1 The Cuckoo's Calling

“What do you want to speak to her for? Tansy’s quite clear that the voice she
heard from upstairs was male.”
“I’m not interested in this girl as a suspect, but as a witness. Lula had an
appointment to meet her at a shop, Vashti, right after she saw you at your
mother’s flat.”
“Yeah, I know; that came out at the inquest. I mean—well, of course, you
know your job, but—I don’t really see how she would know anything about what
happened that night. Listen—wait a moment, Cormoran…I’m at my mother’s
and there are other people here…need to find a quieter spot…”
Strike heard the sounds of movement, a murmured “Excuse me,” and Bristow
came back on the line.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to say all this in front of the nurse. Actually, I thought,
when you rang, you might be someone else calling up to talk to me about
Duffield. Everybody I know has rung to tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“You obviously don’t read the News of the World. It’s all there, complete with
pictures: Duffield turned up to visit my mother yesterday, out of the blue.
Photographers outside the house; it caused a lot of inconvenience and upset with
the neighbors. I was out with Alison, or I’d never have let him in.”
“What did he want?”
“Good question. Tony, my uncle, thinks it was money—but Tony usually
thinks people are after money; anyway, I’ve got power of attorney, so there was
nothing doing there. God knows why he came. The one small mercy is that Mum
doesn’t seem to have realized who he is. She’s on immensely strong painkillers.”
“How did the press find out he was coming?”
“That,” said Bristow, “is an excellent question. Tony thinks he phoned them
himself.”
“How is your mother?”
“Poorly, very poorly. They say she could hang on for weeks, or—or it could
happen at any moment.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Strike. He raised his voice as he passed
underneath a flyover, across which traffic was moving noisily. “Well, if you do
happen to remember the name of Lula’s Vashti friend…”
“I’m afraid I still don’t really understand why you’re so interested in her.”