Slough House

Real Tigers / C02

Chapter 2

Book 3 Part One 5237 words POV: Catherine Standish, River Cartwright, Jackson Lamb, Narrator

Summary

Catherine wakes in a locked attic room of a farmhouse an hour or more outside London: a former nursery with a barred window, a narrow bed, and a bathroom stripped of anything usable as a weapon. Her bag, phone and watch were taken, but she was not searched. A tattooed northern guard, whom she privately dubs Bailey, comes to cuff and gag her and photograph her with her own phone, then leaves. Sean Donovan visits later, drunk, and asks which of her colleagues she would trust with her life, naming Longridge, Cartwright and Guy, which tells her the interest is in Slough House rather than in her. She gives him a name. Next morning her absence registers: River asks after her, Louisa barely answers, and Lamb, after a performance of indifference, sends Louisa to find Standish and Marcus and Shirley to find River. River has already been summoned by a text from Catherine’s phone, with a photograph of her bound and gagged, and meets a grey-suited stranger on the Barbican footbridge. The man tells him to steal information and gives him roughly eighty minutes before the men holding her lose patience. Marcus and Shirley find no trace of River and go for ice cream.

Beats

  • C02S01 · Catherine Standish — Catherine came to in a locked former nursery on the top floor of a farmhouse an hour or more from London, with a barred window, a stripped bathroom and no indication of what her captors wanted. She chose not to sleep, resolving to stay organised and wait for information to flow.
  • C02S02 · Catherine Standish — A tattooed guard brought handcuffs and a gag, photographed her with her own phone and left, and Donovan later came up drunk to ask which of her colleagues she would trust with her life. She gave him a name, and he locked the door behind him.
  • C02S03 · River Cartwright — At Slough House the next morning Catherine’s absence was noticed: River asked Louisa whether she had seen her, got almost nothing, and took his coffee to his desk. He heard Lamb climb the stairs and then, instead of the usual racket, a silence followed by a thump that sent him to the door.
  • C02S04 · Jackson Lamb — Lamb questioned the slow horses about Standish, sent Ho to check the absence chart on her wall and learned nothing, and brushed aside their suggestions. He then ordered Louisa to find Standish and Marcus and Shirley to find the missing Cartwright, leaving Ho behind.
  • C02S05 · River Cartwright — River opened a text from Catherine’s phone showing her handcuffed and gagged, with instructions to come to the pedestrian bridge, and went. There a grey-suited stranger told him Catherine was safe and that he had to steal information to get her back, with about eighty minutes before the men holding her lost patience.
  • C02S06 · Narrator — Marcus and Shirley came out onto Aldersgate Street, found no sign of River, and headed towards Smithfield for an ice cream. The man in the grey suit had disappeared from the footbridge.

People

  • Catherine Standish — held in the farmhouse attic and questioned about which of her colleagues she trusts
  • Sean Donovan — her captor, drunk when he comes up to put the question to her
  • Craig Dunn — tattooed northern guard, nicknamed by Catherine, who cuffs, gags and photographs her
  • Jackson Lamb — questions the slow horses about Standish and dispatches them to find her and Cartwright
  • River Cartwright — summoned to the footbridge and ordered to steal information
  • Louisa Guy — sent to look for Standish; hardly speaks to River
  • Marcus Longridge — sent with Shirley to bring River back
  • Shirley Dander — sent with Marcus to bring River back
  • Roderick Ho — sent to check the absence chart, and left behind when the others go out
  • James Webb — comatose colleague whose condition River reports to Lamb

Places

  • The farmhouse — isolated house with outhouses and a bus in the yard, an hour or more from London
  • Slough House — the office and Lamb’s room, where the slow horses are briefed on Standish’s absence

Lines worth keeping

“Which of your colleagues would you trust with your life?” — Sean Donovan, questioning Catherine in the attic

“Give a girl a mirror, she can make herself a knife.” — Catherine Standish, surveying the stripped bathroom

“You simply have to steal it.” — the man on the bridge, naming River’s errand

“It’s rude to mutter. If there’s one thing I can’t abide, it’s bad manners.” — Jackson Lamb, chiding River at the briefing

Threads

  • Plants: The stranger gives River roughly eighty minutes before the men holding Catherine go critical.; The information River is ordered to steal is never named in this chapter.; An old Routemaster bus sits in the farmhouse yard, unexplained.; Catherine gives Donovan a name, and the reader is not told which.; Donovan shows guilt about his part in the abduction.
  • Payoffs: The voice that called Catherine’s name in C01 is shown to be Donovan, and the black van is the snatch team completing its job.
  • Continuity: Catherine is held in a barred attic room of a farmhouse about an hour from London, with her phone, watch and bag taken but her person unsearched.; Catherine’s phone is in the captors’ hands and is used to text and photograph her.; Lamb had two missed calls from Catherine and did not answer them.; River is sent to steal information, not to involve Regent’s Park.; Spider Webb remains on life support with no expectation of recovery.

Characters

Places

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