Private London

Chapter 44

It was just shy of one o’clock.

The union bar was starting to fill up. It was a Saturday. Lucy and Suzy had positioned themselves at the far left of the bar, perched on stools that gave them a good view of the room.

They had been chatting to Carol, a third-year history student who was working the shift with the older full-time manager called Sian.

Sian had told Lucy that Ryan would be coming on shift from one o’clock. It wasn’t the first time she had been asked that particular question over the couple of months that Ryan had been working for her and she very much doubted that it would be the last. Ryan, it seemed, was very popular with the female students.

Carol handed a soda-and-lime to Suzy.

‘Thanks. Terrible thing about what happened to those girls last night.’

‘It’s disgusting,’ agreed the barmaid. ‘A couple of No Means No leaflets and that’s all the protection they reckon we need.’

‘Too true,’ agreed Lucy.

‘I certainly won’t be working any more night shifts.’

‘Were you working last night, then?’ asked Suzy pretending ignorance.

‘No. And I’m bloody glad, too. It could have been any one of us.’

‘Yeah,’ agreed Lucy. Although she had her doubts.

She sipped on her own soda-and-lime and wondered how much more of the stuff she could drink. She looked across to the doorway and nudged Suzy with her foot as Ryan the barman came in.

He waved at a group of three women who were sitting at a table with papers and books spread out before them. They waved back enthusiastically.

‘Popular lad,’ said Lucy quietly.

‘I wouldn’t waste your time,’ said Carol, amused. ‘That boy’s in lurve.’

‘Oh yeah?’ replied Suzy. ‘Who with? Himself?’

Carol laughed. ‘No, Ryan’s all right. But it seems it’s unrequited love, so who knows?’

‘Who’s the lucky lady, then?’

Carol nodded to a young woman who had come in while they were chatting. She was sitting alone at a table partly hidden from view by one of the carved stone pillars holding the roof in place.

She was strikingly attractive, with long blonde hair, baby-blue eyes set in a creamy complexion, Cupid’s-bow lips painted pillar-box red. She wore jeans and a short-sleeved rugby shirt. The only thing marring the perfect image was the bandage she wore on her lower right arm, although she made even that look like a fashion statement. But there was also a sadness in her big come-to-bed eyes.

Laura Skelton.