The Secrets Between Strike and Robin
The idea of suggesting that Strike stop lying to the women in his life occurred only to be dismissed, on the basis that the resolutions to stop smoking, lose weight and exercise were enough personal improvement to be getting on with.
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
By the time the agency gets involved in identifying the murder victim found in the vaults of Ramsay Silver (The Hallmarked Man), Robin Ellacott and Cormoran Strike have developed a profound friendship, and a business relationship marked by deep mutual respect. However, the detectives struggle to be open with each other about personal issues and often it’s only extreme circumstances which force them into confessions about their personal lives.
Robin worries about being perceived as not up to the job, hardly surprising given the attitude of her family and her fiancé when she began working with Strike, Matthew Cunliffe. As a result, she is reluctant to share personal difficulties with Strike. For his part, Strike has always used work as a retreat from personal pressures and often escaped into complex investigations during his tumultuous relationship with the beautiful, damaged, Charlotte Campbell, so says little about his romantic life at the office. Even after everything the detectives have been through together, the habits of secrecy remain hard to break.
‘I’ve signed a confidentiality agreement,’ she snapped over her shoulder. ‘I can’t tell you about the case.’
The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robert Galbraith
‘The case.’
He gave another short, scoffing laugh.
Discretion is of course a key requirement of the work that Strike and Robin do from the start, something which irritates Robin’s fiancé at the time, Matthew Cunliffe. The lesson that Matthew teaches Robin in the end though, with his jealousy and resentment of Strike, is to be careful about what she says about Strike to him. Even when her marriage to Matthew is over, and she is in a serious relationship with Ryan Murphy, the Met officer she met during the investigation into the death of artist Edie Ledwell (The Ink Black Heart), Robin remains cautious. She makes sure she doesn’t talk too much about Strike when with her boyfriend, she avoids mentioning his war record and doesn’t share any anecdotes that cast Strike in too amusing or attractive a light.
Strike’s relationships usually founder on his inability to offer any kind of emotional commitment to the women he dates after his break with Charlotte Campbell. Though he told her a great deal about Charlotte during their first case together (The Cuckoo’s Calling) it was only because he was dangerously drunk. After that he leaves Robin to guess who he is seeing, and how serious any relationship is, preferring to keep his work and personal life separate, but his cageyness often causes unnecessary hurt and confusion. Robin responds by being less than open about her own relationship struggles. Strike also occasionally lies to his partners. Though he is always faithful, he might claim he needs to work when he only wants to be alone, and once, when at Robin’s place, claims to be at a hotel.
‘Who was the man you took with you?’
Career of Evil, Robert Galbraith
‘That’s none of your business,’ she whispered after a short hesitation.
Robin’s decision to go behind Strike’s back to protect a child shortly before her wedding to Matthew almost destroys their personal and professional relationship (Career of Evil). The incident comes in the wake of Robin being attacked by a serial killer, and the repercussions of both events echo through their investigations into the Chiswell family a year later (Lethal White). Robin’s marriage to Matthew is over almost on the day it begins when it comes to light her new husband deleted messages from Strike, asking her back to work, and Robin suffers panic attacks after facing the Shacklewell Ripper which she desperately tries to hide from both men. She also doesn’t tell Strike why she is trying to make her marriage work, leaving him to draw his own conclusions.
An angry explosion at a client on the motorway however leads to Robin confessing to Strike about panic attacks and the end of her marriage. Sitting on the motorway verge, Strike tells her he’s no stranger to panic attacks himself and Robin finds her career rests on a firmer foundation than her marriage. His delight that her marriage to Matthew is over, Strike manages to keep to himself though.
‘You could have told me he was hassling you, and let off steam that way, instead of punching a witness.’
