‘Sophia’s leg looks pretty bad,’ Danny adds.
I stare at them both. ‘What the hell happened?’
‘Danny!’ a male voice breaks through my thoughts and I turn to see a thickset man in a long overcoat hurrying towards us. He passes me as though I’m invisible and lays a hand on Danny’s shoulder. I can’t help but notice that Danny no longer has his arm around Georgia. I move a little closer to my daughter.
‘Are you okay? Christ, what were you doing out here?’ There is so much anger in this man’s voice that the ambulance officer stops what he’s doing, and I can see the policeman also taking an interest. ‘For god’s sake, Danny, you shouldn’t be out on a school night, you’ve got training in the morning.’ He sighs as though this is all a considerable inconvenience to him. ‘Come on, let’s get you home.’
‘Hang on a second, sir,’ the policeman intervenes, as Danny gets to his feet without a word. ‘Your son has been witness to a hit-and-run. We’ll need a statement before he leaves, and some follow-up details.’
‘Jesus Christ.’ The man looks again at his son. ‘Well, then, let’s get on with it.’
They all head off to the police car, Danny trailing the group. He turns back and gives Georgia a long look before he leaves. Georgia holds his gaze for a moment, and then lifts the blanket to bury her face in it.
‘It’s not surprising that Georgia is in a little bit of shock,’ the ambulance officer says kindly while finishing the dressing. ‘We can take her to hospital for a few hours and keep an eye on her, but she might be more comfortable . . .’
‘I want to go home,’ Georgia says quietly.
‘All right, then,’ the man says. ‘She’s already had some painkillers, and I recommend she keeps taking them for a couple of days. Start with Panadol but see your GP if she needs something stronger. If you have any worries at all, come to the hospital straightaway.’ He looks at me sternly.
‘Okay.’ I help Georgia down from the step and keep my arm around her as we head towards the police car. One policeman is still talking to Danny, but a female constable comes over. ‘I gather you live nearby?’
I nod.
‘If you want to take her home, we can come and speak to you there.’
‘Thank you, that would be good.’
I give them our address and help Georgia to the car. ‘Don’t ask me about any of it, Mum,’ Georgia says as soon as I climb in next to her. She turns her face away, her slender body trembling as she hugs herself tightly.
‘You’ll have to talk to the police when they come round,’ I remind her.
‘I know that,’ she snaps.
Once I start the engine, I don’t say anything more. We might be sitting next to one another, but that’s where the closeness ends. I’m desperate to comfort her, but I can’t find the right words. On the short journey home, each second is riven by our silence.
2
ZAC
When his mother burst into the room, Zac had expected to be reprimanded. Instead her words have left him stunned.
‘I hope Georgia’s okay,’ Cooper says quietly once she’s gone. He pauses. ‘Hey, I’m sure old Jenkins will understand if we can’t get our work finished now. Shall we leave it for tonight?’ When Zac doesn’t respond straightaway, Cooper picks up his pencil, begins to look through his notes, and then throws it down again. He leans back so his chair wobbles dangerously on two legs. ‘Screw this. What use is it going to be in the outside world anyway?’
Zac sighs. ‘If we fail we’ll just have to repeat it – more work in the long term.’ Why is he saying this, he wonders, because finishing their work is now the last thing on his mind. He imagines the thud, Georgia’s body flying through the air – then wishes he hadn’t. He feels sick, tries to swallow the burn in his throat, aware Cooper is watching him.
‘What you need is a distraction till we hear from your mum. A few more rounds of Black Ops should do it . . . Or, even better . . .’ He grabs Zac’s laptop and swings it round to face him, typing fast, then returning it to Zac. ‘There you go,’ he says with a laugh.
On the screen are rows and rows of photographs of women showing their breasts, and in some cases a whole lot more.
‘Jesus, Cooper!’ Zac moves his cursor quickly to the X in the corner and closes the window, only realising afterwards that he has closed down the whole browser and so lost his research too.
Cooper is frowning at him. ‘Calm down, I thought it might take your mind off things. What’s the matter – don’t tell me your parents still keep tabs on you?’
Zac tries to bite his tongue but he can feel the anger rising. In truth he doesn’t think his parents monitor his internet activity much nowadays, but he couldn’t be sure.