A plastic sheet lay across the centre circle. This was a dream, so he wouldn’t be disturbing evidence, therefore he lifted up the corner of it. Underneath were the splintered remains of Losley. The clothing had been ripped up, and much of the body had been too. The intestines were spread out and had burst under people’s boots. There was shit, blood and offal fanning out. There was nothing left of the eyes. The skin was burst open all over, where every blow had fallen. The heart lay as an explosion of meat across her broken chest. It looked as if they had even taken some of her bones. There was still something of the Sight about her, only slightly. But, as Quill watched, the sparks of information that had been written into her and into London, all those centuries ago, slowly became as mundane as the frosty grass on which she lay.
‘It wasn’t a suicide,’ said Ross.
Sefton looked startled, as if he hadn’t expected anyone to speak in his dream. ‘What?’
‘She came here with one last, desperate wish, thinking she’d find at least some love. But by then that had all gone. When she went for one of their own players she became “the other”. That’s how they’re always going to see the people who deal with this stuff. If we keep seeing it, if we keep having to deal with it, we’ll never be cheered on as witch hunters. Even if we wanted to be. Because we’re the other now.’
‘So no change there,’ said Costain.
‘You know,’ said Sefton, ‘that this is my dream?’
Ross blinked. ‘No, it’s mine.’
‘Mine,’ said Quill and Costain together, and looked at each other.
‘Oh,’ said Sefton, looking around fearfully, ‘this isn’t a dream at all, is it? Not really. I mean, it’s in our heads, but-’ They instinctively drew closer, forming a copper’s square, back to backs, Ross doing it as second nature now.
‘Hullo, Tone, Kev,’ said a voice from right beside them.
He stepped out of nothing. He was wearing a shabby suit, and had small burns on his hands and face.
‘Well, well,’ said Quill, ‘Rob Toshack. Fancy seeing you here.’
Ross took her time in looking Toshack up and down. It occurred to her that maybe there was something to be said for this world in which they found themselves, if there was the possibility of some justice in it. Or after it. But, then, if it was justice at the hands of the smiling man, then it was no justice at all — not with this man and her dad lumped in together. She was sad to find she still hated him, even with him now looking so pathetic. She still didn’t feel let off the hook, she’d wanted him in their hands. Under her judgement. She kept her face an impassive mask.
‘Yeah,’ said Toshack, noting their expressions, ‘I suppose what goes around does come around.’
‘You’re in Hell, then,’ said Ross.
‘Yeah, and I must say, it’s. .’ he had to think for a moment ‘. . way beyond anything you might assume it is. It’s like. . the first time you come, pardon my French, the first time you fuck, the first time you break a bone. A whole different thing.’
‘So this visit is a bit of a holiday for you? Let’s not stretch it out too long.’
‘I’ll be seeing you soon, girl — after the betrayal and all.’ He glanced at Sefton and Costain. ‘You two and all.’
‘Yeah, but you would say that, wouldn’t you?’
Quill stepped between them. ‘Why are you here?’
‘My boss sent me, to offer you your reward.’
‘We know who he is,’ said Sefton. ‘We know how that story goes. We don’t take gifts from him.’
‘He said that’s what you’d say. Sends his regards to you, especially. And, may I say, I never had you for a poofter, Kevin. Came as quite a surprise, that one.’
Sefton kept his silence.
‘No, you see, it wouldn’t really be a gift. You did him a favour by getting rid of Losley. You’ve actually helped him in this whole process he’s putting together. And, like any good head of the firm, he don’t see why people who’ve got nothing to do with it. . ’cos you haven’t, have you, not really, and you’re just a bunch of coppers. . he don’t see why you should have to worry yourself about it. Anyhow, the way he sees it, he owes you. All you have to do is ask, and he’ll take the Sight away from you. Now, wait a sec.’ He held up his hand, as if requiring silence. ‘It has to be from all of you, or none at all.’
There was silence.
‘We could take a vote on it-’ began Costain.
‘This isn’t a democracy,’ said Quill, ‘but all right.’
‘-and I vote,’ Costain finished, ‘we keep it.’
Toshack looked surprised. ‘If you keep the Sight,’ he said, ‘something will get you.’
Costain strode forward and glared at him. ‘Not if we get it first. I’m not going to end up in Hell, whatever that takes. I’m going to need to see what’s coming after me.’
Toshack, a mocking smile on his lips, glanced to the others. ‘Boys and girls, trust me, I’ve seen it all now. So far, you’ve only run into a fraction of what’s out there. You’re joining the game long after my boss has moved the goalposts. It’s all going his way.’
‘This is something I can do,’ said Sefton. ‘Something I’m well into now. It’s given me a voice. I’m not losing that. So I vote keep it.’
And then Quill looked to Ross. ‘What about you?’
She’d worked out her own answer, way back. Looking at Toshack now just made her more certain. ‘There’s something I have to do, and I’m going to need the Sight to do it.’
‘What would that be, then, girl?’ asked Toshack. Was it her imagination or did he actually look worried?
‘That, you fucker,’ she said, ‘is an operational matter.’
Quill had felt relieved that the others had said it first. But now Rob Toshack had turned to him, and he considered his words for a second. ‘The attestation we read out when we become coppers,’ he said, ‘it says we’ll do our duty to “the best of our skill and knowledge”. You see what that means for us lot? Even if we can’t see it, this stuff would still be going on. We’d know it was going on. We’d hear about something mad and think “Oh, is it that?” We’d know there were leads we couldn’t follow, evidence we couldn’t see. Someday we might find a body, or lose a mate, and know that whoever did that was definitively out of our reach. Already, we’ve acted on intel concerning major crimes, found a way to approach an operation, sourced information, planted an informer and, whether or not we caught our suspect, closed the case and achieved four of our operational objectives. We nearly had her.’ He walked up to Toshack and put his finger under his nose. ‘And, however much front your boss is putting up now, about this all being his game, about how he owes us a favour. . well, we know how reliable a source he is, don’t we? If this is the Old Bill versus Old Nick, we’ll have him too, sunshine. You tell him that, eh?’
Toshack looked back at them almost sadly, as if they’d chosen the most awful path. Ross saw an echo of her dad’s pain in his face. But she held herself steady. ‘All right, then,’ Toshack said finally. ‘All right. You’ll still find you’ve got an appointment with him.’ He turned, took a last look at them, and walked off into the darkness. A second later, his guised dignity vanished into a scuffle and a scream.
Ross felt pleasure at the closeness of the other three, as if they were standing around the kettle in the Portakabin, instead of inside who-knew-what in some cosmic who-knew-where.
‘What’s this plan of yours,’ asked Quill, ‘that you need the Sight for?’
‘Hostage situation,’ said Lisa Ross. ‘In the fullness of time, I’m going to propose an operation to get my dad out of Hell.’
And then she woke up.
It was daylight. A nurse came over to check her vital signs on the monitor. ‘We didn’t expect you to be awake yet.’