The Thames is a filthy beast: it winds through London like a snake, or a sea serpent. All the rivers flow into it, the Fleet and the Tyburn and the Neckinger, carrying all the filth and scum and waste, the bodies of cats and dogs and the bones of sheep and pigs down into the brown water of the Thames, which carries them east into the estuary and from there into the North Sea and oblivion.

Genç polis memuru, Zaman Han’da sünnet giysileri satan yaşlı adamı yolcu ettikten sonra dosdoğru komiserin odasına gitti.

 “Gelsene Mehmet.” diye içeri buyur etti komiser. “Hayrola, sıkıntı mı var?”