The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-read, Chapters 96-98: Terrible Dino, lying Robin and a possible justification for taking on Mrs. Two-times as a client.

Chapter 96 picks up the next day (Tuesday, Feb 28th) with the news of the murders.

News of the murders of Jim Todd and his mother hit the London Evening Standard the following day. To Strike’s relief, his presence at the scene wasn’t mentioned.

 RFM and Robin finally meet again on this same day; she (ugh!) agrees not to leave him but the house-hunting is on hold pending the "rebuilding of trust." Interestingly, RFM may well be lying even in the midst of this reconciliation talk.

“Why are you being investigated? Drinking?"

"No, it’s just the first guy I arrested for the gang shooting," muttered Murphy, who very clearly didn’t want to elaborate, but Robin pressed him.

"But why are they investigating you for that?"

"He… claims I roughed him up."

"Did you?"

There was a short pause. Then Murphy nodded. 

Yet, barely twenty-four hours later, in Chapter 98, Wardle will tell Strike:

“I said, 'did you hear Murphy’s fallen off the wagon?'"

... Strike, whose heart rate had just increased as though he’d broken into a sprint, said, trying to mask the interest in his voice, "You told me someone thought he might be drinking again."

"Yeah, well, they were right, he is. He was caught necking vodka at his desk. He’s in a shitload of trouble, one way or another.”

Interesting that RFM would rather admit to police brutality than to drinking on the job---  making it seem more likely that he's lying about being drunk on the night Robin got pregnant. 

On Wednesday afternoon (March 1), Robin stakes out Dino's, hoping to speak with Cosima Longcaster. While waiting, Robin spies the Honda Accord with Button Mushroom Nose (BMN), which means that, barely three days after the Kimphomaniac had tendered her resignation to the agency, Navabi's company has Robin under surveillance, presumably at Lord Branfoot's behest. Cosima wants nothing to do with Robin, but Dino, alerted by his trusty doorman, comes out to invite Robin for a chat inside the club. 

Thus, we finally meet Dino Longcaster* and can understand where Vile-lentine got all his warmth and charm. While KFC plays the main Umbridge-analog in this book, the scene here is very reminiscent of Harry's interview in Dolores's frilly office, complete with dog paintings (and an actual dog!) taking the place of the tacky kitten plates and forced beverage consumption. Following this conversation, we can officially induct Dino into the Strike Series Dads-we-would-happily-see-dipped-in-liquid-nitrogen-and-run-through-a-woodchipper Club (founded by the late Inigo Upcott, current president Jonathan Wace). 

The one decent thing he seems to do it give Robin a tasty Dubonnet and gin "Majesty" cocktail (which was, indeed, the late Queen's favorite), but even that seems to be more about his need for control and less about her enjoyment. But, despite the unpleasantness that comes with having to breathe the same air as "yes, Mr. Longcaster, sir", Robin does get some decent information and, upon re-read, there are a lot of clues apparent. I remember on my first read, this is where I became 100% of sure of the incest angle of which I had been speculating since Part 1. Not only do we know that Dino had no compunction about shagging his friends' wives during weekend getaways--he admits to Aunt Anjelica here, who is pictured in the same photo as Rupert's younger, prettier and therefore more shaggable mother--- but there is also this:

“Nobody’s going to attach themselves to Decima for her beauty or her charm. The pair of ’em looked like Tweedledum and Tweedledee together –just imagine the moon-faced children.”

It's not clear by book's end if Dino will ever be told that, thanks to his weekend trysts, he's got a grandson named "Lion" who's a product of incest, but if he is, I hope Robin shows up to remind him that any of the objectionable "Tweedledeedum" and "moon-face" traits are, by definition, inherited from him. 

Once "Mimi" is summoned, it is great to see Robin's interview skills are right up there with Strike's, as her questions and comments quickly make it obvious that the girl is hiding something that she really doesn't want Daddy knowing. 

• “You just said you weren’t crying about Rupert,”
• “Why would anyone think you’d invited him? Neither of you were friends with him, were you? He just worked here for a bit. Wouldn’t people be much more likely to think Sacha had invited Rupert, given that they’re cousins?”
• “Again, that’s not what Sacha Legard says. He says Rupert arrived there looking for a fight. He sought out Valentine, rather than the other way round.”
• “You 'didn’t know' what?”

