robin; don’t you think there’s something a bit fishy there?” “I told you, I think he’s just split up with his partner.” “Yeah, I’ll bet he has,” said Matthew. Robin dropped his plate down on top of her own and stalked off into the kitchen. She was angry at Matthew, and vaguely annoyed with Strike, too. She had enjoyed tracking Lula Landry’s acquaintance across cyberspace that day; but seeing it retrospectively through Matthew’s eyes, it seemed to her that Strike had given her a pointless, time-filling job. “Look, I’m not saying anything,” Matthew said, from the kitchen doorway. “I just think he sounds weird. And what’s with the little afternoon walks?” “It wasn’t a little afternoon walk, Matt. We went to see the scene of the—we went to see the place where the client thinks something happened.” “Robin, there’s no need to make such a bloody mystery about it,” Matthew laughed. “I’ve signed a confidentiality agreement,” she snapped over her shoulder. “I can’t tell you about the case.” “<strong>The</strong> case.” He gave another short, scoffing laugh. Robin strode around the tiny kitchen, putting away ingredients, slamming cupboard doors. After a while, watching her figure as she moved around, Matthew came to feel that he might have been unreasonable. He came up behind her as she was scraping the leftovers into the bin, put his arms around her, buried his face in her neck and cupped and stroked the breast that bore the bruises Strike had accidentally inflicted, and which had irrevocably colored Matthew’s view of the man. He murmured conciliatory phrases into Robin’s honey-colored hair; but she pulled away from him to put the plates into the sink.
Robin felt as though her own worth had been impugned. Strike had seemed interested in the things she had found online. Strike expressed gratitude for her efficiency and initiative. “How many proper interviews have you got next week?” Matthew asked, as she turned on the cold tap. “Three,” she shouted over the noise of the gushing water, scrubbing the top plate aggressively. She waited until he had walked away into the sitting room before turning off the tap. <strong>The</strong>re was, she noticed, a fragment of frozen pea caught in the setting of her engagement ring.
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A 1 E=mc 2 This eBook is downloaded
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Contents Cover Title Page Welcome D
Page 7 and 8: Prologue Is demum miser est, cuius
Page 9 and 10: The story forced news of politics,
Page 11 and 12: of happiness at the thought that sh
Page 13 and 14: 2 STRIKE ABSORBED THE IMPACT, HEARD
Page 15 and 16: madness when he had plunged after h
Page 17 and 18: 3 FIVE MINUTES LATER THERE WAS a kn
Page 19 and 20: “It’s—um—actually, I wonder
Page 21 and 22: watching my father carrying her up
Page 23 and 24: He unfolded the note against his kn
Page 25 and 26: “John…I’m going to be honest
Page 27 and 28: Matthew, who was staying for the we
Page 29 and 30: “Understand what?” “Well…an
Page 31 and 32: “Yes, exactly. So—so Lula arriv
Page 33 and 34: 5 STRIKE TURNED TO ROBIN, WHO had s
Page 35 and 36: the street at the foot of Center Po
Page 37 and 38: Strike tweaked a tourist leaflet fr
Page 39 and 40: 6 ROBIN HAD WAITED TEN MINUTES, to
Page 41 and 42: 7 STRIKE HAD SPENT THE EARLY aftern
Page 43 and 44: walking in the direction of Landry
Page 45 and 46: “Don’t you dare fucking investi
Page 47 and 48: “Get on with it,” said Strike.
Page 49 and 50: learned that he was a newly qualifi
Page 51 and 52: “Here’s a bit of film on YouTub
Page 53 and 54: 2 THE CAMERAS LOOKED LIKE MALEVOLEN
Page 55 and 56: “The balcony she fell from was on
Page 57: she run downstairs and tell the sec
Page 61 and 62: the empty flat under the eyes of he
Page 63 and 64: “I’m temporary,” said Robin.
Page 65 and 66: Rokeby has been married three times
Page 67 and 68: And yet he was close to feeling abo
Page 69 and 70: mirrored walls reflecting tables of
Page 71 and 72: “How did you get on with Lula Lan
Page 73 and 74: “Suicidal pissed off?” “No,
Page 75 and 76: “The police came,” Strike said,
Page 77 and 78: “He’s told you that, has he?”
Page 79 and 80: “How long were you away from the
Page 81 and 82: 7 A MAN IN HIS MID-TWENTIES was edg
Page 83 and 84: “Why not?” “ ’Cause she lik
Page 85 and 86: “Nothing came of it?” “They d
Page 87 and 88: “I’m gonna be late.” Wilson r
Page 89 and 90: Weighed down, young, by a mortgage,
Page 91 and 92: would be able to persuade her to ta
Page 93 and 94: Strike followed the speculative tra
Page 95 and 96: 9 ON SUNDAY MORNING, WHICH WAS fine
Page 97 and 98: “Lula made this girl travel all t
Page 99 and 100: “Rochelle, have you seen her?”
Page 101 and 102: 10 ROBIN STOOD SWAYING WITH THE RES
Page 103 and 104: “Fire away,” said Strike, as he
Page 105 and 106: peroxide hair, in their tiny, tight
Page 107 and 108: 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
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“Met him, did you?” “No, but
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“Could it have been Agyeman?”
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Marlene for two months before she d
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“Yes, that would be good.” “J
Page 253 and 254:
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
Page 269 and 270:
“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
Page 279 and 280:
“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
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
Page 293 and 294:
“And who knew that was going to h
Page 295 and 296:
Duffield puffed and jiggled. “I d
Page 297 and 298:
“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
Page 309 and 310:
10 IT WAS THE FIRST TAXI that Strik
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“It was stuck in with her Oyster
Page 313 and 314:
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
Page 323 and 324:
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
Page 335 and 336:
Strike thought might turn out to be
Page 337 and 338:
“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
Page 345 and 346:
“He’s Lieutenant Jonah Francis
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Her voice was thin and cracked, her
Page 349 and 350:
There was a pause, in which Strike
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“No, of course not. He was a most
Page 353 and 354:
“What other man was that?” “T
Page 355 and 356:
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
Page 371 and 372:
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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