Page 219 of The Hallmarked Man
‘He pulled out a knife,’ said Robin. ‘And—’
‘HeWHAT?’ said Strike, so loudly a woman passing with a Bichon Frisé looked round.
‘I’m trying to tell you “what”,’ said Robin, in a low voice. ‘He pulled out this – well, it was a masonic dagger. I know, because he threw it at me. I’ve got it at home. It was a warning, not an attack,’ she said, because Strike was looking dangerous. ‘He said, “stop, and you won’t get hurt”. He was trying to scare me,’ she said, omitting to mention that her menacer had achieved this objective, ‘there was never any question of him actually—’
‘Why the fuck didn’t you call me after this happened?’
‘What could you have done?’ said Robin coolly. ‘You were in Scotland.’
‘I told you, and you agreed, if you went anywhere alone, you were to tell me. We agreed, after Shanker, after that bloke in Harrods, and with all these fucking phone calls, the last onespecificallytargeting you—’
‘“Bitch” might have meant Kim or Midge, and I can’t ring you literally every time I’m somewhere alone,’ said Robin, her tone no longer measured. ‘It was a well-lit residential street, and he didn’t actually hurt—’
‘You realise there was a fucking “G” painted on the street door on New Year’s Eve?’
‘What? No, I didn’t! Why didn’t you tell—?’
‘And this bloke said “stop”?’
‘Why didn’t you tell me a “G” was painted on the door?’
‘Somebody’s clearly decided you’re the weak link—’
The moment the words had left his mouth he wished them unspoken. Robin had blanched in anger. Kim’s jibes about her lack of police training and her own awareness that she should have spotted her tail the previous day were doing battle with her desire to point out Strike’s sheer audacity in suggesting she was the person letting the agency down, when his shenanigans with women were drawing down so much negative press—
‘I didn’t mean “weak link” in terms of – I mean,’ Strike blustered, ‘you’re a woman, aren’t you, and Branfoot knows he’s got something his goons can scare you with—’
‘We haven’t got ashredof evidence Branfoot’s got anything to do with those men,’ said Robin furiously.
‘Who else connected to this case has got a bunch of thugs to do his bidding? “Or he might send someone,” Wright said.You’rethe one who spotted Branfoot’s pal from Ramsay Silver in the paper. Branfoot’s at the same fucking lodge as the senior investigating officer—’
‘I know that, I’m capable of retaining information you told me two minutes ago! But asI’mnot the one who’s given Branfoot an excuse to slag us off in the tabloids—’
Stung on the raw, Strike now lost his cool himself.
‘Sure it’s bad press worrying you?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Don’t want us investigating a masonic lodge full of Met officers?’
‘This has got nothing to do with Ryan!’ said Robin, angrily and untruthfully. ‘I know the lodge thing’s a bit fishy, but we haven’t got—’
‘“A bit fishy”? It stinks like a fucking prawn trawler! Why did Branfoot move lodges? Why did he decide to go where the police were?’
‘I don’t—’
‘Don’t give me that, we know he’s dodgy as fuck. Jimmy Savile was cosying up to his local police force for years, having them over every Friday for drinks.’
‘Youseriouslythink Truman knew Branfoot was behind the murder and agreed to cover it up?’ said Robin scornfully.
‘It doesn’t have to be that crude! I’m not claiming Truman knows Branfoot put out the hit—’
‘Why would Branfoot have someone killed in a masonic silver shop?’
‘Because he was mates with a bunch of masonic policemen who literally meet next door, he knew they’d be predisposed to hushing anything up that looked masonic, and he’d be able to exert maximum influence over the investigation! Branfoot either lucked out, and his mate Truman was put in charge, or Truman pulled his own masonic strings to make sure he got the job!’
‘And why would Branfoot have ordered a sash be put on the body, and a masonic hallmark carved into it?’
