Anjelica Wallner is Rupert Fleetwood’s aunt. When Strike first meets Decima Mullins at her home in Kent, she tells Strike that the police are not helping her find Rupert as they are taking his aunt’s word that he is in New York.
Rupert’s aunt Anjelica married a Swiss man, and when Rupert was two his parents took him there for a visit. His mum and dad went skiing and were killed in an avalanche, so Rupert was raised in Zurich by his aunt and uncle. Decima tells Strike that Rupert had an unhappy childhood and wanted to return to the UK. Rupert’s aunt and uncle used all the money left by Rupert’s parents to send him to a boarding school near Zurich that he loathed. Decima describes Anjelica as an awful woman and said Rupert hated her (Ch 2).
After the meeting with Decima, Strike tells Robin he thinks that his ‘Auntie in Switzerland pulled some strings to get him away from his cradle-snatching girlfriend, and he’s exactly where she says he is: New York.’ (Ch 4).
Strike telephones Anjelica and after a few seconds of hearing the European dialling tone he hears an upper-class voice. Mrs Wallner is angry that Decima has given Strike her contact details and says ‘Who does she think she is sending people to badger me?’ She confirms that she believes he is in New York and then puts the phone down (Ch 8).
Strike then sends an email to Robin describing Anjelica as an ‘old-school dragon’ (Ch 11).