Slough House

Dead Lions / C06

Chapter 6

Book 2 Part One 9050 words POV: River Cartwright, Min Harper, Diana Taverner, Kyril, Catherine Standish, Shirley Dander, Nick Duffy

Summary

Lamb takes River Cartwright to a market lunch and unpacks the Popov legend: the Soviet research town ZT/53235 was destroyed deliberately, not by accident, to bury a spy who never existed, and the story delighted Amos Crane. Dickie Bow, Lamb says, was a Berlin hand worth burying properly, and the only man who ever claimed to have met Popov. Then Lamb reveals that River is going into the field, to Gloucestershire. Min Harper, meanwhile, broods over his row with Louisa and the rope ladder Spider Webb has dropped him, then cycles to the Edgware Road and tails Kyril, who has spotted him from the start. Kyril puts a key to his neck, then takes him drinking with Piotr. At Regent’s Park, Diana Taverner confronts Webb about the seconded slow horses and learns he is cultivating the oligarch Arkady Pashkin; she lets him carry on. Catherine Standish presses Lamb about Bow, and he admits the dying message was faked. Shirley Dander, crashing after cocaine, buys more in Hoxton. The chapter ends with Min knocked down and killed by Rebecca Mitchell’s car.

Beats

  • C06S01 · River Cartwright — Lamb ate curry with River Cartwright on a bench by St Luke’s and told him the Popov story, in which the Soviet town ZT/53235 was destroyed on purpose to bury a spy who never existed. He then told River he was being sent into the field, to Gloucestershire.
  • C06S02 · Min Harper — Min Harper worked late, brooded over his row with Louisa and the chance Spider Webb had offered him, then took his bike to the Edgware Road to look over the street where Piotr and Kyril’s taxi had stopped.
  • C06S03 · Diana Taverner — Diana Taverner summoned James Webb and made him admit he had seconded two slow horses to handle the Russian industrialist Arkady Pashkin, then demanded the whole story before deciding whether to stop him.
  • C06S04 · Kyril — Kyril smoked a hookah outside a restaurant on the Edgware Road, having misunderstood the word as something else entirely, and watched Min Harper cycle past before waiting ten minutes and leaving to buy supplies.
  • C06S05 · Diana Taverner — Webb defended the Needle as a meeting place and lied to Taverner three times about what he had told her. She let the operation stand, then looked Pashkin up on the internet rather than request a file that would raise flags.
  • C06S06 · Min Harper — Min spotted Kyril at the hookah café, followed him along the Edgware Road, lost him for a moment and then picked him up again, relieved that nobody knew where he was.
  • C06S07 · Catherine Standish — Catherine Standish told Lamb that a fusebox outside Swindon had been sabotaged on the night Dickie Bow died. Lamb dismissed the untraceable poison and the dying message as nonsense, and his eyes were clearer than the bottle suggested.
  • C06S08 · Kyril — Kyril climbed to the flat and reflected that Piotr had been right to make him pretend not to speak English, and that Harper’s tailing was clumsy enough to be no threat.
  • C06S09 · Shirley Dander — Shirley Dander woke at nine forty-two from a cocaine crash, turned down Marcus Longridge’s company, watched him make a phone call in the street below and then got up and went out.
  • C06S10 · Min Harper — Min lost Kyril at a corner and was seized from behind, a key pressed into his neck while Kyril told him he was being followed and asked what happens to nosy Department of Energy men.
  • C06S11 · Catherine Standish — Lamb poured Catherine a drink and explained that the Swindon sabotage and the phone text were bait laid for Bow, that the word ‘Cicadas’ would have meant nothing to Bow, and that the trail was meant to be followed. Catherine said the name Alexander Popov.
  • C06S12 · Min Harper — In the flat Min drank vodka with Piotr and Kyril, learned the key had been a joke at his expense, and saw a third man come in and leave again without joining them.
  • C06S13 · Shirley Dander — Shirley bought drugs from a contact in a crowded Hoxton pub and walked out feeling watched, though when she looked back the street was empty.
  • C06S14 · Catherine Standish — Lamb admitted that River was bait and refused to warn him, and Catherine warned that she would speak if she decided he was in danger. The phone rang.
  • C06S15 · Nick Duffy — Nick Duffy took charge of the junction where Min Harper had been killed, accepted Rebecca Mitchell’s account of the accident and watched Lamb and Standish arrive and go straight to the body.

People

  • River Cartwright — Lunch with Lamb; learns the Popov story and that he is being posted to Gloucestershire.
  • Jackson Lamb — Briefs River, fends off Catherine’s questions, and admits the dying message was planted.
  • Min Harper — Brooding on Louisa, tails Kyril to the Edgware Road, drinks with the Russians and is killed by a car.
  • Diana Taverner — Confronts Webb about the seconded slow horses and lets the Pashkin approach continue.
  • James Webb — Pitches Pashkin as a potential asset and lies to Taverner about how much he has disclosed.
  • Kyril — Russian security man; spots his tail, frightens him with a key, then drinks with him.
  • Piotr — Kyril’s colleague; the more cautious of the two, and the one who does the talking.
  • Catherine Standish — Investigates Bow’s death and forces Lamb to admit the trail was manufactured.
  • Shirley Dander — Suffering a cocaine crash, buys more in Hoxton and feels followed.
  • Marcus Longridge — Offers Shirley food and is seen making a phone call in the street.
  • Nick Duffy — The Park’s Head Dog, running the scene of Min’s death and inclined to write it off as an accident.

Places

  • Slough House — Min’s office and the room where Shirley works through the evening.
  • Regent’s Park — Taverner’s glass-walled office on the hub, where Webb is summoned.

Lines worth keeping

“You’re a fuck up, Cartwright. We both know that. You wouldn’t be a slow horse otherwise. But—” — Jackson Lamb, over lunch with River

“Yes, they destroyed it. They burnt the place to cinders to make sure whatever was happening there stayed hidden.” — Jackson Lamb, on the destroyed Soviet town

“Someone sabotaged a fusebox outside Swindon. The network meltdown was a fix. You don’t think that’s suspicious?” — Catherine Standish, on the night Bow died

“It’s your whale, after all. No reason anyone else should die trying to stick a harpoon in it.” — Catherine Standish, warning Lamb about Popov

Threads

  • Plants: Lamb sends River to Gloucestershire knowing the trail is a trap, and does not tell him he is the bait.; The single word ‘Cicadas’, planted as an unsent text on Bow’s phone, is said to belong to the Popov legend.; A third man enters the Edgware Road flat and leaves again without meeting Min.; Shirley Dander is buying cocaine again and is sure someone is following her.; Rebecca Mitchell is blonde, sober and apparently blameless, and no link to the Russians is yet made.
  • Payoffs: Lamb works out that the dying message was keyed by Mr. B rather than by Bow, so the untraceable-poison story was bait all along.
  • Continuity: Min Harper is killed by a car at a junction at the end of C06; he had been drinking heavily after a row with Louisa Guy.; River Cartwright is posted to Gloucestershire and briefed only hours before he goes.; Diana Taverner knows about the Pashkin talks and has allowed Webb to continue them.

Characters

Places

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