That’s me, screaming. I am not a fan of impromptu body piercings, and the stupid little hairball is sharp. Luckily I’m wearing jeans and a padded coat against the cold, so once the self-propelled barbed wire makes it past my belt line it’s just a weight. It gloms onto my chest, shivering, and I wrap an arm around it as I raise my warrant card and tell the night watchman to piss off. Starving, cold, and the cat’s just met a zombie: I resign myself to an inevitable trip to the Battersea Cats and Dogs Home at lunchtime. Maybe I can delegate it to someone . . .

“Ooh, isn’t she cute?” I blink at Trish as I pass the reception area. She’s in work uncharacteristically early. “I didn’t know you had a pet, Mr. Howard!”

“I don’t,” I tell her, and feel like a shit as her face falls. “It just followed me inside.”

“Oh, that’s a shame.” Trish blinks a couple of times. “Do you think she’s a stray?”

“Might be, it’s been haunting the dumpsters out back for the past few weeks. I think it’s feral. I was going to take her to the Cat and Dog Home at lunchtime . . .”

“But it’s October! And look, she’s all black.” Trish looks alarmed. “Don’t you know what the bad kids do to black cats at Hallowe’en?”

I can live without this. “Listen, I’ve got a meeting later this morning. I’ll put her—him, it, whatever—in my office for now. Do you think you could scare up a bowl and fill it with water? And a file box and an old tee shirt or blanket or something. She—it’s—pretty damp.”

“Yes! I’ll see what I can do.”

I head for my office. My passenger is still clinging to my coat, breathing fast. When I close the door I notice there’s an odd buzzing noise coming from somewhere in my office. It takes me a while to work out that the electrics are just fine and it’s the cat. So I sit down at my desk to check the email and figure out what to do about this added minor complication, and that’s when my calendar pops up a reminder. The DRESDEN RICE meeting time has changed: it’s been brought right forward and starts in half an hour.

What a way to begin the day!

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