Rachel is Edie Ledwell’s sixteen-year-old cousin. Her parents are Grant Ledwell and his ex-wife, Laura. 

She is first mentioned by Grant during Strike and Robin’s initial meeting with the clients at The Arts Club. Grant tells his wife Heather that he has a missed call from Rachel. Heather tells Robin that Rachel is a “bit of a handful,” and Grant says she will have been calling about the match (Ch 18).  

During their meeting at The Gun, Grant tells Strike that Rachel insisted on attending Edie’s funeral, but attributes this to her just wanting a day off school (Ch 64). Strike later tries to track down Rachel through her social media without success (Ch 70).

It is Robin who realises that Rachel is behind one of the Twitter accounts they have been following during the course of the investigation, and is also a user of Drek’s Game. Thinking it is probable that Rachel knows the real identity of Morehouse, the Game’s co-creator, Robin persuades her into a meeting (Ch 80).

Robin and Rachel meet in Meanwood Park in Leeds. Despite it being a warm day, Rachel is wearing “baggy jeans, a thick, oversized, checked shirt and bulky trainers” and has dark shoulder length hair.  Robin thinks that “she bore a marked resemblance to her cousin, Edie Ledwell: she had the same square face and generous mouth, though Rachel’s eyes were dark and her nose was aquiline” (Ch 82).

Rachel is distressed that she stayed in the Game even though many of the other mods and players bullied and targeted Edie, but Robin reassures and comforts her. Rachel gives some background about how she came to be a fan of The Ink Black Heart, and tells Robin about her interactions with Anomie and other players of Drek’s Game. Eventually, Rachel gives Robin Morehouse’s real identity and location (Ch 82).

Later, Robin enlists Rachel’s help again when she is trying to find out Paperwhite’s identity (Ch 92).