Page 309 of The Hallmarked Man
‘But I didn’t ask for any.’
‘Presumably because you weren’t aware you needed it. S’pose you think black makes you look thin, do you?’
‘No,’ said Robin, ‘it’s just easy.’
‘Good taste has nothin’ to do witheasy,’ said Longcaster with asperity, now reaching for a large malachite lighter. ‘Black looks elegant on Asian women, onmostblack women, and onsomedark-haired Caucasians, but there’s nothin’ cheaper lookin’ than black on a blonde.’
‘Well, thanks for your input,’ said Robin. ‘Isn’t it illegal to smoke in clubs these days?’
‘Yerse,’ said Longcaster, puffing energetically on his cigar.
The door opened and the waiter reappeared. He set a martini bearing an olive on a stick at Longcaster’s elbow, and put a champagne cup full of some virulently ruby-coloured concoction beside Robin.
‘What is this?’ Robin asked Longcaster, looking down at her drink as the door swung closed behind the waiter.
‘Dubonnet and gin. We call it the Majesty because it’s the Queen’s favourite. Always bothers me, thinkin’ of her drinkin’ something that common.’
Longcaster sipped his martini, his dark eyes fixed on Robin, then said,
‘Drink it. I’m hardly likely to bloody poison yeh, am I? Or are you scared I’ll jump on yeh? Needn’t worry about that. I get more excited about a morning piss these days than I do about women.’
‘I prefer to keep a clear head when I’m working,’ said Robin, and she thought how prissy she sounded.
‘I doubt Decima would begrudge you a solitary Majesty.’
Robin chose to ignore this comment.
‘Do you know where Rupert Fleetwood is, Mr Longcaster?’
‘No.’
‘His aunt thinks he’s got a job in New York.’
‘I think thatstaggeringlyunlikely.’
‘Why?’
‘Jellyfish aren’t noted for their ability to catch flights to New York. Drink your bloody drink.’
Robin picked up the glass and took a sip.
‘Like it?’ said Longcaster.
‘Yes,’ said Robin honestly.
‘Thought you would,’ said Longcaster. He blew out cigar smoke, then said,
‘I doubt Fleetwood’s gawn far, unless he’s hit a strong prevailin’ current. S’pose he could bebeachedsomewhere… small children poking him with plastic spades…’
‘Are you at all worried he might have killed himself?’
‘No,’ said Longcaster, ‘no, I can truthfully say I haven’t had a single second’s worry on that score.’
‘He seems to have been under a lot of pressure, before he disappeared,’ said Robin.
‘I don’t know aboutpressure,’ drawled Longcaster. ‘He staggered out of here under the weight of a prime piece of seventeenth-century Dutch silverware. Would you say that’s suicidal? Or is it the behaviour of a young man who fails to comprehend, as Wodehouse puts it, “the nice distinction betweenmeumandtuum”?’
‘You called the police, didn’t you?’ said Robin.
