Slough House

Joe Country / C01

Chapter 1

Book 6 Part One 7720 words POV: Roderick Ho, Louisa Guy, Diana Taverner

Summary

At night the city’s lights trace its memories, and Slough House on Aldersgate Street keeps its own: rooms that once held two people now hold one. Morning brings the slow horses in to their drudgery. Roddy Ho, back in the game, rummages through the wastepaper bin of his new office-mate, Alec Wicinski, whose Service records do not exist; the pages Wicinski threw away are blank except the seventh, which reads “Fuck you, you little snoop”, and a mousetrap in the bin snaps Ho’s fingers. Louisa Guy, at the desk of the dead Min Harper, answers his old phone and is told by Clare Addison, formerly Clare Harper, that she was Min’s wife. At Regent’s Park, Diana Taverner, now First Desk, tells Emma Flyte her performance will be reappraised and offers her a sideways move to Slough House. Catherine Standish works through Louisa’s and River’s reports and remembers that Jackson Lamb shot Charles Partner in his bath; she still buys a bottle of wine each night. Shirley Dander gets nothing out of J.K. Coe and returns to Operation Scofflaw. River Cartwright keeps vigil at the nursing home where his grandfather is dying, and the O.B. dies while River dozes. Flyte refuses Taverner’s offer and walks out. At day’s end a heavy-coated figure leaves Slough House by a route it will not use again.

Beats

  • C01S01 · Narrator — The narrator describes a city that stores its memories in lighted streets, then narrows to Aldersgate Street and the shabby four-storey building that houses Slough House, a place deliberately without history. An imagined historian would find only cold radiators, thin carpets and mildewed paper. The building keeps its secrets: some rooms that held two people now hold only one. The narrator notes that snow will come before the week is out, and that the slow horses will soon arrive for another day of pointless work.
  • C01S02 · Roddy Ho — Roddy Ho, back in the game after a bad year over Kim, sorts through the wastepaper bin of his new office-mate, Alec Wicinski, who has been in Slough House two days and has already claimed half the room. Service records show no trace of Wicinski at all. The letter fragments Ho pieced together the day before were an HR notice; this morning’s pages are blank until the seventh, which says “Fuck you, you little snoop.” Reaching deeper into the bin, Ho sets off a mousetrap and screams.
  • C01S03 · Louisa Guy — Louisa Guy, alone with the two grey phones in her office, one of them on the desk of the dead Min Harper, remembers a text from River and an awkward exchange in the kitchen with the new man, whom she warned off using Clint Eastwood, Roddy Ho’s mug. She hears a shriek from Ho’s room and ignores it. When the dead man’s phone has rung five times and Lamb bellows from overhead, she answers it. The caller is Clare Addison, once Clare Harper, who says Min was her husband.
  • C01S04 · Diana Taverner — Diana Taverner, newly installed as First Desk, sits on the Hub at Regent’s Park and receives Emma Flyte, Head Dog. Taverner explains that Flyte’s last appraisal, written under Claude Whelan, was biased, and that her performance is to be reappraised. Flyte points out that she stopped the Dogs being used for First Desk’s private purposes and asks on what grounds she is being moved. Taverner offers her a sideways move: Slough House. Flyte understands, and Taverner keeps her triumph off her face.
  • C01S05 · Catherine Standish — Catherine Standish climbs the stairs of Slough House in her faded coat and dull purple hat, thinking how colour has drained from her life, and reaches her cold office to evaluate reports from Louisa Guy and River Cartwright. She notes the new boy, Lech Wicinski, and wonders what Lamb will set him to. Every night for weeks she has left the Tube a stop early to buy a bottle at the Wine Citadel, and she remembers that Lamb shot Charles Partner in his bath. She begins tidying the reports.
  • C01S06 · Shirley Dander — Shirley Dander visits J.K. Coe and gets almost nothing from him: he does not know where River is, has not spoken to the new man, and does not know what he is in for. She gives up. Back in her own room she returns to Operation Scofflaw, Lamb’s scheme to cross-reference TV licence defaulters against parking and child support offenders, which she finds pointless and offensive. She wonders what task the new man will get, then shuts her door and closes her eyes.
  • C01S07 · River Cartwright — River Cartwright has been at his grandfather’s bedside at Skylarks since before dawn, summoned by a call telling him to come soon. He remembers the O.B. teaching him in the garden and the study, and the only time he saw the old man cry, at Rose’s funeral. He texts Louisa, considers and rejects ringing his mother, and wonders whether Catherine has fallen off the wagon. He dozes, and wakes to find the machines changed: his grandfather has died. He kisses the old man’s forehead before the nurse arrives.
  • C01S08 · Emma Flyte — Emma Flyte tells Diana Taverner she assumed Slough House would be first on her list, and accuses her of having made a deal with Jackson Lamb to get rid of Claude Whelan. Taverner denies making deals, says her perspective has changed, and calls the posting a transitional arrangement that also solves Flyte’s career problem. Flyte compares her to a serial offender she once arrested, says she would burn a city down to save face, and refuses the job with an obscenity before walking out.
  • C01S09 · Narrator — The narrator describes night coming down on Slough House, ice forming on its gutters and the yellow square of its top-storey window going dark. Some minutes later a heavy-coated figure emerges from the alley, crosses the road and vanishes into the Barbican shadows, taking a different route from the night before. The building settles, its memories fading until morning, and the narrator notes that snow will swallow great swathes of the country and that Slough House will have new ghosts before it melts.

