Page 143 of The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike #8)

‘Well, he did,’ said Robin. ‘It was right before he disappeared. There were a lot of witnesses to the argument. That’s what I wanted to talk to your daughter about.’

The waiter returned with Longcaster’s second martini. Just as he reached the door, Longcaster said,

‘Oliver, tell Mimi to come here.’

‘Yes, Mr Longcaster, sir.’

Hoping ‘Mimi’ meant Cosima, Robin took another sip of her cocktail, which she had to admit was as welcome as the fire, after standing for two hours in the rain.

‘You wouldn’t be bad-looking if you made an effort,’ Longcaster said, raking Robin up and down with his bored eyes again. ‘Did something better with your hair. Scraping it back like that’s doing you no favours.’

‘D’you tell everyone how they should look and dress, Mr Longcaster?’

‘Only people who need it,’ said Longcaster.

He seemed genuinely frustrated, almost pained, that Robin wasn’t better groomed and attired.

She remembered Albie’s description of the man as one who wanted to live in a completely controlled world, that he thought it a sin to be badly dressed or overweight, and she thought of Decima, and what it would mean to grow up with this man as a father.

Cosima now entered the room. Neglecting to thank the waiter who’d held open the door for her, she sat down in a chair between Robin and her father, facing the fire.

Robin could tell the girl was extremely ill at ease, though pretending not to be so.

She threw back her long blonde hair, smoothed down the skirt of her short red dress, crossed her legs, smiled at her father and said,

‘Hi, Daddy.’

‘I’ve just been informed,’ said Longcaster, ‘that the jellyfish gatecrashed Sacha Legard’s birthday party.’

Cosima gave a forced laugh at the word ‘jellyfish’, but her father didn’t look amused.

‘And I hear you and Valentine spoke to him there.’

‘Only a bit,’ said Cosima. ‘It was nothing.’

‘Why didn’t you alert the police to his whereabouts?’ asked Longcaster. ‘Or call me, so I could do so?’

‘He just – he was there one moment, and then he left,’ said Cosima. ‘There wouldn’t have been time for the police to get him. He just sort of walked in and walked straight out again.’

Her right hand was playing with a set of gold rings on her left. She re-crossed her legs.

‘Sacha told my partner Rupert said or did something to make you cry,’ said Robin.

‘That’s—’

Robin could tell Cosima wanted to deny it, but that meant calling the famous, handsome actor a liar.

‘I think I actually – I wasn’t crying about Rupert.’

‘Sacha says you were,’ said Robin. ‘He says Rupert upset you.’

‘No, he didn’t,’ said Cosima, her colour mounting. ‘You weren’t there, you don’t know what happened. I was upset because he’d just, like, burst in on Sachy’s party, OK?’

‘You just said you weren’t crying about Rupert,’ said Robin.

She expected Longcaster to intervene, to protect his favourite child from her questions, but on the contrary, the club owner was staring at Cosima with a none-too-friendly look on his jowly face.

‘I wasn’t – there was a ton of drama going on that night, OK, I just felt kinda overwhelmed and then Rupert turning up was, like, the final straw, I thought there was gonna be a scene—’

‘What kind of scene?’ asked Robin.

‘Just, you know, that security would be involved and, like, people would think Val and I had invited Rupert or something—’

‘Why would anyone think you’d invited him?’ asked Robin. ‘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?’

‘Look,’ said Cosima, who’d flushed a deeper red, ‘I was just upset that night, OK, and I was, like, disgusted he showed up, after he stole Daddy’s silver thing—’

‘But not disgusted enough to call the police,’ said Longcaster.

‘It was so quick, Daddy, one minute he was there and the next—’

‘He was there long enough to argue with Valentine, wasn’t he?’ said Robin.

‘I think Val just, um, like, he saw Rupert, and I think he tried to get him to leave,’ said Cosima, still flushed.

‘Again, that’s not what Sacha Legard says,’ said Robin. ‘He says Rupert arrived there looking for a fight. He sought out Valentine, rather than the other way round.’

‘Well, I don’t – I didn’t see everything, it was really crowded, I don’t know what happened. God , what’s the big deal?’ said Cosima, with a false laugh. ‘Why d’you even care ?’

‘I told you why, outside,’ said Robin. ‘Your sister’s very worried about Rupert. He’s disappeared.’

‘That’s not my fault,’ said Cosima, but a curious look of panic crossed her lovely face. ‘That’s not on me. I didn’t know – it’s not my fault.’

‘You “didn’t know” what?’ said Robin.

‘I meant, I didn’t make him steal the ship thing, it’s not my fault he went off.’

‘That’ll do,’ said Longcaster, as Robin opened her mouth to reply. He pressed the brass bell beside him again. ‘I think we’ve heard enough from you, Miss—’

‘Ellacott,’ said Robin.

The waiter who’d previously brought their drinks now reappeared.

‘Miss Ellacott’s leaving, Oliver.’

Longcaster got to his feet, waking the Pyrenean Mountain Dog, which stretched and wagged its tail.

‘Goodbye,’ said Longcaster, holding out a hand to shake Robin’s. ‘Interesting visit.’

‘Goodbye,’ said Robin. ‘Thank you for the drink.’

She caught Cosima’s eye once more as she left the room. The girl looked mutinous, but also, Robin thought, scared.