Short Story A Wall Of Fire By John Bristow

Private investigator, is hired by John Bristow, the adopted brother of famous supermodel Lula Landry who fell from her balcony three months previously. Bristow wants Strike to investigate his sister's supposed suicide. Bristow's other sibling, a brother named Charlie, had been a schoolmate of Strike before his death, when he fell into a quarry while riding on his bicycle. Strike also meets Robin, who has been sent to be his temporary secretary, despite the fact he can barely afford her. Robin turns out to be much more competent than he previously thought and ends up being very helpful with the case. Strike is initially sceptical, having read extensive media coverage following the case, and is unwilling to reopen such a thoroughly investigated case. As the interviewing process proceeds, he …show more content…
Strike interviews several people, such as Lula and John's maternal uncle Tony Landry, Lula's homeless friend Rochelle, and her boyfriend, Evan Duffield. He is especially intrigued by the statement of Tansy Bestigui, Lula's downstairs neighbour, who said she heard Lula fighting with a man and then falling from her balcony. It is clear she could not have heard it from two floors below, so her statement was initially dismissed. However, in reality, her husband had found her with cocaine and then pushed her out onto the balcony and locked her there, which was how she heard it. She did not reveal her true location when she heard the fighting, because it was ten below zero outside when her husband had pushed her onto the balcony, and her husband had forced her to remain silent, fearful of being arrested for abusing Tansy. Later, Rochelle Onifade is found dead, killed hours after leaving a meeting with Strike. He decides that she must have been in contact with Lula's murderer, though he doubts that she knew the person to be the