So far, the list of incest clues includes:

• The previous story we heard about Rupert cutting up a "lucky" shirt that was
• connected to his "father" Peter Fleetwood and
• that he was wearing when he found out Decima was pregnant. 
• Dino's comments about Decima and Rupert looking like the twins from Alice in Wonderland and producing flawed offspring
• Dino's bragging about sleeping with his friends' wives
• The magazine mention earlier that Cosima had taken a commercial DNA test.
• If Rupert took one too, she could show up as a match. 
• Round heads: Rupert's head being described as looking like an Edam cheese and Dino's like a cannonball
• Valentine being particularly concerned that Rupert not get Decima pregnant

That's getting to be a pretty long list. Cosima has good reason to be worried. 

The girl looked mutinous, but also, Robin thought, scared.

Interestingly, after this rather unpleasant encounter with Dino, Robin chooses to work late, so Strike (Chapter 97) bumps into her that night at the office. 

On the rainy evening of the first of March, Strike, tired after an afternoon’s tedious surveillance of Mrs Two-Times, which he’d just handed over to Wardle, made a detour to House of Computers on Tottenham Court Road to buy a new laptop.

However, there several factors indicating a time glitch with Chapters 97 and 99, leading me to suspect that in earlier drafts, these events happen on Friday, March 3rd, and began earlier in the day (3-4 PM) rather than, as Strike says here, at 8:30, after he's had dinner and beer at the Flying Horse. 

• First,  Robin reports that someone new is following her.
• "Twice now, I’ve seen the same man in a Honda Accord. He was outside Dino’s on Wednesday and he was behind me when I was driving into the office this morning. When I slowed down to park he just drove on, but I’ve got a partial number plate and a good look at his face. 
• If this were March 1st, Robin would just have seen BMN for the first time earlier that afternoon outside Dino's and not on the drive "this morning."
• If it were Thursday, March 2nd, she'd have said "yesterday" not "Wednesday." 
• Second, Midge calls the office phone, not Strike's mobile, with the reasonably urgent news about Plug, suggesting she thought someone (Pat) would be there to answer.
• She has Strike's cell number; she texts an update later. 
• Third, in Chapter 98, Mrs. TT turns up at the office, clearly expecting to find someone there. This suggests it is not after hours.
• Currently, it looks like its at least 10 PM when she stops by. What kind of office hours does she think the agency keeps?
• Fourth, Wardle, after his coffee and chat with Strike, says he's going to take an "early night."  By this time, Strike has 
• had a long discussion with Robin
• taken phone calls from Rena and Midge
• installed an anonymous browser
• done extensive web searching
• chatted with Mrs. TT and
• had a discussion (and whiskey and coffee) with Wardle. 
• If the chapter events had started at 8:30, Wardle's "early night" would be beginning no earlier than 11 PM, and possibly later.  
• Finally, Chapter 99 starts "the following morning" and Robin is happy to have a "free Saturday."

All of this suggests a change of authorial mind about the day and timing of these events and a rather poor editing job. Alternatively, the first of March date may be a mistake, and was supposed to read the third of March, and the part about going to the Flying Horse for dinner should have been removed or changed to a late lunch. 

• Does anyone have the paperback edition to see if there's been a correction? 

In any case, regardless of the actual time and date, Strike surprises Robin in the office, doing research, eating pizza and avoiding going home both because she was still fearful of being followed and because she was hoping to avoid RFM if he dropped by unexpectedly. Her “heart lifted far more (as she instantly and guiltily realised) than it ought to have done” and she noticed that "Strike was wearing the blue shirt she liked," but he is disheartened by her statement that she chose to work late because RFM was busy. Strike is setting up a secure laptop to pursue the dark web, while Robin has made some good process on the case, including decoding the message Niall Semple left for his wife, which Strike recognizes as a date: June 24. 2016. (The story about five new orchid species being discovered in the Philippines is true, BTW). She has also secured an interview with Hugo Whitehead's father for the following Monday. 

