Troubled Blood: Chapters 63-67: The plot thickens, and quickens.

 

Please note:  This is a spoiler-free post, so please no spoilers in the comments. I also have not committed to reading the 12 chapters recently released in German, so this site will remain free of those spoilers for the time being.

Chapter 63 shows our heroes continuing to work on the Bamborough case through the end of August. SB conveniently shows up willing to pay the agency to dig up dirt on Shifty, so they are able to resume that job.  It is this point at the narrative that the pace of the Bamborough mystery really picks up, with witnesses who have eluded them for a year suddenly popping out of the woodwork, with Strike locating Douthwaite the day Robin gets permission for him to interview Creed, then Gloria Conti magically finding the emails her husband had deleted and contacting them on the day of the Douthwaite. This is one of several ways TRG runs in parallel with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in which the trio, after taking months to find and destroy the locket horcrux, are able to identify, find and destroy the cup, the diadem and the snake within a couple of days. 

Robin meets up with Jemma in an upscale bar, where she is able to befriend her after learning her boyfriend "Andy," who has ghosted her, is actually Saul Morris.  After lots of tea wine and sympathy, Robin finally gets the dirt on Shifty, who sexually harasses his PA, sexually assaulted her when she was drunk on a business trip, and is insider training. After the encounter, Robin gets the welcome news that Strike will be allowed to interview Dennis Creed in September. She calls him to find he has news of his own: with a stroke of luck almost equal to his chance sighting of Samhain Athorn, he deduced Douthewaite's newest surname and has located him in the beach town of Skegness. Amusingly, Robin's cracking the Shifty case, which has been preoccupying the agency for more than a year, is relegated to almost an afterthought ("Shifty? Yeah, he's insider trading, but...), as she, after insisting she doesn't want to to upstage Strike (oh yes you do, girl!) tells him about Creed. 

I think it is another subtle bit of commentary on exploitation of women that, after multiple sexual crimes, including probable rape, it is the financial crime that will likely bring Shifty down.

At least at this point, she doesn't spill the beans about Murphy Morris sleeping with Jemma (against Strike's explicit orders) but I have to believe she eventually passed that information on, and Strike followed through with his threat to see Murphy Morris never got another detective job. 

Onto Skegness the next day, where they have another peaceful family interview with the Douthwaite-Diamonds. Strike can tell Douthwaite is hiding something and suspects the answer lies in his last meeting with the late Dr. Bamborough. Strike and Robin, though they don't get an overnight hotel stay, do get to enjoy some fish and chips and get a glimpse of the ocean, which reminds Strike of Joan. 

We get our first glimpse of Midge when Vanessa texts Robin her info.  Even better, Gloria Conti has located the emails that her well-intentioned husband trashed, and is willing to talk to them.  They arrange a Facetime for the next night. 

There's something about the interview with Gloria, which takes place in the office after hours, that takes on a surreal quality. Gloria's story is a sad one, but we can also be grateful she rose above it to build a great life for herself in France. We also get an image of Margot that really completes the overall picture we have of her, showing both how strong and how caring she was. It's especially poignant to see her with Gloria and understand how great a mom she would have been to Anna. 

Some people suspect that Margot's failure to call an ambulance for Theo likely resulted in Theo dying. I see no textual evidence for this. There is no reason to suspect that a doctor as competent as Margot, and with such concern for young women, would not have been clear to her patient that she had a potentially lethal condition. Theo said her boyfriend would take her to the hospital immediately, and that is likely where she was going when she caught the transit van. 

After the interview with Gloria ends, Strike and Robin look through the police file again, and make a few more deductions:  Theo was probably outside the phone box because someone else was inside, and the women seen by Ruby Elliot were the wrong heights to be the Fleurys. Strike is able to deduce the killer, but he doesn't tell us. 

Coming up Thursday: The Troubled Blood re-read concludes with the showdown with Creed and the unearthing (or un-ottomaning) of two bodies.  One week til The Hallmark Man arrives!