Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch

Author:Ben Aaronovitch
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781473226708
Publisher: Orion

11

Communication

Police work can be frustratingly slow at times – you’re always hanging around waiting for backup or a prisoner van or forensics, or for a suspect to arrive home, or just sometimes waiting for a witness to calm down enough to give a statement. Police work out of your area can be even slower because you have to keep explaining things to senior officers who have never heard of you and have their own problems, thank you very much, without a bunch of Londoners turning up and telling them what to do. According to Caroline, Seawoll’s accent grew noticeably more regional during these conversations, see-sawing between Glossop, Bolton and Stockport with occasional pure Manc when he was swearing. To be honest, it all sounded the same to me. But I’m a soft southerner so what do I know?

One thing you learn early on in your career is how to fit refs into your shift. Especially now that senior management have decided to reduce the influence of ‘canteen culture’ by closing all the canteens. I can live without the racism and the misogyny, but I miss the food – and the camaraderie, of course.

These days you can drop a copper anywhere and they will have sussed out the nearest and most economical takeaway, greasy spoon, kebab shop or, if all else fails, fake KFC establishment. Out here on the outskirts of Glossop, and far from civilisation, we were treated to a Grace Yutani special – which seemed to be pan-fried tofu in a teriyaki sauce with rice and steamed mini-broccolis.

‘What about the ladies?’ I asked, as I helped Caroline lay the table.

‘They don’t eat tofu,’ said Caroline, ‘and they’re perfectly capable of feeding themselves.’

I immediately thought of soup bowls full of raw meat, and it must have shown on my face because Caroline laughed.

‘They’re not obligate carnivores and they definitely have to cook their food,’ she said. ‘The bastard didn’t alter their biochemistry that far. The evil fucker was only interested in surface appearances anyway.’

We ate in silence so that Caroline and Grace could use both hands for eating. Before we’d finished, Seawoll got a call that the GMP were about to arrive at the bottom of the hill to start their evidence sweep and house-to-house inquiries. Pausing only to finish his rice, my rice and the leftovers in the pot, he left and took Danni with him.

This suited me because I wanted to talk to Grace and I didn’t think she’d talk with Seawoll in the room. I wanted to know if she knew why the remaining leadership of the Sons of Wayland had kept their new archive secret from the Folly.

‘There were plenty of senior practitioners left at the Folly in 1946,’ I said. ‘Ones that hadn’t been on active duty. I’m guessing this was true of the Sons of Wayland, too.’

‘Not so many Sons,’ Grace signed. ‘Many of the senior masters were killed when their headquarters was bombed.’

‘I heard about that,’ I said. ‘Unlucky.’

‘Maybe not luck,’ signed Grace. ‘Maybe treachery.

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