Seb
Who they are
Peter Judd’s fixer: sleek, quiet, and kept for the jobs that leave no paperwork — watching a Second Desk officer drink in a pub, putting her into a cab, and, when the Home Secretary decides that Jackson Lamb has become a liability, walking into Slough House at night to kill him. He is given no surname and almost no dialogue. He is defined by being the thing Judd sends.
Book 3 — Real Tigers
- C09 — Judd, told that Tearney has him by the throat, telephones Sebastian and reflects that a more permanent solution may be needed.
- C13 — Sits in the corner of a pub off Great Portland Street, watching Diana Taverner drink, and does not approach her.
- C14 — Collects her: takes her elbow as she leaves the pub and bundles her into a cab, on Judd’s instruction.
- C16 — Climbs to the closed door on the top floor of Slough House, and is shot dead by a Lamb who is awake with his gun in his hand.
Tells
The sleekness, which is the word the chapters use for him every time. The patience of a man who waits in a corner rather than at a table. The absence of anything to say, and the hand on the elbow instead of a threat.
Open questions
What Judd offered him for a killing, and how often he had done this before — the book never distinguishes a first assignment from a habit. And whether his death closes Judd’s interest in Slough House or merely changes the method.