 |
| "Seated at a small round table beside the marble fireplace, framed botanical prints on the wall behind her." |
The readjustment of Robin’s work schedule would have made it extremely difficult to cover the agency’s current jobs, had they not resolved Two-Times.
Chapter 107 picks up on Friday, March 10th. With Robin on restricted duty, the agency isn't taking on any new clients. Wardle has some background on Wade King and his profile does not fit one of Branfoot's ex-con henchmen, but King, like the late Jim Todd, was a former long distance truck driver. Strike, in the meantime, remains convinced Robin has accepted RFM's marriage proposal and is rehearsing a convincing congratulations, without much success.
 |
| "Sexy in its ostensible demureness. " |
- Robin reads the magazine article about Cosima Longcaster that mentions the DNA test.
- Strike notices the lack of an engagement ring, and Robin notices his particular interest in her left hand.
- Strike lets Robin know that he knows about RFM's drinking lapse, and she tells him their house fell through and that searching for another was "on hold."
- Robin tells Strike about Austin H., the common username of someone who has posted on both Accused and Abused and Truth about Freemasons
- This makes Strike think of "Fuzz" but his usually near-superhuman memory fails him and he does not connect it to Austin "Fuzz" Hussey of the SAS.
- The connection to the name Austin H (Tyler's favorite car) is yet another near-unbelievable commonality between Tyler Powell and Niall Semple, in addition to their shared height, blood type, connection to the name William Wright and distinguishing marks on the back.
It was a little disappointing to me that Robin took styling advice from Dino Longcaster, even if it did have her looking "as good as Strike had ever seen her." But, the plus side is, she is wearing something completely different than the Kimphomaniac, who shows up dressed in black on Branfoot's arm.
Strike and Robin looked up to see Lord Oliver Branfoot, tall and podgy, with his trademark messy hair and drooping eyes, a genial smile curving his full lips. Beside him, in a skin-tight, knee-length black dress, stood Kim Cochran.
So, Dominic Culpepper isn't the only one she's blabbed to. Chapter 108 takes us to the best restaurant confrontation since Carl Oakden at the American Bar. The good news is, this time, Robin does not wind up with two black eyes. The bad news is, she also does not wind up with whiskey and curry in the office with her and Strike acknowledging feelings for each other.
Branfoot’s entrance had caused a ripple of excitement to pass through the room. Many heads had turned, and most expressions were amused.
Strike immediately recognizes a new game plan is needed, and goes out to make phone calls, leaving Robin to converse with these two charming individuals. Robin connects that Button Mushroom Nose is likely a Navabi agent and managed to zing KFC with that one. Strike, in the meantime, makes a request from Wardle and then calls Fergus Robertson.
I don't know if this is a time glitch or if Danny de Leon is really a foot-dragger. Strike called him on Monday letting him know that he is liable to be held criminally responsible in the covert porn case unless he spills the beans to the press immediately and acts contrite; we were left with the impression that Dabby would call the reporter immediately. Robertson reports that Danny called him only that morning, which is a Friday, four days later.
In any case, Strike warns Robertson that he is about to confront Branfoot, and he needs to get a photographer out to the flat before Branfoot has the equipment and "two-way mirror" removed. (Doesn't he mean one-way mirror? That's what the typical voyeur needs; the two-way mirror is what Sirius gave Harry!) This does make me wonder--- is there any tipoff to the police? By confronting Branfoot, isn't Strike giving him the chance to destroy all the filmed evidence before law enforcement can move in with a warrant? I get that exposing him to the press is important, but isn't criminal prosecution more important? What good are Ferguson's pictures of the cameras going to do if the police can't see what's been recorded?
In any case, Strike once again gets to show up a snooty public school type by recognizing Catullus, this time, his Poem 13. Not being a connoisseur of French cuisine or five-star hotels, I had to look up what amuse-bouches were; turns out, they are small, complementary appetizers designed to showcase the chefs' skills, hence the "loving descriptions." They move on to the wine, and to the expensive starters that they will be paying for, before they get down to business. KFC has blabbed about Decima, and Navabi's agency has her under surveillance. In the name of "preventing exploitation" they are willing to expose her secrets to the press and publicly accuse reveal both the existence of her cub baby and what Strike and Ellacott agency have been hired to do for her. They also threaten to go to the press with the story of Robin and Murphy's relationship, and air his departmental dirty laundry while accusing him of passing on inside information.