Troubled Blood, Robert Galbraith
Throughout his and Robin’s search for missing doctor, Margot Bamborough, (Troubled Blood), Strike is being pursued by his father, rock star Johnny Rokeby. Rokeby is making persistent efforts to establish a relationship with his estranged son; Strike though is still deeply wounded and resentful of the way Rokeby treated him when he was a child. A manipulative witness persuades Strike and Robin to meet him near the place Johnny Rokeby is holding a party with his band The Deadbeats, and Strike’s temper eventually gets the better of him. Unfortunately, it is Robin who ends up with two black eyes. Later, sharing whisky and a take-away, Strike shares the story of his past meetings with his father, telling Robin things he’d only ever shared with Charlotte before. He also tells Robin, long after the event, about saving Charlotte’s life while in Cornwall for the scattering of his aunt Joan’s ashes.
Whether or not Ilsa was right about his reasons for hiding the relationship with Madeline, it sprang from a habit of self-protective compartmentalisation Robin doubted Strike was likely ever to give up.
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
Charlotte, in the midst of a nasty divorce from her vulpine partner, Jago Ross, causes more trouble while Robin and Strike are trying to identify the online troll, Anomie, (The Ink Black Heart). As well as telling Strike he might be named in her divorce if the agency can’t find compromising material on Jago, she casually mentions to Robin that Strike has been seeing an acquaintance of hers, Madeline Courson-Miles, for weeks. The revelation wounds Robin, not least because of her own secret battle with her feelings for Strike.
Strike struggles to cover as much work as possible for the agency, but he has another secret which will end up causing trouble for them all – the early signs of choke syndrome apparent on the stump of his amputated leg. Ignoring and trying to conceal his pain, will end up costing them all dearly as the investigation reaches its climax.
‘He’s slept with bloody Bijou Watkins! Well – I say “slept” – apparently it was standing up, against her bedroom wall.’
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
Robin realised she was gaping, and closed her mouth.
‘He – hasn’t mentioned it to me.’
‘No, I’ll bet he bloody hasn’t,’ said Ilsa angrily.
While Robin is enjoying her new relationship with Ryan Murphy, Strike hides his belated recognition of his own feelings for her. The thought of Robin cooking Ryan dinner means that when the indiscreet lawyer Bijou Watkins calls and asks him out, Strike accepts, a decision which causes the agency a lot of trouble when news of the affair leaks into Private Eye. Subcontractors Midge and Dev Shah both resent the extra pressure while Robin is undercover, working to expose the Universal Humanitarian Church (The Running Grave) and the affair will continue to cause problems as they launch into their attempts to identify the body found in the vault of Ramsay Silver (The Hallmarked Man).
‘Already?’ said Robin, disconcerted. ‘There’s more pizza. And pudding.’
The Hallmarked Man, Robert Galbraith
‘I’m meeting Bijou,’ said Strike, looking Robin straight in the eye. Though she’d have given anything not to, Robin felt herself turn red.
Strike keeps the details and ramifications of his affair with Bijou secret from Robin, but Robin knows perfectly well it’s over when, provoked by Ryan’s jealous outbursts, she tells Ryan that Strike is still seeing her. Strike covers for her when Ryan asks about it, later saying to Robin that she makes a better imaginary girlfriend than a real one. Bijou returns to haunt Strike though, and the details of her return he keeps to himself. He becomes the focus of malicious press stories, and Robin, who has been kept in the dark about his affairs finds herself unsettled, even as she fights his corner with her suspicious partner and family. Then Strike lies to her face, and she knows it.
As the investigation into the mysterious body in the silver vault continues, Robin finds herself holding many secrets. Her experience undercover at the UHC (The Running Grave), has left her on edge as the news fills with details of the cult’s many crimes; the reason she missed the first meeting with their new client Decima Mullins, was not flu as she asked Ryan to tell Strike. She eventually confesses the truth to Strike when they find themselves alone together on the island of Sark, but her confession makes Strike realise he is now in no position to make one of his own.
And Robin is holding other secrets too. A gift from Strike is hidden away from Murphy, and she is also keeping Murphy’s secrets from Strike. The vault may eventually yield up its mysteries, but much between Robin and Strike must remain buried for now…
