Spook Street / C14
Chapter 14
Summary
On a dazzle ship moored off the South Bank, Frank tells River that he is his father and offers him a job, calling Slough House a cul de sac; River refuses the offer and demands to know what set the past days in motion, then works out that Westacres was the trigger. At Slough House, Catherine takes in the aftermath of the attack: Marcus Longridge and Bad Sam Chapman are dead, Patrice is cuffed to a radiator with his jaw wrecked by Lamb, and Ho traces the single number called from Patrice’s phone. Lamb phones Louisa, drinking off Pentonville with Emma, and orders her to the Embankment without saying why. Frank calls Westacres an exercise in what is possible and blames a man who went over the edge; when River refuses to join him and says he is taking him in, Frank embraces and kisses him, then throws him into the Thames. Shirley is talked out of shooting Patrice by Catherine, but hands the gun to Coe, who shoots the prisoner three times. Louisa learns of Marcus’s death and drives to Blackfriars Bridge; she dives in after River while Emma chases and arrests the older man on a maintenance platform. River is pulled ashore and comes round to Louisa’s rebuke.
Beats
- C14S01 · River Cartwright — Frank tells River that he is his father, that he was CIA ‘back in the day’, and that River is wasted at Slough House, offering him a place in what began at Les Arbres. River rejects the recruitment and demands to know what made Frank burn his house down and send a man after his grandfather. Frank refers to ’this past couple of days’ as though River already knows the answer, and River realises that he does.
- C14S02 · Catherine — Catherine surveys the aftermath: Marcus Longridge and Bad Sam Chapman are dead, Patrice is bound to the radiator with his face broken by Lamb, and his pockets have been emptied onto River’s desk. Lamb refuses to call the Park until he decides to, and Ho quietly lifts Patrice’s mobile. Ho reports that only one number has been called from it and Lamb tells him to trace it; upstairs, Moira Tregorian has fainted and David Cartwright has been given whisky.
- C14S03 · Louisa Guy — Louisa, in a bar off Pentonville with Emma, takes a call from Lamb and is ordered to the Embankment without being told what has happened. She reads his tone as meaning someone is dead or worse, and deliberately fills her mind with the drive and the rain. She collects Emma and nudges her boxed-in car free.
- C14S04 · River Cartwright — River names Westacres as the thing that started it, punches Frank twice and calls him a lunatic. Frank describes Westacres as an exercise in what is possible and says the man responsible went over the edge, then asks River what he intends to do. River says he is taking him in; Frank asks for ten minutes, seizes him in an embrace, kisses him on the lips and throws him over the wall into the Thames.
- C14S05 · Shirley Dander — Shirley stands over Patrice with his gun, worn out and unable to stop seeing the mess behind Marcus’s head. Lamb tells her that if she wants to ‘discuss matters’ with the prisoner she may, then leaves for a cigarette with Ho, and Catherine takes a call from Louisa upstairs. Coe refuses to leave his own office, and when he asks whether she really wants to do this, she does.
- C14S06 · Louisa Guy — Louisa learns from Lamb that Marcus and Bad Sam Chapman are both dead, and drives to Blackfriars Bridge through roadworks, smashing through bollards to stop. Witnesses at the dazzle ship’s jetty say an older man threw a younger, fair-haired man into the river. Louisa sends Emma after the older man and, stripping off her coat and shoes, jumps in herself.
- C14S07 · River Cartwright — River hits the water, loses all sense of direction and finds his shoes, coat and limbs dragging him down. He stops fighting, breathes water in, and finds himself, to his relief, apparently rising.
- C14S08 · Emma — Emma runs the older man down under Blackfriars Bridge, loses him on the bridge itself and deduces he has jumped to a maintenance platform beside the river. She follows, confronts him, and fires a warning shot that tears her own coat when he swings at her. Armed police with laser sights arrive from the bridge and she drops Devon’s weapon, then vomits on the decking.
- C14S09 · Shirley Dander — Catherine argues Shirley out of executing Patrice, insisting it would be an execution rather than an op and would never let her sleep. Coe offers his hand; Shirley lowers the gun into it, and Coe shoots Patrice three times in the chest and hands the weapon back to her.
- C14S10 · River Cartwright — River comes round on wet pavement, vomiting Thames water, and finds Louisa’s face inches from his. She says nothing about the rescue except to tell him to pick up a phone in future, then pulls away and leaves him looking at the rain.
People
- Frank Harkness — claims River as his son, defends Westacres, offers him a job and throws him in the river before leaving.
- JK Coe — binds Patrice to the radiator, stands watch, and shoots the prisoner once Shirley gives him the gun.
- Patrice — the captured attacker, cuffed to a radiator, silent under questioning and finally shot dead.
- Shirley Dander — holds Patrice at gunpoint, is talked out of killing him and gives the gun to Coe instead.
- Moira Tregorian — faints on being let in and is put upstairs with a whisky.
- Emma Flyte — drives with Louisa, then chases and arrests the older man on the river platform.
Places
- Les Arbres — the operation Frank says he was running, and the thing River is invited to join.
- Slough House — the office where the two dead lie and Patrice is held.
- Regent’s Park — headquarters, which Catherine wants called and Lamb will not call yet.
Lines worth keeping
“Are you about to offer me a job? Because sending someone to kill my grandfather’s a hell of a recruitment strategy. Or did you get your definitions of headhunting confused?” — River Cartwright, to Frank, after Frank calls Slough House a dead end.
“You’re wasted where you are.” — Frank Harkness, opening his pitch to River on the dazzle ship.
“This isn’t an op. It would be an execution.” — Catherine Standish, trying to stop Shirley shooting the bound Patrice.
“In future,” she told him, “pick up a fucking phone, yeah?” — Louisa Guy, greeting River on the Embankment after pulling him from the river.
Threads
- Plants: Frank refuses to be taken in and tells River ‘We’ll talk again’, leaving his escape and any future approach open.; Coe’s three shots at a bound prisoner create a problem the office will have to explain.; Shirley gives up the gun but not the want; her exhaustion and anger are left unresolved.; Ho pockets Patrice’s mobile and is told to trace its single called number — the result is not shown in these chapters.; River now knows Frank is his father and that Westacres was a Harkness operation.
- Payoffs: Westacres, previously unexplained, is identified as one of Frank’s dry runs that a man turned live.; The attack on Slough House is accounted for: Marcus Longridge and Bad Sam Chapman are confirmed dead and Patrice is taken alive.; River’s pursuit of Frank resolves into confirmation that Frank is his father, which Frank states outright.; Louisa’s and Emma’s day ends in the chase Lamb’s summons sent them on.
- Continuity: Two Slough House dead: Marcus Longridge and Bad Sam Chapman; Patrice is alive and captive at the chapter’s end.; Patrice carries a passport in the name Paul Wayne, euros and sterling, a mobile phone and a chunnel ticket.; Lamb returns to Slough House with a bottle and uses it on Patrice; he refuses to let anyone call the Park until he says so.; Shirley turned the office heating off earlier at Catherine’s request, which is why Patrice is not burned by the radiator.; Emma is carrying Devon’s Service weapon; River has neither gun nor phone on the dazzle ship.; The man Emma arrests on the maintenance platform is never named in the text; C15’s account of Frank slipping the leash implies, but does not state, that it was Frank.