Page 117 of The Hallmarked Man
Strike glared at her, then said,
‘I thought of that, but I’m not—’
‘This won’t go away with “no comment”. Talk to Robertson, tell him the truth. You’ve always played fair with him.’
‘I didn’t want to have to—’
‘It’s too late for what you “didn’t want to have to do”,’ said Robin angrily. This was her agency as well, and she wasn’t going to stand by and watch it get trashed. ‘You need to give Robertson the facts. You’ve got to push back.’
‘It won’t be enough. I need to stop this at the source.’
‘What are you going to do, track this girl down and threaten her into recanting?’ said Robin, now losing patience. ‘How d’you thinkthat’ll play out? “Cormoran Strike in further threats to sex worker”? Or are you planning to lay about Dominic Culpepper with a baseball bat? Becausethat—’
‘Give me my phone.’
‘You can’t threaten Culpepper, Strike! Youcan’t!’
‘I’m not going to. I’ll call Robertson and see if I can do some damage control.’
Robin gave the phone back but stood watching him.
‘I’d rather you didn’t listen,’ he told her.
‘Fine,’ said Robin coldly, and she left the room.
Strike waited until the door had closed before sitting down and pressing Robertson’s number.
‘’Ello, ’ello,’ said an amused voice on the end of the line. ‘Just thinking of calling you, seeing as you’re not returning any of my colleagues’ calls. Why’s Mr Culpepper so keen to get you, all of a sudden?’
‘Might be prepared to tell you that,’ said Strike, ‘as long as I’m guaranteed an accurate quote or two.’
‘Who’s giving the quotes?’
‘Me,’ said Strike.
‘Fire away,’ said Robertson, and Strike heard the turning of a page.
‘I’ve never hired any woman – emphasis on “any” – sex worker or otherwise, to entrap or lure an investigative target or witness,’ said Strike, and he heard Robertson’s shorthand moving rapidly across paper, ‘nor have I ever attempted to get sex by offering money, withholding payment, or by any other kind of threat. I have never met, spoken to or otherwise interacted with the woman calling herselfCandy and her claims, for which she’s offered no proof, are completely without foundation.’
‘Gonna take legal action?’ asked Robertson, who was still audibly scribbling.
‘On the record, yeah, I’m speaking to lawyers. Off the record, I haven’t got the money to sue, as Culpepper fucking well knows.’
‘Right,’ said Robertson. ‘This all seems to have got very personal, very fast.’
‘There’s a reason for that,’ said Strike, ‘and I might be prepared to give you some pointers on where to dig, as long as you can guarantee I’m going to be accurately quoted…’
33
And we have been on many thousand lines,
And we have shown, on each, spirit and power;
But hardly have we, for one little hour,
Been on our own line, have we been ourselves—
Hardly had skill to utter one of all