People

  • Roderick Ho — Slow horse who counts himself a player; rifles Wicinski’s bin and is caught by a mousetrap.
  • Kim Park — The woman Ho believed was his girlfriend; now, in his words, history.
  • Jackson Lamb — Head of Slough House; bellows for the phone to be answered and is the subject of Catherine’s memories.
  • Lech Wicinski — New intake, also called Lech; Ho’s office-mate, whose Service records are missing.
  • Louisa Guy — Slow horse who answers Min Harper’s old phone and takes Clare Addison’s call.
  • Min Harper — Dead colleague whose desk and phone Louisa still works beside.
  • River Cartwright — Slow horse keeping vigil at his dying grandfather’s bedside; sends Louisa a text.
  • Clare Addison — Caller who was Clare Harper; says she was Min Harper’s wife.
  • Diana Taverner — Newly appointed First Desk; reappraises Emma Flyte and posts her to Slough House.
  • Claude Whelan — Former First Desk, retired; described as an admirer of Flyte.
  • Oliver Nash — Chair of the Limitations Committee; his school history helped Taverner’s appointment.
  • Emma Flyte — Head Dog; refuses the move to Slough House and walks out.
  • Josie — Girl on the Hub whom Claude Whelan had kept an eye on.
  • Catherine Standish — Slough House administrator; buys a bottle each night and remembers Lamb shooting Charles Partner.
  • Charles Partner — Former First Desk and traitor, Catherine’s old boss; shot dead in his bath by Lamb.
  • Shirley Dander — Slow horse working Operation Scofflaw; tries and fails to talk to Coe.
  • JK Coe — Slow horse with a record of killings; answers Shirley in shrugs and shakes of the head.
  • David Cartwright — River’s grandfather, dying at Skylarks; dies while River dozes.
  • Isobel Dunstable — River’s mother, née Cartwright; has not spoken to her father in years.
  • Frank Harkness — River’s father, a renegade American spook, now in the wind.

Places

  • Slough House — The Service’s dumping ground on Aldersgate Street; four storeys, peeling paint, cold radiators.
  • Regent’s Park — Service headquarters, where Taverner holds court on the Hub and interviews Flyte.
  • Skylarks — Nursing home where River’s grandfather is dying, with winter hills beyond the window.

Lines worth keeping

“My name’s Clare Addison. That’s my name now, I mean. But I’m Clare Harper as was.” — Clare Addison, The caller identifies herself to Louisa on Min Harper’s old line.

“I’m First Desk, Ms. Flyte. I don’t have to make deals with anyone.” — Diana Taverner, Flyte accuses her of having done a deal with Lamb.

“No, I think Slough House is the perfect place for you, in the circumstances.” — Diana Taverner, The sideways move she has in mind for the Head Dog.

“With the greatest lack of respect, ma’am, fuck you. And fuck your job.” — Emma Flyte, Her answer to the posting, before she leaves the interview.

“Why the hell had the stupid bastard thrown away a perfectly good mousetrap?” — Narrator, Ho, fingers throbbing, looks at what is dangling from his hand.

“His grandfather had crossed the border.” — Narrator, River realises the machines have stopped charting progress.

Threads

  • Plants: Taverner offers Emma Flyte a sideways move to Slough House.; Wicinski’s Service records do not exist, and someone left him blank pages, a typed “Fuck you, you little snoop” and a mousetrap.; Clare Addison rings Min Harper’s old desk asking for help.; Catherine buys a bottle of wine every night; River can smell only soap on her.; A heavy-coated figure leaves Slough House each night by a different route.; Snow is forecast before the week’s end.
  • Payoffs: Catherine’s long-held suspicion is confirmed on the page: Lamb shot Charles Partner in his bath.; The dead man whose desk Louisa works at is named as Min Harper.
  • Continuity: Wicinski has been in Slough House two days; Ho’s fingers are injured by the mousetrap.; Louisa hears a shriek from Ho’s room twenty minutes before the phone rings.; River’s grandfather dies at Skylarks; River has texted Louisa but not his mother.; Taverner is First Desk; Claude Whelan has retired.

Characters

Places