Will found that Rosie had come to walk beside him. She spoke quietly: ‘It’s just getting more and more out of hand, isn’t it? These two getting shot, and the guy in the paper shop, and people on the street with baseball bats, and that just now, even though of course he’s not – it’s like it’s all starting to come out of the woodwork, isn’t it? And the worst thing is that I almost feel a bit glad; not glad they’ve been shot, but that they’re, you know, out of action.’

Will’s sense of invulnerability, after a wobble in the pub, was now resurgent, as if he’d just survived something. Running to a kind of high, he said, ‘Yes, it’s horrible, but you know, I think it’ll all be fine.’

‘It’s like something from another country. The police shooting people on the street. It’s not like England at all. It’s like the Middle East.’

‘This is Berkshire, not Beirut.’

Rosie didn’t smile. ‘We didn’t expect there to be bombs in Kensington either, or a man being burnt alive in Luton.’

‘No, no – of course not. Obviously. I just, I don’t know, I just think it’s going to be OK. Maybe not for those guys when the police get to them, but the bunker’s pretty safe, isn’t it? I mean, it is designed to withstand a nuclear holocaust, after all.’

‘Yes, I know. It’s just… I find it weird any time seeing policemen carrying guns; and now there are loads of them all over the place, even here in the middle of nowhere. I know it sounds stupid, but I just didn’t think we were that kind of country.’

‘We’re not. It’s just two guys who’ve been shot.’ Will felt tremendously worldly. ‘In the US, the police must shoot more people than that every day. And one of them’s still alive. If he tells them where the other two are, the police can go arrest them and it’s all over.’

‘Hardly. What about all these vigilante posses out looking for Muslims – they’re not just going to put their baseball bats away and go back to work. And that just then in the pub. That was horrible, the way they were bullying him. Do you think he’s alright? I can’t believe they sent him home.’

Will wondered again whether he would have to make up with the chief. Was there a chance the chief would respect Will more for opposing him? It was unlikely. He said, ‘I’m sure he’s OK. But if he didn’t hate us before, he does now.’

‘So does half the country.’