‘Then you’ll be OK. But keep quiet, even if you think you’re talking your way out of something.’

Georgia looked confused and the middle-aged woman across the van leaned forward and explained in a posh-country-lady accent.

‘Imagine saying, I saw some chaps doing stuff in the town hall, but I wasn’t involved. That’s no admission of guilt, but you are admitting to being on the scene when laws were broken. If you give the police nothing, they need a witness to put you at the scene. And one can always claim that a witness is lying.’

‘First offence, fourteen years old, you’re golden,’ Jen reiterated, placing a hand on Georgia’s back.

‘My dad will flip though,’ Georgia said. ‘Mum will have a field day, saying Dad’s not looking after me …’

‘You think you’ve got regrets,’ Jen began. ‘I hid up on that roof for four hours. Jumped down, did my bit to that councillor and got away. I should have jumped a bus and gone home. But when I saw everyone charging up that ramp, I had to get stuck back in. And when the riot cops storm, who’s the first person they grab?’

‘The one who made them all look stupid?’ Georgia guessed.

Jen laughed. ‘I’ve got a two-year suspended hanging over me for trashing a police car,’ Jen explained. ‘And I haven’t peed in six hours …’

Georgia, Jen and the older woman across the van all started laughing. Then the van door came open again and two male riot officers shoved Sam inside. He stumbled awkwardly as he found a place to sit, but smiled once he’d settled.

‘Long time no see, Sam,’ Jen said brightly.

‘Nice work out there,’ Sam said as he looked at the older woman. ‘It’s Rosemary, isn’t it?’

The woman nodded, but sounded surprised. ‘I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure …’

Sam gave his gap-toothed smile. ‘I’ve been doing a lot of growing. I was at a demonstration about rural post office closures with my mum and you gave me a sherbet lime.’

‘I do love a sherbet lime,’ Rosemary said brightly.

Sam looked at Georgia and sounded more serious. ‘You’ve not been busted before, have you? Whatever you do, don’t say one word to the cops.’

‘We explained,’ Jen said as she gave Georgia a squeeze. ‘Though the poor girl still looks wrecked.’

Georgia was glad the van was too dark for anyone to see her cheeks flush red. ‘Maybe you guys get arrested on a regular basis, but it’s a big deal where I come from.’

‘I’ve been done thirty-three times,’ Rosemary said proudly. ‘Thirty-four if you include Greenham Common, when someone opened the back of the van and we all scarpered.’

‘Prison?’ Sam asked.

‘Several times,’ Rosemary admitted. ‘But judges love my accent. I never get long.’