Their case discussion is interrupted by a call from Rena Liddell, again begging Strike to meet her at the Golden Fleece and rambling about a gun and shooting Muslims. Her call, from a pay phone, is apparently dropped for lack of coins, and Strike is unsuccessful at retrieving her phone number** because Midge calls with the news that Plug's friend has had the killer dog euthanized (good!) so Plug is planning a revenge stabbing (bad!). 

After signing off with Midge, Robin and Strike turn back to the case. Because BMN is older and relatively well-groomed, they wonder if he is police or MI5, rather than one of Branfoot's ex-con goons. 

Robin has also reviewed the plans of Freemasons' Hall and the silver shop; her assessment that she's found "Nothing that will help us" will eventually be shown to be completely wrong.  Here's the key point:

“There’s also a bit of dead space behind the basement wall where the cupboards are, but to get into that you’d have to tunnel through brick as well."

"Is it a big enough space to accommodate a lurking murderer?"

"Maybe a child on their hands and knees,’ said Robin, ‘but the child would have had to walk in through the front door of the shop first, go downstairs into the basement and break their way through the wall to get into it.”

Or, it could fit a little guy of about 5 feet tall... or some silver... I know I immediately wondered if the silver had never left the shop, which is a nice echo to Daiyu never leaving the farm, and the racing pigeon never leaving the barn.

Strike then explains what he is looking for on the dark web, and tells her Eric Wardle*** is on Mrs. Two-times as his first job ("Thought I'd give him an easy one to get started"-- this is evidence this is indeed Wednesday, Wardle's first day on the job.) Then, they are interrupted by a call from RFM. Robin, who a little over a day ago sat in a pub lecturing him about the need for complete honesty between them, lies pretty much nonstop. She tells him she would have come home if she had known he was stopping by when she deliberately stayed in the office to avoid exactly that scenario. and she tells him she's alone in the office, with Strike out on surveillance. Honestly, I wish RFM would have overheard Strike like Madeline did when Strike was sleeping over at Robin's in TIBH.  Feeling still more guilt, Robin heads home, given though she'd have preferred to stay and talk with Strike. 

Strike plays Tom Waits and starts his dark web search, going from Sofia Medina's archived OnlyFans account to Daesh execution videos, all while drinking whiskey-- and apparently quite a lot of it since he's described as "unsteady" later. Here are the first two songs whose lyrics we hear, from Blue Valentine. 

The first, from "Romeo is Bleeding" 

Romeo is bleeding but nobody can tell,

Sings along with the radio

With a bullet in his chest…

fits with Strike's romantic unhappiness right now.  The second, from "Whistlin' by the Graveyard" --I’m callin out my bloodhounds, chase the devil through the corn-- is appropriate for the evildoers the detective is seeking online. 

His dark web browsing is interrupted by a call from Wardle. 

“Heads-up," said the ex-policeman, who sounded rather perplexed. "She’s about to ring the office doorbell."

"Who is?" said Strike, confused.

The bell rang in the outer office. 

Wardle's first job turns out to be rather more interesting that Strike could have imagined, as, in Chapter 98, he has managed to track his quarry straight to the office.  

“I’m sure she hasn’t clocked me," said Wardle, who sounded worried.

No, but Mrs. TT, former PA, has checked her husband's financials and realized that he is now paying the same agency that he used to tail "that foreign girl" (Platinum, the Russian lap-dancer/student from CoE) to follow her, searching for evidence of infidelity. She threatens to go to the press and make trouble for TT (who, as we hear for the first time, is "kind of well-known in his field") and, presumably by extension, Strike. I am not sure what she would say about Strike, given that he hasn't breached any ethical boundaries where Mrs. TT is concerned; these type of surveillance jobs are what detectives like him do. But, as Strike is vulnerable these days thanks to the recent stories about Nina and Candy, I guess any kind of press exposure that makes him look like he's targeting an innocent wife on behalf of a creepy rich guy could be bad. 

“Or," she said, looking up, "you could start watching him for me, instead. Get proof of the escorts. I wouldn’t tell him I’d used you and I quite like the idea of him footing the bills for me to get evidence for a nice fat divorce settlement.”

“That’d certainly be a neat solution," said Strike.

