‘Dr Hookham says she’s had a cancellation and could see me tomorrow afternoon.’
‘That should be fine,’ said his harassed and tearful mother.
‘I can drive myself if you’re going to the hosp—’
‘You can’t drive,’ said Katya, her voice now shrill, ‘not when you can’t see out of one eye! You’ll take public transport!’
Scowling, Gus ducked out again.
‘I’m so terribly sorry,’ Katya said, her voice squeaky again. ‘As you can see – lots going on.’
‘You’ve been extremely helpful,’ said Strike, slipping his notebook into his pocket and getting to his feet. Katya and Robin stood up too, Katya breathing rapidly and unable to meet anyone’s gaze.
They walked downstairs in silence.
‘Thanks so much for seeing us,’ said Robin, shaking Katya’s hand.
‘No trouble at all,’ said Katya in a constricted voice.
The cello started up again in Gus’s bedroom. He was now playing a fast, staccato piece that seemed to give expression to the jangled moods of the house’s various occupants.
34
Death sets a thing significant
The eye had hurried by…
‘God save us all,’ Strike said quietly, as they approached the gate, ‘from well-intentioned helpers who don’t want paying.’
Before Robin could answer, Flavia popped up from behind the hedge. She was hopping on the spot, tugging on a trainer, which she seemed to have been adjusting to her satisfaction. In spite of her mother’s instructions, she was still in her Christmas pudding onesie.
‘Did you come in that?’ she asked them, pushing her glasses back up her nose and pointing at the distant Land Rover, which stood out in its decrepitude among the generally expensive family saloons that surrounded it.
‘Yes,’ said Robin.
‘I thought so,’ said Flavia, falling into step beside them as they set off down the street, ‘because I never noticed it here before.’
‘Good observational powers,’ said Strike, who was lighting up a cigarette.
Flavia glanced up at Robin.
‘Are you a detective, too?’
‘Yes,’ said Robin, smiling at her.
‘I’d like to be a detective,’ said Flavia with a small skip. ‘I think I could get good at it, if I was trained… Mummy really doesn’t like Kea Niven,’ she added. ‘She’s always going on about her.’
When neither Strike nor Robin said anything, she said:
‘Daddy’s got ME. That’s why he’s in a wheelchair.’
‘Yes, your mum told us,’ said Robin.
‘He thinks The Ink Black Heart’s stupid,’ said Flavia.
‘Have you ever seen it?’ asked Robin, diplomatically ignoring Inigo’s opinion.
‘Yes. I quite like it,’ said Flavia judiciously. ‘The Worm’s the funniest. I’m only walking with you,’ she added, as though she feared they would think her intrusive, ‘because my Auntie Caroline lives just on the other side of your car. She isn’t my real auntie, she just looks after me sometimes… Her dog’s had puppies, they’re really, really sweet. If you sit down with them they crawl all over you and lick you. Have either of you got a dog?’
‘Well, he isn’t mine, but I live with a dachshund called Wolfgang,’ said Robin.
‘Do you? I’d love a dog,’ said Flavia longingly. ‘I really, really want one of Auntie Caroline’s puppies, but Daddy says we can’t because dogs are unhygienic, it would make too much work for Mummy and Gus is frightened of dogs because one bit him when he was four. I said I’d look after the dog, so Mummy wouldn’t have to, and Gus could be hypnotised. I saw a programme about people being hypnotised and there was a woman who was scared of spiders and by the end she could hold a tarantula… But Daddy still said no,’ Flavia concluded mournfully.
After a few steps of silence she said:
‘Are you going to go to North Grove to ask them questions too?’
‘Maybe,’ said Robin.
‘I’ve been there a few times with Mummy. The people there are weird. There’s a man who walks around without a shirt on. All the time. And there’s a boy who lives there called Bran or something who told me he broke another boy’s arm at school.’
‘Accidentally?’ asked Robin.
‘He said it was, but he was laughing about it,’ said Flavia pensively. ‘I don’t like him much. He showed me stuff he does to play tricks on people.’
‘What kind of stuff?’ asked Strike.
‘Well, like… he’s got an app that makes background noises when you’re on the phone so people think you’re on a train or something, and he told me he hid once and called his dad using the noise that sounded as if you were in an airport, and told him he was at Heathrow and was going to get on a plane because his stepmum had told him off and his dad believed it,’ said Flavia solemnly, ‘and drove off to Heathrow and had them putting appeals out for Bran over the loudspeaker and all the time he was at North Grove, hiding under his bed.’
‘I expect his dad was pretty angry when he found out,’ said Robin.
‘I don’t know if he was or not,’ said Flavia. ‘I think he was just glad Bran was all right. But if I did that Daddy would kill me… Have you met Tim? He’s bald.’
‘Not yet,’ said Robin.
‘He’s nice,’ said Flavia. ‘One time when I was at North Grove and he was waiting to do The Worm’s voice, he showed me how to draw animals by starting with shapes. It was quite clever. Are you going to come back to our house again?’
‘I don’t think we’ll need to,’ said Strike. ‘Your mum was a big help.’
‘Oh,’ said Flavia, who seemed disappointed.
They’d reached the car.
‘I was at Edie’s funeral,’ she said, stopping as they did. ‘Have you seen her boyfriend yet? He’s called Phillip. He’s sometimes at North Grove.’
‘Yes, we’re meeting him in’ – Strike checked his watch – ‘just over an hour.’
Flavia seemed to teeter on the verge of saying something else, then change her mind.
‘Maybe you’ll have to come back again,’ she said to Robin.
‘Maybe,’ said Robin, smiling.
‘OK, well, bye,’ said Flavia and she walked off down the street.
Strike and Robin got into the Land Rover. As Robin did up her seatbelt, she watched Flavia through the windscreen. The girl pressed the bell on the neighbour’s house and was admitted, but not before looking back and waving.
‘Can’t really see what makes her a problem child, can you?’ she asked Strike.
‘No,’ he said, slamming the car door. ‘On short exposure, I’d have to say she comes at the least fucked-up end of the Upcott spectrum.’
Robin started the car and drove off down Lisburne Road while Strike consulted his phone.
‘How would you feel,’ he said, ‘about going to have a look at Highgate Number One Pond before we meet Phillip Ormond? It’s only a four-minute drive from there to The Flask.’
‘OK,’ said Robin.
Strike exhaled, then said,
‘Well, there was a hell of a lot of food for thought at the Upcotts’, wasn’t there?’