Well, Midge and I’ve go’ news on Fingers,’ said Barclay.
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
‘Excellent,’ said Strike.
The agency is growing, and some of the subcontractors working for Robin and Strike are becoming crucial members of the team. Here’s a look at two of them, ex-Rifleman, Sam Barclay, and ex-policewoman, Michelle (Midge) Greenstreet.
Sam Barclay
…even as the door of the Tottenham opened to admit Sam Barclay, who was punctual to the minute, Strike was wondering whether he was about to make an almighty mistake.
Lethal White, Robert Galbraith
Recovering from the case which almost destroyed the agency and their partnership (Career of Evil), Robin and Strike need new subcontractors to deal with their increased case load. Struggling to find anyone reliable, Strike reaches out to Sam Barclay, a Glaswegian painter and decorator and ex-squaddie, with the beaky appearance of an affable owl.
Barclay and Strike crossed paths when Strike was still a Red Cap, a member of the Special Investigation Branch of the Royal Military Police, and Barclay was accused of dealing drugs after a kilo of Moroccan hash was found in his kit-bag. Suspecting there was more to the case than met the eye, Strike questioned Barclay about the implausible reorders of building supplies made by the two officers so keen to see Barclay court-martialled. Barclay was keeping track of their ongoing fraud and was taking excellent notes of what he saw. The officers were charged, and the case against Barclay quietly dropped. He is keen and, having found the return to civil society hard, signs up as a subcontractor.
He proves himself an excellent hire from the start. Now a family man with a wife and young child, Barclay vapes rather than smokes and ends up encouraging Strike to do the same. Robin likes him at once, and he infiltrates the wanna-be revolutionaries surrounding Jimmy Knight in a day (Lethal White). Then he willingly helps the partners discover the secrets of a burial outside a ruined cottage of the Chiswell Estate.
‘Evenin’, he said laconically. ‘Nice night for a grave robbin’.
Lethal White, Robert Galbraith
As well as a sense of humour, Barclay also has good instincts about his fellow workers. He notices Saul Morris doesn’t like taking orders from Robin (Troubled Blood), is suspicious of Littlejohn, and spots that Midge fancies their actress client, Tasha Mayo (The Running Grave). With Strike still in hospital, he takes the phone from Pat’s hand to tell their most unreliable subcontractor, Nutley, exactly what he can do with his offer to return to work now the men responsible for the bombing of the office are out of action (The Ink Black Heart).
‘I think the exact words were “get tae fuck, ye cowardly shitstain”.’
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
Strike laughed.
Barclay is not afraid to tell Robin or Strike what he thinks of the clients, or of the pair when he disagrees with them, showing flashes of temper when Strike pushes himself too far, or his romantic exploits causing trouble for the agency (The Running Grave). He’s also sensitive and smart enough to save a desperate surveillance target from suicide, and deal gently with a disturbed man when he and Robin need to search his flat. He also makes sure Robin gets the proper credit for her own investigative work (Troubled Blood).
‘Bloody well done,’ Strike told Barclay.
Troubled Blood, Robert Galbraith
‘It’s Robin’s win,’ said Barclay. ‘She made the pass. I jus’ tapped it in.’
‘Thanks, Sam,’ said Robin, pointedly.
He combines muscle, bringing down one attacker during an attempted abduction, with excellent investigative skills. It’s Barclay who secures the crucial evidence as the enquiries into the Universal Humanitarian Church come to a dramatic climax (The Running Grave).
‘Bloody hell, Barclay,’ said Strike, lighting himself another cigarette on top of the twenty he had already had that day, ‘that was good work.’
Lethal White, Robert Galbraith
Michelle (Midge) Greenstreet
‘Well – happy 2015.’
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
‘Same to you,’ said Midge, extending a hand, which he shook. As she looked out over the jubilant crowd, where balloons were being batted around and glitter was exploding from party poppers, Midge shouted into Strike’s ear, ‘Never seen in the new year in a toilet before. Hope it’s not an omen.’
It’s Vanessa Ekwensi, Robin’s policewoman friend, who recommends Michelle Greenstreet to the agency after they’ve dispensed with the creepy Saul Morris. Robin likes her at once. She’s a Mancunian ex-policewoman, known as Midge, a gym fanatic, lean with dark hair and grey eyes and a six-pack. Robin also appreciates Midge doesn’t hold herself superior to her, even though Robin is the only one of the team who isn’t ex-police or ex-military.
Robin knows that Midge is interested in the detective side of the agency’s work, and has not been enjoying response policing, but learns that she wanted to relocate to London from Manchester after a bad break-up. During farewell drinks for subcontractor Andy Hutchins, Midge tells Robin her ex, Beth, was an ‘undiscovered genius’ who never held a job for more than a couple of months. Midge, who’d been paying their bills, broke up with her when she found her dating profile on Zoosk. Pat Chauncey’s story of how she took revenge on an unfaithful ex has all three women shouting with laughter. Midge’s ex ends up playing a key part in their next investigation, into the murder of the creator of the cartoon, The Ink Black Heart.
‘You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me,’ said Midge, looking appalled. ‘You an’ all?’
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
Robin muted the cartoon. ‘What d’you mean, me and all?’
‘My ex was fookin’ obsessed with that bloody cartoon. It’s shit.’
When Robin needs access to Drek’s Game, the online fan world where the detective’s suspect Edie Ledwell’s killer lurks, Midge trades an antique mirror for Beth’s old login details. Robin learns in the process the women used to share a cat called Buffy and, as she sets herself up to take over the accounts, that Beth can’t cook anything except pasta with a tin of tuna dumped on top, collects Christmas tree ornaments and pissed off girlfriends (The Ink Black Heart).
Like Barclay, Midge is unafraid of speaking up to her bosses, challenging Strike and telling him frankly none of them like subcontractor Clive Littlejohn (The Running Grave), and refusing to back down over necessary expenses when on surveillance.
‘There wasn’t a cheaper option?’
Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
‘Fooking hell, Strike, I was sitting at a caviar bar – what were I going to do, ask if they could do me a pork pie?’
Robin laughed.
Midge struggles with clients she thinks are snotty, and clashes with Strike when it becomes clear she is getting too close to one of their clients, Tasha Mayo, during a stalking case (The Running Grave). Irritated at Strike’s suggestion she’s being unprofessional, she lashes out, reminding him that he’s put the whole agency at risk through his fling with Bijou Watkins.
She’s a good investigator though, and brave, so Strike is glad when relations thaw. It’s Midge who searches the grounds of Chapman Farm for vital evidence and charges into the UHC temple in central London when she realises Robin is in danger. Also, like Barclay, Midge has plenty of heart. She intervenes when she sees Jago Ross mistreating his children but catches animal and child cruelty on tape first (The Ink Black Heart) and is genuinely concerned about Robin’s welfare when she’s undercover.
By the time the investigations into the UHC reach a climax, Midge has obviously got Pat on her side too.
‘And Midge has been fucked off at me because I thought she and Tasha Mayo might be getting overfamiliar.’
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
‘Strike!’
‘Don’t bother, Pat’s already told me off. She knew another lesbian once, so it’s very much her area of expertise.’
There might be an edge of hysteria to Robin’s laughter…
