The Hallmarked Man Real-Time Re-Read, Chapters 84-86: RFM's most jerk move, and why Strike avoids the same mistake. Plus: Frozen peas!

Chapter 84 is pretty short and mainly consists of what, for me, is RFM's most jerk move in the entire book. We've known he was an alcoholic since TIBH; we had to expect he would fall off the wagon at some point and when he was caught, he at least had the decently to show some remorse and acknowledge that Robin would be 100% justified in leaving him. I can have some compassion for him over the vodka. What I can't abide is him acting like he can call Robin up any time of day, regardless of her work schedule, and expect her to have a heart-to-heart with him over their lost baby. 

Pizzas eaten, Strike and Robin emerged half an hour later from the Bel Air and set off up the Avenue beneath a sky still threatening rain, and following the verbal directions given to them by the helpful barman.

They find the house with no problem and spy the gardener who is almost certainly their quarry, but Strike has to approach him alone (despite the clear evidence that the DeLion brothers are a potentially violent sort) because RFM picks that moment to call and try to determine, yet again, Robin's precise degree of emotional distress over an ectopic pregnancy that occurred almost three months earlier. 

“I gave you my answer," said Robin, trying to hold herself together. "I answered you honestly. I don’t know what I’d have done if the baby had been viable, and I don’t think it’s fair—"

"Were you sad? At all? About the baby?"

"Yes," said Robin, her voice breaking. "Yes, I’ve cried about the baby. Is that what you need to know? That I’m not inhuman?"

Two issues are coming to a head that will drive Robin to her breakdown in the B & B this evening. First, being forced to say (likely truthfully, for once) that she didn't know what she would have wanted to do with a viable pregnancy drives home a point she'd most like to avoid:  she and RFM want very different things. Murphy knows exactly what he'd have wanted to do. He'd have been surprised but delighted, wanted to get married as soon as possible, buy a house and start their life together as a family. Had Robin gone along with that plan, she'd have felt trapped. As it is, this cohabitation with Murphy that she's contemplating is just another, less forced trap. 

And if that wasn't enough, there is the emotional aftermath of the ectopic pregnancy itself. Robin undoubtedly experienced a flurry of emotions, including a mixture of guilt, grief and relief over losing a pregnancy she did not plan and did not want, on top of the renewed pain and anger at the rapist who turned out to have done irreversible physical, as well as emotional damage in that stairwell.  We don't know whether Robin would have seriously considered terminating a viable pregnancy, although she made it clear she would have terminated any pregnancy resulting from her rape. But, even if that had been her decision, it would not necessarily have stopped her feeling guilt and grief over a miscarriage. For anyone who wants to read a real-life account of a situation similar to that in which Robin might have found herself, I came across this very interesting article about a woman's mixed feelings over the miscarriage of a pregnancy she did not want and was planning to terminate, which included pain, grief and guilt as well as some relief that the decision, in the end, was made for her. And RFM seems incapable of understanding that Robin needs to process these conflicting and extraordinarily complex emotions on her own schedule. 

But, do you know who will understand, in just a few chapters? Cormoran Blue Strike, Robin's imperfect best friend, who, in Troubled Blood: 

remembered the tangle of emotions that had hit him when he'd received the phone call telling him of his own mother's death. Amid the engulfing wave of grief had been a slight pinprick of relief, which had shocked and shamed him, and which had taken a long time to process. 

Strike understands mixed feelings relating to loss in a way RFM simply can't. But processing time, here, is exactly what Robin doesn't have; she is forced to hang up on RFM because:

Cormoran Strike had just taken a spade to the face.

Chapter 85 gives us the encounter with the de Leon brothers. 

Danny de Leon had swung his spade so forcefully at Strike’s head that it had knocked the latter over. From his suddenly prone position in the wet grass, Strike saw the panicked young man drop his weapon and begin to run towards the house, while Robin sprinted towards them.

There are a few interesting parts about this encounter. 

• First, best I can remember, this is Robin's first offensive physical attack (as opposed to defensive) against another person, and it's a young, fit man. 
• Second, even though Strike yells "don't you dare!" at her, he never tells her off afterwards for physically taking the guy on. 
• Third, Strike himself must find superhuman strength when his adrenaline gets going, because he can go from being barely able to walk without his stick and "hobbling" across the grass to being able to drag the smaller (but much younger and presumably fitter) Danny to his feet, shake him into submission and march him into the house. And with a face injury, to boot. 

As they make themselves at home in Danny's employer's kitchen, we see the first medicinal use of frozen peas in this book. It is easy to forget that his first usage was for Cormoran-the-man, not Cormoran-the-fish.  The first aid is barely begun when big brother Richard shows up. 

The most important thing gained from this interview, apart from ruling out Danny de Leon as the Wright corpse, is confirmation that Lord Branfoot is indeed the "rich man on TV" who is shooting porn films without the knowledge of some of the participants. We learn the full circumstances of Danny's involvement, including him leaving Sark because his father could not accept his being gay, and him returning home after being warned that Branfoot was to have him "taken care of" and spying a potential hitman tailing him on more than one occasion. Although there is considerable resistance, the brothers eventually agree to neutralize the threat Branfoot poses by going public, but ask Strike and Robin to give them a few days to prepare their mother. 

“All right, well, like I say – give us a few days," said Richard. He heaved a deep sigh. "Mum thinks Danny’s been working at a Savile Row tailors. He’s been telling her about all the celebrities he’s been measuring up for fucking tuxes.”

"Portholes were painted on the sloping eaves."

In Chapter 86, our heroes leave the de Leons and head for the Captain's Bar to rest before making their way to the B & B.  Strike's leg is in bad shape.

“Shall we find somewhere to sit down?’"were Robin’s first words, once Richard de Leon had returned inside Clos de Camille.

"A large hallway, with a wooden walkway
overhead connecting two upstairs bedrooms."

Given the shortage of open food service providers in off-season Sark (and even though the Captain's Bar is upstairs from the Bon Marin Cafè, which serves dinner), Robin suggests visiting a supermarket and getting food to cook at the B & B. She makes a run for provisions, then returns to the bar to be with Strike for the long and difficult walk  to the Old Forge B&B.  Despite his twisted knee, he insists on carrying one of the grocery bags. On the way, they discuss the possibility of Wardle coming to work at the agency. Robin remembers that RFM does not like Wardle, although she doesn't know why (though Strike presumably remembers Wardle's report that RFM hit on his then-wife April during his (previous, as it turns out) drinking days. If RFM and Robin's relationship survives the birthday at the Ritz, this is a potential source of conflict for them in Sleep Tight, Evangeline. 

They also appreciate a night of beautiful stars on this remote island without the light pollution of more populous areas. Once they reach the B& B, Robin offers to cook while Strike takes a shower, so she relieves him of his grocery sack. 

Their fingers touched as he handed it over. Robin felt a tiny thrill pass through her, and then a sudden sense of mingled excitement and panic.

Thus, the stage is set for a night in this remote and rustic B & B.  Tune in Saturday for perhaps my favorite chapter of the entire book.  

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