The more power something has, the less the actual facts matter. — Ben Aaronovitch

Gaston did betray an abstracted quality that might have been the result of magic. But was more likely down to consuming, I suspected, a tremendous amount of recreational chemicals.

“There’s paperwork for magic? asked Vanessa.

“Not so glamorous now, eh?” I said.

As police you can live with the violence, the squalor and the stupidity—it’s the waste of people’s futures that really grinds you down.