Page 356 of The Hallmarked Man
‘Well, that puts my afternoon docketing receipts into perspective,’ said Robin, and Murphy laughed. She was surprised at how relieved she was to have amused him; it felt as though there hadn’t been a lot of laughter between them lately.
‘Tomorrow night?’ he said, and Robin agreed.
Darkness was drawing in. Once parked outside her block of flats, she reached into her bag for the fresh bottle of pepper spray she’d made, her first having been confiscated by the police, then sat where she was for several minutes, trying to muster the courage to cross the dark car park. No matter how much she told herself there was nobody lurking in wait, she didn’t seem to be able to convince her subconscious.
‘Come on,’ she told herself firmly, and got out of the car.
She was halfway to the door of the building when she heard male voices, shouting. Flooded with panic, she started to run back towards the Land Rover.
Two men burst out of her building, heading straight for her. She was shaking so badly she dropped her car keys. As she bent to pick them up she heard the snarled words ‘fuckingbitch’ and then the first man had dashed past her, curly hair silhouetted in the street lamp –it’s him –but the second man, who was taller and broader, was slowing; he’d nearly reached her—
‘NO!’ Robin screamed, pulling out her pepper spray.
‘Rob, it’s me,’ said a familiar voice. ‘It’s me!’
‘Martin?’ said Robin weakly, leaning back against her car, pepper spray in hand, keys still on the ground. ‘What—?’
‘Who was that guy?’ he said.
Martin was holding a crumpled piece of paper. Robin couldn’t marshal her thoughts. Unable to stop herself, she burst into tears.
‘Rob,’ said her brother, putting his arms around her. ‘The fuck’s going on?’
‘Nothing, nothing,’ she gasped, knowing what a ludicrous response this was. ‘Why are you here? How did you—?’
‘What’s going on?’ repeated Martin.
‘I – I got that man arrested, he—’ but she couldn’t tell Martin about the attack, she couldn’t bear her mother, in particular, finding out, ‘—so he’s got it in for me – how did you even—?’
‘It was raining. One of your neighbours let me in. I was sitting on your stairs waiting for you to come home and that fucker showed up and tried to slide this under your door,’ said Martin, holding up the crumpled paper. ‘I said, “who the fuck are you?” and he got aggressive so I got aggressive back, and then he ran.’
‘What’s on the paper?’ said Robin, pulling out of Martin’s arms, but it was clear he didn’t want to show her. ‘Martin, give it to me.’
He held it out reluctantly. The paper had a picture of a gorilla’s face on it.
Martin knew of the significance of gorillas in Robin’s past.
‘How does he know?’ he asked.
‘It’s online,’ said Robin. ‘Look, I’m really pleased to see you, but why are you here?’
‘Carmen’s chucked me out.’
‘Oh, Mart, I’m sorry,’ said Robin.
Under ordinary circumstances, her dominant emotions on finding Martin on her doorstep would have been annoyance and amazement. It was typical of him to turn up unannounced, or rather, nearly two weeks after he’d asked whether he could visit, and without having been told it was convenient. However, she was so grateful he’d been here at this crucial moment, and so delighted to have a guest overnight, she hugged him tightly again.
‘It’s lovely to see you. Come in and you can tell me everything.’
‘You’ve got a new Land Rover,’ said Martin, as they walked back towards her building. ‘What happened to the old one?’
‘It failed its MOT.’
‘You must be making good money these days,’ said Martin, glancing back at the car, his tone between envy and admiration.
‘It’s the business’s,’ said Robin, ‘not mine.’
She loved her brother, but he’d never been shy about asking people in the family for money. Until now, he’d never troubled Robin in this respect, because he’d known she didn’t have any to spare.
