Page 98 of The Hallmarked Man

‘And the other things?’

‘Midge and Tasha have split up.’

‘Ah,’ said Strike. ‘I thought there was something going on. She looked like she was crying when I saw her at the office yesterday.’

‘Right, so try—’

‘Not to be a bastard?’

‘I was going to say “try and cut her a bit of slack”, but not being a bastard works, too.’

‘Fair enough. Anything else?’

‘Well, this might not help,’ said Robin, ‘but I did a deep dive on Facebook and Instagram last night, looking at the accounts of the real Osgood and Oz, and there’s a girl—’

Murphy had turned back, and was now walking towards Robin.

‘Strike, I’ll have to go,’ said Robin hastily. ‘I’ll tell you the rest later, but this is all getting—’

‘Yeah,’ said Strike. ‘It is.’

28

I’ve my taste of truth,

Likewise my touch of falsehood…

Robert Browning

Mr Sludge, ‘The Medium’

At a quarter to two on Monday afternoon, Strike headed out for Holborn to interview Jim Todd, the Ramsay Silver cleaner. Having a pretext to call Robin, he did so, because maximising contact with her fell into the categories of both playing to his strengths and not letting Ryan Murphy change his game plan.

‘Hi,’ said Robin, answering on the second ring. ‘I’ve just found out why we can never get Rupert’s friend Albie at Dino’s. He hasn’t worked there for five months.’

‘Couldn’t they just have bloody told us that?’ said Strike. Robin was also walking somewhere with heavy traffic, and he had his free forefinger in his opposite ear, so as to be able to hear her.

‘No, because according to the waitress I just waylaid in the street, they aren’t allowed to give out information about staff over the phone. She says Albie’s gone to work at Harrods, so that’s where I’m heading. Where are you?’

‘Nearly at Leather Lane.’

‘Mucky Ricci’s old place,’ said Robin, referring to an old gangster who’d been a suspect in a previous case.

‘Exactly.’

‘Any particular reason for calling, or just checking the masons haven’t done me in yet?’

‘Yeah, I’ve just heard back from my SIB mate, Hardacre. Semple was definitely SAS and was invalided out in 2015 following atraumatic brain injury that left him in a medically induced coma for three months. No details available, even to the Military Police, which makes me think he was definitely E Squadron.’

‘So Lawrencemustbe MI5?’

‘I think we have to accept that as a working assumption,’ said Strike. ‘To change the subject completely: what were you going to tell me on Saturday, about Osgood’s Facebook page?’

‘Oh, yes,’ said Robin, who in her current state of sleep deprivation had forgotten she hadn’t passed this information on, though she’d put it in the file. ‘Well, the same girl – she’s called Sapphire – appears in the comments on both the real Osgood’s Facebook page, and fake Oz’s Instagram page. I did some digging and I think I’ve found her. Her name’s Sapphire Neagle and here’s the thing: she’s on a missing persons’ website. She stopped posting to social media in November and hasn’t been seen since. I know that might be coincidence, but—’

‘Known online contact with a man who definitely isn’t who he says he is, is suggestive,’ said Strike.

‘Well, exactly,’ said Robin. ‘I’m not saying she’s with Oz, or that he’s done away with her, God forbid, but it’s got to be a possibility. I was thinking of calling the charity to see what they can tell me. What d’you think?’