Traffic was light. London wore its evening gown: glittering sequins and overstuffed purse. Some nights it looked like an empress in rags. Tonight it was a bag lady in designer clothes.
Lamb had said, ‘I’d have killed her. But these numbnuts had two goes at Ho and barely bruised his ego. Given that a five-year-old could take him down with a walnut whip, I don’t have much faith in their abilities.’ Before she could reply he shifted his bulk, and the seating squeaked indignantly. ‘I can’t help noticing you’re in the car.’
‘As are you,’ said Flyte, pinching the tip of her nose briefly.
‘Well, I’m hardly walking home, am I? But what’s your excuse?’
‘You think I should be jogging?’
‘I think you should be in your office, making your report. Yet here you are.’ He scratched his ear, and when he’d finished, he was holding a cigarette. ‘Because you’re in this up to your neck now, and so’s Cornwall here.’
‘Devon.’
‘Whatever. You fucked up, and he had your back at the wrong moment.’ Lamb glanced towards Welles. ‘Bet you’re wishing you never answered your phone.’
Welles ignored him.
Flyte said, ‘Gimball’s dead.’
‘Boo hoo. Shall we buy a teddy bear, tie it to a lamp post?’
‘You said he was in danger. If I hadn’t ignored that, it might have turned out differently.’
Lamb eased back. ‘When they reassign you, I’m gonna put you in with Cartwright,’ he said. ‘You’ve bumped heads before, I seem to recall.’
‘I’ll shoot myself first.’
‘I’ve a gun you can borrow.’
That was when his phone had buzzed: Catherine Standish, with the latest from Slough House.
While Lamb was talking, Flyte said to Welles, ‘When I asked you to cover for me, I didn’t know things were going to hell. I’m sorry. You’re still off duty. You can walk away now.’
Welles said, ‘I signed Lindsay Lohan here into the Park. There’ll be questions about that.’
Flyte thought for a while, then settled on a one-size-fits-all response. ‘Shit.’
‘It’s not so bad at my gaff,’ Lamb said, ending his call. ‘We have a new kettle.’
‘You’re enjoying this.’
‘It’s called a positive attitude,’ said Lamb. ‘Watch and learn. Oh, and Hampshire? Change of plan. My team think the girl’s at Ho’s house.’
‘Alive?’
‘Too early to say. Their last search and rescue didn’t work out so well. Worth a trip, though.’
Welles pulled into a layby. ‘We should head back to the Park,’ he said. ‘Lay it all out for Whelan or whoever.’
‘Yeah, not a great idea,’ said Lamb. ‘Remember?’
Flyte rolled her eyes. ‘What now?’
But it was Welles who answered. ‘When they came for the blueprint, they knew what they were looking for. They had inside info.’
‘Shit,’ she said again.
‘Which means someone’s been a bad apple,’ said Lamb. ‘Be nice to know who before we go waltzing in like Little Red Riding Crop.’
‘Hood.’
‘Different movie.’ He looked at Welles. ‘You gonna sit there all night?’
‘Depends on what my boss says.’
‘Did you train him with a stick? Or send him to school?’
Flyte said, ‘If they had inside info, how come they needed Ho?’
‘Just one of the many things we’re not gonna find out sitting here.’
‘I screwed up,’ she said. ‘That happens around you a lot, doesn’t it? Like gravitational pull. And I’ll take the rap. But I don’t plan to spend the rest of tonight in a room next to Roddy Ho. Not if there’s a chance we might track these bastards down.’
So they’d headed to Ho’s house instead, arriving there, as Lamb hadn’t yet tired of saying, with impeccable timing.
Now, in Slough House, Catherine knelt to hand another paper tissue to Kim, who snatched it and pressed it to her nose. The nine that Shirley, Louisa and River had granted her the previous evening was looking more like a three and a half now she’d been slam-dunked by a car door; maybe a four, Shirley conceded, if you were into that kind of thing, ‘that kind of thing’ being bruised and swelling features. Mental note: don’t land on your face, she thought. Not from any kind of height. Height was about the only physical thing Shirley had in common with Kim. Well, that and, presumably, a yearning for medication, though in Kim’s case that would be a current predicament rather than an ongoing condition.
‘Has she said much yet?’ Lamb asked.
‘You’ve been standing right there,’ Catherine reminded him.
‘Yeah, I might have drifted off,’ he said. ‘On account of I can see up her skirt.’
Catherine straightened Kim’s clothing.
Emma Flyte said, ‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s purely academic interest. But do you plan to pull a gun on her and cuff her to a chair?’
‘Twice in one day? Not without medical supervision.’
Kim, still prone, swore at him. She’d been doing this at intervals since coming round in the car on the way to Slough House.
‘We should take her to hospital,’ said River again, his tone indicating that he didn’t hold out much hope of being listened to.
‘Yeah, we could do that,’ said Lamb. ‘Or you could shut up.’
Louisa said, ‘It’s gone midnight.’
‘If I wanted the speaking clock, I’d have dialled your number.’
‘I was just pointing out, it’s a new day. And it seems we’re set on making it even worse than the old one.’