As with Carl Oakden, Strike has more dirt on Branfoot than Branfoot has on him, He is also able to correct deduce that the Kimphomaniac had herself been lured into the covert porn studio.
"Well, you certainly seem to have got the goods on us," said Strike. He turned to Kim. "Picked up anyone good in Lambeth lately?"
"What?" said Kim.
"Anyone been chatting you up in the vicinity of Lord Branfoot’s office? Anyone who owns a flat on Black Prince Road?”
Strike then reveals the full story of how Danny de Leon escaped and fled back to Sark, and has already talked to the press about Branfoot's voyeurism.
"Now, I might be wrong," said Strike, "but I think masonic policemen, a TV rent-a-gob, secret filming, a bunch of porn stars and a bungled hit will be of far more interest to the papers than a woman who didn’t want her family to know she had a baby, and hired us to find out whether her son’s father is still alive. But I’ve got a recording of you making implicit threats to expose her,’ he added, tapping the mobile in his breast pocket, "so we can add blackmail to the list.”
A stunned Branfoot rescinds his offer to pay for dinner and departs.
Strike then lists all he's got on KFC, including the information Wardle has just texted him about another married cop Kim "serviced" while they were supposed to be on duty and whose wife has chucked him out.
"But I promise you this: unless you keep your fucking mouth shut about those things going forwards, there will be no holds fucking barred our end. I’ll make it so no detective agency in the UK will touch you. Affairs with married men, Ray’s suicide, blowing Billings, popping off to Black Prince Road to film a bit of amateur porn – you think you’re fucking Teflon, but I’ll make sure so much muck sticks to you no power hose’ll get it off, and I won’t give two shiny shits how much of it’s true.”
In tears, KFC also departs. Robin gets one of her best lines ever:
“Is it wrong," said Robin quietly, "that I really, really enjoyed that?’
"If that was wrong, I don’t want to be right," said Strike through a mouthful of mackerel.
"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.
A couple of quibbles here. First of all, the sheep saying, while a nice connector to the necklace, makes no sense in this context. The penalty (price) for a meal plus dessert is clearly going to be higher than the price for the meal alone. Second, what gives, Strike? You are at one of the swankiest restaurants in London, you with your suit and Robin looking like a million bucks. You are both delighted to have wiped the floor with a couple of evil people. Robin isn't engaged. House-hunting is on hold. Murphy has fallen off the wagon. After the many romantic getaways you have tried to engineer during the last 108 chapters, it doesn't occur to you that this is the perfect opportunity to "make your declaration?"
Chapter 109 is an interesting transition that explores a bit more of Strike's past with Charlotte, in preparation for the meeting with Mommie Dearest.
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.
The combination of viewing execution videos on the dark web and the prospect of revisiting one of Charlotte's own haunts has re-triggered some of Strike's own trauma symptoms, and he is again having nightmares of the IED explosion. On the drive to Heberley House, he reflects about all the tension and animosity between Charlotte and her mother that he had witnessed there. Thoughts of Charlotte inevitably take him back to thoughts of Robin.
He found it hard not to reflect on the irony of his position. He’d taken this route long ago when young and in love, and now he was middle-aged and in love, as hopelessly, though for different reasons, as he’d been at nineteen.
He considers how she inadvertently stopped him from following Charlotte out of the office on that first day, and we get some hint as to why he didn't think the Goring was right for his declaration.
Robin blocking his path back to Charlotte, him nearly killing her in exchange: there was a blunt bit of symbolism, if ever he’d met one…
Her ring finger might still be bare, but Strike was certain it was only a matter of time before that changed. This belief was predicated on his knowledge of Robin. She was the kind of person who stuck things out, even when loyalty might be considered unwise, and Strike could hardly complain about this trait, because he’d benefited from it himself... Robin was a good and decent person, and good and decent people didn’t walk away when things were tough, nor did they walk out on their romantic partners when they were having crises.
Having resented Murphy for being fit and successful, Strike now deeply begrudged the man his alcoholic lapse and his work troubles.
I guess him letting the Goring opportunity slip by makes a little more sense in this context, although it still seems a bit contrived.
Coming up next: Strike confronts Tara and ends Decima's case. Plus, Martin "gets aggressive back."
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