Page 110 of The Hallmarked Man
‘No,’ said Robin, but this time she added, ‘why?’
‘He’s… I hate him,’ said Albie, with sudden, surprising vehemence. ‘I hate all of them – except Decima. She’s OK. She’s the only decent one.’
‘When you say “all of them”, you mean—’
‘The Longcasters. Him and his wife, she’s a real bitch, and his other kids. Valentine – I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire,’ said Albie savagely. ‘He’s a shit, he acts like it’s his club, he treats the staff like dirt. And Cosima, she’s the youngest, and she’s a spoiled brat. Decima’s the only decent one, she always treated the staff well. Well, she kind of was staff herself, for a bit, working on the menus. Mr Longcaster asked her to help out. She’s a really good chef… but I think her restaurant’s in trouble. I saw online.’
Robin thought she heard a trace of guilt, but Albie went on quickly,
‘Anyway, she doesn’t fit in with her family. Same as Rupe. I heard the two of them discussing it, once.’
‘So you saw Rupert and Decima’s relationship up close?’
‘Yeah, I s’pose,’ said Albie.
Their client’s prohibition on mentioning her baby was highly inconvenient; Robin sensed that Albie might be amenable to a little emotional blackmail.
‘So, did you think Rupert and Decima were a good fit, or—?’
‘Why’re you asking that, if you work for her?’ said Albie.
‘Because,’ said Robin, looking Albie straight in the eye, ‘I think it’d be kinder for her in the long run to know the truth, rather than be told lies, and left wondering why, if Rupert was supposed to genuinely care about her, he disappeared.’
Albie looked down at his plate, ate another couple of chips, then said,
‘She thinks he was that body in the silver shop, doesn’t she?’
‘She told you that, did she?’
‘Yeah, but’ – Albie laughed uncomfortably – ‘that’s mad. Why the hell would Rupert have gone to work there?’
‘You’ve just told me why,’ said Robin. ‘He had to work if he wanted to eat. He’d run off with Mr Longcaster’s nef, so he had reason to hide, didn’t he? But you don’t strike me as the kind of person who’d encourage him to ditch his girlfriend without a word.’
She watched as a flush spread over Albie’s face.
‘I’m not,’ he mumbled.
‘Did Rupert want to end things with Decima?’
Albie opened his mouth, shut it, then said,
‘Not really.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I don’t know… her brother was really against it, he thought Rupe was way too young for her – and probably not rich enough, knowing Valentine.’
‘Rupert decided to split up with her, because Valentine disapproved?’
‘No,’ said Albie. ‘He didn’t want to end it, but he had—’
He cut himself off.
‘“Had to?”’ said Robin. ‘Why would he have to? Because he was afraid of Valentine, or Mr Longcaster?’
‘Not “had to”, I wasn’t going to say that,’ said Albie, still red in the face. ‘He just – you know, with that drug dealer and everything. He didn’t want Decima targeted as well.’
‘Albie, that’s a nice story,’ said Robin, ‘but why would he break allcontact with her, if he was doing it to protect her? And why steal the nef from her father, if he cared about her? That caused her trouble too, didn’t it?’
