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you, DS Austin?’
    ‘I gave up, don’t you remember?’
    ‘So?’
    ‘You mean it would help my promotional prospects if I carried cigarettes of a certain brand at all times?’
    ‘Definitely.’
    McLusky turned to Pym, who shook his head. ‘Don’t smoke. But sir, if we are to do a real search, we’ll need a lot more bodies up here.’
    McLusky wrinkled his nose in distaste. ‘Would you care to rephrase that, PC Pym?’
    Sisyphus, that was it, she remembered the name now. It wasn’t a Bible story at all, silly, it was a naughty Greek man who was condemned to push a boulder up a hill and
then it rolled off again and he’d push it up again and so on for ever. The Greek myth of Sisyphus this was like, only was Polish myth of Anastazja. You push the trolley first along one floor,
then next floor, then other floor again. Every day, a job without happy ending, there was always more where that came from. Only, if you push cleaning trolley through shopping centre you become
invisible also. The landlady says: with name like Anastazja you should be on stage. What can invisible woman do on a stage? Play the ghost perhaps. Excuse me . Excuse me was what she said
mostly all day because of course, when you are invisible woman, people don’t know to get out of your ways. Excuse me . English people do not notice other people, only notice shopping.
Excuse me while I clean up vomit from teenager drunk in middle of day. Of course at night the whole shopping centre was made clean with machine. A man with machine. But you cannot clean
toilets with machine. For toilets we use Polish woman. Excuse me while I mop up orange soft drink your child spills on floor because he wants attention but you are too busy making eyes at things in
shops windows. The English have a saying: where there is muck, there is brass. Well, is completely wrong. Where there is muck there is Polish woman with mop. Cleaning it up.
    ‘And another thing …’ Superintendent Denkhaus signalled McLusky to sit down while speaking forcefully down the phone to a civilian IT technician who
hadn’t got a word in for the last five minutes. Denkhaus even managed the ghost of a smile to go with his nod, without letting up on the tirade he was pouring down the receiver. That was part
of management skills, McLusky thought, pretending anger you didn’t feel, beaming with enthusiasm at boring stuff, smiling encouragingly at people while thinking of other matters.
‘… for the past two weeks under the heading “Offenders Brought to Justice” there was not a single example posted.’ Denkhaus began lifting his coffee cup but set it
back down on its saucer with dangerous emphasis. ‘ I know , but what’s that got to do with it? It makes us look like we never get any bloody convictions at all ! The public
don’t fart about on our website for information; they’re just looking for reassurance.’
    McLusky looked stealthily at the superintendent’s coffee tray for evidence of anything skinny. He’d been warned more than once that Denkhaus, who carried at least four stone of spare
weight, turned ogre as soon as he tried to give up sugar. A reassuring sugar bowl sat next to the little jug of cream on the tray, together with a small saucer displaying telltale signs of recent
biscuit consumption. That was as far as indulgence went in this room, he noted. Not only was the desk devoid of any clutter; the rest of the office was as functional as could be contrived. Not a
picture, plant pot or ornament softened the starkness of the room, one wall of which was taken up entirely with a large-scale map of the city.
    ‘Public confidence is the watchword here, as ever,’ Denkhaus continued. ‘From now on I want at least four mugs on that page for our force area at all times … Well I
don’t care if you put your own picture up as long as it makes us look good to civilians browsing the site. If we told them what really went on, they’d soon start throwing rocks
at