Dead Lions / C16

Chapter 16

Book 2 Part Two 1656 words POV: Narrator

Summary

The day is tidied away. The riot is broken by hard policing, the rumour of a shot-down airliner gives way to the duller truth of an intercepted Cessna full of leaflets, and Roger Barrowby accepts the blame for emptying the Square Mile and resigns with an imitation Mies van der Rohe chair as a leaving gift. A mouse then wanders through Slough House, room by room. Ho sleeps face-down on his desk, worn out by unaccustomed exertion. Shirley and Marcus share an office in mutual suspicion, each believing the other is Diana Taverner’s informant, and neither knowing that Taverner invented the claim to unsettle Lamb. River sits quiet after calling St Mary’s Hospital about Webb, and wonders whether his grandfather was the officer who framed ZT/53235 in 1951. Louisa sobs at her spare, untenanted desk, with a stolen diamond hidden among her underwear and an empty flat waiting for her. Catherine Standish, unbothered by mice, faces the day ahead calmly. Lamb reads a small story about a Cotswolds earth tremor that killed one man, and concludes that Katinsky’s ghost has faded and the cicadas will be left asleep.

Beats

C16S01 · Narrator — The day’s riot was broken by hard policing and mass arrests, and the truth that a Cessna carrying amateurish leaflets had been intercepted emerged only the next day. Roger Barrowby took the blame for evacuating the Square Mile, resigned discreetly, and was reported touched by his leaving gift of an imitation Mies van der Rohe chair. A mouse then toured Slough House, finding Ho asleep on his desk, Shirley and Marcus estranged in mutual suspicion, Louisa sobbing over an empty flat and a hidden diamond, and Lamb reading of a Cotswolds earth tremor that killed one man.

People

Roderick Ho — Asleep face-down on his desk after the climb.
Shirley Dander — Shares an office with Marcus in mutual suspicion of being Taverner’s stooge.
Marcus Longridge — Suspects Shirley of reporting to Taverner, as she suspects him.
River Cartwright — Has phoned St Mary’s about Webb and broods on his grandfather’s role.
Louisa Guy — Weeps at her desk, hiding a diamond and facing an empty flat.
Catherine Standish — Calm on the top floor, unafraid of mice.
Jackson Lamb — Reads of the Cotswolds tremor and reflects that the cicadas will sleep on.
Diana Taverner — Second Desk at Regent’s Park, on the phone, pushing Barrowby into authorising the City alert.
James Webb — Reported to be in St Mary’s Hospital after being shot.
Roger Barrowby — Chair of Limitations who takes the blame and resigns.
David Cartwright — River’s grandfather, suspected of framing ZT/53235 in 1951.
Nick Duffy — Named as having run a half-arsed investigation into Min Harper’s death.

Places

Slough House — The slow horses’ office, toured room by room by the mouse.

Lines worth keeping

“What this place needs is a cat,” — Jackson Lamb, grumbling at the vanished mouse

“For this there will be retribution.” — Narrator, Lamb’s account against Taverner

“Small wonder she sobs; even less that our mouse tiptoes discreetly away from a grief it can’t comfort.” — Narrator, leaving Louisa’s office

“Lying, after all, is what spooks do best.” — Narrator, on letting sleeping spooks lie

Threads

Plants: Lamb promises retribution against Taverner for Duffy’s half-arsed investigation of Min Harper’s death.; Louisa keeps the stolen diamond hidden, an escape route she has not decided to use.; Shirley and Marcus each believe the other is Taverner’s informant.
Payoffs: Roger Barrowby carries the blame for the City evacuation and resigns.; The cicadas are left asleep by official decision, their awakening abandoned.; The Upshott explosion is publicly recorded as a localised earth tremor with one fatality.
Continuity: Katinsky died in the church collapse, reported as a single fatality of an earth tremor.; The intercepted aircraft carried leaflets, not a bomb.; ZT/53235 burned in 1951 and David Cartwright was then the age his grandson is now.; Webb survived being shot and is in St Mary’s Hospital.

Characters

Places

Slough House