Oh. Sefton reached out for the pillar with the Sight and found himself repulsed almost immediately. In a small way. That was probably why he hadn’t looked at it like that on the way in here. It was like the thought of some small guilt that you got reminded of and skipped past. Like he felt about Barry Keel. He wouldn’t have noticed it without it being pointed out.

‘Yup.’ Gaiman smiled. ‘Seven roads lead here. It’s said this was once the place in London with the highest crime rate because of that, by the way, with seven roads for a thief to flee down. But that pillar in the middle of them bears only six sun dials, because the pillar was designed before the seventh road was added at the last minute. So this is really Six Dials. London knows that and it drives it crazy. And so it also drives people who concentrate on the pillar crazy. Just a little. More or less depending on the time of day, actually. That’s why those with the Sight call this place “the Severed Streets”. They’re aware something went wrong at the planning stage, and that it doesn’t contribute as positively as it should to the occult power of London.’

Ross had an expression on her face that indicated she didn’t want to be interested in this seeming irrelevance, but couldn’t help it. ‘Why did the number of roads change?’

‘Money. They wanted to build as many houses as they possibly could. And that meant seven pubs, and so you put the pattern of the Sight and the pattern of money together, and you get one of the most notorious neighbourhoods in London, for a long time, until someone must have sorted that out. Probably someone who knew what they were doing.’

‘So the power of money and the power of London are at odds?’ asked Sefton.

‘I’ve been wondering about that. I think it’s more that the power of money doesn’t care about the shape of London, and so sometimes people with money try to do things that go against the grain.’ He smiled a warm smile at them. ‘Being police among all this, you must find your world view gets … distorted by it. You must keep trying to find straight lines.’

‘That’s pretty much our job description now.’ Sefton found himself wanting to go on a research trip to New York. To do that would give you such context. He also wanted to know which holiday destinations were ‘cities of the Sight’ before he went to any of them. ‘Do you do any … practical work yourself?’

‘A few youthful experiments. Now I like to live in places where that would be impossible, where I don’t have to see unexpected things before breakfast.’

‘What did you sacrifice?’ asked Ross.

‘You can always find something.’ He poured the tea, looking away, as if distracted again.

‘Such as?’