Page 199 of The Hallmarked Man

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The waitress walked away.

‘I think we’re done,’ Robin repeated to Valentine, but he didn’t move.

‘If Corporal Brokeby had come to me with that “what if Fleetwood’s killed himself?” bullshit he pulled on Sacha, I’d’ve given him what he deserves,’ said Valentine. ‘He wants to talk suicide, I’m more than fucking ready to talk suicide.’

‘Well, you had your chance,’ said Robin, ‘and you refused to speak to him.’

‘It’s on him Charlotte’s dead.’

‘It isn’t,’ said Robin.

‘He fuckingdestroyedher.’

‘They split up six years before she did it.’

‘That’s what he told you, is it?’

Robin felt a creeping sensation in her stomach. Had Strike hidden that, too? Had he continued to meet Charlotte, and sleep with her, through those years he’d pretended they’d split up?’

‘PP stands for the pit pony,’ said Valentine remorselessly. ‘Cormoran Strike’s scruffy little Yorkshire helper.’

‘Charming,’ said Robin. ‘If you’ve quite—’

‘He screwed around when he was supposed to be with her, he knocked her about, and she still fucking loved him, and the night she died, he said stuff to her—’

‘My information is, he didn’t pick up the phone,’ said Robin.

‘Then you need a better source of fucking information,’ said Valentine.

He got to his feet, looking down at her.

‘Youarea fucking pit pony. He drags you along in the dark like some dumb fucking animal. Now fuck off away from my family. I don’t want to see you, ever again.’

He strode away, jacket over his shoulder, swearing at a woman who was too slow to move aside from the door.

63

The thoughts of others

Were light and fleeting,

Of lovers’ meeting

Or luck or fame.

Mine were of trouble,

And mine were steady;

So I was ready

When trouble came.

A. E. Housman

VI, More Poems

Robin didn’t have the slightest appetite for her spaghetti now. Just as she was thinking of calling the waitress over to say she’d like the bill, her mobile rang for a third time. Seeing her mother was calling again, she took a deep breath, put a finger in her free ear to block out the noise of the restaurant, and answered.

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