Page 22 of Troubled Blood

“You don’t think some of them believe in what they’re doing? Think they really are getting messages from the beyond?”

“I think there are a lot of nutters in the world, and the less we reward them for their nuttery, the better for all of us.”

The mobile rang in Strike’s pocket. He pulled it out.

“Cormoran Strike.”

“Yes, hello—it’s Anna Phipps. I’ve got Kim here, too.”

Strike turned the mobile to speakerphone.

“Hope you can hear us all right,” he said, over the rumble and rattle of the Land Rover. “We’re still in the car.”

“Yes, it is noisy,” said Anna.

“I’ll pull over,” said Robin, and she did so, turning smoothly onto the hard shoulder.

“Oh, that’s better,” said Anna, as Robin turned off the engine. “Well, Kim and I have talked it over, and we’ve decided: we would like to hire you.”

Robin felt a jolt of excitement.

“Great,” said Strike. “We’re very keen to help, if we can.”

“But,” said Kim, “we feel that, for psychological and—well, candidly, financial—reasons we’d like to set a term on the investigation, because if the police haven’t solved this case in nigh on forty years—I mean, you could be looking for the next forty and find nothing.”

“That’s true,” said Strike. “So—”

“We think a year,” said Anna, sounding nervous. “What do you—does that seem reasonable?”

“It’s what I would have suggested,” said Strike. “To be honest, I don’t think we’ve got much chance in anything under twelve months.”

“Is there anything more you need from me to get started?” Anna asked, sounding both nervous and excited.

“I’m sure something will occur to me,” said Strike, taking out his notebook to check a name, “but it would be good to speak to your father and Cynthia.”

The other end of the line became completely silent. Strike and Robin looked at each other.

“I don’t think there’s any chance of that,” said Anna. “I’m sorry, but if my father knew I was doing this, I doubt he’d ever forgive me.”

“And what about Cynthia?”

“The thing is,” came Kim’s voice, “Anna’s father’s been unwell recently. Cynthia is the more reasonable of the two on this subject, but she won’t want anything to upset Roy just now.”

“Well, no problem,” said Strike, raising his eyebrows at Robin. “Our first priority’s got to be getting hold of the police file. In the meantime, I’ll email you one of our standard contracts. Print it out, sign it and send it back, we’ll get going.”

“Thank you,” said Anna and, with a slight delay, Kim said, “OK, then.”

They hung up.

“Well, well,” said Strike. “Our first cold case. This is going to be interesting.”

“And we’ve got a year,” said Robin, pulling back out onto the motorway.

“They’ll extend that if we look as though we’re onto something,” said Strike.

“Good luck with that,” said Robin sardonically. “Kim’s prepared to give us a year so she can tell Anna they’ve tried everything. I’ll bet you a fiver right now we don’t get any extensions.”

“I’ll take that bet,” said Strike. “If there’s a hint of a lead, Anna’s going to want to see it through to the end.”

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