As it happened, I’d already been planning for just this sort of eventuality. But I’d counted on having more time to butter up Nightingale first.
I said I would certainly be round to get her just as soon as I cleared some things with my boss. The Inspector thanked me and wished me a Happy New Year.
29
Mornington Crescent
I found Abigail in an interview room eating Burger King and reading a month-old copy of Jackie. The BTP had discovered her in the tunnel under my old school committing an act of vandalism. By rights she should have been returned home in disgrace with possible charges pending, but she’d dropped my name and the BTP had been seized by the spirit of goodwill or, more likely, a desire to avoid the paperwork involved.
I sat down opposite her and we stared at each other – she broke first.
‘I was finishing off the graffiti,’ she said. ‘You know the one the ghost was writing. In the tunnel where the Hogwarts Express goes. Before he’s, you know, squished—’
‘Why?’
‘I reckoned that if he got his message out he might get closure and move on,’ she said.
I didn’t ask where she thought the ghost would move on to.
‘I thought it would be a nice Christmassy thing to do,’ she said.
‘It’s the day after Boxing Day,’ I said.
‘We had to spend Christmas with Uncle Bob in Waltham Forest,’ she said. ‘I got a new coat – like it?’
It was blue, quilted and several sizes too big.
‘I’ve got you a Christmas present, too,’ I said.
‘Really?’ she said, and then gave me a suspicious look. ‘What kind of present?’
I handed it over and watched while she meticulously unpeeled the Sellotape before removing and neatly folding the paper. I’d given her a Moleskine reporter-style notebook that looks almost exactly the kind of black notebook that everyone thinks the police use, only we don’t. And even if we did, we’d be much too cheap to buy Moleskines – we’d get them from Niceday instead.
‘What am I supposed to do with this?’ she asked.
‘You’re going to make notes in it,’ I said. ‘Anything you notice that you think is unusual or interesting—’
‘Like the ghost?’
‘Like the ghost,’ I said. ‘Except that you’re not to get on the train tracks, or break into private property or stay out all night, or put yourself in danger in any shape or form.’
‘Can I bunk off school?’ she asked.
‘No, you cannot bunk off school.’
‘I’m not sure I’m really understanding the positive aspects of this arrangement,’ said Abigail.
‘Every Saturday you come down to my office in Russell Square and we go over your notes and we develop action plans based on what you’ve observed,’ I said.
‘That sounds exciting,’ said Abigail.
‘Which will include follow-up investigations and joint field trips to verify any information you bring back.’ I gave her a moment to decode what I’d said. ‘Is that a bit more appealing?’
Nightingale had been horrified by the whole idea when I broached it before coming down to make the pitch.
‘What are you proposing?’ he’d asked. ‘A Girl Guides troop?’
I told him that that was an absurd notion, not least because we’d never satisfy the health and safety requirements for running a troop of Girl Guides. Nightingale said that health and safety was not the point.
‘Think of it as a boxing club,’ I said. ‘You know the boys are going to smack each other in the face anyway, so you might as well channel it into something disciplined. Abigail’s going to be out there looking, so we might as well make use of it, and at least this way we can keep an eye on her.’
Nightingale couldn’t argue with the logic, but he put his foot down on one issue. ‘You are not to teach anybody magic,’ he said. ‘In the first instance you’re far too reckless in who you expose to the art, and in the second you just aren’t qualified to teach. Anyone learning from you is bound to pick up your sloppy form and those embellishments you find so amusing. So I want you to swear now, as my apprentice, that you will not pass on the art to another without my express permission.’
I so swore.
‘If it becomes necessary I will teach Abigail the forms and wisdoms myself,’ he said, and then smiled. ‘Perhaps she’ll prove a more diligent student than yourself in any case.’
Now I watched as Abigail shifted in her seat while she gave the proposition some thought.
‘Do I get badges?’ she asked.
‘What?’
‘Badges,’ she said. ‘You know like in the Guides like Fire Safety and First Aid or Party Planner.’
‘Party Planner – what’s that for?’
‘What do you think it’s for?’
‘Do you want badges?’
Abigail bit her lip. ‘Nah,’ she said. ‘That would be stupid.’
Which was a pity, I thought, badges might be fun, Fireball Proficiency, Werelight, Latin and the ever-popular Fatal Brain Haemorrhage. ‘Do we have a deal or not?’
‘Deal,’ she said, we shook on it and I drove her home.
On the way she asked if she could tell me something even if sounded stupid. I reassured her that she could tell me anything. ‘And I promise not to laugh,’ I said. ‘Unless it’s funny.’
‘When I was down under the school,’ she said. ‘I met a talking fox.’
‘A talking fox?’
‘Yeah.’
I thought about that for a bit.
‘Was it really talking?’ I asked. ‘Like words coming out of its mouth?’
‘It was talking,’ she said. ‘Believe it.’
‘Really? What did it say?’
‘Tell your friends they’re on the wrong side of the river.’
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank Bob Hunter, Camilla Lawrence, Ian Lawson and Caroline Dunne of the MPS; Ramsey Allen from TFL and Jamie Wragg of Central Saint Martins for all their help and patience. Any factual errors in the text are, of course, mine.
Also by Ben Aaronovitch from Gollancz:
Rivers of London
Moon Over Soho
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Whispers Under Ground rol-3 Page 31
