Page 21 of The Hallmarked Man
‘How’s that Cochran woman settling in?’
‘Well,’ said Robin.Too well.
‘She had quite the rep at work, I hear.’
Robin really wasn’t in any mood to hear what a wonderful detective Kim had been, so she changed the subject to US president-elect Donald Trump’s latest public pronouncements on the subject of whether or not he’d pursue the imprisonment of his defeated opponent, Hillary Clinton. There was one thing to be said for Trump’s shock election triumph, thought Robin: it always gave you something to talk about, if you wanted to avoid other, trickier, subjects.
After they’d finished eating, Murphy took the cutlery through to the kitchen and washed them up, instructing Robin to remain where she was, then returned with coffees. Seeing his tentative expression as he sat down again, Robin felt a prickle of dread.
‘So… how’re you feeling about…?’
‘I told you, a lot better. I’ll definitely be good to go back to work on Wednesday.’
‘I didn’t mean physically.’
Robin, who’d known exactly what Murphy had meant, said,
‘Well, I’m glad to be out of hospital, obviously… Mum just called me, by the way. They had to put Rowntree down. His liver packed up.’
‘Shit,’ said Murphy. ‘I’m sorry.’
Robin, who’d mentioned Rowntree’s death purely to change the subject, found herself temporarily unable to speak. Her throat had contracted and she was afraid she was going to cry, not least because she could tell Murphy wasn’t going to be deflected from what he really wanted to talk about.
‘Can’t we discuss it?’ he said quietly.
‘Discuss what?’ Robin said with difficulty.
‘What the doctor said.’
‘I told you, I’ve restarted the pill.’
‘No, not that. About freezing your eggs.’
‘I haven’t thought about it,’ said Robin.
‘Don’t you think it might be a good idea? To be on the safe side?’
‘What safe side?’ said Robin, her voice suddenly ragged. ‘I’ve looked up what it involves. You have to be pumped full of hormones and go under a general anaesthetic, and sometimes you have to do it multiple times, if they don’t get enough eggs, or they aren’t viable.’
‘Why wouldn’t they be viable? You’re only thirty-two.’
Shocked by her own anger, Robin was avoiding eye contact again.Don’t cry.
‘I feel like you’re blaming me,’ said Murphy.
‘I’m not blaming you, I just – you’re talking about egg freezing as though it’s nipping down to the shops. It isn’t. It’s invasive and time intensive, I might need time off work—’
‘Can you not forget about work for two minutes?’
‘That’s rich coming from you! You’ve been working round the clock lately!’
‘I’m sorry I’ve left you alone today – d’you think I wanted to? You were the one who didn’t want your parents to know!’
‘This isn’t about being left alone, I’mfineon my own, I’m just pointing out it’s apparently OK foryouto put work first, but not me!’
‘That’s different, I’vegotto do what I do—’
‘Someone put a gun to your head and made you join the police, did they?’
