IN THE MORNING JUDY brought him a cup of tea and he woke up long enough to thank her, then went back to sleep. He didn’t wake again until hours later.
Through a chink in the curtains he could see that it was a bright, sunny day.
He lay back against the pillows, feeling rested and idle. He still ached all over, but he hardly felt the pain now unless he moved. He looked at the clock, and saw it was past noon. The anger of his meeting with Chris came flooding back. And Louise – she would have phoned last night, he thought. What would he tell her?
He crawled out of bed and dressed, his movements slow and painful. Downstairs, Judy was in the kitchen, sitting at the table drinking coffee. The papers were spread out in front of her. She looked round when he came in and got up.
‘I didn’t wake you. You looked dead to the world.’
‘I have to get back,’ he said.
‘I’ll take you.’ Her tone was matter-of-fact and calm, as if this was any morning in the staff room. ‘You have time for some breakfast. Sit down.’
While he ate toast, Judy chatted about the weather and the traffic and the headlines in the paper. It was as if the night before had been a dream, except for the fact that he was sitting at her kitchen table.
‘What are you going to do about your father and all the rest of it?’ Judy asked suddenly.
Daniel had thought about it, but the question still came as a slight shock. ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted.
In the car going back Judy kept up a friendly chatter about nothing very much.
When they stopped in front of his flat, she turned and put her hand on his arm.
‘About last night,’ she said. ‘It didn’t happen, OK?’
‘OK,’ Daniel replied.
‘We can talk when you’ve sorted yourself out.’ She leant over to kiss him on the cheek. ‘Good luck.’
Daniel hadn’t wanted to talk about what had happened in any case. The strange thing was that he had expected to feel guilty. Instead, thinking about Judy’s body, he felt pure delight. He had wanted this to happen. It was as if he had taken a step forward which would cut him off from his old life. After this Louise would only bore him. He put to one side what he would say to her or what he would do about the wedding.
In the flat, Daniel went straight to the phone. There were several messages on the machine, most of them from Louise. The last one from the night before said that if she hadn’t heard from him by midnight, she would come back in the morning. The next one said that she was on her way. The final message was from his mother. It said that she had to speak to him urgently.
When he rang the bell at his mother’s house, George opened the door. First, he exclaimed over Daniel’s bruises, then he said that his mother was out.
‘What happened?’ he asked Daniel.
‘I went to see someone I thought could tell me about my dad,’ Daniel told him. ‘His friends beat me up.’
‘You tell me,’ Daniel said angrily. ‘He was the man in the photo. Chris.’
‘Chris?’ George stared at him. ‘He rang again this morning. He left a number.’
Daniel couldn’t make sense of anything; the thought made him feel sick.
‘I’m going to phone him,’ George said, sounding firm and decided.
‘What for?’
‘I want to know why he did this to you,’ George said. ‘Whoever he is, it’s not right.’
For a moment Daniel felt like laughing.
‘See what he did to me, George?’
‘Exactly.’
An idea sprang into Daniel’s mind. ‘What time is my mum getting back?’
‘In about an hour. She’s at the library.’
‘Invite him over,’ Daniel said.
‘No. I couldn’t do that to your mum,’ George said, firmly.
‘Have you asked her about all this?’
George nodded.
‘Did she tell you anything?’
‘No.’
‘If mum’s in trouble I want to know why and how I can help,’ Daniel said. ‘And so do you. I don’t want to mess about. If she’s scared of this guy or he’s a stalker or something, let’s have it out in the open, then we can decide what to do.’
‘It’s going behind her back,’ George said.
‘How do you think I feel?’ Daniel said. ‘She’s been going behind my back all the time!’
‘I know you think that,’ George said slowly.
‘Please – see what happens. Then, if you want, you can go to the library and tell her what’s going on. Maybe that way we’ll sort it out. If she won’t come, no harm done. I’ll get Chris to leave. But if you won’t do it, I will. All you have to do is tell my mum about it and see if she wants to see him.”