Lamb to the Slaughter 6.1

**Lamb to the Slaughter 6.1** is the first chapter of Lamb to the Slaughter.

## Major Events

* Gordon and Shipman break up.
* The Radham Mice are introduced.

## Plot

The Lambs spy on Gordon and Shipman breaking up through a window. Mary and Sy grab Jamie to help them and Lillian and Helen, because he's best at lipreading. For a moment he protests that they should let Gordon tell them when and what Gordon wants, but when Mary starts reciting and muffs a word, he gets sucked into it.

It starts well. Shipman says their relationship has had more apologies than security, but it went better than she set out for. That maybe she shouldn't have gone with the Lambs to Whitney, not realised how different they were. Gordon suggests it was better learnt sooner than later, and says he respects her work. They laugh about that. Sy is surprised that Gordon's handling this so well, because normally he solves problems very straight-forwardly and permanently. Gordon asks if they can still talk, and if he can move on, if he needs to, sooner than she might, because he is going to die young. Sy realises he's been thinking about that, and that it's been weighing on him, and that he chose to share it with Shipman and not them.

Unfortunately, she then asks what sort of girl she might introduce him to, and Gordon, the fool, says someone *more mature*. Shipman, who is two and a half years older than than him, has a problem with this.

The gang facepalms, Helen is disturbingly insightful, and then Gordon reacts to a pain in his leg. Sy and Jamie pull Mary away from watching and talk Lillian out of wanting to intrude. Instead they walk outside, into the humid wartime stench of manure and blood. Mary's badge gets them all through a security check before an experiment stabs her in the head with her own knife. They catch up with Gordon and agree to walk into town. This requires passing by Claret Hall, the Duke's guards, and another battery of searches. Gordon grouses at Sy for claiming the badges are worth the trouble it took to get them, but is too slow to muss up Sy's hair.

Radham the city is changed by the war. Buildings torn down and replaced with ugly grown military emplacements, armed experiments and uniformed stitched choking the streets like antibodies. Gordon points out it's obvious they were watching, and Sy denies it until Lillian gives it away completely. He teases her until Jamie turns it around to tease Sy, and they carry on around the group until they get through a final checkpoint to reach the shims; the dilapidated edges of Radham.

Gordon explains to Lillian about the mouse sign: a little carving in places where homeless children can find safety. And then the fox: what preys on mice. Rain spatters in puddles. Gordon insults some children loudly, and gets the Lambs invited inside. Sy tells Mary this is trip is a bit of a treat for her, a chance to see what he and Gordon used to do, then picks someone to teach her lockpicking in exchange for a knife trick. Craig, head mouse, greets Helen and Gordon. Little Daisy shows off how much she learned about information gathering and selling to Sy. Jamie gets back to reading, Helen watches a card game, Sy and Daisy explain the mice to Lillian, and Gordon gets Craig to admit despite his reluctance that the mice have a problem.

He thinks the Academy is stealing children.

## Characters

#### Lambs

* Mary
* Sylvester
* Jamie
* Gordon
* Lillian
* Helen

### Mice

* Craig
* Daisy
* Thom