The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell Read Free Book Online

the case, ’cos it’s going to be hard to nick a manifestation of the collective unconscious.’
    Sefton had something to add.‘All the “ghosts”’ – he made the speech marks gesture – ‘we’ve seen have been really passive.Everything “remembered” as part of what seems to be a sort of collective memory on the part of London just kind of hangs around, in classic haunting fashion.They didn’t hurt anyone.Not even the remembered versions of Losley.’
    ‘So maybe one of the protestors has made a sacrifice and is deliberately making this happen,’ said Costain.
    ‘Absolutely.’Sefton was glad to hear Costain making deductions like that about his world.Sefton couldn’t do this bit alone, and it always pleased him when the others had a go.He was the opposite to Ross in that respect because his speciality was bloody terrifying and hers wasn’t.‘But Losley was very set in her ways and didn’t acknowledge things she didn’t approve of or know about.She didn’t mention various powerful items, for instance, like the vanes that were used to attack Jimmy.I don’t think we should imagine she knew or was telling us about every mechanism that exists to do … the sort of stuff we know objects that are very London can do.Speaking of which…’ He stepped forward and added, down the left-hand side of the board, in the space which their team and only their team used for concepts, ‘Cold residuals.Meaning that silver goo.’
    ‘But which now sounds like something you’d need to talk to your agent about,’ said Quill.
    ‘Nobody outside the car saw anything,’ said Ross.‘Nobody felt the suspect move through or above the crowd.Tunstall’s testimony is what you’d expect of someone who was watching an attack by an invisible assailant.And I should add…’ She used her own pen to write ‘Can walk through walls (slowly)’ under the cartoon of the prime suspect.
    ‘Like Losley,’ said Costain.
    She also added ‘Can vanish’.
    ‘And again.’
    ‘Remind me to cover that up at the end of the day,’ said Quill.‘We don’t want to terrify the cleaners.’He paused as he stepped back from what was once again a blankness.‘We need to do proper police work on what’s up there,’ he said.‘We need to find meaning, a narrative.We work our three suspects: in the real world and in what, horribly, I’m starting to think of as our world.’
    Sefton saw that now was the time to announce the plan he’d been putting together.He was a bit proud of this, the sort of cross-discipline package that, in normal police work, would have been a boost to his CV.Now Lofthouse had made it obvious that she was aware of what they did – whatever the implications of that were – it might still be a good career move.‘I’ve been assembling a list of people who seem to be on the fringes of the subculture we encountered at that New Age fair.I know a few places where they hang out.I could start to attempt undercover contact, get some sources for general background on all this stuff and work towards specifics concerning the Spatley case, if you think it’s time to risk all that.’
    ‘I do.’Quill nodded.‘Go forth and make it so, my son.’He turned back to the wall and began pinning up a big sheet of paper on the right of the board.‘And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for … operational objectives!’He picked up a marker and began to write.
1. Ensure the safety of the public.
2. Gather evidence of offences.
3. Identify and trace subject or subjects involved (if any).
4. Identify means to arrest subject or subjects.
5. Arrest subject or subjects.
6. Bring to trial/destroy.
7. Clear those not involved of all charges.
    ‘Maybe it’s a bit vague,’ he admitted, standing back to admire his work, ‘but for us it’s always going to be.Even writing the word “destroy”…’ He let himself trail off.‘But that’s how it is for us.And, of course, this list mirrors the objectives of Forrest’s SCD 1 murder