The Silkworm

“So what were Elizabeth Tassel’s and Jerry Waldegrave’s places like?”

Strike told her about Waldegrave’s wife thinking he had been watching her house.

“Very shirty about it.”

“Odd,” said Robin. “If I saw somebody staring at our place I wouldn’t leap to the conclusion that they were—you know—watching it.”

“She’s a drinker like her husband,” said Strike. “I could smell it on her. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Tassel’s place is as good a murderer’s hideout as I’ve ever seen.”

“What d’you mean?” asked Robin, half amused, half apprehensive.

“Very private, barely overlooked.”

“Well, I still don’t think—”

“—it’s a woman. You said.”

Strike drank his beer in silence for a minute or two, considering a course of action that he knew would irritate Anstis more than any other. He had no right to interrogate suspects. He had been told to keep out of the way of the police.

Picking up his mobile, he contemplated it for a moment, then called Roper Chard and asked to speak to Jerry Waldegrave.

“Anstis told you not to get under their feet!” Robin said, alarmed.

“Yeah,” said Strike, the line silent in his ear, “advice he’s just repeated, but I haven’t told you half what’s been going on. Tell you in—”

“Hello?” said Jerry Waldegrave on the end of the line.

“Mr. Waldegrave,” said Strike and introduced himself, though he had already given his name to Waldegrave’s assistant. “We met briefly yesterday morning, at Mrs. Quine’s.”

“Yes, of course,” said Waldegrave. He sounded politely puzzled.

“As I think Mrs. Quine told you, she’s hired me because she’s worried that the police suspect her.”

“I’m sure that can’t be true,” said Waldegrave at once.

“That they suspect her, or that she killed her husband?”

“Well—both,” said Waldegrave.

“Wives usually come in for close scrutiny when a husband dies,” said Strike.

“I’m sure they do, but I can’t…well, I can’t believe any of it, actually,” said Waldegrave. “The whole thing’s incredible and horrible.”

“Yeah,” said Strike. “I was wondering whether we could meet so I could ask you a few questions? I’m happy,” said the detective, with a glance at Robin, “to come to your house—after work—whatever suits.”

Waldegrave did not answer immediately.

“Naturally I’ll do anything to help Leonora, but what do you imagine I can tell you?”

“I’m interested in Bombyx Mori,” said Strike. “Mr. Quine put a lot of unflattering portraits in the book.”

“Yeah,” said Waldegrave. “He did.”

Strike wondered whether Waldegrave had been interviewed by the police yet; whether he had already been asked to explain the contents of bloody sacks, the symbolism of a drowned dwarf.

“All right,” said Waldegrave. “I don’t mind meeting you. My diary’s quite full this week. Could you make…let’s see…lunch on Monday?”

“Great,” said Strike, reflecting sourly that this would mean him footing the bill, and that he would have preferred to see inside Waldegrave’s house. “Where?”

“I’d rather stick close to the office; I’ve got a full afternoon. Would you mind Simpson’s-in-the-Strand?”

Strike thought it an odd choice but agreed, his eyes on Robin’s. “One o’clock? I’ll get my secretary to book it. See you then.”

“He’s going to meet you?” said Robin as soon as Strike had hung up.

“Yeah,” said Strike. “Fishy.”

She shook her head, half laughing.

“He didn’t seem particularly keen, from all I could hear. And don’t you think the fact that he’s agreed to meet at all looks like he’s got a clear conscience?”

“No,” said Strike. “I’ve told you this before; plenty of people hang around the likes of me to gauge how the investigation’s going. They can’t leave well enough alone, they feel compelled to keep explaining themselves.

“Need a pee…hang on…got more to tell you…”

Robin sipped her tomato juice while Strike hobbled away using the new stick.

Another flurry of snow passed the window, swiftly dispersing. Robin looked up at the black-and-white photographs opposite and recognized, with a slight shock, Jonny Rokeby, Strike’s father. Other than the fact that both were over six feet tall, they did not resemble each other in the slightest; it had taken a DNA test to prove paternity. Strike was listed as one of the rock star’s progeny on Rokeby’s Wikipedia entry. They had met, so Strike had told Robin, twice. After staring for a while at Rokeby’s very tight and revealing leather trousers, Robin forced herself to gaze out of the window again, afraid of Strike catching her staring at his father’s groin.

Their food arrived as Strike returned to the table.

“The police are searching the whole of Leonora’s house now,” Strike announced, picking up his knife and fork.

“Why?” asked Robin, fork suspended in midair.

“Why d’you think? Looking for bloody clothing. Checking the garden for freshly dug holes full of her husband’s innards. I’ve put her on to a lawyer. They haven’t got enough to arrest her yet, but they’re determined to find something.”

“You genuinely don’t think she did it?”

“No, I don’t.”

Strike had cleared his plate before he spoke again.