his brand new uniform hanging from the wardrobe door. This didn't make any sense. The drive to the Isle of Dogs. The lift with a security code. The empty office, empty except for a desk and two chairs and a senior police officer whom Warren recognised from his many television appearances, who was using racist language which could lose him his job if it was ever made public.
'I'm not sure of your point, sir,' said Warren.
'My point is that it's not going to be much fun for you, is it? Pictures of monkeys pinned up on your locker. Bananas on the backseat of your patrol car. Memos asking you to call Mr. K.K. Clan.'
'I thought the Met wanted to widen its minority base,' said Warren.
Latham raised an eyebrow.
'Did you now?' he said.
'And you were eager to take up the challenge, were you?'
'I wanted the job, yes.'
Latham steepled his fingers under his chin like a child saying his prayers and studied Warren with unblinking eyes.
'You're not angered by what I've just said?' he said eventually.
'I've heard worse, sir.'
'And you're always so relaxed about it?'
'What makes you think I'm relaxed, sir?'
Latham nodded slowly, accepting Warren's point.
'That was a test, was it, sir?'
'In a way, Warren.'
Warren smiled without warmth.
'Because it wasn't really a fair test, not if you think about it. You're in uniform, I'm hoping to become an officer in the force that you command, I'm hardly likely to lose control, am I?'
'I suppose not.'
'See, if you weren't an Assistant Commissioner, and you'd said what you'd said outside, in a pub or on the street, my reaction might have been a little less .. . reticent.' Warren leaned forward, his eyes never leaving Latham's face.
'In fact,' he said in a low whisper, 'I'd be kicking your lily-white arse to within an inch of your lily-white life. Sir.' Warren smiled showing perfect slab-like white teeth.
'No offence intended.'
Latham smiled back. This time there was an amused glint in his eyes and Warren knew that he'd passed the test. Maybe not with flying colours, but he'd passed.
'None taken,' said the Assistant Commissioner.
'Tell me about your criminal record.'
'Minor of fences said Warren without hesitation.
'Taking and driving away when I was fourteen. Driving without due care and attention. Driving without insurance. Without a licence. Criminal damage.' Warren's criminal past had been discussed at length prior to his being accepted as a probationary constable.
'And there's nothing else that we should know about you, nothing that might have influenced our decision to allow you to join the force?'
'The interviews and tests were wide-ranging, sir,' said Warren.
'You didn't reveal your homosexuality,' said Latham.
'I wasn't asked,' said Warren without hesitation.
'You didn't think it relevant?'
'Clearly the interviewers didn't.'
'Your home situation would have been enquired about. Your domestic arrangements.'
'I live alone.'
'So you have random sexual partners?'
Warren's lips tightened. It appeared that Latham was determined to keep testing him, but Warren couldn't fathom what was going on. The time for such questions had long passed: all the Met had to do was to say that his services weren't required. There was no need for such taunting, especially from a senior officer like Latham.
'I'm not sure that my sexual history is relevant, sir,' said Warren.
'With respect.'
'It might be if it left you open to blackmail,' said Latham.
'Homosexuality isn't illegal, sir.'
'I'm aware of that, Warren, but any deviation from the norm makes an officer vulnerable.'
'Again, sir, I don't think that homosexuality is regarded as a deviation any more. These days it's seen as a lifestyle choice.'
Latham nodded slowly.
'One that you're not ashamed of?'
'I'm not ashamed of being black and I'm not ashamed of being gay, sir. So far as revealing my sexuality, I wasn't asked and I didn't tell. I certainly didn't lie.'
'And your criminal record? How do you feel about that?'
'Do you mean am I ashamed of what I did?'
Latham didn't react to the question, clearly regarding it as rhetorical, and continued looking at Warren.
Warren shrugged.
'Of course I'm ashamed. I was stupid. I was undisciplined, I was running wild, I was just an angry teenager out looking for kicks who didn't know how close he was coming to ruining his whole life. I was lucky not to be sent down, and if it wasn't for the fact that I was assigned one of the few social workers who actually appeared to care about her work, I'd probably be behind bars right now and not sitting here in your office.' Warren looked around the bare office.
'This office,' he corrected himself.
'Wherever we are, I assume this isn't where you normally conduct your business. What's this about, sir? My criminal record's an open book, and I don't see that my being gay is a bar to me joining the Met.'
Latham tapped his manicured nails silently on the desktop. The windows were double-glazed and sealed so no sound penetrated from the outside. It was so quiet that Warren could hear his own breathing, slow and regular.
'What sort of criminal do you think you would have made, Warren?' Latham said eventually.
'Back then? A very bad one. If I'd been any good at it, I wouldn't have been caught so often.'
'And now?'
Warren raised his eyebrows in surprise.
'Now?' he repeated.
'Suppose you hadn't been turned around by the altruistic social worker assigned to you. Suppose you'd continued along the road you'd started on. Petty crime. Stealing. Where do you think it would have led to?'
'Difficult to say, sir.'
'Try.'
Warren shrugged.
'Drugs, I guess. Dealing. That's what most crime comes down to these days. Everything from car break-ins to guns to prostitution, it's all drugs.'
'And what sort of drug dealer do you think you'd make?'
Warren frowned. It wasn't a question he'd ever considered.
'Probably quite a good one.'
'Because?'
'Because I'm not stupid any more. Because now I'm better educated than the average villain. I've a knowledge of criminal law and police procedure that most villains don't have. And to be quite honest, I consider I'm a hell of a lot smarter than most of the police officers I've come across.'
'I don't suppose you were that blunt at your interviews,' said Latham.
'I think we've moved beyond my being interviewed, sir. Whatever it is you want from me, it's not dependent
