‘Watch me,’ said Strike. ‘How did Branfoot know details of Murphy’s work life?
Kim’s blush had faded to white again. Her eyes had filled with tears.
Strike returned to his mackerel, acting as though she’d ceased to exist. After a minute, Kim got up unsteadily and walked out of the restaurant.
‘Is it wrong,’ said Robin quietly, ‘that I really,
‘If that was wrong, I don’t want to be right,’ said Strike through a mouthful of mackerel.
‘How did you—?’
‘Wardle. He tried to give me details of why she left the other night, but I was preoccupied with other matters.’
Remembering what those matters had been, he took another gulp of the Montrachet ’92, then said,
‘Wardle’s found out more stuff about Wade King of the green jacket.’
‘Really?’ said Robin, trying to sound simply interested. The mention of the man’s name had triggered a vivid memory of his face, distorted by cubic shadows.
‘He was a long-distance lorry driver until he got sacked.’
‘Long distance,’ repeated Robin. ‘Like—’
‘Our late friend Todd. Precisely.’
‘Has King been travelling to the continent?’
‘Probably. A lot of them do.’
Robin lowered her voice.
‘You think the trafficking ring’s still in operation?’
‘I think it’s possible.’
‘So, this looks as though King
‘I think that’s possible, too. I’m trying to find out where he was the weekend of June the seventeenth to nineteenth of last year. In the meantime, our security measures remain in place, all right? You stick to daytime jobs and no evening work on your own.’
Robin chose not to argue the point. Relieved by the absence of pushback, Strike said,
‘Go on with what you were telling me in the bar, about Austin H.’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Robin. ‘Well, on Truth About Freemasons he asks if the masons protect each other.’
‘Think I saw that,’ said Strike, frowning slightly. ‘Didn’t someone respond saying he was thinking of the Mafia?’
‘That’s right,’ said Robin.
‘Fuzz,’ said Strike experimentally.
‘What?’
‘He didn’t say anything about “fuzz”, did he? I’ve got a feeling I saw the name Austin in connection with “fuzz”.’
‘As in the police?’ said Robin, puzzled.
‘No idea… it’s gone. I’ll go and have a look myself. What did Austin say on Abused and Accused?’
‘That his girlfriend’s father was spreading nasty rumours about him, and he wanted to know how to stop it. Most of the responders advised punching the father.’
‘Yeah, I noticed they’re not really talk-it-through types on Abused and Accused.’
‘But that
‘Maybe,’ said Strike, though he sounded sceptical. ‘But if “rumours” means Dino Longcaster telling people Fleetwood had nicked his nef, they were true. The one thing literally everyone seems to agree on, Fleetwood himself included, is that he did, in fact, nick the nef.’
Strike sat in thought for a further minute, then said,
‘I might have more information on Fleetwood on Monday. Following a lead. Might go nowhere. I’ll tell you if it comes off.’
Being honest about the lead he’d decided to follow up on Rupert Fleetwood would mean mentioning Charlotte, and nearly every time he’d done that lately Robin had immediately shut the conversation down.
A waiter arrived to clear their plates. Once he’d departed Strike said,
‘Christ knows how much they’re about to sting us for, but let’s have puddings. Might as well be hanged for a sheep and all that.’
Both of them thought, immediately, of the silver sheep charm on the bracelet Robin had never yet worn.
109
Robert Browning
Strike rose at five o’clock on Monday morning and set off for Northumberland in darkness, choosing to drive himself, partly because the train wasn’t much quicker, but mostly because Heberley House, the mansion in which Charlotte had spent most of her childhood and teens, was difficult to access without a car.