Luke stayed at the table for a few moments, not daring to stand till his legs stopped trembling.
What should he do? Asif was the club member closest to him – most of Millmoor’s single males were in West dorm blocks. Had he had a late-night social call from a ‘friend’ too? But if anyone were keeping an eye on Luke, then going to find Asif would be an incredibly bad idea. If they knew about the club, it’d just confirm the connection between members. If they didn’t know, it’d give them a new person of interest.
The same held for going to find any of the others.
Perhaps Renie was skulking around in the streets?
He knew she wouldn’t be. She’d be away across town, slashing tyres. But he so badly wanted not to be alone that he washed up the two mugs, set them on the draining board, then jogged down the corridor to go and find out.
He was nearly at the stairs before he thought of Ryan. He stopped. What if his sometime schoolmate hadn’t gone anywhere to share the details of their conversation? Perhaps the person he reported to had come here, and they were talking on the pavement outside this very minute.
Besides, surely it was too late to do anything now. The men of Zone D would either turn up for work or they wouldn’t. Everything else would happen as planned, or not. Luke turned in a circle considering his options, but it didn’t seem like he had any.
So he went to bed.
Sleep didn’t come easily. He was shaken awake just after 7 a.m. by one of his roommates who worked in the chicken sheds and caught a bus to work round the same time Luke did.
‘You’ll be late, sonny.’
‘Not well,’ Luke mumbled into his pillow. ‘Not going.’
‘Your funeral.’
The man moved away and Luke pulled the blanket back up and tried to doze off again. Incredibly, he managed it.
He shot awake for the second time some while later – a check of his watch told him it was 9 a.m. – thanks to a horrific blaring of feedback from the public announcement system. The PA was installed in each building and at intervals along every street. As Luke rubbed his eyes, the speaker in his dorm room made a loud farting noise then crackled into speech.
Luke recognized the voice. Had anyone warned Jessica?
‘Hello there, people of Millmoor,’ boomed Oz. ‘This is Oswald Walcott and Radio Free For All wishing you all a very good morning. It’s going to be an amazing day. Let’s start with a special request for a friend of mine.’
There was a moment’s pause as if Oz was figuring out the controls, then the air filled with the unmistakable first chords of the paopaotang bubblegum synth.
Luke buried his face in his pillow and groaned as the familiar backing beat started up.
The music filled the room and spilled out into the corridor, where it hit a backwash of vocal cuteness issuing from other speakers throughout the dorm block. It even echoed in the streets in demented syncopation.
‘It’s “Happy Panda”!’ Oz’s deep voice announced triumphantly. ‘People, let’s get this party started!’
15
Abi
The evening in the Great Solar had begun, as many evenings at Kyneston did, with Gavar Jardine hurling a whisky glass into the fireplace. Perhaps it would end with him exploding one of the glass-fronted bookcases, or a piece of his mother’s prized porcelain – neither was a rare occurrence.
This evening Abi had not only seen Gavar smash the glass, she had been standing next to the fireplace when he did it. Jenner half rose from his chair and snapped at his brother to take better care, but Gavar only laughed contemptuously. Sitting opposite, alone on the two-seater sofa, Bouda Matravers pinched her lips together like someone watching a toddler throwing a tantrum in a supermarket.
Current probability of wedded bliss for this pair, Abi thought: about zero.
Wedding planner had been added to Abi’s job description a few hours earlier. She and Jenner were to pin down Gavar and Bouda for more specifics, given that the ceremony was now just two months away. Bouda had stalked in to the Solar after supper and sat down, smoothing her skirt, then checked her diamond-studded watch and told Jenner he had her attention until nine o’clock. Gavar had slouched in soon after.