Editing Louis Leakey (section)

===Fossil police===
The government offered Louis work as a policeman in intelligence, which he accepted. He traveled the country as a [[peddler|pedlar]], reporting on the talk. In September 1939, when Britain went to war, the Kenyan government drafted Louis into its African intelligence service.<ref>Louis describes this authority in Chapter 8 of his ''Memoirs'' as "...the CID... Special Branch, Section 6, concerned with civil intelligence." The drafting authority was the "Kenya government" and there is no indication in the ''Memoirs'' that the service was more directly British; in fact, he refers to "my counterpart in military intelligence." However, Louis would not be revealing everything he knew. Morell portrays him as having been in police work before being drafted. She had personal access to the surviving Leakeys.</ref> Apart from some bumbling around, during which he and some settlers stalked each other as possible saboteurs of the [[Sagana]] [[Rail transport in Kenya|Railway Bridge]],<ref>''Memoirs'', Chapter 8.</ref> his first task was to supply and arm [[Gideon Force|Ethiopian guerrillas]] against the Italian [[East African Campaign (World War II)|invaders of their country]]. He created a clandestine network using his childhood friends among the Kikuyu. They also hunted fossils on the sly.

Louis conducted interrogations, analyzed handwriting, wrote radio broadcasts and took on regular police investigations. He loved a good mystery of any sort. The white leadership of the [[King's African Rifles]] used him extensively to clear up many cultural mysteries; for example, he helped an officer remove a curse he had inadvertently put on his men.<ref>''Memoirs'', Chapter 9.</ref>

Mary continued to find and excavate sites. In 1940, their son Jonathan Leakey was born. She worked in the Coryndon Memorial Museum (later called the [[National Museums of Kenya]]) where Louis joined her as an unpaid honorary curator in 1941. Their life was a melange of police work and archaeology. They investigated [[Rusinga Island]] and [[Olorgesailie]]. At the latter site they were assisted by a team of Italian experts recruited from the prisoners of war and paroled for the purpose.<ref>''Memoirs'', Chapter 12.</ref>

In 1942, the Italian menace ended, but the Japanese began to reconnoiter with a view toward landing in force. Louis found himself in counter-intelligence work, which he performed with zest and imagination. In the same year, their daughter Deborah was born, but died at the age of three months. They lived in a rundown and bug-infested Nairobi home, [[tied accommodation|provided by the museum]]. Jonathan was attacked by [[army ant]]s in his crib.<ref>This section is based on Morell, Chapter 8, "Cloak-and-Dagger".</ref>