"You agree, then?" she said.

"Yeah, I think we could shake on that.”

Many readers are, of course, appalled that Strike would accept these terms, giving that it is so clearly a conflict of interest and he is, in fact, defrauding TT if they continue to take his money but are now actively working against his interests. And, unlike when he agreed to take on Decima's case, he doesn't even have lovesickness for Robin as an excuse. 

This is, of course, not the first time the agency has taken it upon themselves to redefine their mission or withhold information that the client had paid them to find. There was the Shifty case, when the team discovered what hold Shifty held over SB, but, instead of telling the board members and closing the case, decided to switch to digging up dirt on Shifty himself. A lesser example is with Margot Bamborough, where they found out who had written Margot the threatening notes, but decided it was too dangerous to pass that information on to Cynthia Phipps.**** But, in both cases, they could argue their choice was for the greater good: to prevent SB's public humiliation and possible suicide, and to protect the Phipps and themselves from dangerous organized crime figures.  Does Strike have any possible moral justification for taking on Mrs. TT?

I can see one possibility.  We know TT has this fetish about being cheated on, and that, in TB, he actually dumped his girlfriend after the team failed to find any evidence of her cheating. 

"Did you see Barclay's email?

"About Two-times and his girlfriend. Yeah, just read it," said Strike. "Ditched. And she'll never realize it was because she was too faithful."

"He's such a freak," said Robin. "But as long as he pays his bill..."

"My thoughts exactly," said Strike. 

The Two-Times marriage is one in which he holds all the money, assets and associated power. If he decides he is going to suddenly dump his faithful wife as he did the previous girlfriend and she were caught unawares, she would be at a major disadvantage, with few financial resources of her own and in danger of being left with nothing if she can't afford the type of lawyer that TT can. It might be argued that Strike, by doing this job purely for the sake of helping TT satisfy his fetish, is endangering a wife financially in the way that would not apply to someone who is only dating TT. Either the agency catches her cheating, and she's dumped and left with nothing, or they don't catch her cheating and she's dumped and left with nothing, and comes to harm she clearly does not deserve. By helping Mrs. TT get dirt on her husband and secure a reasonable divorce settlement, Strike could argue that he is protecting her from being financially punished for being too faithful, and that the financial settlement is appropriate given the way the TT is both using her to satisfy his fetish and cheating with call girls. 

Of course, all this would be easier to stomach if Strike had actually thought of that justification. He could have even had a compassionate conversation with Robin about it, arguing they were trying to prevent TT from doing to his wife what Matthew tried to do to Robin. But Strike doesn't bring up any sort of "greater good" reason for his actions, and therefore seems to be acting simply to protect himself from more bad press. 

I still think Strike was wrong to double-cross his client, and it still surprises me that no one else, particularly Robin, had a problem with it. The right thing to do would be to warn Mrs. TT of the dangers of being too faithful, advise her to protect herself and refer her to another agency that isn't Farah Navabi's. Then, simply drop TT as a client, since the agency can no longer do the job for him; if he needs a reason, he can truthfully say a subcontractor suddenly resigned. But, if you look at what probably was in store for Mrs. TT had she remained faithful, it's possible to discern at least some justification for Strike's actions. And, honestly, she was smart to be proactive. 

I must say, I love Wardle in this first scene of him in the office as an official employee. While Strike is getting sloshed, Wardle is abstaining from alcohol, having recognized for himself that he was drinking too much and taken the initiative to make some changes. We also see he is a good uncle, taking a sincere interest in his niece and her fish after the death of her father, as evidenced by his concern for Cormoranda and his knowledge of goldfish first aid. Wardle is actually a pretty nice contrast to RFM right now. Hmmm, he was clearly attracted to Robin earlier in the series; I wonder if... nah, forget about that. 

He also delivers some interesting Met gossip:  first, Murphy has fallen off the wagon and is in trouble for drinking on the job. and second, he's planning to propose. 

“What’re you going to say if Murphy gets kicked out and wants to come and work here?"

"Cross that bridge when I get to it," said Strike.

"Probably try and persuade Robin to leave and set up Ellacott and Murphy, Inc. with him, if you don’t take him on," said Wardle, his back still to Strike. "Or Murphy and Murphy, if he gets his way.”

