1 The Cuckoo's Calling

“Yeah. So I seen the girls get into their car. Kieran, guy who’s coming to meet
us here, wasn’t driving her that night. He was supposedta be picking up Deeby
Macc.”
“Who was her chauffeur that night?”
“Guy called Mick, from Execars. She’d had him before. I seen all the
photographers crowdin’ round the car as it pulled away. They’d been sniffin’
around all week, because they knew she was back with Evan Duffield.”
“What did Bestigui do, once Lula and Ciara had left?”
“He collected his post from me and went up the stairs to his flat.”
Strike was putting down his fork with every mouthful, to make notes.
“Anyone go in or out after that?”
“Yeah, the caterers—they’d been up at the Bestiguis’ because they were
having guests that night. An American couple arrived just after eight and went up
to Flat One, and nobody come in or out till they left again, near midnight. Didn’t
see no one else till Lula come home, round half past one.
“I heard the paps shouting her name outside. Big crowd by that time. A bunch
of them had followed her from the nightclub, and there was a load waiting there
already, looking out for Deeby Macc. He was supposedta be getting there round
half twelve. Lula pressed the bell and I buzzed her in.”
“She didn’t punch the code into the keypad?”
“Not with them all around her; she wanted to get in quick. They were yelling,
pressing in on her.”
“Couldn’t she have gone in through the underground car park and avoided
them?”
“Yeah, she did that sometimes when Kieran was with her, ’cause she’d given
him a control for the electric doors to the garage. But Mick didn’t have one, so it
had to be the front.
“I said good morning, and I asked about the snow, ’cause she had some in her
hair; she was shivering, wearin’ a skimpy little dress. She said it was way below
freezing, something like that. Then she said, ‘I wish they’d fuck off. Are they
gonna stay there all night?’ ’Bout the paps. I told her they were still waiting for
Deeby Macc; he was late. She looked pissed off. Then she got in the lift and went
up to her flat.”
“She looked pissed off?”
“Yeah, really pissed off.”