There was no sound or light leaking from Audrey’s house. I pictured the two of them ensconced in the back room, watching television and spooning food for the animals and themselves out of a frying pan. Without warning, two running figures pounded out of the darkness. They flashed past the gate, hooded tops pulled over their heads, and I was reminded of the evening when Paul had walked me down the hidden street. I sat forward on the chair, aware of the thick shadows under the trees and hedges. A helicopter thudded overhead and turned in a tight circle, a shaft of harsh light spreading from its nose. The noise it made sawed over the rising cacophony of sirens. I had become used to these signals, they were the summer’s refrain, but there was a fresh urgency to the clamour now.

I sat for a few more minutes, listening and wondering.

Then the snap of the letter box made me jump.

‘Mum? You’ve got to go home,’ Jack’s disembodied voice piped through the darkness.

‘What’s happening?’

‘You can’t sit there. We’ve heard it on the news. There’s riots, gangs fighting and breaking windows. They’re setting fire to cars on the Ullswater.’

I could smell it now, acrid smoke on the thick air. Just at the limits of my hearing there was the crunch of smashing glass and metal.

‘It’s dangerous, Mum. Go home,’ Jack begged.

I stood up, methodically folding the chair. ‘All right.’ I knew better than to ask him to come with me. Instead, I went to the door and crouched on the step. I could just see his eyes through the slot.

‘I’m proud of you,’ I said. Then I stood up again and pushed my fingertips past the flap. Jack’s touched them at once. We told each other goodnight.

‘I’ll be back tomorrow after work,’ I said.

I drove home in a thick stew of diverted traffic, past roadblocks and vanloads of policemen. The helicopters endlessly circled overhead as I waited for Lola. When she came in we sat down together and looked out at the sliced sky.

‘It’s like a war zone out there,’ she breathed.

SEVENTEEN

Another hot day crept by at the Works. We didn’t have much paid work on, but that wasn’t unusual for August. Leo and Andy were both on holiday, so at least Penny and I didn’t have to cast around to find employment for them.