‘I take it that would be me,’ said Nightingale.
‘Just so long as it’s not me,’ said Lesley.
‘I’m not sure I can see this working,’ said Nightingale. ‘Henry Pyke has no reason to engineer an encounter with us, however well we fit his little play.’
Dr Walid put his finger on the script and said, ‘Punch asks, “And who sent for you?” to which the constable replies, “I’m sent for you.” Punch doesn’t get a choice; this is his destiny catching up with him. “I don’t want the constable,” he says.’
‘I think you’ve got Punch all wrong,’ said Lesley. ‘You’re assuming he’s like a kind of supernatural serial killer who’s locked into acting out a Punch and Judy show. But what if he’s something else?’
‘Like what?’ I asked.
‘Like the manifestation of a social trend, crime and disorder, a sort of super-chav. The spirit of riot and rebellion in the London mob.’
We all looked at her in amazement.
‘You forget I did A levels too, you know,’ said Lesley.
‘Do you have another plan?’ I asked.
‘No,’ said Lesley. ‘I just want you to be careful. Just because you think you know what you’re doing doesn’t mean you actually know what you’re doing.’
‘I’m glad we’ve clarified that,’ I said.
‘You’re welcome,’ she said. ‘Even if you catch up with Henry, what then?’
It was a good question – I looked at Nightingale.
‘I can track his spirit,’ said Nightingale. ‘If I get close enough I can track him all the way back to his old bones.’
‘And then what?’ asked Lesley.
I looked at Nightingale. ‘We dig them up and grind them into dust, mix them with rock salt and then scatter them out at sea,’ I said.
‘And that’ll work?’ she asked.
‘Has before,’ said Dr Walid.
‘You’ll need a warrant,’ said Lesley.
‘We don’t need a warrant for a ghost,’ I said.
Lesley grinned and pushed the script over to my side of the table. She tapped the page with her spoon and I read the line: Constable: Don’t tell me. You have committed murder, and I have a warrant for you. ‘If you want to play the part, you’re going to need all the props.’
‘A warrant for a ghost,’ I said.
‘That at least will not pose a difficulty,’ said Nightingale. ‘Although it does mean we’ll have to postpone the capture operation until late tonight.’
‘You’re going ahead with this?’ asked Lesley. She looked at me with concern. I gave my best shot at insouciance, but I suspect it came out looking more like unfounded optimism.
‘I believe, Constable, that this is our only option,’ said Nightingale. ‘I’d be most grateful if you could brief Inspector Seawoll and ask him to stand ready in Covent Garden at eleven.’
‘As late as that?’ I asked. ‘Henry Pyke might not wait that long.’
‘We won’t get our warrant until eleven at the earliest,’ said Nightingale.
‘And if this doesn’t work?’
‘Then it’ll be Lesley’s turn to come up with a plan,’ said Nightingale.
We drove back to the Folly, where Nightingale vanished into the magic library, presumably to bone up on his revenant-tracking spells, while I went upstairs to my room and took my uniform out of the cupboard. I had to hunt around for my helmet, and eventually found it under the bed with my silver whistle, absurdly still part of the modern uniform, inside. Since my latest phone hadn’t survived Tyburn’s fountain I retrieved the police-issue Airwave from my desk and slotted in its batteries. As I packed it in my carryall with my uniform jacket I realised that the room still looked like somebody’s spare bedroom, somewhere I was just staying in until something better came along.
I slung the carryall over my shoulder and turned to find Molly watching me from the doorway. She cocked her head to one side.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘But we’ll be eating out.’
She frowned.
‘I’m the one who’s going to be out front,’ I said, but it didn’t seem to impress her. ‘He’ll be fine.’
She gave me a last sceptical look before gliding away. By the time I was out of my room she was nowhere to be seen. I went downstairs and waited for Nightingale in the reading room. He emerged half an hour later dressed in his ‘working’ suit and carrying his cane. He asked me whether I was ready, and I said that I was.