It's interesting that, when Strike hears this news, he seems to back off the idea of approaching Robin again, rather than double down and try to find another opportunity to "make his declaration" --  ideally, while Murphy's on a bender.  From the information that Wardle's just given him, plus Robin's statement earlier that Murphy was "going through a rough time" he has no way of knowing that Murphy's even trying to get back on the wagon, much less succeeding. This could be the perfect chance. As for an engagement being a "hard stop" ---  I don't see why a proposal that hasn't happened yet is any more of a barrier than a one year-plus exclusive dating arrangement and an accepted offer on a cohabitation domicile was---  and he wasn't going to let that stop him in Sark. 

But, note that Wardle's source of information is Iverson, and that, despite the fact that he seemed to want to keep it hidden from his former colleagues that he was joining Strike & Ellacott, he had no qualms about telling her. Assuming Murphy survives the Ritz, I can see some major RFM-Iverson-Wardle conflict brewing, given RFM and Wardle don't like each other, and Iverson is apparently passing information between the two of them, not to mention sleeping with Wardle when she's clearly still got a thing for Murphy. There's also a hint that Murphy might want to join the agency, which would open another can of worms. 

Wardle also offers some gossip on KFC and why she left the force, but Strike is too preoccupied with Robin and RFM to pursue it. After Wardle leaves, Tom Waits accidentally reminds Strike of his predicament:

Nobody, nobody

Will love you the way that I could

Cause nobody, nobody’s that strong…

There may be a bit of a supernatural element in this song clip appearing at this moment, because this song, "Nobody" is not on Blue Valentine, the album Strike set to "shuffle" but from Nighthawks at the Diner. But, if you listen to only one of the Waits songs I've linked to, it should be this one. 

On the way out, Strike notices his struggling namesake again and decides to take Wardle's advice. 

“Fine, you stupid little fucker," he muttered, and he headed none too steadily towards the stairway to the attic, unsure whether he had any frozen peas, but prepared – nonplussed to find himself doing it, yet with a vague desire to set something to rights, even as everything else turned to shit around him – to check.

In the next installment, Robin meets the prospective in-laws, and the fishy recovers. 

*"Dino Longcaster" has to be one of the most appropriate villain names we have ever seen: right up there with Mucky Ricci ("Horsesh*t Penis) and Malcolm Crowther ("Bad Fiddler," with "fiddler" being well-known slang for a child molester). "Dino" is a prefix meaning "terrible"--- as in a dinosaur being a "terrible lizard." An event  that "casts a long shadow" has a long-term, typically negative effect.  Dino's choices in his younger years, from the time he bullied Peter Fleetwood at Eton to his choice to cheat him in both backgammon (thereby unethically procuring the Legard heirloom nef) and by sleeping with his wife (and siring Rupert) all had multigenerational consequences. The product of the affair, Rupert Fleetwood, wound up unwanted and neglected in the home of an aunt who likely realized he was no blood kin, then, instead of receiving the love and protection of his godfather Dino (as Harry received from Sirius) was further victimized and humiliated in Dino's employ. Decima and Rupert, both outcasts in their families, found love with each other, only to have their joy destroyed by the knowledge they were half-siblings. Even worse, this knowledge came only after Dino's grandchild had been conceived from that incestuous union. 

**Surely technology exists that would automatically record phone numbers made to an office landline. Why haven't they updated their system? This is not the first number they've missed because on an inconveniently timed follow-up call.

*** Now that Wardle's a full-time member of the agency, it's time to look at his name meaning. Eric meand "eternal ruler;"  Wardle means "watch-hill"  or "guarded hill."  This gives a impression of a strong and steadfast lookout. On the Ironbridge mission, Wardle was certainly looking out for both Strike and for their case, trying to guard against ethical and procedural lapses. Hopefully, he will be a positive moral influence on the agency going forward, as well as preventing further senseless goldfish slaughter. If Strike is going to continue to do things like defraud his clients by double-crossing them, he needs some help on that front. 

**** See here for a potential dilemma that puts them in with the police and Janice's potential defense team, once they've solved the case.