Lethal White, Chapters 57-65:

Dinner with Raff, the breakdown on the verge, and the diggers in the dell.

Chapter 57: While Strike is interviewing Billy, Robin is, with some trepidation, making plans for her post-Flobberworm existence, which, it seems, will involve living in some tiny rented room in a multi-person household. She is stubbornly refusing to seek help from or even tell anyone apart from Vanessa, who has proved herself a good sounding board and drinking buddy. While keeping the separation from Strike, she continues to work on the Chiswell case, and, when he calls her, is able to report that both Raff and Tegan had agreed to be interviewed. She is also alarmed when Strike suggests digging in the dell.

Chapter 58: Then it is on to dinner with Raff at Nam Long Le Shaker, where Robin's somewhat impulsive decision to tell Raff of her separation from Matthew has long-range consequences. She is also told a few key details:

• Under the terms of Chiswell's will, Knivara now owns the very valuable family necklace. Raff claims Chiswell realized this shortly before he killed himself (when groggy from the drugs, in fact) and sent Raff to Chiswell House to secure it.

  • She also learns Kinvara called Drummond to get the necklace's value the day before Chiswell died. This should have been a red flag signaling a lie. It makes no sense for Kinvara to try to sell the necklace while married to Jasper. Supposedly, she did not make plans to divorce him until they fought at the Paralympic reception, after she made the call, and, even if she was thinking of it, there is little chance she would get the necklace as part a divorce settlement. The only way she could reasonably expect to own the necklace is if she expected to be widowed sometime in the near future.

  • It is also not clear to me how Drummond knew Raff had gone to Chiswell House to try to save the necklace... especially since that whole story was a lie. It hardly seems like a topic that would come up at the funeral, especially since the family was trying to keep that a secret.

• Izzy, while "blind drunk" was "deflowered" at Freddie's 18th birthday by Jimmy Knight.

  • This incident is a lot more disturbing when you realize Izzy, as the youngest of the three siblings, was almost certainly under 16 at the time, and likely closer to 14, given that Fizzy is described as visually older, suggesting an age difference of at least 2-3 years.

• Also at the 18th, Freddie and Verity spiked Rhiannon Winn's drink and took sexual pictures of her, which were passed around to Freddie's friends. This was likely one of the contributing factors to her suicide a month later.

  • You have to start to wonder about adult culpability, if, after encouraging multiple champagne drinks at the treasure hunt, the kids had so little supervision that these type of things when on at the 18th birthday party. I mean, one minor being sexually assaulted is bad enough, but two? One of whom is the honoree's sister and the host's brother? It also fleshes out how truly evil Freddie Chiswell is, and how likely it was that his father's position bailed him out of more serious trouble. As Raff said, "if he hadn't been born a Chiswell, the bastard would have been in borstal."

    • I had to look that term up; borstals were apparently a type of juvenile detention center that existed in the UK until 1983.

    • For more of my thoughts on Freddie Chiswell, see here.

My only other comment on this page is, if I had to choose between being called Pringle or Peregrine, I think I'd choose Pringle.

Chapter 59: Less than two pages. Strike receives Robins update at the Tottenham, and starts his pairs musings again. It is clear that he is questioning whether it was Francesca in the bathroom with Raff that second time.

Chapter 60: Another short chapter. Strike can't reach Francesca or her family, and Geraint Winn, unsurprisingly, will not return his calls. Hutchins is trying to track down Aamir's sister. The rest of the chapter is Strike and Robin making plans for their second Oxfordshire trip, and she surprises him by asking if they could drive his car instead of the Land Rover. Robin also asks for two days off for "appointments" that are actually to view rooms for rent, but which Strike suspects mean pregnancy.

Chapter 61: The journey to Oxfordshire starts with a whole host of mistaken assumptions for our heroes. Robin assumes Strike is grouchy from having to make a long trip to the Wembley tube station; he's actually upset about Mitch Patterson again casing Denmark Street. Strike continues to wonder if Robin is pregnant, noticing her puffy face, tired appearance and the snacks in the car. Then comes the call from Geraint Winn, calling her a "nasty little bitch" who used her "feminine wiles" to trap him. Robin tells him off in return, calling him a "pervy, thieving creep" before Strike cuts the call, then she succumbs to a panic attack. Strike forces her to pull over, and she has a full breakdown on the verge.

Then comes what is still my favorite Robin/Strike scene of the series. I honestly love it more than even Whiskey Night of TB or Rescue from Chapman Farm in TRG. I think the reason is that Strike so perfectly foiled Robin's expectations by being understanding of her outburst, her panic attack and her breaking down crying over the demise of her marriage. She though he would cancel the trip and pull her off the street. Instead, he puts his arm around her, offers her a tissue and even shares his own PTSD struggles. Strike, upon learning within a few seconds both that Robin is not pregnant and has left the Flobberworm, finds his "mood had lightened so abruptly that it was akin too having moved from sober to three pints down." By calling her the best driver he knows, he restores her confidence, and they are able to get back on the road.

Chapter 62: The talk at the Crafty Filly is the perfect follow-up to the breakdown on the verge. Back in CoE, when Robin first called off the marriage, Strike suspected the breach may not be permanent and avoided criticizing Matthew. This time, he buys a bottle of overpriced champagne to toast to his departure... and to lighten Robin's mood. It works. The drink "fizzed on her tongue and seemed to give her courage even before it hit her brain."

Whether because of the mouthful of champagne or for some other reason, she had experienced a startling lift in mood that made her loose-tongued.

They are able to have a wonderful talk about her mental health, his split with Lorelei, and where they see the agency going. You can find some of my favorite lines from the series here.

