Page 25 of The Hallmarked Man

‘Two,’ said Strike, ‘forty-two. Right, shall we—?’

‘Have you opened our present yet?’ asked Midge.

‘You’re not easy to buy for,’ said Pat, now heaving the large package off her desk and holding it out to Strike. ‘We went for something practical.’

Strike opened the package and was relieved to find nothing that would need to be tried on in front of them all, nothing pointless he’d have to keep in his flat out of politeness, but a bulk order of his favourite vape juice.

‘Enough nicotine to kill a bull,’ said Strike. ‘That’s great. Genuinely. Thanks very much…

‘Right, better start with Plug, in case Midge needs to get going. What’s he up to?’ Strike asked the onscreen Midge.

‘He’s been shouting at his poor old mum again, the bastard. I could hear him from the street, but he hasn’t been—’

‘I’ve told Cormoran this already,’ said Kim, talking over Midge. ‘On Sunday—’

‘All right if I finish what I was saying?’ said the onscreen Midge crossly.

‘Sorry,’ said Kim, eyebrows raised. ‘Go on.’

‘—hasn’t been out,’ Midge finished, glowering.

‘Right,’ said Kim, with a little laugh. ‘Well, on Sunday he drove to Ipswich, where he met up with another couple of blokes in a pub. One of them was noting things down in a kind of ledger. I got photos of numberplates and I’m going to ask a Met mate to run them through the files.’

‘Good work, that could help,’ said Strike, and Robin, remembering Murphy’s ‘she had quite the rep at work’, tried without success not to feel resentful, ‘but we haven’t got the manpower to start tailing a bunch of Plug’s mates unless we can get rid of Arse—’ he caught Pat’s glare ‘—Mr A. Speaking of whom—’

‘She’s nae shaggin’ fuckin’ Culpepper,’ said Barclay. ‘If he wants to stop shit appearin’ aboot him in the papers he could try not bein’ an arsehole.’

‘Yeah, but the stuff in the papers is about his past arseholery,’ said Shah, ‘and if it’s not coming from his ex, who’s leaking it?’

A fifteen-minute discussion ensued about the people Mr A and his ex-wife routinely met. Robin’s mobile buzzed while this conversation was still going on. Murphy had texted her.

I’ve got what you wanted, but it’s a lot more sensitive than I realised.

Robin texted back:

Ryan, thank you so, so much. Would it be ok for Strike to hear what you’ve got, as well as me?

Having ticked Mr A off the list of things to discuss, Strike moved on to Decima Mullins. While he gave the others an overview of the current position, omitting mention of Decima’s baby, Kim reiteratedher hope that one of her police contacts might be prepared to share the DNA findings on the body in the silver shop vault. Robin waited on tenterhooks for Murphy’s response, which was slow coming; the detectives had already discussed various expense-related matters, the subcontractors’ upcoming Christmas and New Year leave requirements, and agreed a couple of job swaps, before at last it appeared.

Yeah ok but we’ll do it face to face and NOBODY ELSE can know I’ve given you anything. It’s properly sensitive.

Robin looked up. Pat was removing a homemade iced cake from the tin decorated with pictures of Princess Diana. E-cigarette clamped firmly between her teeth, she stuck two candles in it, a large four and a two.

‘Wasn’t gonna put the lot on,’ she told Strike, carrying it over to the desk. ‘Fire hazard.’

Strike did his best to look appreciative while ‘Happy Birthday’ was being sung. Noticing the forced nature of Strike’s smile, Robin started to laugh before the song was finished, noting with gratitude that laughter no longer caused her much pain. Strike, unwillingly amused by Robin’s amusement, found himself genuinely grinning by the time Pat instructed him to blow out his candles.

‘Did you make a wish?’ asked Kim archly, as Pat began cutting everyone slices.

Strike, who hadn’t, didn’t answer.

‘Strike, could I have a quick word after this, about Decima Mullins?’ asked Robin.

‘Yeah, definitely,’ said Strike, accepting a bit of chocolate sponge from Pat. ‘I’ve got a couple of things to tell you, as well.’

Robin took secret satisfaction at the sight of a flicker of annoyance on Kim’s face.

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