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‘Three stone,’ said Strike.
‘Good going,’ said Murphy, slim and fit in his single-breasted suit.
Fuck off, you smug bastard.
2
Six in the fifth place means…
The companion bites his way through the wrappings.
If one goes to him,
How could it be a mistake?
The I Ching or Book of Changes
Robin was sitting on the end of the double bed in the marital bedroom. The room, which was decorated in shades of blue, was tidy except for two drawers lying open at the base of the wardrobe. Robin had been acquainted with the Herberts long enough to know Nick would have left them like this: it was one of his wife’s perennial complaints that he neither pushed in drawers nor closed cupboard doors.
Lawyer Ilsa was currently settled in a rocking chair in the corner, the baby already gulping greedily at her breast. As she came from a farming family, Robin was unfazed by the snuffling noises the baby was making. Strike would have found them vaguely indecent.
‘It makes you so damn thirsty,’ said Ilsa, who’d just gulped down most of her glass of water. Having handed Robin the empty glass she added, ‘I think my mum’s drunk.’
‘I know. I’ve never met anyone happier to be a grandmother,’ said Robin.
‘True,’ sighed Ilsa. ‘Bloody Bijou, though.’
‘Bloody what?’
‘The loud woman in pink! You must’ve noticed her, her tits are virtually hanging out of her dress. I detest her,’ said Ilsa vehemently, ‘she’s got to be the centre of attention all the bloody time. She was in the room when I invited two other people at her chambers, and she just assumed I meant her, too, and I couldn’t think of any way of telling her no.’
‘Her name’s Bijou?’ said Robin incredulously. ‘As in residence?’
‘As in man-hungry pain in the arse. Her real name’s Belinda,’ said Ilsa, who then affected a booming, sultry voice, ‘“but everyone calls me Bijou”.’
‘Why do they?’
‘Because she tells them to,’ said Ilsa crossly, and Robin laughed. ‘She’s having an affair with a married QC, and I hope to God I don’t meet him in court any time soon, because she’s told us way too much about what they get up to in bed. She’s quite open about trying to get pregnant by him, to get him to leave his wife… but maybe I’m bitter… well, I am bitter. I don’t need women who’re size eight around me, right now. This is a size sixteen,’ she said, looking down at her navy dress. ‘I’ve never been this big in my life.’
‘You’ve just given birth and you look absolutely lovely,’ said Robin firmly. ‘Everyone’s been saying so.’
‘See, this is why I like you, Robin,’ said Ilsa, wincing slightly at the enthusiastic sucking of her son. ‘How’re things going with Ryan?’
‘Good,’ said Robin.
‘What’s it been now? Seven months?’
‘Eight,’ said Robin.
‘Hm,’ said Ilsa, now smiling down at her baby.
‘What’s that mean?’
‘Corm’s hating it. His face when you and Ryan were holding hands outside the church. And I notice Corm’s lost a ton of weight.’
‘He had to,’ said Robin, ‘because his leg got so bad last year.’
‘If you say so… Ryan doesn’t drink at all?’