"I thought it was [Matthew] trying to reach me on the phne this morning; that's why I didn't want to take the call. When Winn started calling me those names, it-- well, it felt as though I had taken the call. I don't need Winn to tell me I'm basically a pair of talking tits. a stupid, deluded girl who doesn't realize that's my only useful attribute."

Matthew's being telling you that, has he? thought Strike, imagining a few corrective measure frim which he thought Matthew might benefit.

and

"Charlotte had nothing to do with me and Lorelei splitting. She's married now."

"So were Matthew and I. Didn't stop Sarah Shadlock."

"I'm not Sarah Shadlock."

"Obviously not. If you were that bloody annoying I wouldn't be working for you."

"Maybe you could put that on the next employee satisfaction review. 'Not as bloody annoying as the woman who shagged my husband.' I'll have it framed."

No wonder she saves the cork. Unfortunately, just as Strike is about to tell her his theory about the Chiswell case, Tegan arrives for her interview.

Chapter 63: Fortunately, Tegan's tongue is as loose as Robin's. She is able to fill in some details about goings-on at chez Chiswell, including what happened on the day Chiswell died and when Kinvara hit him with the hammer. She also reports that Kinvara was depressed around the time of Lady's death and then insanely happy a few weeks later. She dispatches the red herring that is Suki Lewis by showing them a Facebook page of her alive and well and living with her dad in Aberdeen. And, most importantly, she supplies the gallows-shaped piece of the puzzle by telling them of Jack O'Kent's and the minister's partnership. Finally, they know the bit of information that Strike should have insisted on being told before accepting the orginal case.

Chapter 64: Strike and Robin have a brief chat before the race, and deduce that "put the horse on them" meant Billy Knight being forced to carve the white horse on the designer gallows. Jimmy's demand was not blackmail but a request his father's share of the profits. Again, there is a bit of a timeline uncertainty. We don't know how long Jack O'Kent has been dead, but, if gallows were still legal when he made them, it must have been less than six years, and Billy must have still been home with him to carve the horse. From the condition of Steda Cottage, it seems he's been gone a few years, at least. But, if Chiswell was paid for them "last year" (sometime in 2011?) it seems more and more likely the gallows were sold recently, after the ban was in place. When Strike goes off to call Izzy, Robin gets to have a "moment" much like Strike had in the White Horse pub. If you recall, then Strike mused:

A pint, a hot day in August, a well-paid job, food on the way and Robin, sitting across from him, their friendship restored, if not entirely to what it had been before her honeymoon, then to perhaps as close as possible, now that she was married. Right now, in this sunny beer garden, and despite the pain in his leg, his tiredness and the unresolved mess that was his relationship with Lorelei, life felt simple and hopeful.

Now it's Robin's turn. When Strike goes off the phone Izzy, Robin tried to guess what Strike's new theory is.

After a few minutes she gave up and simply sat there, enjoying the warm breeze that lifted her hair from her shoulders. In spite of her tiredness, the shattered state of her marriage, and her very real apprehension about going digging in the dell later that night, it was pleasant to sit here, breathing in the smells of the racecourse, of soft air redolent of turf, leather and horse, catching trails of perfume from the women now moving away from the bar into the stands, and the smoky whiff of venison burgers cooking in a van nearby. For the first time in a week, Robin realized she was actually hungry.

Are you upset he isn't
a panther, either?

Of course Strike takes a bit longer than expected, so much so that Robin gives some "guilty headspace" to the possibility that there is something other than a detective-client relationship there. Happily, Strike turns up with exactly what Robin needs (a venison burger!) and suggests they go watch Brown Panther run in the race. Strike has, atypically, placed a bet, because he is "feeling lucky today." I am sure the fact that Robin is now available has nothing to do with that.

Chapter 65: Strike's luck pays off, and he and Robin have both cash and time to blow at the racetrack, while waiting for nightfall so they can go back to the dell and dig. The addition of Barclay makes the scene for me. He shows up a bit late, bearing news of a phone call from a distraught Flick, who has been questioned by the police after Chiswell's note was found in her bathroom. He also informs them that Jimmy Knight is seeking Bobbi Cunliffe's number.

One question that struck me this time through is, where did Strike get his tools? He certainly had no need for gardening equipment when living with Charlotte or at his Denmark Street flat. It does not seem likely that there was a kit bag full of digging tools in the boxes he brought from Charlotte's. He must have borrowed them from a friend; perhaps Nick and Ilsa? Shanker might occasionally need to bury something in his profession, but I doubt Strike would want to risk getting his fingerprints or DNA on any shovel belonging to him.

Every time I read this I am more and more impressed by how difficult a job this was physically; between the size of the dell, all the thorns and nettles, and doing this excavation in the dark with apparently only a single flashlight. The intensity if the emotions when the pink blanket is uncovered is conveyed beautifully:

By the deflected torchlight she could see his expression, forbidding, furious, as though the pink blanket had grieviously wronged him, as though he had suffered a personal affront.

The revelation of the horse skull is horrific in its own way, but not without an element of humor. They've already encountered so many white horses in this case that Strike has grumbled about "hallucinating the bloody things." And now....

With a dreadful crunching noise, the earth gave up something large and white. Robin gave a small yelp, stepped backwards and fell, half-sitting, into the wall of the dell....Strike shifted the torch into his free hand to shine it on the thing he had just dragged out of the earth. Stunned, Robin and Barclay saw the discolored and partially shattered skull of a horse.

It almost reads to me like a spoof of the "Alas, poor Yorick!" scene in Hamlet.

On Monday, the exciting conclusion of Lethal White.

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