Page 133 of The Running Grave

‘Please no – please no, Mama – no, please, please!’

If anyone in the surrounding beds had also heard it, none of them made a sound.

43

Six in the fourth place means:

Entangled folly brings humiliation.

The I Ching or Book of Changes

Six days after Robin, unbeknownst to Strike, had found the old Polaroids in the rusty biscuit tin, he held an afternoon team meeting attended by everyone at the detective agency apart from Littlejohn, who was on surveillance. Strike had opted to hold the meeting in the otherwise deserted basement room of his favourite local pub, which until recently had been called the Tottenham, but had now become the Flying Horse. As an Arsenal fan, Strike thoroughly approved of the rebrand. While waiting for his subcontractors to join him, he checked Pinterest to see whether Torment Town had responded to his message, but there was no change to the page.

‘I’m no’ complainin’, but why’re we doing this here?’ asked Barclay ten minutes later. The Glaswegian was the last to arrive in the red carpeted room and, as he had the evening off, had stopped at the upstairs bar to buy himself a pint.

‘In case Littlejohn decides to come back to the office,’ said Strike.

‘We’re gonnae be plottin’ his downfall, are we?’

‘He might not be working for us for much longer, so there’s no need for him to know any more of our business,’ said Strike. ‘I’m interviewing Wardle’s mate tomorrow and if that goes well, Littlejohn’s out.’

Shah, Midge and Barclay all said, ‘Good.’ Pat, Strike noticed, remained silent.

‘Where’s he now?’ asked Midge.

‘On the Franks,’ said Strike.

‘Speakin’ of which, I’ve got somethin’ on them,’ said Barclay, reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket for two sheets of paper which, when unfolded, proved to be photocopied news articles. ‘I’ve been wonderin’ whether we could get them on a benefits scam an’ I ended up findin’ this.’

He pushed the papers towards Strike. Both news items were small, though one featured a headshot of the older brother. The surname given wasn’t the one the Frank brothers were currently living under, though the forenames remained the same.

‘The younger one was done fer flashin’,’ Barclay told Shah and Midge, while Strike was reading. ‘Got a suspended sentence. The older one’s supposedly the younger one’s carer. No idea what’s s’posed to be wrong wi’ him.’

‘And the older one’s been done for stalking,’ said Strike, now reading the second article, ‘of another actress. Judge let him off with a suspended sentence, because he’s his brother’s carer.’

‘Typical,’ said Midge angrily, banging her glass down on the table to the slight consternation of Shah, who was sitting beside her. ‘If I saw that once, I saw it fifty fookin’ times when I was in the force. Men like them get cut too much fookin’ slack, and everyone’ll act surprised when one of the fookers is charged with rape.’

‘Good job finding this, Barclay,’ said Strike. ‘I think—’

Strike’s mobile rang and he saw Littlejohn’s number. He answered.

‘Just seen Frank One posting something in an envelope through the client’s front door,’ said Littlejohn. ‘I’ve sent you video.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘Walking away.’

‘OK, I’ll call the client and warn her. Stay on him.’

‘Righto.’

Littlejohn hung up.

‘Frank One’s just posted something through the client’s letter box,’ Strike told the rest of the team.

‘More dead birds?’ asked Midge.

‘Not unless they’d fit in an envelope. I think we should tip off the police that the Franks have got form under previous names. A visit from Plod might make them back off. I’ll take care of that,’ Strike added, making a note. ‘What’s the latest on Bigfoot?’