‘Sorry – I’m just so bloody happy – this is going to make such a difference to my life!’
‘No need to apologise,’ said Strike, patting her arm as she released him. Robin went to the bar and Strike, realising he was grinning foolishly, consciously repressed his smile. He could still feel the warm shape of Robin’s body, pressed briefly against him.
20
I have forged me in sevenfold heats
A shield from foes and lovers,
And no one knows the heart that beats
Beneath the shield that covers.
<Moderator Channel>
<19 March 2015 18.25>
<Present: Anomie, Hartella>
Anomie: we’re still getting a shit ton of new people trying to get into the game.
Hartella: really?
<Worm28 has joined the channel>
Worm28: I ’ve had such a crap day
<Vilepechora has joined the channel>
Vilepechora: lol any of you on Twitter right now?
Hartella: no, why?
Vilepechora: #ExhumeLedwell’s trending
Anomie: yeah I saw that. It’s not funny
Vilepechora: I thought you’d find it fkn hysterical
Anomie: I don’t want her dug up
Vilepechora: not growing a conscience are you, bwah?
Anomie: I just want her to stay where she is and rot
Anomie: it’s Uncle Grunt we need to concentrate on now
<Fiendy1 joins the channel>
Fiendy1: are any of u on Twitter at the moment?
Vilepechora: we’ve just been talking about it, fucking hilarious but Anomie doesn’t think so
Fiendy1: it’s not hilarious it’s horrible. what if her family saw it?
Anomie: she was always telling us she didn’t have any family.
Hartella: I agree with Fiendy1, it’s horrible
>
>
Anomie: I’m not accepting any new applications til numbers drop off. Let the pigs get bored.
Fiendy1: what are you on about?
Anomie: We’re getting about 100 new applications a day atm. Police, probably. So I’m not accepting anyone new
Vilepechora: good for u mate
Fiendy1: if it’s police they could hack us
Vilepechora: nah
Vilepechora: Morehouse is supposed to have made us impregnable
Fiendy1: where is he anyway? I thought he was modding tonight?
Vilepechora: impregnating Paperwhite somewhere, probably
Worm28: Hartela swapped shifts with him because he ’s got something on
Vilepechora: got on something, more like.
Vilepechora: don’t blame him. She’s fkn gorgeous.
Fiendy1: How do u know?
Vilepechora: That’s classified
Fiendy1: I gtg
<Fiendy1 has left the channel>
Vilepechora: lol, such a little fag
Worm28: don ‘t say that
Vilepechora: can I ask u something, Worm?
Worm28: what ?
Vilepechora: why do you put a space before every punctuation mark?
Worm28: what ?
Vilepechora: like, where did you go to school?
<Worm28 has left the channel>
Vilepechora: rofl
Hartella: oh, Vile, did you have to?
Anomie: hahahaha
<A new private channel has opened>
<19 March 2015 18.30>
<Hartella invites Anomie>
Hartella: you don’t seriously think the police are trying to get in here?
<Anomie has joined the channel>
Anomie: stands to reason
Hartella: why?
Anomie: probably want to know if one of us killed Ledwell
Anomie: scared?
Hartella: why should I be scared?
Anomie: the dossier you took to Blay ‘proving’ I’m Ledwell?
>
Hartella: who told you?
Anomie: Paperwhite told Morehouse and he told me.
Anomie: it’s not a problem. I’ve had it out with LordDrek and Vile. Honest mistake.
Hartella: I thought you’d be livid.
Anomie: nah, it’s kind of funny.
Anomie: and don’t forget the silver lining
Hartella: what?
Anomie: Fedwell’s dead
Hartella: omg Anomie, don’t joke
Anomie: However, I think you should increase my percentage of the royalties as an apology
Anomie: because, let’s face it, without me you’ve got fuck all
Hartella: I’d have to talk to P
Anomie: you do that
<Hartella has left has left the channel>
21
From sleepless beds unquiet spirits rise,
And cunning wags put on their borrow’d guise…
And harmless plotters slyly take the road…
‘Bet you a tenner they’ve decided not to admit new players to Drek’s Game because they think they’re being watched by the police,’ Strike told Robin as their paths crossed at the office one Thursday lunchtime, three weeks after they’d taken on the Anomie case.
‘Yeah, I’m not taking that bet,’ said Robin, who was finishing off a sandwich at the partners’ desk, Anomie’s Twitter account on the screen in front of her.
In spite of multiple attempts by both Strike and Robin to get inside the game, they continued to be presented with the animated Harty shrugging and telling them to ‘try again, bwah’. Currently, their only hope of ruling out either Seb Montgomery or Wally Cardew was for Anomie to tweet at a moment when one of the targets was under observation and not using any digital device. This was, to say the least, an unsatisfactory situation.
‘Where are you off to?’ Robin asked Strike, who’d just dropped off his receipts to Pat and still had his coat on.
‘Taking over from Dev in fifteen minutes,’ said Strike, checking his watch. ‘I’ll be following Montgomery to yet another hipster bar this evening, I expect. I watched a couple of episodes of the cartoon last night, by the way. Thought I should, to understand what the hell we’re investigating.’