else. We get power for a couple of hours a day, and there are riots everywhere. Not good.’
CHAPTER 71
7.31 a.m. GMT Guildford
Ash was awake with the first light of dawn. The thought of spending another twenty-four hours in Kate’s apartment, waiting for her to show up, was an agonising prospect. He had the patience of a saint, if he was waiting on a certainty, but this was a long shot. This woman might never return.
But she would try, wouldn’t she? It’s the homing instinct. In a time of crisis, that’s exactly where everyone tries to get - home.
And the delay could be quite legitimately rationalised. Tuesday afternoon things went pear-shaped. Kate would have decided after seeing the riots, and finding out the trains weren’t running, to camp out at work overnight. Wednesday came - she’d have been hoping the police had restored order, and perhaps a limited train service had returned. But there’d been no sign of that. There’s a canteen at work maybe? So another night camping there, basic food and drink laid on. Thursday, same thing again. Only by then the canteen would be running low on food, and everyone would be getting very anxious to return home. There’d still be no news on the radio, and no sign of police retaking the streets. Friday, it’d be obvious to her and her colleagues they couldn’t stay there forever, the rioting must have died down once everything that could be looted, had been looted.
At some point today, Ash decided, she’ll set off for home, walking with other wary pedestrians along the main arteries out of London. It’ll take her seven, eight maybe nine hours on foot? Provided nothing stops or delays her.
She’ll arrive sometime today.
That sounded very much like wishful thinking to Ash. But there was not a lot else he could consider doing. Perhaps, he could return to the Sutherlands’ house and wait there? Pointless . . . Sutherland had warned her to stay well away. There were many other names in the phone book he could try, one by one. But most of the places - he’d looked them up on a road map he had found by Kate’s telephone table - were a long way out of London.
He decided the best course of action would be to hang on until tomorrow. And then if she still hadn’t turned up, he would camp out at the Sutherland home. Sutherland’s daughter, or his wife, or even the man himself might come by, just to pick up one or two essentials . . . that ol’ homing instinct was very, very strong.
Yes, that would do then. First thing tomorrow morning, Ash decided he’d head back up.
CHAPTER 72
7.51 a.m. GMT Shepherd’s Bush, London
‘Please don’t go outside Lee!’ Jacob whimpered, putting down his knife and fork heavily. They clattered noisily against the plate, and on to the dining-table. He hopped off his chair, scurried round the table and held on to her arm. ‘Please don’t go!’
She looked down at her little brother, his face crumpled with worry.
‘Look Jakey, it’s safe right now. They only come out at night, the Bad Boys. We’re perfectly safe in the daytime,’ she said, not entirely convinced by her own assurance.
‘But last time you went out, you were gone for ever. I thought . . . I thought you were . . . dead.’
‘I’ll be fine, Jake. I’m just going to check on our neighbours, that’s all. You can watch me out of the window of Jill’s bedroom, okay? Keep an eye on me as I do the rounds.’
Jacob stared at her silently. His face looked unhealthily pale and unnaturally older; skin rumpled with the bumps, grooves and lines of unceasing worry. She wondered if he had a suspicion of what had happened to Dan. If he’d guessed that he must be lying dead down some back-street . . .
Don’t do this Leona, think about something, anything, else.
Now really wouldn’t be a good time to fold and start sobbing, not whilst she was trying to settle down Jake’s jangling nerves.
‘I’ll be fine. Now, let’s both finish our pilchards, okay?’
She wanted to check on the DiMarcios’ house, a few doors up. The DiMarcios’ next-door neighbours had been broken into last night. Leona had heard the noises; very unsettling, chilling noises. It had all proved too much for her and she had scooped Jacob up and taken him into the back room to sleep, where the sounds of the house being ransacked were, at least, muted.
Shortly after they