81
… golden gates between us stretch,
Truth opens her forbidding eyes…
<A new private channel has opened>
<6 June 2015 23.30>
<Morehouse invites Paperwhite>
<Paperwhite joins the channel>
Paperwhite: you’ve seen? Aobut Ledwell’s boyfriend?
Morehouse: literally 2 mins ago
Morehouse: been in the lab all afternoon
Morehouse: jesus. I can’t get my head round it
Paperwhite: now what?
Morehouse: I don’t know
Paperwhite: the police won’t have arrested him for nothing
Morehouse: no
Morehouse: but they haven’t charged him yet
Paperwhite: Mouse, do you WANT Anomie to have killed her?
Morehouse: bloody hell, of course I don’t
Morehouse: but explain Vilepechora
Paperwhite: maybe that was completely unconnected
Paperwhite: maybe NONE of it’s been Anomie!
Morehouse: if they charge Ormond, all we’ll know is that A didn’t stab Ledwell and Blay
Paperwhite: but babe, if he didn’t stab them, where was his motive for attacking Vilepechora?
>
Morehouse: I don’t know
Morehouse: maybe I’ve just spent so many hours worrying myself sick he’s done it all I’m finding it hard to adjust
>
Morehouse: have you noticed anything funny about him on the mod channel recently?
Paperwhite: more than usual, you mean?
Morehouse: twice, instead of typing ‘oderint dum metuant’ he’s typed ‘oderum dum mentum’
Paperwhite: so?
Morehouse: so that’s not like him
Paperwhite: maybe he was drunk?
Morehouse: and a couple of nights ago, when you weren’t on, he agreed with BorkledDrek that All-Star Batman and Robin was actually very good.
Paperwhite: so?
Morehouse: so that’s like Nigel Farage saying what England really needs is a hundred thousand Turkish immigrants
Paperwhite: lol
Morehouse: it’s odd
Paperwhite: maybe he was trying to schmooze BorkledDrek?
Morehouse: Anomie doesn’t schmooze anyone
Morehouse: He thinks we’re there to schmooze him, not the other way round
Paperwhite: lol true
Morehouse: well if Ormond’s charged, it’ll be a massive fuckign relief
Morehouse: but even the fact I thought Anomie might’ve done it has been a wake up call for me
Morehouse: I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what he was doing to Ledwell
Morehouse: harassing her and posting her address and the rest of it
Morehouse: I don’t like myself very much when I think about it all
Morehouse: I should’ve stopped him. I made excuses for him in my head
Morehouse: Nicole, even if Ormond killed her, I’m leaving and I think you should too. Anomie and this game are bad news
Paperwhite: yeah
Paperwhite: I’ve been thinking the same thing
Paperwhite: God it’ll be weird without the game in my life though
Paperwhite: I’ll probaby just text you all day and night instead
Morehouse: suits me
Paperwhite: <3
Morehouse: so…
Paperwhite: ???
Morehouse: I think we should Facetime
Paperwhite: OMFG!!!!!
Morehouse: now?
Paperwhite: I can’t believe this
Paperwhite: will you tell me who Anomie is as well?
Morehouse: why the fuck not
Morehouse: no hang on
Paperwhite: MOUSE YOU CAN’T SAY THAT THEN CALL IT OFF
Morehouse: no, someone’s at my door
Morehouse: give me a mo
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82
Girls blush sometimes because they are alive,
Half wishing they were dead to save the shame…
They have drawn too near the fire of life, like gnats,
And flare up bodily, wings and all.
Robin was so anxious not to miss the opportunity to speak to Rachel Ledwell that she and Strike were on the road again by eight o’clock the following morning. The sky was cloudless, and both were soon squinting in the dazzling sunlight, Robin now regretting that she hadn’t bought sunglasses back in Whitstable.
Strike, who’d recharged his e-cigarette overnight, took occasional unenthusiastic drags on it as they drove up the M11. When he wasn’t vaping, he watched Drek’s Game, into which he’d logged before they got into the car. He was having some difficulty moving Buffypaws around, because he had to use his left hand. His right was needed to press down hard on his thigh, because his stump had again woken him by spasming, and was still trying to jerk around of its own accord. In consequence, he’d reluctantly eschewed the full English offered by the Marine Hotel, instead opting for porridge and fruit salad.
‘Is Anomie in?’ Robin asked.
‘Nope,’ said Strike.
‘Any moderators?’
‘Paperwhite and BorkledDrek. Mind you, we’ve got nobody watching Kea Niven or Tim Ashcroft at the moment, so even if Anomie turns up we’re not going to be able to rule either of them in or out. Fucking Nutley,’ said Strike. ‘I hope he asks for a reference, because I’ll give him one he won’t forget in a fucking hurry.’
A twenty-minute silence followed, until Strike, profoundly bored with the game, logged out of it and picked up his e-cigarette again.
‘How d’you manage to not gain weight, doing this job?’ he asked Robin.
‘What?’ asked Robin, whose attention was mostly concentrated on the questions she was intending to ask Rachel Ledwell, assuming she turned up. ‘Oh… well, I plan a bit. Try and take healthy stuff with me when I’m doing surveillance, so I don’t end up grabbing chocolate to keep myself going.’