Slough House

Slow Horses / C17

Chapter 17

Book 1 Part Two 2048 words POV: Narrator

Summary

Some time later, a narrator surveys Slough House from the street and from the Barbican walkway. Roderick Ho appears to have the ground-floor office to himself, walled in by pizza boxes and Coke cans, the neighbouring desk stripped bare, while the office next door still holds the abandoned effects of the pair who left in a hurry. Upstairs, Min Harper and Louisa Guy share a desk and a transistor radio, which reports that Robert Hobden has been killed in a hit-and-run, and that Peter Judd has paid tribute and let it be known he would take greater office. River Cartwright sits alone in the room whose windows read W W Henderson, Solicitor and Commissioner For Oaths, a hair-slide on the empty desk beside him: his only proof that Sidonie Baker existed, since the hospital records of her death have been sanitised. He plans to take a train to Tonbridge to see his grandfather, and perhaps to call his mother. Lamb, chair tilted to the point of collapse, studies his noticeboard, the flight fund once more pinned behind it; he reflects that all joes go to the well, that Charles Partner sold himself for money, and that it was Catherine Standish who found Partner’s body after Lamb killed him. He is not, after all, as tired of Regent’s Park as he believed. Catherine brings him tea without a word.

Beats

  • C17S01 · Narrator — Slough House is surveyed after the crisis: Ho alone with his screens, Min and Louisa hearing of Hobden’s death, River alone with Sid’s barrette, Lamb eyeing a return to the Park.

People

  • Roderick Ho — Sole occupant downstairs; still trawling classified databases
  • Min Harper — Shares a desk and radio with Louisa
  • Louisa Guy — Perched on the desk edge, listening to the news
  • River Cartwright — Alone with Sid’s barrette; planning a trip to Tonbridge
  • Jackson Lamb — Contemplating his options, his flight fund, his secrets
  • Catherine Standish — Brings Lamb tea without speaking; his conscience
  • Robert Hobden — Reported killed in a hit-and-run accident
  • Peter Judd — Tributes Hobden on the radio and signals higher ambition
  • Sid Baker — Absent from the office and from the hospital’s records
  • Charles Partner — Sold himself for money; killed by Lamb
  • Diana Taverner — Second Desk now effectively in Lamb’s pocket
  • David Cartwright — River’s grandfather, in Tonbridge; sanctioned Partner’s killing
  • Jed Moody — Late slow horse; the flight fund was briefly his
  • Struan Loy — Late slow horse who sought favour
  • Kay White — Late slow horse who sought favour

Places

  • Slough House — Surveyed from the bus, the walkway and a low wall
  • Tonbridge — Where River will visit his grandfather
  • Regent’s Park — The world Lamb may not have finished with

Lines worth keeping

“all joes go to the well in the end, slyly whoring themselves for the coin of their choice” — Narrator, Lamb’s private rule, applied to the slow horses he has buried.

Threads

  • Plants: The flight fund pinned behind Lamb’s noticeboard; Lamb’s suspicion that he quit Regent’s Park too soon; River’s plan to visit his grandfather and call his mother; The barrette on Sid Baker’s emptied desk
  • Payoffs: Ho’s exile is explained: he was disliked, not caught; Lamb’s buried sin is named: he killed Charles Partner; Catherine’s scar is explained: she found her boss’s body; The Second Desk is effectively in Lamb’s pocket after the op
  • Continuity: The Aldersgate roadworks have cleared since the book opened; Ho’s desk is stacked with pizza boxes and Coke cans; The neighbouring office is left abandoned with pens and diaries out; The top floor’s blind is drawn; Sid Baker’s death leaves no trace in hospital records

Characters

Places

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