“How come?”
“The gym manager let it slip tae Shifty he knew a big man at Shifty’s company. SB and the gym guy sometimes go in the playpen together, see. Like it’s a nurs—like it’s a nurser—”
Barclay suddenly broke into peals of laughter and Strike followed suit. Robin pressed the ice pack to her face and joined in. For a minute, all three of them roared with laughter at the mental image of the two men in nappies, sitting in their MDF playpen.
“—like it’s a nursery,” said Barclay in a falsetto, wiping tears out of his eyes. “Fuck me, it takes all sorts, eh? Anyway, the tit at the gym lets this slip, an’ Shifty, knowin’ old SB never went tae a gym in his life, an’ that he lives on the other side o’ London, probes a wee bit, and notices the other guy gettin’ uncomfortable. So Shifty follows SB. Watches him going in and oot Elinor’s place. Draws the obvious conclusion: she’s a hooker.
“Shifty then walks intae SB’s office, closes the door, gives him Elinor’s address, and says he kens what’s goin’ on in there. SB was shittin’ himself, but he’s no fool. He reckons Shifty thinks it’s just straight sex, but he’s worried Shifty might do more diggin’. See, SB found Elinor online, advertisin’ her services in some dark corner o’ the net. SB’s scared Shifty’ll go looking for whut she really does if he denies it’s sex, an’ if anyone finds oot whut really goes on in there, SB’s gonna be straight back up Tower Bridge.
“So, that bit’s no’ so funny,” said Barclay, more soberly. “The guy at the gym only came clean tae SB and Elinor a coupla months ago, about talking tae Shifty. He’s aboot ready tae kill himself, for what he’s done. Elinor’s taken her ad down, but the internet never forgets, so that’s no bloody use…
“The worst thing, Elinor says, is Shifty himself is a right cock. SB’s told her all aboot him. Apparently Shifty takes his coke habit tae work and he’s always feelin’ up his PA, but SB cannae do anything about it, for fear of retribution. So,” said Barclay, “what are we gonnae do, eh? Tell the board SB’s suit troosers dinnae fit him properly because he’s wearin’ a nappy underneath?”
Strike didn’t smile. The amount of whisky he’d consumed didn’t particularly help his mental processes. It was Robin who spoke first.
“Well, we can tell the board everything, and accept that’s going to ruin a few lives… or we can let them terminate our contract without telling them what’s going on, and accept that Shifty’s going to keep blackmailing SB… or…”
“Yeah,” said Strike heavily, “that’s the question, isn’t it? Where’s the third option, where Shifty gets his comeuppance and SB doesn’t end up in the Thames?”
“It sounds,” said Robin to Barclay, “as though Elinor would back SB up, if he claimed it was just an affair? Of course, SB’s wife mightn’t be happy.”
“Aye, Elinor’d back him up,” said Barclay. “It’s in her interests.”
“I’d like to nail Shifty,” said Strike. “That’d please the client no end, if we helped them get rid of Shifty without the company’s name getting splashed all over the papers… which it definitely will if it gets out their CEO likes having his arse powdered…
“If that PA’s being sexually harassed,” Strike said, “and watching him do coke at work, why isn’t she complaining?”
“Fear of not being believed?” Robin suggested. “Of losing her job?”
“Could you,” Strike said to Robin, “ring Morris for me? He’ll still have the girl’s contact details. And, Barclay,” Strike added, getting up from the sofa on the third attempt, and heading for the inner office, “come in here, we’re going to have to change next week’s rota. Robin can’t follow people looking like she just did three rounds with Tyson Fury.”
The other two went into Strike’s office. Robin stayed sitting at Pat’s desk for a moment, thinking not about what Barclay had just told them, but about the moments before he’d arrived, when she and Strike had been sitting in semi-darkness. The memory of Strike telling her she was his best friend made her heart feel immeasurably lightened, as though something she hadn’t realized was weighing on it had been removed forever.
After a moment’s pleasurable savoring of this feeling, she pulled out her mobile, and opened the texts Morris had sent her earlier. The first, which had the picture attached, said “lol.” The image was of a sign reading: “Viagra Shipment Stolen. Cops Looking For Gang of Hardened Criminals.” The second text said, “Not funny?”
“No,” Robin muttered. “Not funny.”
Getting to her feet, she pressed Morris’s number, and began to clear up the curry one-handed, while she held the phone to her ear.
“Evening,” said Morris, after a couple of rings. “Calling to tell me you’ve found a hardened criminal?”
“Are you driving?” asked Robin, ignoring the witticism.
“On foot. Just seen the old folks’ home locked up for the night. I’m actually right by the office, I’m on my way to relieve Hutchins. He’s outside the Ivy, keeping an eye on Miss Jones’s boyfriend.”
“Well, we need the details of Shifty’s PA,” said Robin.
“What? Why?”
“We’ve found out what he’s blackmailing SB about, but,” she hesitated, imagining the jokes she’d have to hear at SB’s expense, if she told Morris what Elinor Dean was doing for him, “it’s nothing illegal and he’s not hurting anyone. We want to talk to Shifty’s PA again, so we need her contact details.”
“No, I don’t think we should go back to her,” said Morris. “Bad idea.”
“Why?” Robin asked, as she dropped the foil tins into the pedal bin, suppressing her frown because it made her bruised face ache.
“Because… fuck’s sake,” said Morris, who usually avoided swearing to Robin. “You were the one who said we shouldn’t use her.”
Behind Robin, in the inner office, Barclay laughed at something Strike had said. For the third time that evening, Robin had a feeling of impending trouble.
“Saul,” she said, “you aren’t still seeing her, are you?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Robin picked up the plates from the desk and put them in the sink, waiting for his answer.
“No, of course I’m not,” he said, with an attempt at a laugh. “I just think this is a bad idea. You were the one who said, before, that she had too much to lose—”
“But we wouldn’t be asking her to entrap him or set him up this time—”
“I’ll need to think about this,” said Morris.
Robin put the knives and forks into the sink, too.
“Saul, this isn’t up for debate. We need her contact details.”
“I don’t know whether I kept them,” said Morris, and Robin knew he was lying. “Where’s Strike right now?”
“Denmark Street,” said Robin. Not wanting another sly joke about her and Strike being together after dark, she purposely didn’t say she was there, too.