She stared at him. It was coming back to her. The day Luke had first taken her to the ‘commune’, as he called it, in a boarded-up terraced house in Stoke Newington Church Street. He’d introduced her to a couple of girls there, dressed in caftans and smoking dope at the kitchen table; they had eyed Laura with suspicion. Then she had met Ray, a West-Indian with an Afro, who’d leapt up to shake her hand and had greeted her with a public school accent. She had also met a fresh-faced boy there, who had sat cross-legged next to a rucksack in the corner of the gloomy room. He had looked as though he was dressed in clothes that his mother had bought him.
‘Rory here’s just back from Spain, Loz,’ Luke had told her, winking conspiratorially.
‘That’s nice. Did you have a good holiday?’ Laura asked, automatically polite.
Luke burst out laughing.
‘You’re so naive, Loz. That’s what I love about you! It wasn’t a bleeding holiday. He was hanging out with the Basque Separatists. Thought he was being cool. He didn’t realise they were fucking terrorists until he got back and I put him straight about it.’
Rory coloured and shrugged, but stayed silent.
‘Yeah. Well, you’ve got a lot of ground to make up for that particular fuck-up, mate,’ Luke said, ruffling the boy’s hair.
The wasted face she was looking at now scarcely bore any resemblance to the boy she’d met less than a year ago.
‘Luke said it was OK to stay,’ he mumbled. ‘We got chucked out of the squat a couple of weeks ago. They’re going to redevelop it. The landlord got a court order.’
‘That doesn’t give you the right—’
‘Luke didn’t think you’d mind. He said you’d be cool, that you were right behind the protesters at Wapping and you wouldn’t mind us using your place to sleep. We’ve been really quiet.’
‘He could have asked me,’ she muttered. ‘Anyway, where is he now?’
‘The bastards have got him in Wapping nick. They arrested loads of people this afternoon. I came back here to sleep. I’ve been on the night shift.’
‘Arrested? Why?’
‘For nothing. They just rounded guys up and put them in pig wagons. They were lashing out with truncheons. Loads of people were beaten up. You should have seen the blood. They had riot shields, the works.’
‘I’d better go and see him,’ she said.
‘You might be able to get him off. You’re a lawyer, right?’
‘Not that sort of lawyer,’ she said grimly, walking to the door.
She turned. ‘I’ll be coming back. I suggest you get up and get this place cleared up before I do.’
On the way to Wapping, Laura kept checking her watch. Dad would be awake by now. How could she have left him? He’d be expecting her to be there when he woke up. What excuse could she make? She’d have to admit that she’d gone to look for Luke, and that she was involved with him. She bit her nails and stared out of the window as the dark streets flashed past.
Ever since she’d taken Luke back to the house in Highbury the previous autumn and introduced the two of them, she’d had a feeling that Dad would disapprove of Luke. She could just tell by the way Dad had behaved that afternoon. Even though he’d been superficially polite and chatted amiably to Luke about politics, she’d known from the twinkle in her father’s eyes that he was mocking Luke. And the fact that he’d not said anything at all about Luke afterwards had proved that he’d been unimpressed.
She realised now that it had been a mistake to take Luke to the house while she was still supposed to be going out with Matthew. Dad had always liked Matthew. He might have teased him for driving a sports car and wearing a Rolex, but he’d often hinted that he’d be happy to have him as part of the family.
The taxi driver couldn’t get close to the police station. The road was blocked with riot vans parked bumper to bumper. Groups of angry people milled about.
‘I’ll have to drop you here, darling. You going to be alright? It looks a bit rough out there.’
‘I’ll be fine.’
She shouldered her way through the restless crowd, up the front steps and into the lobby of the station. People were shouting and pushing. The two officers at the desk were sweating, trying to keep control. Laura, taking advantage of being short and slight, ducked her way through the press of bodies and emerged at the desk in front of the officers.
‘I need to see Luke Goddard,’ she had to shout. The policeman smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile. He held a hammy hand to his ear.
‘You’ll have to speak up, love.’
She repeated Luke’s name. The officer scanned his list. He took his time.
‘Ah, yes. Pretty boy Goddard. He’s one of our guests. You family, love?’
‘Not exactly. Please don’t call me love.’
‘Ah, I see. You must be his bit of skirt.’
He narrowed his eyes, leering at her. She stared back at him.
‘I would ask you to take a seat, love,’ he said with mock politeness, ‘but we seem to be quite busy tonight. I’ll see what I can do.’
Scowling at him, she moved away from the desk. She spotted a payphone on the far wall and pushed her way towards it. She dialled the number to her father’s house. The phone rang for a long time before she heard Ken’s voice.
‘It’s me. Laura,’ she said with relief, pushing a ten pence coin into the slot. ‘I’m really sorry, but something’s come up. I might be a bit longer than I thought. Is Dad OK?’
‘He’s still asleep. Are you in a pub? There’s a hell of a din over there.’
‘No. I’ll explain later. When he wakes up, please tell Dad I won’t be long. Could you get him something to eat?’
‘I’ll ask Marge.’ The bleeps cut in, and she had to hang up.
Laura leaned against the wall and waited. She
