The Hallmarked Man полностью

Two men burst out of her building, heading straight for her. She was shaking so badly she dropped her car keys. As she bent to pick them up she heard the snarled words ‘fucking bitch’ and then the first man had dashed past her, curly hair silhouetted in the street lamp – it’s him – but the second man, who was taller and broader, was slowing; he’d nearly reached her—

‘NO!’ Robin screamed, pulling out her pepper spray.

‘Rob, it’s me,’ said a familiar voice. ‘It’s me!’

‘Martin?’ said Robin weakly, leaning back against her car, pepper spray in hand, keys still on the ground. ‘What—?’

‘Who was that guy?’ he said.

Martin was holding a crumpled piece of paper. Robin couldn’t marshal her thoughts. Unable to stop herself, she burst into tears.

‘Rob,’ said her brother, putting his arms around her. ‘The fuck’s going on?’

‘Nothing, nothing,’ she gasped, knowing what a ludicrous response this was. ‘Why are you here? How did you—?’

‘What’s going on?’ repeated Martin.

‘I – I got that man arrested, he—’ but she couldn’t tell Martin about the attack, she couldn’t bear her mother, in particular, finding out, ‘—so he’s got it in for me – how did you even—?’

‘It was raining. One of your neighbours let me in. I was sitting on your stairs waiting for you to come home and that fucker showed up and tried to slide this under your door,’ said Martin, holding up the crumpled paper. ‘I said, “who the fuck are you?” and he got aggressive so I got aggressive back, and then he ran.’

‘What’s on the paper?’ said Robin, pulling out of Martin’s arms, but it was clear he didn’t want to show her. ‘Martin, give it to me.’

He held it out reluctantly. The paper had a picture of a gorilla’s face on it.

Martin knew of the significance of gorillas in Robin’s past.

‘How does he know?’ he asked.

‘It’s online,’ said Robin. ‘Look, I’m really pleased to see you, but why are you here?’

‘Carmen’s chucked me out.’

‘Oh, Mart, I’m sorry,’ said Robin.

Under ordinary circumstances, her dominant emotions on finding Martin on her doorstep would have been annoyance and amazement. It was typical of him to turn up unannounced, or rather, nearly two weeks after he’d asked whether he could visit, and without having been told it was convenient. However, she was so grateful he’d been here at this crucial moment, and so delighted to have a guest overnight, she hugged him tightly again.

‘It’s lovely to see you. Come in and you can tell me everything.’

‘You’ve got a new Land Rover,’ said Martin, as they walked back towards her building. ‘What happened to the old one?’

‘It failed its MOT.’

‘You must be making good money these days,’ said Martin, glancing back at the car, his tone between envy and admiration.

‘It’s the business’s,’ said Robin, ‘not mine.’

She loved her brother, but he’d never been shy about asking people in the family for money. Until now, he’d never troubled Robin in this respect, because he’d known she didn’t have any to spare.

Martin retrieved his holdall from the stairs where he’d abandoned it and followed Robin into her flat.

‘Nice place.’

‘Thanks,’ said Robin automatically. The gorilla picture was rustling; she looked down at it and realised she was shaking.

Without taking off her coat, Robin walked through to the kitchen to fetch yet another freezer bag and put the gorilla picture inside it. Would the police take this seriously? They still hadn’t shown up for the masonic dagger or the rubber gorilla forced into her hand in Harrods.

‘Listen,’ she said, turning to face Martin with the now protected picture in her hand, ‘please – please – don’t mention this at home. I’m begging you, Martin. I can’t take Mum having a go at me on top of everything else I’ve got going on.’

‘You gonna call Ryan?’

‘He’s got far more important things to worry about than me, this evening,’ said Robin, thinking of the pipe bombs. ‘Look, there’s a bottle of wine in the fridge—’

Her phone rang: Strike.

‘I’ll take this in my bedroom, help yourself to anything you want.’

Still holding the picture of the gorilla’s face, and wearing her coat, Robin went into her bedroom, sat down on the end of her bed and answered her partner’s call.

‘Hi.’

‘Just checking in,’ said Strike. ‘Get home OK?’

‘Yes,’ said Robin shakily. ‘Where are you?’

‘Haringey. Plug and his son are sitting in his van on Carnival Street.’

‘Oh no,’ said Robin angrily. ‘He’s going to involve his son in a revenge stabbing?’

‘Looks like it. Barclay and Shah are tailing two more members of the revenge posse and they all seem to be converging in this direction. I think tonight’s the night.’

Robin immediately dismissed the idea of telling Strike that Wade King had come calling. He was trying to foil a possible stabbing: now wasn’t the moment. Strike, however, had detected a note of strain in her voice.

‘You sure everything’s OK?’

‘Yes. My brother Martin’s here. He turned up unexpectedly.’