SPOILERS!!!
When Cormoran and Robin get to Cambridge and get to Vikas's lodgings, they find him dead. Someone has slit his throat. So the two detectives are questioned, and the police from London tell him that Charlie Peach has been arrested as well as Wally Cardew. Edie's boyfriend, who was arrested for her murder because he had her mobile, has been let go because he admitted to having added a tracker on Edie's mobile, but he didn't kill her. He went after the mobile, thinking that he would be following Edie, and a guy saw him and dropped the mobile. Then when Edie was found dead, he panicked.
Cormoran goes to talk to Yasmin/Hartella at home and puts the fear of God in her when he tells her that he may be accused of colluding with far-right activists. Yasmin keeps crying and crying, and Cormoran advises her to call the police and tell them everything. Then Yasmin says that Amonie blackmailed her, and what she had to do is impersonate him online when he asked her to. Cormoran realises that they are back on square one as the suspects that they discarded are once again in the basket.
In the midst of this case Cormoran also tries to get something on Yago, and his detectives found out that he hits his daughters and Midge even recorded him, mistreating them. So Cormoran goes to see the man, and he finds Charlotte there as well. Cormoran shows him the video and he says that his ex-wife is going to demand full custody. Yago does not say anything and seems defeated, and when Cormoran leaves, Charlotte follows him. She wants a drink with him, hinting that she knows he still wants her, but Cormoran directly tells him to leave him alone.
That rebuff does not sit well with her, and the consequences come when Cormoran finds Madeleine waiting for him. She is vocal in her insults, hurt because she feels that Cormoran has used him, and she even kicks him. Apparently, Charlotte talked to her, telling lies about Cormoran. The next day Madeleine tries to apologise but Cormoran does not even read her text.
As Cormoran is struggling with his leg, he goes to the hospital where he has some tests and is told that he needs to have plenty of rest. While he is in hospital, Robin is trying to find out who Paperwhite is, and she contacts Rachel/Fiendy1, who admits to having Paperwhite's photo, and when Robin checks the picture online, she finds a match. Paperwhite is an art student from Glasgow, and she contacts the woman, who agrees to facetime her and Cormoran. It turns out that Nicole has never heard of the Ink Black Heart, and it seems someone used some photographs she sent a former boyfriend and impersonated her.
Cormoran is to see Grant, Edie's uncle, and Robin agrees to drive him. Then when she gets to the office, which is back in use, Robin gets a call from Zoe, who has identified her as Jessica, the art student that she met. Zoe tells her that she is afraid, and Robin says that she will go to her. Cormoran won't let her go alone, and even though they have an argument, she allows him to come with her, but she goes to the flat alone. Zoe is in the forum, and she says that she is afraid because Amonie is saying that he is going to kill Robin and Cormoran. Zoe is in two conversations, one with Amonie and one with Paperwhite, and when Paperwhite asks him who Amonie is, she is terrified. Robin asks her to let her answer, and then she realises that when Amonie types, Paperwhite doesn't, and viceversa, and when Robin types what she has noticed, using Zoe's username, she is banned. That means that Amonie and Paperwhite were the same person.
When Zoe is banned, she gets even more afraid, and she tells Robin that she thinks that Amonie is Nils. She also tells her that Tim is her boyfriend, and they started when she was thirteen. She says that it was not his fault, but she was the one who started it. Dowstairs Cormoran sees Tim appear and he confronts him, threatening to go to the police if he approaches Zoe or any of the girls who he has contacted online. Tim is leaving as Zoe comes down with Robin, and she panics and calls his name, but he doesn't even turn around. Cormoran and Robin take the girl to the hotel where Robin is staying, so that she feels safe.
Then they drive to Grant's, and Cormoran keeps studying the threats on Twitter, and there are four accounts, and he thinks that they belong to the same person, Anomie. Now he needs to confirm something. Grant is waiting for them, and Cormoran wants to ask him some questions. He is quite direct and asks him about the phone calls he has got about the letters that were placed in Edie's Campbell. From something that Grant said, Cormoran is convinced that only one letter was placed, and Grant finally confesses that he read Josh's letter that was horrible, so he wouldn't want that poisonous letter in his niece's coffin. Cormoran demands to see the letter which allegedly Katya wrote at Josh's dictation. Cormoran notices that it isn't Katya's writing and compares it with the name on the envelope.
Cormoran and Robin leave the house. Katya doesn't answer the phone, so they decide to go there. Then Robin gets a call and a voice says 'help us'. She realises that it is Flavia, Katya's twelve-year-old daughter, and they drive there. They call the police, but Robin can't stay put, knowing that Flavia is in danger. They get to the house, and it is dark, and that is where the first encounter with Gus, who is Amonie, happens. Gus and Cormoran fight, and Robins climbs the stairs and finds Inigo dead, and in t he bathroom Flavia is helping her mother who is bleeding. Gus goes after Robin, and she throws a heavy sculputre out of the window, which alerts the neighbours. Gus attacks her but thankfully she manages to escape, and then two men (neighbours) appear. Cormoran has been wounded and is taken to hospital.
Cormoran recovers and Robin goes to see him, and they talk about the case, and how Gus was Amonie and the killer. Cormoran thinks that Gus, who is solitary and not good with girls, thought that every woman who was kind to him was into him, and that is why he turned nasty when he was refused. He was vicious towards Kea and Rachel, and that is what must have happened with Edie as well. And he created Paperwhite, using the photographs found in Nicole's ex-boyfriend's computer when he must have attended a party at his. He wanted to control Morehouse.
During this visit to Cormoran in hospital, Robin learns that he and Madeline broke up, and she has a lovely surprise when Cormoran shows her that now her name is also on the glass door of the office. Then he tells Cormoran that she has a date with DCI Ryan Murphy, and that feels like a blow for Cormoran.
A great book. Even though it is quite lenghty, I didn't find it heavy-going at all.
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