"Not to anything, Nobby. Just a Clue." He took off his helmet and wiped his brow. This was what he"d hoped to avoid. In his heart of battered hearts, he suspected that Vimes and Carrot were good at putting clues next to other clues and thinking about them. That was their talent. He had others... well, he was good with people, and he had a shiny breastplate, and he could sergeant in his sleep "All right, write up your report," he said. "Well done. We"re going back to the Yard.
"I can see this is going to get on top of me," said Colon, as they walked away. "There"s paperwork, too. You know me and paperwork, Nobby."
"You"re a very thorough reader, that"s all, Fred," said Nobby. "I"ve seen you take ages over just one page. Digesting it magisterially, I thought."
Colon brightened a little. "Yes, that"s what I do," he said.
"Even if it"s only the menu down at the Klatchian Take-Away, I"ve seen you staring at one line for a minute at a time."
"Well, obviously you can"t let people put one over on you," said Colon, sticking out his chest, or at least sticking it further up.
"What you need is an aide de camp," said Nobby, lifting his dress to step over a puddle.
"I do?"
"Oh, yes. "Cos of you being a figurehead and setting an example to your men," said Nobby.
"Ah. Right. Yes," said Colon, grasping the idea with relief. "A man can"t be expected to do all that and read long words, am I right?"
"Exactly. And, of course, we"re down one sergeant at the Yard now," said Nobby.
"Good point, Nobby. It"s going to be busy."
They walked on for a while.
"You could promote someone," Nobby prompted.
"Could I?"
"What good"s being the boss if you can"t?"
"That"s true. And it"s sort of an emergency. Hmm... any thoughts, Nobby?"
Nobby sighed inwardly. A penny could drop through wet cement faster than it could drop for Fred Colon.
"A name springs to mind," he said.
"Ah, right. Yes. Reg Shoe, right? Good at writing, a keen thinker, and of course he"s cool headed," said Colon. "Icy, practically."
"But a bit on the dead side," said Nobby.
"Yes, I suppose that counts against him."
"And he goes to pieces unpredictably," said Nobby.
"That"s true," said Captain Colon. "No one likes shaking hands and ending up with more fingers than they started with."
"So p"raps it might be best to consider someone who has been unreasonably overlooked," said Nobby, going for broke. "Someone whose face dunt fit, p"raps. Someone whose experience in the Watch genially and in Traffic in particular could be of great service to the city if people wouldn"t go on about one or two lapses which didn"t happen in any case."
The dawn of intelligence rose across the vistas of Colon"s face.
"Ah," he said. "I see. Well, why didn"t you come right out with that at the start, Nobby?"
"Well, it"s your decision, Fred... I mean, Captain," said Nobby earnestly.
"But s"posing Mister Vimes doesn"t agree? He"ll be back in a couple of weeks."
"That"ll be long enough," said Nobby.