Spook Street / C06

Chapter 6

Book 4 Part One 5722 words POV: Emma Flyte, River Cartwright, Patrice, Moira Tregorian, Catherine Standish

Summary

Flyte leaves Giti Rahman locked in a Dog safe house near Brixton market with Dempsey on the door, then calls Devon Welles at the Cartwright house and learns that the dead man’s blood is not River’s, which makes two missing persons and turns her attention to Lamb’s contacts. In a French wood River comes to beside a dead rabbit and a man with a shotgun, later named Victor, who tells him the people at Les Arbres are all gone and leads him out of the rain. Patrice, in a layby, concludes that Bertrand’s attempt on the old man failed, is told to try again, and drives back to London. Lamb takes Moira Tregorian to lunch and works out loud that Claude Whelan sent her to Slough House as one of his first acts in charge, leaving her unsure whose game she is in. Catherine, meanwhile, keeps the Old Bastard fed and quiet in her flat, where he denies having a daughter and she has to tell him Isobel’s name; when Flyte arrives to interview her, Catherine stonewalls, repeats Lamb’s instruction to waste the Dog’s time, and lets her search the bedroom, where a radio mutters under the duvet. River reaches Victor’s cottage, hears about the men of Les Arbres and the deliberate fire, and is sent on to Natasha, a former prostitute in the next village who knew them.

Beats

C06S01 · Emma Flyte — Flyte leaves Giti Rahman locked in a reinforced-windowed safe house near Brixton market with Dempsey on the door, having told her she is awaiting instructions. In the car she decides Taverner’s warrant proves nothing about Whelan, then calls Devon Welles at the Cartwright house, who reports a car that slowed outside, a partial plate, and blood that does not match River Cartwright. She concludes there are two missing persons and turns to Lamb’s contacts.
C06S02 · River Cartwright — River comes back to himself in a French wood beside a dead rabbit and a man holding a shotgun, and manages a few words of French. The man ties the rabbit to his belt, tells him the people at Les Arbres are all gone, and leads him off along a route River cannot follow as the rain thickens.
C06S03 · Patrice — Patrice stops in a layby, spreads a map he does not need, and reasons that the police presence at the target’s house plus the absence of any confirmation means Bertrand’s parcel was probably never delivered. He reports in French, is told to try again, and ends the call. He cries briefly for Bertrand and drives back to London.
C06S04 · Moira Tregorian — Lamb takes Moira to lunch and asks why she thinks she was posted to Slough House; she talks about mess, lax standards and shenanigans, and he supplies the reason for River’s exile in the first place. He then observes that Claude Whelan sent her, one of his first acts on taking charge, and asks whether she finds that interesting. Moira realises she does not know what game she is in.
C06S05 · Catherine Standish — The Old Bastard wakes believing he used to live in Catherine’s flat and cannot hold on to who River is. She feeds him and then has to tell him that Isobel is his daughter, which he denies, quoting something Isobel once said to him. He recites the seven dwarfs and names six, and when she says River has gone to France he becomes frightened.
C06S06 · River Cartwright — Victor leads River to a modern cottage and, over tea, describes Les Arbres: eighteen or twenty men who had been there twenty-three or twenty-four years, children among them once, and a fire that started the same afternoon the cars left towards Poitiers. He cannot name a leader, thinks they were probably communists, and says the village stopped being curious years ago. He writes out directions to Natasha, who he says knew the place.
C06S07 · Catherine Standish — Flyte interviews Catherine about River and about Lamb and gets nothing but deflection, until she points out that Catherine’s resignation has stalled and that she is still on the payroll and therefore under her jurisdiction. Catherine admits Lamb was there first thing and repeats, partly cleaned up, his instruction to waste Flyte’s time. Flyte hears a noise behind the bedroom door, whips off the duvet and finds only a radio; she leaves, and a few minutes later Catherine is knocking at her neighbour Deirdre’s door.
C06S08 · River Cartwright — River limps eighty minutes to the next village, follows Victor’s directions past a garage to the cottage with the blue door and knocks. Natasha opens it, says ‘Bertrand?’ before she can stop herself, and asks who sent him. When he names Victor she tells him it is bad and invites him in.

People

Emma Flyte — runs the Rahman detention and interviews Catherine, suspecting Lamb of a game
Giti Rahman — Park analyst held in a safe house on Taverner’s order
Diana Taverner — named as the source of the warrant for Giti Rahman’s detention
Claude Whelan — named as the signatory of the warrant and as Moira’s sponsor
Jackson Lamb — takes Moira to lunch and reveals his suspicion about her posting
Moira Tregorian — new recruit learning that her assignment came from the top
Catherine Standish — harbours David Cartwright and stonewalls Flyte’s interview
David Cartwright — the Old Bastard, confused, denying his daughter and his own address
River Cartwright — in France, tracing Les Arbres through the wood and the village
Patrice — French operative who reports the failure and is ordered to try again
Bertrand — Patrice’s colleague, presumed dead after the failed attempt
Natasha Reverde — former prostitute in the next village who knew Les Arbres

Places

Les Arbres — the walled-off enclave in the woods, burned and empty

Lines worth keeping

“Claude Whelan sent you here. One of his first acts on taking charge. Don’t you think that’s interesting? Because I do.” — Jackson Lamb, to Moira Tregorian over lunch

“He has a joe in the wind, Ms. Flyte. He’ll be up to whatever he thinks necessary.” — Catherine Standish, explaining Lamb’s behaviour to Emma Flyte

“The fire, it was deliberate. They are all gone, and then it burns.” — Victor, describing the end of Les Arbres

“I don’t have a daughter.” — David Cartwright, when Catherine tells him Isobel is his daughter

Threads

Plants: The blood work rules out River, so the bathroom body is unidentified and there are two missing persons.; Patrice is ordered to attempt redelivery, so a second attack on David Cartwright is coming.; Bertrand’s death is assumed rather than confirmed, and the dead man in the bathroom has no name yet.; Victor’s account fixes Les Arbres: eighteen or twenty men, twenty-three or twenty-four years, children once, a deliberate fire the same afternoon the cars left for Poitiers.; Natasha recognised River as Bertrand and knew the commune, making her the next source.; Lamb’s remark that Whelan sent Moira to Slough House as one of his first acts makes her posting a question in its own right.; The old man’s memory slips — six of seven dwarfs, no daughter, a flat he thinks he lived in — while he insists nothing is wrong with his memory.
Payoffs: The identification Lamb made on hair and a mole is undone by the blood test, as the earlier scene allowed for.; Catherine’s stalled resignation, established when she complains of sending the letter three times, becomes Flyte’s grounds for questioning her.; Lamb’s morning visit to Catherine pays off as a deliberate instruction to occupy Flyte and buy him time.; The Old Bastard kept in Catherine’s bedroom is moved to Deirdre’s before the bedroom is searched.; Victor’s scribbled address, given at the end of the cottage scene, is followed in the final section.
Continuity: Flyte’s interview with Catherine is the same morning as Lamb’s visit, which Catherine describes as ‘first thing’; the carriage clock strikes the hour during it.; Catherine has had one text from River in four months, reading ‘Merry. Christmas.’; Catherine is still drawing a salary, which keeps her under Service jurisdiction without a warrant.; River’s route: woods near Angevin, Victor’s cottage, then eighty minutes on foot to the next village and the cottage with the blue door.; Les Arbres is burned out; its residents left by car towards Poitiers in the afternoon and the fire followed the same day.; River came to Slough House a couple of days after an incident at King’s Cross that made headlines worldwide, and was, in Lamb’s phrase, being dicked about.

Characters

Places

Les Arbres