‘You called?’
This was Louisa, who’d followed River downstairs.
Ho said, ‘I’m busy. Leave me alone.’
Louisa came and stood behind him, studied his screens. Ho made a half-hearted attempt to shield them with his arms, like a schoolboy in an exam, but not being an octopus, he was a few limbs short of a barricade.
She said, ‘Uber records? Whose log are you hacking?’
‘I’m not hacking it. I’m just looking.’
‘Suppose I gave you a street name and a date,’ River said. ‘Told you that some people had been going door to door, saying they were missionaries.’
‘What you on about?’
‘I bet you couldn’t tell me if they really were or not.’
Louisa said, ‘Don’t try to play him. He’s too smart.’ She pointed to one of the screens. ‘D Taverner? You’re running a number on Lady Di?’
Anything to do with Lady Di grabbed River’s attention. ‘This is for Lamb, right? What’s he up to?’
‘That’s strictly need to know.’
‘I bet you’ve always wanted to say that.’
Louisa was still reading the screen, though had to lean in close: a list of dates, a list of drivers, a list of journeys. ‘The beginning of January.’
‘That’s the week we were wiped,’ said River.
Ho did something, and the screens went blank.
‘Ah, come on! I was reading that!’
‘Get out of my room,’ said Ho.
‘What’s all the noise about?’
And now Catherine had joined them.
‘Miss! Miss!’ said Louisa. ‘Ho’s using his computer to spy on people, miss!’
‘I’m sure that’s very funny,’ said Catherine. ‘But it’s also noisier than Lamb likes it when he’s awake. Which he will be if this goes on much longer.’
Ho said, ‘Cartwright wants me to check up on some missionaries.’
Catherine raised an eyebrow in River’s direction.
‘Brief moment of spiritual crisis,’ said River. ‘I thought Roddy might be able to help. I’d forgotten he was a dick.’
‘Delete your account,’ Ho told him.
‘You know Lamb’s expecting the next batch of safe-house possibles by five?’ Catherine said.
The list River was compiling, of properties which might potentially be utilised as hideaways by non-friendlies. It was intended to cover the entire country, a codicil River always spelled out word by word when reminding himself what his job consisted of.
The. Entire. Country.
‘And he’ll have it,’ he said. ‘Just taking a little downtime with my colleagues. Always a morale booster.’
‘Careful,’ said Catherine. ‘If Lamb takes it into his head to appoint a morale officer, it’ll make all our lives miserable.’
She left.
Louisa studied Ho’s blank screens. ‘Probably just as well,’ she said. ‘Not sure how you’d go about finding a pair of anonymous doorknockers.’
Ho rolled his eyes.
‘I thought you said not to play him,’ said River.
‘You were playing him,’ said Louisa. ‘I’m just signalling his limitations.’
‘Yeah, right,’ said Ho. His fingers danced, and the screens came back to life. ‘Street name?’
River recited the postcode and date Sid had given him.
‘Watch the magic happen.’
River and Louisa shared a glance.
‘I’d as soon go boil the kettle,’ Louisa said.
In the kitchen, River moodily opened cupboard doors and closed them again. An ancient bag of sugar, turned to stone; damp coffee filters. He collected the broken-off handle of a ceramic mug from an otherwise empty shelf and twirled it in his fingers. ‘Do you ever wonder what you’d have ended up doing?’ he said. ‘I mean, if you’d just said fuck it when they offered you Slough House?’
‘Oh, please.’ Louisa was rinsing her cafetière. ‘You do realise it’s not about you?’ she said. ‘Sid being alive, I mean?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It means she’s not just a chapter in your life story. It would be an idea not to forget that.’
‘You’re supposed to be an intelligence officer. Not an agony column.’
‘No one said I can’t be both.’ An idea struck her. River saw this happen: she paused, the wet cafetière in her hands. ‘Sid thinks she’s being targeted.’
‘I know. I told you that.’
‘Yeah, but so are we. Right? And she was a slow horse, or used to be. Did you know that Kay died?’
‘Kay? Kay White?’
‘Remember her?’
‘She’s the one never shut up,’ said River. ‘How did she die? She can’t have been that old.’
‘Fell off a ladder, Catherine said. Something like that, anyway. Some kind of accident. Easy to fake.’
River looked at the broken handle in his palm, then tossed it into the sink. It made a scattering noise. ‘So what, you think they’re not just stalking us, these Park trainees? You think they’re knocking us off? That doesn’t sound likely. And besides, Kay’s not been one of us for years …’
His voice trailed away.
‘Nor has Sid,’ Louisa supplied.
They shared a look.
‘What do you think?’
River said, ‘It’s out there. Way out there.’
‘Yeah, but. A lot of the things that happen round here are.’
‘The Park, though. Taverner? She’d not authorise anything like that.’
One of Lamb’s saws came to mind, though.
‘We should take this upstairs.’
‘No,’ said River. ‘I promised her I wouldn’t.’
‘Promised who?’ Roderick Ho had appeared in the doorway.
‘Nobody,’ said River. ‘What’d you find?’
