Career of Evil Chapter 1

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 2

## General Setting

* Career of Evil opens on Sunday April 3, 2011 around 11am to 12noon with the killer standing against a short wall across the street from Robin and Mathew's flat. The flat is located west of central London in West Eailing , a neighborhood in the greater London borough of Eailing .
* The weather at 11am was about 60F with a 10mph South wind. The high was about 64F. Likely broken clouds, no precipitation.
* View the Interactive Map of the area.

## West Ealing and Vicinity

West Ealing and Vicinity

Copyright Google Maps

## The Ellacott / Cunliffe Flat

The most likely location for Robin Ellacott and Mathew Cunliffe's flat is located at 35 Hastings road West Ealing, London. Most characteristics fit with the description. This is the only 3 story building on Hastings road that matches.

This house had a small front garden, black railings and a lawn in need of mowing. Two white front doors had been crammed together side by side, showing that the three-story building had been converted into upper and lower flats.

-- Galbraith, Robert (2015-10-20). Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike) (p. 2). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

Ellacott / Cunliffe Flat.

Copyright Google Street View

## Hastings Road

The killer is standing against a low wall watching the flat across the street

Hastings Road Looking West

Copyright Google Street View

While he watches the flat he is looking at his fingers and noticing a "parenthesis" of dried blood under his middle fingernail...

Robin and Matt leave the flat and head off down Hastings Road. They are on their way to catch a bus to a Rugby match. while the Killer follows behind...

Down the long residential street he tracked them, his hands in his pockets, ambling along as though heading for the shops, his sunglasses unremarkable on this brilliant morning.

-- Galbraith, Robert (2015-10-20). Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike) (p. 2). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

Hastings Road Looking East

Copyright Google Street View

## Route To Number 83 Bus Stop

At the end of the street the pair ahead turned left into a wide, busy thoroughfare lined with offices.

-- Galbraith, Robert (2015-10-20). Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike) (p. 2). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

The Broadway
Copyright Google Street View

Sheet glass windows blazed high above him in the sunlight as they passed the Ealing council building.

-- Galbraith, Robert (2015-10-20). Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike) (p. 2). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

The Ealing Council Building.

Copyright Google Street View

Through the bustling Arcadia shopping center he followed The Secretary and her boyfriend, gliding behind them like a ghost or a god. Could the Saturday shoppers even see him, or was he somehow transformed, doubly alive, gifted with invisibility?

-- Galbraith, Robert (2015-10-20). Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike) (p. 3). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

The Arcadia Shopping Center.

Copyright Google Street View

They had arrived at a bus stop. He hovered nearby, pretending to look through the door of a curry house, at fruit piled high in front of a grocer’s, at cardboard masks of Prince William and Kate Middleton hanging in a newsagent’s window, watching their reflections in the glass. They were going to get on the number 83. He did not have a lot of money in his pockets, but he was so enjoying watching her that he did not want it to end yet. As he climbed aboard behind them he heard the man mention Wembley Central. He bought a ticket and followed them upstairs.

-- Galbraith, Robert (2015-10-20). Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike) (p. 3). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

The curry house and the grocer's do not seem to exist, at least as fars as it can be determined from Google Street View. There are some kiosks across the street from the stop but they are loacated on the oposite side of a barrier. The narrative seems to be saying that the killier is within a few yards of Robin and Matt. It is also unclear why Robin and Matt had to walk this far for the Number 83 because there are stops all along The Broadway.

The Number 83 Bus Stop
Copyright Google Street View

While riding the bus and watching Robin and Matt, the bus stops and some men get on with red and black Rugby shirts.
This seems like a nod to a life altering event in the killers past but it's not fully explored or clearly defined at this point.

He felt, suddenly, as though the day’s radiance had dimmed. Those shirts, with the crescent moon and star, had associations he did not like. They reminded him of a time when he had not felt like a god. He did not want his happy day spotted and stained by old memories, bad memories, but his elation was suddenly draining away.

-- Galbraith, Robert (2015-10-20). Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike) (p. 4). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

That reflection helped calm the sudden rage caused by the sight of those Saracens shirts.

-- Galbraith, Robert (2015-10-20). Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike) (p. 4). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

The narrative does not specificlly say at this point but in the next chapter Robin is having an angry internal dialog about the rugby match of the previous day. Based on the Saracens jerseys the group of men are wearing. And the fact that Matt mentions Wembely Central, Robin and Matt appear to be going to the Saracens vs. Bath Rugby Rugby match at Vicarage Road Stadium. Saracens vs. Bath Rugby April 2, 2011

Saracens FC Shirt and Logo

Copyright Saracens FC

Route To Vicarage Road Stadium

Copyright Google Maps

## Notable Words and Phrases

Sa·ra·cens
In the context of this story... The Saracens are a Rugby Footbal Club based in London. Wikipedia: Saracens\_F.C.

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 2