Spook Street / C02
Chapter 2
Summary
Louisa and River drink in a pub near the church where Shakespeare in Love was filmed, and Louisa privately notes that the flat she now owns came from the uncut diamond, kept from the Needle heist, that she found behind her fridge and sold for cash to a jeweller’s appraiser in a pub near Hatton Garden. River admits he never knew his father and that his mother, Isobel, decided before his birth that the man was no longer part of her life; his grandparents brought him up. He describes the Old Bastard’s decline: at eighty-four David Cartwright forgets things, and recently left his gun on the kitchen table to keep the stoats away. The home for distressed former spooks was closed years ago, and River does not trust the Park to leave an old legend alone. He catches the train to Kent, thinking about Isobel, about a recent visit on which his grandfather failed to recognise him and covered the lapse for half an hour, and about whether he could do what the O.B. once asked and shoot him like a horse. At the house, David does not believe the man on the doorstep is River, tests him with his grandmother’s name, lets him in as an impostor, agrees to a bath, and goes to fetch something from the study.
Beats
- C02S01 · Louisa Guy — Over a vodka-lime and a £4.80 pint, Louisa explains to herself how she got here: the diamond from the Needle heist, sold near Hatton Garden, paid for the flat and the end of bar stools. River says he never knew his father, that his mother cut the man out before his birth, and that his grandparents raised him. He describes the O.B.’s forgetfulness, the gun left on the kitchen table, and the closed home for retired spooks, then leaves for the train, naming his real fear as someone knocking at the door.
- C02S02 · River Cartwright — On the train River thinks about his mother, Isobel Dunstable, whom he sees rarely and who left him with his grandparents at seven for two years abroad. He notes that David asks after her without naming her, and that she and David have not spoken since Rose’s funeral. He admits what he did not tell Louisa—that on a recent visit his grandfather did not know him—and imagines the Service sending stoats, and a death arranged in a bath. He gets the loud passenger opposite to end his call, and steps out into the rain.
- C02S03 · David Cartwright — David, leafing through Bleak House in his study, answers the door and refuses to accept that the man outside is River; he asks for his grandmother’s name as a test. River answers “Rose” and adds Isobel’s, which David decides proves nothing, since any fool can do research, and he lets the impostor in. He dodges questions about his slippers and the day’s events, remembers sitting in the Prime Minister’s office while First Desk delivered a brief he had written himself, on East German troop movements, and agrees to a bath. He says he must fetch something from the study first, because he is not as defenceless as they think.
People
- River Cartwright — confesses his worries about the O.B., then takes the train to his grandfather and is taken for an impostor.
- David Cartwright — the O.B., eighty-four, at home, convinced the visitor is a fake and preparing to defend himself.
- Ingrid Tearney — named only; the former First Desk, now “out the door”.
- Diana Taverner — named only; “Lady Di”, said to be using both hands to keep her desk.
Places
- Slough House — named as the thing Louisa and River have in common: nobody else is looking out for them.
- Regent’s Park — the Park, whose attitude to a failing old spook River is trying to guess.
- The Needle — site of the heist from which Louisa came away with the uncut diamond.
Lines worth keeping
“What was your grandmother’s name?” — David Cartwright, His test at the front door, offered as a simple question to the man claiming to be River.
“Her name was Rose, Grandad. Your wife’s name was Rose. And your daughter, my mother, she’s Isobel.” — River Cartwright, Answering the test through the pebbled glass, and adding his mother’s name for good measure.
“He keeps a gun in the house, Louisa.” — River Cartwright, Telling Louisa about the gun he found on the kitchen table, and the stoats it was meant to keep away.
“That someone’ll come to the door and he’ll shoot them.” — River Cartwright, His last words in the pub, naming what actually frightens him about his grandfather.
Threads
- Plants: David takes River for an impostor and goes to “fetch something from the study”; the chapter stops there and does not say what he fetches.; Alice from the village shop is named as a possible impostor, and the text leaves it open.; River never knew his father, and Isobel has never said who he was.; River considers asking his mother’s advice about the O.B.; The possibility that the Service “eased an old spook’s passage from this life” is raised and left standing.; David reads Bleak House only in snatches now, and finds its characters’ cover stories threadbare.
- Payoffs: “Stoats” is glossed: “What they used to call watchers.”; “Shoot me like a horse”, the O.B.’s standing instruction in C01, is replayed as River weighs running him a bath.; The streetlamp that flickered in C01 is steady now, and David reads the change as significant.; David’s lapses in C01 are revealed to include a whole visit on which he did not recognise River.; Louisa’s new flat is explained: the diamond from the Needle heist, sold near Hatton Garden.
- Continuity: David is eighty-four; River’s mother is Isobel Dunstable, who left him with his grandparents at seven and went abroad for two years.; Rose died “a while ago”, and her funeral was the last time David and Isobel were seen together.; David’s cover is forty-odd years at the Ministry of Transport, and the village believes it.; River goes by train to Kent and has a ten-minute walk from the station; the front door has pebbled glass.; River’s pint cost £4.80; Louisa found the diamond three months ago and now has a mortgage, not a rent book.; Tearney is out and Taverner is clinging to her desk, and River doubts the Park will act.