Strike is at The Forester pub interviewing Abigail Glover when a bearded man approaches them and says ‘Been on tinder ‘ave you, Ab?’ The man introduces himself to Strike as Baz before swaggering away. Abigail explains that he is a friend of her lodger, Patrick, and that she went out for a drink with him a couple of times and then told him she didn’t want to see him again.  She says Patrick tells Baz what Abigail says about the UHC (Ch 28).

Later, Baz turns up at the office and asks to see Strike (Ch 48).  Strike judges Barry Saxon to be ‘around forty. He had very small, deep set hazel eyes with large pouches beneath them and his hair and his beard looked like he spent a lot of time caring for them’. Strike asks Barry what he does for a living and he says tube driver.  He proceeds to talk to Strike about Abigail, and Strike comes to some conclusions about his motivations (Ch 49).