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Back The Cuckoo's Calling Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. COPYRIGHT
  2. The Cuckoo’s Calling
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. Prologue
  6. Three Months Later
  7. Part One
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. Part Two
  16. 1
  17. 2
  18. 3
  19. 4
  20. 5
  21. 6
  22. 7
  23. 8
  24. 9
  25. 10
  26. 11
  27. Part Three
  28. 1
  29. 2
  30. 3
  31. 4
  32. 5
  33. 6
  34. 7
  35. 8
  36. 9
  37. 10
  38. Part Four
  39. 1
  40. 2
  41. 3
  42. 4
  43. 5
  44. 6
  45. 7
  46. 8
  47. 9
  48. 10
  49. 11
  50. 12
  51. 13
  52. 14
  53. Part Five
  54. 1
  55. 2
  56. Epilogue
  57. Ten Days Later

‘OK, fire away,’ she said, and then, without giving him time to speak, ‘I’ve been thinking about that afternoon non-stop ever since, actually. So, so sad.’

‘Did you know Lula well?’ asked Strike.

‘Yeah, pretty well. I’d done her make-up for a couple of shoots, made her up for the Rainforest Benefit. When I told her I can thread eyebrows…’

‘You can what?’

‘Thread eyebrows. It’s like plucking, but with threads?’

Strike could not imagine how this worked.

‘Right…’

‘… she asked me to do them for her at home. The paps were all over her, all the time, even if she was going to the salon. It was insane. So I helped her out.’

She had a habit of tossing back her head to flick her overlong fringe out of her eyes, and a slightly breathy manner. Now she threw her hair over to one side, raked it with her fingers and peered at him through her fringe.

‘I got there about three. She and Ciara were all excited about Deeby Macc arriving. Girlie gossip, you know. I’d never have guessed what was coming. Never.’

‘Lula was excited, was she?’

‘Oh God, yeah, what d’you think? How would you feel if someone had written songs about… Well,’ she said, with a breathy little laugh, ‘maybe it’s a girl thing. He’s so charismatic. Ciara and I were having a laugh about it while I did Lula’s eyebrows. Then Ciara asked me to do her nails. I ended up making them both up, as well, so I was there for, must’ve been three hours. Yeah, I left about six.’

‘So you’d describe Lula’s mood as excited, would you?’

‘Yeah. Well, you know, she was a bit distracted; she kept checking her phone; it was lying in her lap while I was doing her eyebrows. I knew what that meant: Evan was messing her around again.’

‘Did she say that?’

‘No, but I knew she was really pissed off at him. Why do you think she said that to Ciara about her brother? About leaving him everything?’

This seemed a stretch to Strike.

‘Did you hear her say that too?’

‘What? No, but I heard about it. I mean, afterwards. Ciara told us all. I think I was in the loo when she actually said it. Anyway, I totally believe it. Totally.’

‘Why’s that?’

She looked confused.